Off-Line DC

[GJB]

If a DC (1 of 4) goes off-line for a long period of time (say 6 weeks) and
you take no remedal action what are the problems, repercussions for the
other DCs and the forest/tree.

 

[Tomasz Onyszko]

If a DC (1 of 4) goes off-line for a long period of time (say 6 weeks) and
you take no remedal action what are the problems, repercussions for the
other DCs and the forest/tree.

6 weeks is shorter then default tombstone lifetime. If You haven't done
any modification to tombstone lifetime there should be any problems
caused by such DC.

If this DC was off-line longer then tombstone lifetime period it can
introduce unwanted objects back to Your forest, which except other
things may broke replication process.

 

[GJB]

Thank you, so if you never bring it back on line i.e remove it from the
domain/forest it should not represent a problem?

 

[Tomasz Onyszko]

Thank you, so if you never bring it back on line i.e remove it from the
domain/forest it should not represent a problem?

No, but You have to remember about cleaning up metadata

 

[Paul Bergson]

There are requirements to clean up metadata (AD) otherwise dc's are still
looking for the missing dc's and if you tried to upgrade it would probably
stop you since the dc's don't know if they have been sync'd up. The clean
up is relatively easy and you can just use a server tool called ntdsutil

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;216498

--

Paul Bergson MCT, MCSE, MCSA, CNE, CNA, CCA

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Thank you, so if you never bring it back on line i.e remove it from the
domain/forest it should not represent a problem?

 

[Jorge de Almeida Pinto [MVP]]

Why would you want to disconnect a DC for such a long time and then
reconnect it again?
As the others said, if you disconnect it and it should never return then
DEMOTE it or shut it down and cleanup metadata.
Besides that, you also need to take into account what other services that DC
is hosting... Examples are: GC, FSMOs roles, DNS, WINS, DHCP, etc. You need
to make those services are hosted on other servers before removing the DC.
In short... you need to think about the relation other servers and clients
have with the DC you want to remove

--

Cheers,
(HOPEFULLY THIS INFORMATION HELPS YOU!)

# Jorge de Almeida Pinto # MVP Windows Server - Directory Services

BLOG --> http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/jorge/default.aspx