DC promoting/demoting/removing question

[Guest]

Hello

I upgraded an NT network to a W2k network everything is replicating (two dc's in the main office and 4 remotes locations with dc's. One of the two dc's in the main office was the NT PDC that I upgraded to w2k, the other is the new W2K machine and the first domain controller I set up.) I now no longer need the the old "PDC" so can I just unplug it from the network? I can't seem to find the NT4 style of promoting/demoting servers. I'm kinda skeptical that it would be that simple. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Ray

 

[Brian Desmond [MVP]]

Ray-

You've got a few intermediate steps before you can unplug it.

Transfer the FSMOs
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;255690
Make sure you've got at least one other Global Catalog in the forest
Run dcpromo on the DC you're removing and demote it

Then, you can unplug it.

--
--
Brian Desmond
Windows Server MVP
(e-mail address removed)12.il.us

Http://www.briandesmond.com

Hello,

I upgraded an NT network to a W2k network everything is replicating (two

dc's in the main office and 4 remotes locations with dc's. One of the two
dc's in the main office was the NT PDC that I upgraded to w2k, the other is
the new W2K machine and the first domain controller I set up.) I now no
longer need the the old "PDC" so can I just unplug it from the network? I
can't seem to find the NT4 style of promoting/demoting servers. I'm kinda
skeptical that it would be that simple. Any help would be greatly
appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Hi Brian

Thanks for the link, I'll get working on it.....

Ray

 

[Cary Shultz [A.D. MVP]]

Webitect,

In addition to what Brian gave you, I would suggest that you make the second
DC a DDNS server and that you update the DHCP Server to hand out the new,
updated information to all of your clients.

HTH,

Cary

 

[Guest]

Hi guys

Well, it all went well until the last part, the "change" button is grayed out in the ad schema, operations master dialogue box. What do I do now
Also, I see that all my other dc's computer names changed to "name".domain.com from just "name". All except the one I am trying to make master controller. It kept the same "name" for the computer name. I can't take it off domain and rejoin to change the name because the button is grayed out "the name cannot be changed because it's a domain controller". So that means I have to dcpromo to take it off dc and then rejoin domain, then dcpromo it back to a dc

Cary
I do not have controll of the DHCP server but I will try to contact the guys who do (they are on a different continent than I am). Unless you can teach me how to get around it. I'm getting other dhcp errors as well but I'm working on this master role thing first

As always, any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Ray

 

[Cary Shultz [A.D. MVP]]

Webitect,

If you are not a member of the Enterprise Admins group then I do not think
that there is much that you can do about that. Sorry!

Cary

Hi guys,

Well, it all went well until the last part, the "change" button is grayed

out in the ad schema, operations master dialogue box. What do I do now?

Also, I see that all my other dc's computer names changed to

"name".domain.com from just "name". All except the one I am trying to make
master controller. It kept the same "name" for the computer name. I can't
take it off domain and rejoin to change the name because the button is
grayed out "the name cannot be changed because it's a domain controller".
So that means I have to dcpromo to take it off dc and then rejoin domain,
then dcpromo it back to a dc?

Cary,
I do not have controll of the DHCP server but I will try to contact the

guys who do (they are on a different continent than I am). Unless you can
teach me how to get around it. I'm getting other dhcp errors as well but
I'm working on this master role thing first.

 

[Guest]

Hi Cary

Thanks for the reply. I am a domain admins for the windows segment of our network, just not on the solaris side of the network where the DHCP server resides. My partner informed me that he deleted the dns suffix from the dc whose name is not in the same format as the other dc's. Will that make a difference? Will demoting / re - promoting that dc fix this issue? Also, the "error" I'm getting is "the current operations master is offline. The role cannot be transferred." I don't understand. None of my dc's are offline. What is it I'm missing

Thanks for the help

Ray

 

[Guest]

I got it working well, the computer name still doesn't conform but all the fsmo are changed. Thanks for all the help

Ray

 

[Guest]

Got it! Kevin from the DNS forum passed this link to me to change the registry settings that need to changed in order to fix the single label name....here's the link...

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=25762

Thanks for all the help, everybody!!!

Ray