PDC Emulator down

[Dan]

My root DC is down and i need to rebuild it, DO i need to make another
server the pdc emulator, IF so what are the steps on doing this.

 

[Rick]

Our you going to try to rebuild and restore from tape or are you going to
rebuild and do a dcpromo? If you are going to do a DC promo you need to make
that you have seized the FSMO roles with another DC. I am assuming you had a
backup DC in the root also. There is also an article about metadata cleanup
you need. I think this is it
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=216498

If your are going to restore the AD database (System State Data) from tape
you can do a NON-authoritative restore and then let it resink and everything
will be fine.

Are you rebuilding because of hardware failure?

If you want additional information on one of the two routes post again with
the route you are taking and I will try to help

 

[Herb Martin]

Read Rick's response carefully -- here are the KEY points:

Do NOT seize the PDC role IF you will return or rebuild the original
role holder to the network.

You MUST seize the role IF you will NOT return the original to the network.

Seizing is BAD if you still have the original. (Trust me.)

Use NTDSUtil (roles sub-command) to seize the role.

Also investigate the other roles AND ensure you have 1+ GCs (not a role in
the
normal terminology usage.)

 

[Rick]

Herb thanks for the follow up I should have emphasized those points more but
was looking for more information to be posted from Dan

 

[Herb Martin]

Herb thanks for the follow up I should have emphasized those points more but
was looking for more information to be posted from Dan

No, you did fine -- I just know that when someone like you posts a long
thoughtful answer, with significant reading required to ingest all of the
references,
some posters get lost in the forest and cannot see the trees or domains.
<grin>