Format one domain controller

[Maged N. Roshdy]

Hi

i have win 2000 server domain , 2 domain controller , i
want to format one of the domain controller , the domain
controller i want to format have the ISA server installed
on it , but i still didnt use it , but its installed
already , the question is , if i format that server
without uninstalling the AD and the ISA is that harmfull
for my system , i'll appriciate any help

Thanks

Maged

 

[Simon Geary]

Before formatting your DC you should run dcpromo on it to bring it down to a
member server. You don't need to uninstall ISA server before rebuilding it
though.

 

[Guest]

but i am sure that the Dc i want to format dont have any
important data to replecate with the other one , i have
doubt it contain virous , so i want to format it without
uninstall the AD so that will affect my domain , i am
already close it and the domain working will
so what do you think

 

[Simon Geary]

If you format a DC before doing a dcpromo down to a member server it will
leave behind a lot of unwanted data in Active Directory. In this case, you
have to follow the metadata cleanup process in this article.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=216498

Best practice is to avoid having to do this at all so get the virus cleaned
up from the server offline, reattach it to the network and dcpromo down to a
member server before reformatting.

 

[Guest]

YOU SHOULD DCPROMO THE SERVER. Like the guy below said
there is a lot of data left behind in the directroy. For
example, the other DC will keep trying to replicate files
using NTFRS. This can cause a big backlog and problems...

 

[Steve Buckley]

If you don't uninstall ISA Server and you have an
Enterprise defined Array present then the array will
still exist in Active Directory which can cause some
ugliness in your event logs if you try to add a new
server to the pre-existing array.
It can all be cleaned up afterwards but I'd recommend
uninstalling and removing the array before.
Neither of these steps are essential if you are in a
desperate hurry, but then again it will only take a few
minutes.