transfer fsmo roles questions

[kb]

We will be replacing a dc that holds the schema master and
domain owner roles, as well is a gcs. We have 4 other
dc's, that are all gcs and between them hold the other
fsmo roles.

Do I need to transer the schema master and domain owner
roles manually? Or when I run dcpromo to demote the
server, will the roles be automatically transferred?
I have seen the technet articles about siezing the roles,
but I'm hoping it doesn't get to that.
Thanks

 

[Cary Shultz [A.D. MVP]]

KB,

I am not entirely sure what you are asking as your question is a bit
confusing. Actually, the question is clear but your details are confusing.
You state that you have a DC that holds the Schema Master and the 'domain
owner roles'. I can only assume that you mean the three domain-wide FSMO
Roles of PDC Emulator, RID Master and Infrastructure Master? If that is
indeed the case then that leaves only the Domain Naming Master left. I am
not sure how the remaining four DCs 'can between them hold the other FSMO
Roles'.....Or, did you mean the Domain Naming Master when you stated the
'domain owner roles'? But then 'roles' should have been 'role'....

I have never tried this in a 3+ DC environment as I always manually transfer
the roles in advance. I would suggest that you do the same. I would not
think that in this situation the dcpromo process would know to which DC to
transfer any of the FSMO Roles. However, please note that in a two DC
environment if you dcpromo a DC that holds any FSMO Roles during the dcpromo
process the roles are transferred to the remaining DC.

HTH,

Cary