2nd Domain Controller. Make Primary?

Django x2 · 4 Feb 2010 at 14:52

Hi Guys,

We are pulling down our current PDC for an upgrade (hardware and OS).

I have created a new DC and everything has replicated across. How do I make the new one the PDC?

Do I demote the current one? (as in, is that all I would need to do?)

Little_Crow · 4 Feb 2010 at 14:56

What is the OS?
The whole PDC and BDC concept went out with the introduction of Windows 2000

paradigm · 4 Feb 2010 at 15:04

Little_Crow said:
What is the OS?
The whole PDC and BDC concept went out with the introduction of Windows 2000

Correct. Just make sure you transfer all the FSMO roles to the server you want to leave up.

Or, if you have taken down the old server already, seize them.

Django x2 · 4 Feb 2010 at 15:09

ah ok, lol. I still refer to them as PDC, my bad.

Its 2008 going to 2008 R2. The new DC is 2008 R2.

I've gone to the new DC opened up ADUC right clicked on the domain > operation masters and have done RID, PDC and Infrastructure. Now it's just Domain Naming and Schema yeah?

What will happen to Exchange once this is done OOI. Will I need to make any changes to that too?

paradigm · 4 Feb 2010 at 15:10

Yes, just Domain Naming and Schema, assuming you made the new server a Global Catalog Server.

Assuming you have done all the above (inc GC), then exchange should continue to work fine.

Django x2 · 4 Feb 2010 at 15:11

yeah, it comes in ADUC (under Domain Controllers) as a GC. I spose all is well.

So just demote the old one now or can I literally switch it off and remove it from AD and DNS?

paradigm · 4 Feb 2010 at 15:12

Demote it. Never just take a DC offline unless you have absolutely no choice in the matter.

Django x2 · 4 Feb 2010 at 15:18

Hmm, may have an issue here. I was on the target DC when I went to trasnfer the Schema Role and I did "mmc" and added the AD schema to the snap in. I then had to change it to the new DC.

Is there a way to check that all 5 roles have moved across??

Thanks, really appreciate the help

paradigm · 4 Feb 2010 at 15:28

Start > ntdsutil

Then type the following:

roles [enter]
connections [enter]
connect to server nameofnewserver [enter]
q [enter]
select operation target [enter]
list roles for connected server [enter]

Little_Crow · 4 Feb 2010 at 15:35

paradigm said:
Or, if you have taken down the old server already, seize them.

I'm pretty sure when you say things like 'sieze them', it should be done a in a scary villain voice, bit hard to get across in text though.

Django x2 · 4 Feb 2010 at 15:46

Lol, thanks guys. Much appreciated.

One more thing, I've started "dcpromo" on the old DC to demote it. I've asked it remove DNS delegation (as the new DC is doing DNS and all that shizz).

But, this gay message popped up:

Is it spoof? As in, can I ignore it, then remove the server from DNS from the new DC?

paradigm · 4 Feb 2010 at 15:51

Don't remove it, just do as you say and manually remove DNS replication and any entries pointing to the old server.

What you are trying to do there is remove the DNS zone from AD.

Django x2 · 4 Feb 2010 at 15:53

hahaha, rofl (or not) :eek:

Django x2 · 4 Feb 2010 at 15:55

In other news, my Exchange store seems to have gone offline

paradigm · 4 Feb 2010 at 16:03

Your store shouldn't have gone offline, that's quite odd.

What was the timeframe between installing the new DC and removing the old one?

What version of Exchange?

Are the Microsoft Exchange Information Store and Microsoft Exchange System Attendant services running on the Exchange Server?

When adding the 2008 R2 server to the AD, did you have to update the schema? It might be worth re-running the ADprepare option in exchange setup to reflect that the server in the forest is R2 and not vanilla.

Witor · 4 Feb 2010 at 16:17

Couple of things.

How are clients assigned DNS addresses. Perhaps make the "secondary" DC (if running DNS) the primary DNS server. Which leads me onto DHCP...how is that setup round at yours?

(asking as I have a similar scenario here at the moment)

paradigm · 4 Feb 2010 at 16:21

Witor said:
Couple of things.

How are clients assigned DNS addresses. Perhaps make the "secondary" DC (if running DNS) the primary DNS server. Which leads me onto DHCP...how is that setup round at yours?

(asking as I have a similar scenario here at the moment)

Good point. If the old DC was the DHCP server, and your DHCP scope options had the old DC as the primary DNS, then you will be running into networking issues about now.

Baz · 4 Feb 2010 at 17:04

paradigm said:
Your store shouldn't have gone offline, that's quite odd.

What was the timeframe between installing the new DC and removing the old one?

What version of Exchange?

Are the Microsoft Exchange Information Store and Microsoft Exchange System Attendant services running on the Exchange Server?

When adding the 2008 R2 server to the AD, did you have to update the schema? It might be worth re-running the ADprepare option in exchange setup to reflect that the server in the forest is R2 and not vanilla.

It will if he has upgraded the Schema to version 47 (R2) I had the same problem with Exchange 2007, had to apply SP2 to it for it to work iirc.

Anyway, the best way would be to create the new DC, then move the FSMO roles across to the new DC, then demote the old one, then upgrade the hardware/OS then DCPROMO it..

paradigm · 4 Feb 2010 at 17:42

Baz said:
Anyway, the best way would be to create the new DC, then move the FSMO roles across to the new DC, then demote the old one, then upgrade the hardware/OS then DCPROMO it..

If you read the thread, we are already at the point in bold, but well done on suggesting what has already been suggested

Django x2 · 4 Feb 2010 at 18:42

my 'now' old DC was also DNS and DHCP. I'm guessing I'm going to have a long day tomorrow!!!

So, Exchange 2007 SP2 I think. I'll need to kick off the DHCP on the new DC now

Poop