Demoting the First DC.

[Ihab Abedrabbo]

Hi,
I have a single domain installed on one domain controller.
By default, the first domain controller becomes the
Operations Master, meaning that this DC is:

RID Master
PDC Emulator
Infrastructure Master
Global Catalog

If I'm to promote another server to become a DC with
dcpromo, and to REMOVE my first DC because of HW problems.
What are the steps I should take to safely remove the
first domain controller. Please specify the HOW TO STEPS
for that.

For example, to move the PDC EMULATOR from the first DC to
the second, what am I supposed to do and how?

Thanks a lot.
Ihab

 

[Chriss3]

Hello Ihab.

You have to make your other domain controller become a global catalog
server, make sure this will be noticed in the Directory Service event view
and can take some time depending on how much objects you have in Active
Directory, see the link below for more information.
www.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/ server/help/msmq_inst_set_gc.htm

You can let the DCPRMO Demontion Wizard transfter the FSMO roles during
demotion of the first server, How ever you can also do this manuelly. DCROMO
Wizard dose not allow you to select the destionation server, it will
transfer the roles to any DC in your domain, in your case it can only be one


255504 - Using Ntdsutil.exe to Seize or Transfer FSMO Roles to a Domain
Controller
This article describes how to use the Ntdsutil.exe tool to seize or transfer
Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) roles.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;255504

255690 - HOW TO: View and Transfer FSMO Roles in the Graphical User
Interface
There are five Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) roles in a Windows
2000 forest. There are two ways to transfer a FSMO role in Windows 2000.
This article describes how to transfer all five FSMO roles by using
Microsoft Management Console (MMC)...
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;255690