dcpromo'ing first server

[Brian McGrew]

I may be way off base here but I recall talking to Microsoft once and them
telling me that I had to be careful if I ever removed our first Win2K
server.

The way our network is, I've got server #1 which is the first Win2K server I
ever setup. I've got Server #2 and #3 which of course came later and both
have active directory on them. I've got Server #4 and #5 which also came
later, have active directory and are global catalogs.

I need to remove server #1. It's suffering from failing hardware and it's
old and obsolete. Is there anything that I need to watch our for or be
careful of when doing this? Or can I just run dcpromo and be gone with it?

Thanks,

-brian

 

[Ryan Hanisco]

Brian,

That is a lot of servers for one site... If there are multiple sites in
your replication topology, make sure you look at your bridgeheads and
replication metrics to be sure that pulling that server will not do
something funky with the way your replication is occurring.

Take a look at the placement of your FSMO roles. If you haven't done much
with these, they are most likely still on that first server. When you
demote it, those roles will be migrated off to other servers, but you want
to do this manually so you know exactly where things are and how they affect
your environment.

I would suggest, migrating the roles and all other functions of that
server -- DNS, Printers, profiles and the like. Then shut the server off
for a week or two. This will give you a grace period where you can see if
you've missed anything. Make sure you add/ remove users, look for RID Pool
problems, edit GPOs... normal AD stuff, to test.

After that, power the server up, run a dcpromo to remove it, and you should
be good.