OOps...Server Name Space and Domain name problem after Upgrade fro

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Guest

I recently ran an NT4.0 to Windows 2000 server upgrade. I'm pretty sure I
made the mistake of renaming the old domain name "NTDOMAIN" to "NTDOMAIN.com"
with the Active Directory Namespace. This server is now a DNS server which
forwards outside addresses to an external DNS server however; we have already
registered "NTDOMAIN.com" as a public entry. Everything works fine until our
hosted mail server "mail.NTDOMAIN.com" changes it's IP address. (Happened 3x
in 2 months) I have to manually update the 'mail' host IP address on our
internal DNS server. Everyone thinks it's the outside hosted Email server
that's down until I make this change. - They'll catch on soon enough...

I think I need to rename "NTDOMAIN.com to NTDOMAIN.local" but I'm not sure
if this can be done in Windows 2000 server. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Any help is strongly apprciated. There are only 6-7 hosts on the network.

Sincerely,

JoeF
 
Joe,

Maybe I am not seeing something here. So, please excuse me if I am.

To answer your first question, you can sorta rename a WIN2000 Domain. I say
'sorta' because if you are in Native Mode there is not a way to do it; if
you are in Mixed Mode there is a way to do it ( but a bit involved ). And
if you have Exchange 2000 then you can not.

Please look at the following link:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?id=292541

Now, if you wanted to upgrade to WIN2003 Active Directory ( and if you
upgrade Exchange to Exchange 2003 SP1 ) then you could use the rendom
utility.

However, I am not so sure that this is really the problem. When the IP
Address changes you are going to have to 'change' with it....

Or am I missing something?

--
Cary W. Shultz
Roanoke, VA 24012

WIN2000 Active Directory MVP
http://www.activedirectory-win2000.com
(soon to be updated!!!)
http://www.grouppolicy-win2000.com
(soon to be updated!!!)
 
We are not running Exchange Server at all. Our mail server is hosted by an
Outside company named BigBuzz. Our OutLook clients contact mail.ntdomain.com
for incoming and outgoing POP and SMTP servers. Being that our Active
Directory domain is the same ntdomain.com, the DNS server is looking
internally for mail.ntdomain.com. To get around this scenario, I ping'd
mail.ntdomain.com from a host outside our network and got its current IP
address. I inserted this IP address within our own DNS server for
mail.ntdomain.com. When BigBuzz changes its mail server IP addresses,
everyone's email fails(Can't find server) until I update our DNS server with
mail.ntdomain.com's new IP address.

I think I need to change the Active Directory namespace and domain, but
don't know how in Windows 2000. It is the only server on the network. (Native
mode?)
The internal domain should have been ntdomain.local.

-Joe
 
Joe,

Sorry for the delayed response.

I understood that you are not hosting your e-mail yourself. I was just
pointing out that *were* you running Exchange 2000 that it would be very
difficult, if not impossible. Just a general piece of information to keep
in the back of your head.

As for changing the domain name.....gonna be tough. If you are in Native
Mode then it will not be possible. If you are in Mixed Mode it might be
possible. There should be a lot of information on how to do this in this
newsgroup.

Now, what is Native Mode and what is Mixed Mode? I might google this or
look in this news group. There is a ton of information on that subject.
Essentially, it all comes down to having a WINNT 4.0 BDC in your WIN2000 AD
environment. In Native Mode this will not work but in Mixed Mode it will.
To clarify something that causes confusion: the 'Mode' applies only to
Domain Controllers; not member servers, not workstations, not nothing! In
Native Mode there are a few other things ( such as Universal Security Groups
and Group Nesting... ).

--
Cary W. Shultz
Roanoke, VA 24012

http://www.activedirectory-win2000.com
(soon to be updated!!!)
http://www.grouppolicy-win2000.com
(soon to be updated!!!)
 
Opps, should have mentioned that this changes the NetBIOS name. What you
want to change something else. You can not do that in WIN2000. You can in
WIN2003 - but it is not a task to be taken lightly.

I am not sure why you think that you need to change the name from
'yourdomain.com' to 'yourdomain.local'. This really should not have that
much to do with your problem.

I would look more at some sort of DNS solution. Ace can probably help you
there. I think that something like DynDNS - not sure if that is the correct
name - would help. Or, you could get a static IP Address.

--
Cary W. Shultz
Roanoke, VA 24012

http://www.activedirectory-win2000.com
(soon to be updated!!!)
http://www.grouppolicy-win2000.com
(soon to be updated!!!)
 
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