Question

Changing partition size : DCPROMO or not

Asked by: Leonard_MOR

Hi,
Notice that someone else was looking for a solution for resizing partitions on a Windows 2003 Server. As it happens, I use the old PowerQuest Drive Image to backup an image of the disks to a SAN and then restore with resizing of partitions. This works fine even with RAID disks and have done it on a number of servers.

Also I prefer to keep the old disks in case of problems, and replace them with new ones for the restoration process (since invariably I have to increase capacity at the same time).

Am preparing to do the same operation on a W2003 server which is also a (secondary) domain controller. The FSMO roles have already been moved to another server.

My question is, since the backup and restore operations will take a number of hours, and the server will be off-line for this time, should I do a DCPROMO to take off the domain controller function before starting the operation.

Any opinions gratefully received.

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Asked On
2009-01-22 at 01:17:17ID24073319
Tags

Windows 2003

,

changing partition size

,

ad

,

dcpromo

Topic

Windows 2003 Server

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Answers

 

by: oBdAPosted on 2009-01-22 at 02:15:39ID: 23437960

If you want to have the option to revert back to the old disks, then you'll have to demote the machine before you image it.
You can NOT use imaging tools to backup a domain controller, the backup will be useless from the point on that this DC has been booted back up.
If you're restoring a DC from an image, you'll suffer a USN rollback:
How to detect and recover from a USN rollback in Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875495

In other words: it would be possible to shutdown the DC, take an image, put in the new disks, and restore the image, if you *never* boot the DC inbetween taking and restoring the image.
But as soon as the DC boots successfully from the new disks, the installation on the old disks is basically worthless.

 

by: Leonard_MORPosted on 2009-01-22 at 04:46:04ID: 23438789

Thanks oBdA,
Will discuss with the client.
In fact, once the image of the old disks has been saved and restored on the new disks, and the DC boots on the new disks, we woudl hvae no reason to keep the old disks (which will be recycled).
Since we plan to keep the server as a DC, I would  have to demote, save image, restore, and then promote which implies more work (and in a production environment).
In this context, would you still recommend demoting before starting. Will the fact that the DC will be off-line for a number of hours have an operational effect (client access etc.).
Cheers


 

by: oBdAPosted on 2009-01-22 at 05:26:20ID: 23439049

It's up to you what to do; you just said in your first comment "Also I prefer to keep the old disks in case of problems", and this can be disastrous if you don't know about USN rollbacks ...
As long as you are aware that the OS on the old disks may not be used anymore as soon as the DC boots from the restored image (and neither is the stored image valid as a backup anymore after the boot), and that you may not reboot the DC between taking and restoring its image, you don't have to demote.
Having the DC offline for a few hours shouldn't have an impact, as long as the other DC can cover all the necessary services.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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