Rename myDomain to myDomain.com

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stephan Barr
  • Start date Start date
S

Stephan Barr

My doman name is GSI and need it to be GSI.COM to resolve several nasty DNS
issues connected with single name domains. I plan to create the new domain
GSI.COM, move/copy/plead the AD information from GSI to GSI.COM demote
unJoin and rejoin the remaining DCs to GSI.COM. Sound like a plan...?
 
Sorry but I'm afraid that won't work.
You can certainly create the new domain etc, but to get AD information from
gsi to gsi.com you'd actually need to do a migration using ADMT v2
(available from our web site and info there about how to use it) from gsi to
gsi.com. Just copying/moving the info won't work as the two names are
different and everything it will want to use is still based on gsi even
though it is now located on a gsi.com dc.

--
David Brandt
Microsoft Corporation

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Thanks much. Lesson learned!
There are only 60 users or so in the single domain. Would you recommend
creating the new domain with proper name and then create all users ,
printers in the new domain...?

Plus I don't seem to be able to unjoin the DCs from GSI due to the DNS
lookup failure right...?
"The Directory Service failed to replicate off changes made locally"

Damn...reinstall all the servers...?
 
What are my options? With the single name domain I don't seem to be able
to resolve several nasty DNS issues and the same DNS issues keep me from
disjoining the single name domain. If so sounds like my only option is to
create the new domain (GSI.COM) and reinstall w2K on the other DCs I want in
the new domain. Do I have it right...?
 
If you haven't already, add the registry value to get a workaround on the
single label dns name thing, and then see if the other dc's won't demote;
300684 Information About Configuring Windows 2000 for Domains With
Single-Label
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=300684

If they still don't demote, you can forec them down with the following
article which will leave them as servers in a workgroup after the reboot;
332199 Using the DCPROMO /FORCEREMOVAL Command to Force the Demotion of
Active
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=332199

You can also dump the user accounts and their group membership/s to a txt
file that you can later import to save having to set all of that up again.
The pw won't be included since this is a txt file, so they will need to
change them at next logon. The utility is called adduser and is a resource
kit utility if memory serves me right, and the syntax is just;
addusers /d <filename.txt> to create the file
addusers /c <filename.txt> to import the list on the new server
It can be edited of course, and may want to remove the Administrator account
etc since you'll probably get an error about there already being one there.
Syntax help with addusers /?.

If you have a lot of shares created and want to export those you can also go
into;
hklm\system\ccs\services\lanmanserver\shares
export the key, and then it can be imported again on the server assuming
that the setup is the same of course.

--
David Brandt
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. This alias is for
newsgroup purposes only.
 
Yes did #300684 already and replication is going well.

Thanks to Mohanchand and David for the excellent advice.

But I gather the 300684 registry hack is not really a fix for DNS issues
going forward and the the real solution is to create a domain with a non
single label?
Am building a new DC with correct domain naming and will go from there with
exports of users, groups & shares.

Again thanks so much for the GREAT advice.
 
After application of KB 300684 have demoted two DCs and the remaining DCs
are replicating. Woohoo!

Had to use dcPromo /FORCEREMOVAL on one as dcpromo failed in finding the
domain.
 
DC4.workgroup ( as aresult from the dcPromo /FORCEREMOVAL ) continues
producing NTDS KCC Event ID 1265 in the DC1.gsi Direcory Service event log,
even though DC4 is not a DC , member or even in the GSI domain. This is
the DC that required dcPromo /FORCEREMOVAL. Am going to let things settle
abit since replication can take a while. DCs 1,2 & 3 and replicating and
no more 1265 are produced by them. None of the DCs have non subnet DNS
IPs.

I'm journaling my events for future use by the list. Any suggestions are
welcomed. And thanks for the excellent advice provided in this group...!
 
The Directory Service Event Log for the nonDomain member DC4 produced an
event 12, "The directory was shut down successfully", so the event 1265s
must be coming from somehere else. I'm going to guess DNS on the PDC and
start looking there. I did delete a CNAME record for DC4 from the PDC DNS
and there isn't a DNS record for the DC4.
 
Since dc4 was forced removed, it was unable to remove its metadata from AD
as it would normally do during a "graceful" demotion. You'll need to use
ntdsutil and do a metadata cleanup of it to get that info gone. Use the
following, connect to one of you existing dc, and follow all of the steps;
216498 HOW TO: Remove Data in Active Directory After an Unsuccessful Domain
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=216498

--
David Brandt
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. This alias is for
newsgroup purposes only.
 
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