Change IP address of Domain Controller

[Nathan Guidry]

What are the correct procedures to change the IP address of a domain
controller. We recently had to change the IP address of our domain
controller. I tried to install a secondary domain controller and it fails
because it cannot find the domain.
Basically - I have a domain conroller, (DC1) with and IP address of
192.168.0.5. I have to change it to 192.168.0.4 (long story of why, but it
had to be done). Now, I want to add a second domain controller (DC2). When
I run dcpromo and it asks for the FQD name, I click browse and select the
domain (domain.com), when I click next, it errors saying it cannot contact
that domain for me to check the DNS entry and make sure it is correct. So
on DC2, I go to command prompt and use nslookup. It goes to the correct DNS
server. When I type in the domain name (domain.com) it doesn't resolve.
Should I go ahead and add the domain name to dns, or do an ipconfig
/registerdns or an ipconfig /flushdns?
Please help.

 

[Sean]

In small environments I don't worry about keeping huge uptime values so
I normally do a restart on a domain controller after I have to make an IP
address change. You should be safe changing the IP address of the server.
I am assuming that since this is your only domain controller currently it is
probably the only DNS server in your environment. If you are using
Microsoft's DNS server on your current DC you should be able to check to
make sure that your DNS structure is correct. You should see a zone file
that matches the name of your active diretory domain. As a minimum you
should see records under your root active directory domain labeled "_msdcs,
_sites, _tcp, _udp" If these records do not exist double check to make sure
your esiting domain controller is pointed to the internal DNS server. If it
is and running ipconfig /registerdns does not create these records then I
would go with a restart. If this still does not populate the records check
to make sure your DNS server allows dynamic updates of some type. If it
still fails to create the nescessary records make sure the machine DC1 is
set to update DNS. This can be found on the advanced icon on TCP/IP
protocal settings. Then check the DNS tab and look for "Register this
connection's addresses in DNS." After that your on your own. On a final
note if you are not using Microsoft's DNS server then consider switching
over to Microsoft's as it makes DNS configuration for Active Directory
automatic as opposed to Bind. which requires a little more work to get
going. You will also find that Microsft's propietary implementation of
Active Directory integrated zones works very well for replicating DNS
informatio in a fast and efficient manner.

Sean