Any Tips for Promoting a BDC to PDC?

[CinciTech1]

Hello,

I've got an existing server that's been upgraded from Windows 98 (gasp!) to Win2000 and more recently to Win2003R2. It is a Pentium4 with 256MB RAM and mirrored 40GB hard drives. My company has purchased a new server with adual core Opteron CPU, 1GB RAM, and mirrored 320GB hard drives.

On the software side, the existing server was the domain controller for our network. After doing some Googling, I set up the new server as a BDC, and supposedly you should be able to run Server Manager, highlight the computer you want to promote from BDC to PDC, and select "Promote to Prmary Domain Controller". Unfortunately, this option, as well as "Synchronize with Primary Domain Cntroller", are both greyed out.

I can't seem to find any info on this situation. Does anyone have any insight as to what I've done wong to cause the new server not to play nice with the old? Tanks in advance for any help...

 

[mrdenny]

Those instructions that you have appear to be for a Windows NT domain. The procedures for demoting the first domain controller in a Windows 2003 network are very different.

First, your new machine should be setup with the same version of windows (Windows 2003 R2). Is it?

How did you promote the new machine and make it a domain controller?

In a Windows 2003 Active directory domain there is no PDC and BDC any more.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000) / MCTS (SQL 2005) / MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[CinciTech1]

The original server and the new server are both Win2003R2, so yes, same OS. I more or less just installed 2k3R2 on the new server, and went through the "Manage Your Server" wizard to set it up as a Domain Controller, and it became the BDC automatically. In Server Manager, (srvmgr.exe), it shows the original server as PDC and the new one as a BDC, so I'm asuming that the Win2k3R2 Active Directory is using PDC/BDC, because it shows me this...

I've been flipping through these forums, and I found another thread about demoting a PDC. I saw insructions for how to transfer control of FSMO roles, and I found that I couldn't get it to do so nicely... So a little Googling found me the method to seize these roles. I thought that didn't accomplish anything until I happened to restart both servers, and now my NEW server is the PDC!! *first goal accomplished*

Now, my question is this: What do I need to do as far as replicating settings and such so I can finish this process and take the old server off the network? I've also got Exchange (2003) to do this with, but I can post that in a seperate thread since there is a forum fo Exchange03, if that would be better.

Thanks for the help!

 

[mrdenny]

Once all 5 FSMO roles are hosed on the new server you just need to run dcpromo on the old machine to remove it as a domain controller.

Before you do that you need to make sure that DNS is setup on the new DC, and that all your workstations and other servers are setup to use the new machine as there DNS server.

You also might want to think about leaving the old machine running as a domain controller for some extra rendundancy.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000) / MCTS (SQL 2005) / MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[CinciTech1]

I actually had a setup where an even lower end machine was BDC to the old server, and it was used mostly for storage and taks like handling scans from our copier/scanner. Ultimately, I'd like to replace ths lowest server with a slightly upgraded old server, and that would be the storage/scans/BDC. But thanks for the tip!

Double checking all my DNS stuff. I'm planning on switching the IP and comp name to what the old one had, so *fingers crossed* everything will transfer semi-smoothly. Exchange is my only worry... But that's another thread!

Thanks again for the help.

 

[monsterjta]

CinciTech1,

The concept of PDC and BDC went out the door with NT4. With the advent of Windows 2000/2003 Server, the new scheme is Multi-Master. There are 5 FSMO roles, which can reside on any DC.

One of the functions for the PDC Emulator role actually is for interoperability with NT BDC's. If you only have one domain, only one instance of each of these 5 FSMO roles can exist. You can, however, split them up between your DC's if you like. Once you have siezed the roles to your new DC, you will not need to worry about roles on your Exchange server as it will not have any unless it was in a seperate domain.

Hope This Helps,

Good Luck!