Retire a DC

  • Thread starter Thread starter John
  • Start date Start date
J

John

Hi

I am due to retire the first Active Directory domain controller for our
network. It has all the roles. How can I safely remove this server from the
network?

Thank-you

John
 
Another way to seize roles is to go to Active Directory Users and Computers,
right click on the domain, and select "Operations Master". It will list 3
roles in there, and you can transfer the roles to another server.
 
But you'll also need to grab the two forest-wide roles (Schema Master, and
Domain Naming). One via AD Trusts and the other through AD Schema, which
isn't there by default and has to be added to a custom MMC after registering
the appropriate .dll file.

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Paul Williams
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Tommy Vercetti said:
Another way to seize roles is to go to Active Directory Users and Computers,
right click on the domain, and select "Operations Master". It will list 3
roles in there, and you can transfer the roles to another server.


from
Click to expand...
 
Be very very very careful when seizing the FSMO roles. Typically, you would
only seize an FSMO role if/when the Domain Controller that held the role
went down ungracefully. You would then use NTDSUTIL to seize any of the
roles that the downed DC held.

You typically want to keep this option in the back of your mind. What you
would want to keep in the front of your mind is the process by which you
transfer roles from one existing DC to another. For this you can either use
the MMCs ( as others have suggested ) or ntdsutil. NTDSUTIL is a very
powerful CLI tool. I would really suggest that you install WIN2000 Server
on an available machine and play with it in a test environment. It can
really save your behind However, it can also put your behind in a sling!

Please look at the following two MSKB Articles on transferring FSMO Roles
from one DC to another ( which is what you want to do in this situation at
this point ):

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=255504 ( ntdsutil )
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=255690 ( MMCs )

HTH,

Cary
 
Jeremy,

You are correct. It/they will automagically transfer upon the dcpromo
process. I prefer, however, to be in control of to what Domain Controller
the role(s) is/are transferred.

Good point, though!

Cary

Jeremy@gilbarco said:
Actually, the roles should transfer just be demoting the
current master. Just run DCPROMO on it and remove AD.
Click to expand...
 

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