HELP!!! Active Directory crashed!

[Shane Miltimore]

Had a power outage and ADS took a dump. I am trying to repair/recover the
ntds.dit with ntdsutil.exe and get an error while it tries to open the
database. As follows:
"Error: DBInitializeJetDatabase failed with [Jet Error -1018]."

Looked at MS website, but all results I found related to Exchange 5.5.
Really odd since I use Win2k server and Exchange 2000.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Matjaz Ladava [MVP]]

If you have a valis backup, just restore AD on the server. If this is not
the only DC you have, you can use dcpromo to remove AD and then dcpromo to
recreate a dc.

--
Regards

Matjaz Ladava, MCSE, MCSA, MVP
Microsoft MVP - Active Directory
(e-mail address removed), (e-mail address removed)
http://ladava.com

 

[Ray Lava [MSFT]]

Shane,

This type of error indicates that your ntds.dit is too corrupted to be
recovered gracefully with ntdsutil. There are some other utilities that you
can try to use to force recovery, but you will lose some amount of data if
you go this route because the corrupted data gets deleted. I am not allowed
to discuss this method with you because I cannot guarantee the integrity of
your database after performing a forced recovery. Many times you will
experience linger problems if this is done.

However, you really have two options at this point:

1. A system state restore on the problem DC will resolve this problem
quickly and easily if you have a good system state backup. See kb article
240363 for directions on how to do this.

2. If you do not have a system state restore, but you do have another good
domain controller in your domain, you can remove the bad DC out of active
directory and then rebuild it and repromote it back to a domain controller.
If you go this route, make sure that all the FSMO roles are owned by one of
your good DCs. Make sure that one of your good DCs is running DNS so you
can point the rebuilt machine to a good DC for DNS. Also make sure that you
clean the old DC out of AD before bringing it back. Use KB article 216498
for directions on how to do this.

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Ray Lava
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

 

[Brett Shirley [msft]]

Yes, never use the "force recovery" option Ray speaks of ... it's a
very bad idea.

Exchange handled this lossy repair method amazingly well, but AD does
not. This is b/c Exchange had very basic folders, but AD keeps
references to data, that it depends on being correct for proper
functioning. Exchange kept internal table references to a minimum.

Thanks,
-BrettSh

Shane,

This type of error indicates that your ntds.dit is too corrupted to be
recovered gracefully with ntdsutil. There are some other utilities that you
can try to use to force recovery, but you will lose some amount of data if
you go this route because the corrupted data gets deleted. I am not allowed
to discuss this method with you because I cannot guarantee the integrity of
your database after performing a forced recovery. Many times you will
experience linger problems if this is done.

However, you really have two options at this point:

1. A system state restore on the problem DC will resolve this problem
quickly and easily if you have a good system state backup. See kb article
240363 for directions on how to do this.

2. If you do not have a system state restore, but you do have another good
domain controller in your domain, you can remove the bad DC out of active
directory and then rebuild it and repromote it back to a domain controller.
If you go this route, make sure that all the FSMO roles are owned by one of
your good DCs. Make sure that one of your good DCs is running DNS so you
can point the rebuilt machine to a good DC for DNS. Also make sure that you
clean the old DC out of AD before bringing it back. Use KB article 216498
for directions on how to do this.

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Ray Lava
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

Had a power outage and ADS took a dump. I am trying to repair/recover the
ntds.dit with ntdsutil.exe and get an error while it tries to open the
database. As follows:
"Error: DBInitializeJetDatabase failed with [Jet Error -1018]."

Looked at MS website, but all results I found related to Exchange 5.5.
Really odd since I use Win2k server and Exchange 2000.

Any ideas?

Thanks