Cleaning up Active Directory
I inherited an Active Directory environment. I went to verify/check the replication status using REPLMON and added the monitored servers. When I expand the Schema partition, I see a number of servers that were deleted. I assume they were domain controllers and were replication partners at one point. Using ADSIEDIT, I wanted to see if there was a way I can delete the entries I found in REPLMON for "DELETED SERVER #_" but I don't see any entries. I need to upgrade the domain controllers to Windows 2003 but I'm asked to clean up AD before doing so. Does anyone know how I can remove the entries in Active Directory for the "DELETED SERVER #_" so they do not show up any longer? I appreciate your help!!
ASKER
I understand that this may be the case for Exchange servers in an Exchange organization but this is caused by deleted/removed Windows 2000/2003 domain controllers that were replication partners with the current domain controllers in production. Exchange servers do not show up in REPLMON (as far as I know), so this doesn't have anything to do with Exchange routing groups. This is related to Active Directory replication. I appreciate your feedback.
this mey be relevant:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216498/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216498/en-us
ASKER
I performed all of the procedures in this document as well, but still the **DELETED SERVER #__ object shows up in REPLMON. Is it possible that what I'm seeing in REPLMON are tombstoned or orphaned objects?
yes ... it could be.
another method (but very not recommended) is to reinstall the server with the exact same name
and then demote him with dcpromo.this proccess should remove the server clean and nice.
another method (but very not recommended) is to reinstall the server with the exact same name
and then demote him with dcpromo.this proccess should remove the server clean and nice.
ASKER
I'm not sure if this would work because the new server would have a different GUID, and I wouldn't be able to DCPROMO the new server down unless I used DCPROMO to make it a domain controller to begin with, which wouldn't do a thing for the ghost objects.
of course that you need to promote him to DC before demote ... :)
and if you thing that it's only ghost object it will be better ignore them.
and if you thing that it's only ghost object it will be better ignore them.
ASKER
So you're suggestion will do absolutely nothing to clean up Active Directory...how are you helping?
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ASKER
Your suggestions didn't quite clean out the "ghost" objects in Active Directory, but I appreciate your effort.
I believe this may assist you as you state have already been deleted
Please read on from my extract as it is illistrated:
Problems Caused by Deleted Routing Groups
When routing groups are deleted after servers are moved out of them or for other reasons, WinRoute may display the text "object_not_found_in_DS" for the objects.
Exchange servers maintain the link state table that still references the objects, but these objects are missing from Active Directory when the routing engine service initializes and checks Active Directory to find the related objects.
Exchange routing cannot automatically remove deleted routing groups and their members (that is, servers and connectors) from the link state table. In fact, routing treats the deleted routing groups no differently than existing, functional routing groups. In rare cases, deleted routing groups can cause a malfunction in routing as well as mail loops. Deleted routing groups can severely affect topologies in which an Exchange 5.5 site joins an Exchange 2003 organization.
Additionally, these deleted routing group objects may significantly contribute to the size of the link state table, and thereby increase the network traffic that is incurred in the exchange of link state information.
Finally, if the Personal Address Book (PAB) or Offline Address Book (OAB) has a legacyExchange domain name that matches a deleted routing group, the deleted routing group objects will cause mail that is sent to non-existent users from the PABs or OABs to be added to the messages with an unreachable destination queue. After the default timeout of two days, the mail will be returned to the sender with a non-delivery report (NDR). Without the deleted routing group object, mail sent to non-existent users will immediately be returned to the sender with an NDR, instead of being added to the queue first.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/guides/E2k3TransnRouting/3b8f9926-cd5b-4642-ad7e-3bc5df2ee885.mspx?mfr=true
let me know if it is enough
Merete