Recreating domain controller

[lovembsc]

We have 2 Windows 2000 domain controllers and several member servers on
our network. We purchased new equipment for one domain controller and
our Exchange 2000 server. We are aware of a schema problem from an
earlier install and re-install of Exchange. We want to install Windows
2000 and configure Active Directory from scratch again, adding users
and computers manually. (It's a relatively small network.)

I have 2 main questions.

1. Will the computers and member servers recognize this as the domain
of which they are members?

2. Will we need to re-build the second domain controller, or can we
demote it and then promote it again so that we won't have
synchronization problems with Active Directory?
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Will Butler]

We have 2 Windows 2000 domain controllers and several member servers on
our network. We purchased new equipment for one domain controller and
our Exchange 2000 server. We are aware of a schema problem from an
earlier install and re-install of Exchange. We want to install Windows
2000 and configure Active Directory from scratch again, adding users
and computers manually. (It's a relatively small network.)

I have 2 main questions.

1. Will the computers and member servers recognize this as the domain
of which they are members?

2. Will we need to re-build the second domain controller, or can we
demote it and then promote it again so that we won't have
synchronization problems with Active Directory?
Thanks in advance for your help.

I did something similar last year (no Exchange though).

1. Check out the Active Directory Migration tool
<http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/tools/admt/default.asp>

2. You can just demote the second server, join it to the new domain and
then promote it.

-Will

 

[Joe Richards [MVP]]

1. No. The new domain is just that, a new domain, even if it has the same name.

2. You should be able to demote and repromote in the new domain.

What is the exact schema issue that you think requires the rebuild?

joe

 

[lovembsc]

Here's the issue:

When a consultant first installed Exchange 2000, it had problems, so we
were advised by Microsoft to re-install it. Since then, whenever we
create a new user, the email address comes up as random numbers and
letters, no matter what the alias is that we assign, and we have to
change it in the user properties.

For example: Joe Smith, username smithj, with an alias of jsmith would
show as having the email address of (e-mail address removed) before we edit
it.

Suggestions? We'd sure like to be able to restore rather than recreate
these servers.

T

 

[Joe Richards [MVP]]

That sounds like an issue with the RUS and recipient policy, not with the schema
itself. MS should be able to troubleshoot that. That is, there might be some bad
data in the directory and a complete uninstall and reinstall of Exchange where
all Exchange attributes/objects are purged out (config and domain policies)
might fix it but it may be something even smaller. I would recommend involving PSS.

joe