moving fsmo roles

[Flint]

I have an older DC (which was the first) that I am trying to move off all
service (file shares, printer, etc..) and just leave it as a DC for backup
purposes. Since it's on older server, I would like to move the FSMO roles &
GC. I found articles to both.

My new server has been running as DC for a couple of weeks and using Active
directory integrated. Is there a specifc order in doing this? Also, I have
exchange 2003 and I believe I would also have to change the recipinat update
service to new DC. If someone could suggest the best order and any steps I
might have missed.

Thanks.

 

[Simon Geary]

There isn't any real order in which to carry out these steps as they don't
have any repentances on each other so it's up to you. However, if you have a
single domain, it is recommended to leave all your DCs as a GC so that's a
step you may want to consider skipping. If you only have two DCs (the old
one and the new one) then you will certainly want to keep it as a GC as a GC
is required for client logon. Having only one DC with no GC doesn't really
give you much redundancy.

 

[Flint]

Just to clearify, my old DC has the GC. Should I have the GC running on
both DC (I read that's only rquired for DC's in different sites) or move it
to the new server? I want to offload as much as possible on the old server
as it will be retired at somepoint and replaced.

 

[Simon Geary]

Yes, you should have both DCs as a GC. You don't want to move the GC role to
the new server, you want to add it as an additional GC.

For forests with more than one domain, some thought should be given to GC
placement and it is in this scenario that you should have at least one per
site. For forests with a single domain, the rules are much simpler, you
should make every DC a GC, even if you plan to retire it soon.