Errors Installing AD

[tjkenobi]

Here is my problem - We had 2 NT servers PDC and BDC. We upgraded the PDC to 2K and AD was installed as part of the upgrade process. Our BDC had some other issues so we installed 2K clean. We went through the AD install wizard and immediately came up with errors.

1st error when entering username: password: and domain:
"the domain "public.our.business" is not an Active Directory domain, or an Active Directory domain controller for the domain could not be contacted."

If I change the domain to "public" it is OK but then

2nd error on the next option Domain name:
The domain "public.our.business" cannot be contacted. Select a different domain. (If this domain was recently created, its name may not yet be registered with the Domain Naming Service.)

Again if I change the domain to "public" it promps to say something like "public is the netbios name for public.our.business is that what you want" and I say ok and it moves on.

I can continue through the rest of the AD install wizard but the last real step, when it tries to configure AD I get this error.
Active Directory Installation Failed
The operation failed because:
Failed finding a suitable domain controller for the domain public.our.business
"the specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted."

I thought this was a DNS issue but I can't find anything wrong. I'm missing something but what?

Thanks in advance!

 

[hewissa]

Well, lets cover the basic things 1st. On DC2 check to make sure the cable/nic are working, check to make sure there is a connection to DC1 (possibly connect a laptop to the cable and ping the server...). During the installation process are you using the domain admin's account and password (I figure you are, just checking). Is the DNS server "up", you said you couldn't find anything wrong, but are the zones correct? Is DHCP enabled? If so have you specified the DNS server in the DHCP scope. This is a clean install, so do you even get as far as plugging this info in statically?

Was "Public" the NT domain name?

When you say clean install, you are deleting the partician and formating the drive?

Hewissa

MCSE, CCNA, CIW

 

[tjkenobi]

NIC and cable are fine on DC2.

I can ping DC1's IP address and when I ping public.our.business the reply is from the correct ip address (DC1). I believe the zones are correct in the DNS, if I can ping the name and the ip comes back doesn't that in effect mean the DNS is working properly?

I am using Domain Admin user and password.

DHCP is not enabled, we are using static internal addresses.

Yes, public was the NT domain name.

Yes, we deleted all particians and reformatted as NTFS. Win2K seemed to install just fine.

One thing I noticed from an MS knowledge base when upgrading from NT 4 to 2K there is a naming problem, the "Change primary DNS suffix when domain membership changes" check box is not selected by default so...DC1s 2K name is DC1.our.business instead of DC1.public.our.business. DC2 is DC2.public.our.business. I don't know if this makes a difference or not. DC1 is still the DC for the domain.

 

[bpierini]

Are you sure the SVR records are all getting correctly entered/updated on your DNS server? Check the file %systemroot%\system32\config\netlogon.dns and be certain all of the records in it are also in DNS.
-b

 

[hewissa]

AD failed and DC2 is still a member server. Correct? Is DC2 a member of the our.business domain or public.our.business domain? What if you joined DC2 to "Public" and see what domain is listed for the computer name.

Hewissa

MCSE, CCNA, CIW

 

[hewissa]

Also see if this article helps you:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=260371

Hewissa

MCSE, CCNA, CIW