Need to rename a Domain Controller
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I need to rename a DC following this: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc782761(v=ws.10).aspx Is it a bad idea? There are multiple DCs
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Without reading that -
Demote the DC to standard server - reboot
leave the domain (set a local admin password you know) - reboot
change the server name - reboot.
rejoin the domain - reboot
promote to DC - reboot
doneI'll add that you should make sure you move any FSMO roles to another server first, but the demotion should handle that for you if needed.
also, if you are running DHCP/DNS on this server, you might migrate those first so you don't suffer downtime.
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@Dashrender said:
Without reading that -
Demote the DC to standard server - reboot
leave the domain (set a local admin password you know) - reboot
change the server name - reboot.
rejoin the domain - reboot
promote to DC - reboot
doneIt's the PDC Emulator so I'd have that FSMO role and setup NTP on another DC, hence why I'd like to just rename.
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NTP is trivial unless you have software that is hard coded to look at that specific server for it.
Moving the role is trivial too - I've never had a problem personally when moving any FSMO role.
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@Dashrender said:
NTP is trivial unless you have software that is hard coded to look at that specific server for it.
Moving the role is trivial too - I've never had a problem personally when moving any FSMO role.
Trivial yes, but according to Microsoft unnecessary.
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OK I looked - interesting.. but only 2003 and 2003 r2 are listed.
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In my experience renaming a DC without following @Dashrender's steps is asking for issues down the road. AD and DNS just don't play well at times, and anything affecting that fragile relationship goes into the "do not do" category for me.
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@Dashrender has a solid plan, but why not just demote and rebuild the VM? Of course that is assuming your DCs are just DCs and having nothing else on them.
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@IRJ said:
@Dashrender has a solid plan, but why not just demote and rebuild the VM? Of course that is assuming your DCs are just DCs and having nothing else on them.
Totally agree with this. I'd assume if he's looking to rename it's because there ARE other things on it.
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If you need to rename it, why not just create a new VM, move FSMO roles over and then move the other functions over as well?
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@handsofqwerty said:
@IRJ said:
@Dashrender has a solid plan, but why not just demote and rebuild the VM? Of course that is assuming your DCs are just DCs and having nothing else on them.
Totally agree with this. I'd assume if he's looking to rename it's because there ARE other things on it.
It's not it's just someone improperly licensed it, as it's datacenter on a different server not licensed for Datacenter. It is only a DC with DHCP. But I want two DCs up at all times and the new DC I will be making will needs to have the Hostname that this DC does.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@handsofqwerty said:
@IRJ said:
@Dashrender has a solid plan, but why not just demote and rebuild the VM? Of course that is assuming your DCs are just DCs and having nothing else on them.
Totally agree with this. I'd assume if he's looking to rename it's because there ARE other things on it.
It's not it's just someone improperly licensed it, as it's datacenter on a different server not licensed for Datacenter. It is only a DC with DHCP. But I want two DCs up at all times and the new DC I will be making will needs to have the Hostname that this DC does.
So if you've got another DC currently, move the PDC role to it, spin up the VM where it needs to be, elevate it to a DC and then demote this one and decomm it. If for a couple hours you've got a license issue, I don't think that's really an issue since you'll be removing the one. So for a very brief time you'll have three DCs until you decommission the original one.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@handsofqwerty said:
@IRJ said:
@Dashrender has a solid plan, but why not just demote and rebuild the VM? Of course that is assuming your DCs are just DCs and having nothing else on them.
Totally agree with this. I'd assume if he's looking to rename it's because there ARE other things on it.
It's not it's just someone improperly licensed it, as it's datacenter on a different server not licensed for Datacenter. It is only a DC with DHCP. But I want two DCs up at all times and the new DC I will be making will needs to have the Hostname that this DC does.
It's very easy to export DHCP scopes and settings.
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@IRJ said:
@thecreativeone91 said:
@handsofqwerty said:
@IRJ said:
@Dashrender has a solid plan, but why not just demote and rebuild the VM? Of course that is assuming your DCs are just DCs and having nothing else on them.
Totally agree with this. I'd assume if he's looking to rename it's because there ARE other things on it.
It's not it's just someone improperly licensed it, as it's datacenter on a different server not licensed for Datacenter. It is only a DC with DHCP. But I want two DCs up at all times and the new DC I will be making will needs to have the Hostname that this DC does.
It's very easy to export DHCP scopes and settings.
Yeah, exactly. Or if it's not a complex setup, it might be just as easy to replicate the settings from scratch. It depends on what you have setup.
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After talking to several sr system admins I'll just rename it. There's a recommended practice from Microsoft on it and no one has ever had an issue doing it.
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@thecreativeone91 You better cross your eyes, fingers, toes and legs... and knock on wood before you start, lol.
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@dafyre said:
@thecreativeone91 You better cross your eyes, fingers, toes and legs... and knock on wood before you start, lol.
Lol. as long as it's only a DC there's little to go wrong you verfiy the DNS updates at each step. as long as the DNS is updated correctly for replication then there is nothing to go wrong.
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I will never change anything major on a DC ever again. It's too easy to just spin up a new one and demote the old one. This way you have no downtime at all and no chance for anything to go wrong.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@dafyre said:
@thecreativeone91 You better cross your eyes, fingers, toes and legs... and knock on wood before you start, lol.
Lol. as long as it's only a DC there's little to go wrong you verfiy the DNS updates at each step. as long as the DNS is updated correctly for replication then there is nothing to go wrong.
Any reason you want to walk on egg shells and have downtime?
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@handsofqwerty said:
@IRJ said:
@Dashrender has a solid plan, but why not just demote and rebuild the VM? Of course that is assuming your DCs are just DCs and having nothing else on them.
Totally agree with this. I'd assume if he's looking to rename it's because there ARE other things on it.
It's not it's just someone improperly licensed it, as it's datacenter on a different server not licensed for Datacenter. It is only a DC with DHCP. But I want two DCs up at all times and the new DC I will be making will needs to have the Hostname that this DC does.
Mind if I ask why the new one needs the name of the current one?
