Question

Error adding site office to domain

Asked by: GlenmoranUK

We are trying to add a site office to the corporate domain but when we try to dcpromo the machine we get the following error message:

Active Directory Installation Wizard
The wizard cannot gain access to the list of domains in the forest.  The error is:
The semaphore timeout period has expired.

The site office is connected through a firewall vpn (Sonicwall) over a 2MB connection.

Additional Info:
Server is brand new vanilla install of Windows 2003 Server R2
Pings by IP address are working with times of around 150ms.
DNS seems to be working as from new server we can ping FQDN's on the new domain.  (have set the primary DNS to be one of the DC's on the new server)  Also have tried NSLOOKUP tool and am getting correct addresses.

Any help would be appreciated.

Best regards

G

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Asked On
2008-01-21 at 12:55:58ID23099366
Tags

Microsoft

,

Windows server 2003

,

2003 R2

Topics

Active Directory

,

Windows 2003 Server

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
8

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Answers

 

by: SteveH_UKPosted on 2008-01-21 at 14:16:26ID: 20710216

Make sure the clock on the new server is in sync with the domain.  See http://blogs.bdnet.co.uk/steve/archive/2008/01/06/The-Windows-Time-Service.aspx.  If this isn't correct then Kerberos authentication may fail.

Also, make sure that you can send all traffic through the VPN.

Set both DNS entries on the new server to servers in the domain and make sure you attempt to join using a Domain Admin account.  Make sure that all the DCs in the office are accessible.

Also consider viewing AD Sites & Services and make sure the Subnets are configured.

Check the event logs for further information.

Let me know how it goes.

 

by: GlenmoranUKPosted on 2008-01-22 at 05:02:23ID: 20713779

Many thanks Steve,

Will check those points tonight (No users so less traffic through the VPN).

AD sites and services is already configured, but DNS does point to new domain and old domain so will change to point to new domain only.  Will also check the time settings..

 

by: SteveH_UKPosted on 2008-01-22 at 06:19:37ID: 20714331

Good luck. Do try using NETDIAG and DCDIAG on your domain controller servers to check for problems.  Download them from MS website, if you don't already have them.

 

by: GlenmoranUKPosted on 2008-01-23 at 14:57:18ID: 20728833

Hi Steve,

Tried the suggestions but still getting exactly the same error.  There are no problems with the other domain controllers.  Nothing suspicious in the event logs.  Its a real strange one...

G

 

by: SteveH_UKPosted on 2008-01-23 at 22:21:22ID: 20731054

 

by: GlenmoranUKPosted on 2008-01-24 at 00:47:53ID: 20731652

Thanks for those Steve.

I am travelling today so it wont be u ntil Friday evening that I get chance to try.

I'll keep you posed.

G

 

by: GlenmoranUKPosted on 2008-02-20 at 03:45:49ID: 20936804

Finally have resolved the issue:

Issue was due to MTU  Maximum Transmission Unit.  On a 2003 server its set to 1500 bytes, but for the vpn tunnel that is too big.  

 I did this command from the new server a few times to find the optimal setting:

Ping [root domain IP] f l [size]

(See http://www.howtonetworking.com/VPN/mtu4.htm for details)

Once that was found I used this value and updated the registry:

http://www.pctools.com/guides/registry/detail/280/

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826159

(Although I dont think the Microsoft one helped)

Then rebooted and tried the dcpromo again..  Hey presto it worked straight away&

Thanks for the help and info.  

 

by: SteveH_UKPosted on 2008-02-28 at 00:20:10ID: 21002036

You're welcome.  Thanks for the points :)

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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