Old Domain Controllers listed in AD Sites & Services

[niallo32]

I have three Domain Controllers on a Windows 2000 Mixed Domain.

In AD Sites & Services/Sites/Domain Name/Servers - there are six Domain Controllers listed - three of which no longer exist.

In the Event log on one of the Domain controllers, I am getting error messages such as:

The attempt to establish a replication link with parameters

Partition: CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=com
Source DSA DN: CN=NTDS Settings,CN=servername,CN=Servers,CN=MPI,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=messerec,DC=com
Source DSA Address: 3b667786-48e3-4c94-b006-2a13b2676232._msdcs.domain.com
Inter-site Transport (if any):

failed with the following status:

The DSA operation is unable to proceed because of a DNS lookup failure.

The record data is the status code. This operation will be retried.

-------- And --------------

Following is the summary of warnings and errors encountered by File Replication Service while polling the Domain Controller DC.Domain.com for FRS replica set configuration information.

The nTFRSMember object cn=OldDC1,cn=domain system volume (sysvol share),cn=file replication service,cn=system,dc=Domain,dc=com has a invalid value for the attribute frsComputerReference.

The nTFRSMember object cn=OldDC2,cn=domain system volume (sysvol share),cn=file replication service,cn=system,dc=Domain,dc=com has a invalid value for the attribute frsComputerReference.

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I would like to remove these old DC's from the list as I think they are causing other problems with replication

I would also like to run DCPromo on one of the Live Domain Controllers, as I only promoted it about a week ago and I believe this may have caused a few problems.

If I run DCPROMO on the new DC, will this have any knock-on affects on the Active Directory?

I want to do a 'Metadata Cleanup' to remove the old Domain Controllers as per above - does this have any knock-on effect on the Active Directory?

Thanks

 

[aftertaf]

you can try to delete these objects from sites & services, and do a cleanup like you say...

the knock on effect will be to get rid of the old junk and make replication occur more efficiently!

Aftertaf

I just want something I can never have...

 

[niallo32]

When I try and delete the old objects from AD Sites & Services, I get the error 'The DSA Object cannot be deleted'

Have you ever done a MetaData Cleanup from a command prompt?

If I demote the DC that I promoted (leaving me with the original two DC's), will that have any negative impact on the Active Directory?

Thanks for the feedback

 

[aftertaf]

Have I ever done one......

aha!
you got me there mate!
nope, just read about and been tested on a few times.

http://www.petri.co.il/delete_failed_dcs_from_ad.htm

is a damn fine guide though!!

Aftertaf

I just want something I can never have...

 

[niallo32]

Thats great - thanks a lot

What about demoting the newly promoted DC though?

 

[aftertaf]

same thing, you try to ged rid in the 'clean' way, and if all fails, cleanup time...

give the others time to replicate the demotion first tho...
wait a day before ntdsutil-ing if you do demote

Aftertaf

I just want something I can never have...

 

[niallo32]

It all worked out fine and the replication problem is gone - thanks for your help - again!

 

[aftertaf]

lol

no worries....

its good revision for me too !!!

Aftertaf

I just want something I can never have...

 

[niallo32]

Cheers - some nervous moments there - particularly when it asks you to remove Active Directory...it all worked out in the end though!

 

[aftertaf]

hehe...

Windows at this level can set off cold sweats!

Aftertaf

I just want something I can never have...