Need help to delete old server from AD

[Don]

Hey guys and gals,

I have an old server I took offline and it will not be
coming back. I need to delete it from AD since I could
not run DCPROMO on it. It was too far gone by that time.
Can someone point me to some documentation on the
utilities to accomplish this?

Thanks,
Don

 

[Guest]

You mentioned DCPROMO... was this old server a DC? If so, did it have any FISMO roles assigned to it? If it was not a DC, all you have to do is remove the computer account, remove all DNS records, and WINs entries.

 

[Cary Shultz [A.D. MVP]]

Don,

As hawaii-geek asks, was this server a Domain Controller? If it was a DC,
then you would need to do what is called a metadata cleanup. Please take a
look at the following MSKB Article:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=216498

Please do not be fooled by the title - not doing a dcpromo is, in the end
and to be brief, the same thing as an unsuccessful dcpromo.

I might suggest that you install the WIN2000 Support Tools on all of your
WIN2000 Servers ( DCs, member server, Exchange Server, et al ).

HTH,

Cary

You mentioned DCPROMO... was this old server a DC? If so, did it have

any FISMO roles assigned to it? If it was not a DC, all you have to do is
remove the computer account, remove all DNS records, and WINs entries.

 

[Don]

Thanks to both of you. It was an old SBS Server and I
transferred the FSMO role to the new one I built. When I
tried to run DC promo (since SBS servers cannot trust
each other) I was not able to connect to the AD on the
new server so DCPROMO Failed. (MS really needs to think
this stuff through before releasing their software) I had
to take the old SBS offline because the hardware was
failing and it was inches away from death anyway. THe
problem is that since the DCPROMO wouldn't work the
server is still listed in AD and the other SBS Server and
another DC I have on the network are trying to replicate
with it and it is filling up my event log with erroneous
data.

I will check the KB and get back to you.

Don

 

[Cary Shultz [A.D. MVP]]

Don,

You might want to post this to the SBS news group. It would also have been
a good idea to include the fact that it is an SBS2000 server right from the
start. Each installation of SBS2000 creates a new domain / tree / forest.
As you stated, there can be no trusts set up between SBS2000 forests. There
are obvious reasons for this. I am quite sure that Microsoft did indeed
think this through.

You need to know that in a SBS environment it is the SBS Server ( DC ) that
must hold all five FSMO Roles. There can be other Domain Controllers in an
SBS2000 environment. AFAIK, however, no other DC can hold any fsmo roles.

I would be curious as to the exact steps that you took. I am not aware of
being able to transfer anything from one existing SBS2000 server /
environment to any other existing SBS2000 server / environment. I am not
sure how it was MSes fault that the hardware was failing.....

When you stated that you transferred the fsmo role ( do you mean roles?
there are five.... ) to the new one that you built - what is the "new one"?

Cary

 

[Don]

Cary

Let's get this straight from the top. The old SBS servers
hardware was failing. I never said that was MSes fault.
That happens. What MS did not think through was what
happens when a customers hardware fails on a SBS2k server
and they need to build a new server and transfer all that
info to the new server. As you so eloquently stated you
have to build a new domain and forrest and there are no
trust relationships in SBS.

Wouldn't you think that would make it difficult at best
to get all the shared data from the old server to the new
one? What about the Exchange data? It took MS support
three weeks to help me get all that straight. That is
what MS did not think through. Let's not forget the fact
that there is NO SUPPORTED WAY of doing this, which in
itself tells me no one ever thought about hardware
failing and transferring all that data. I have been told
that has been rectified in 2k3, thank god!

Now, yes I transferred all five FSMO roles to the new
server. The reason I am posting here is because I have
posted several times in the SBS group and got no
response. I need to get rid of the other server from AD
so that the machines on my network are not constantly
trying to connect up with it. It is causing an overload
of network traffic at times. I personally do not want to
call MS support again and try to go through the whole
enchilada from the start I just want to be able to clean
any references to the old server from AD.

Thanks for your help,
Don