asg1977
asked on
Will a demoted DC retain all AD informtion when you promote it back to dc status as a child in a parent domain?
I will be demoting a DC in my work environment in order to promote it as a child in a new parent domain structure. If I demote the DC with all of its current AD information - users and computers - dns and dhcp - will this information be retained when I promote it back to a child dc or will I be starting from stratch?
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
I really do not want to demote a dc unless I have to. I am only working with one dc on site that I need to make a child in a parent domain.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
So, It is eaiser for me to add the server as a dc in an existing domain? Is this also done through dcpromo?
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
If I do move forward in this manner after replication I will then need to demote that server then add it again as a child? Also, is added the server to an existing domain a part of dcpromo?
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Is there any good reason why a child should be added to a parent domain instead of adding a dc to an existing domain? I need this feedback to understand why corporate would want to move in this manner?
ASKER
Remember that all of this is taking place in a Windows Server 2003 AD infrastructure.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Thanks for your patience and responses. One last question :) ? I do not maintain the primary server it is in another physical location but you are stating that I add my dc to that existing domain - would I setup a shortcut trust as well to accomplish this?
ASKER
Currently, there is no forest struture - the company is attempting to build this structure by taking their DC at another location and making that DC the parent they then want me to take the DC in my location and turn it into a child under the parent DC therefore creating the forest and tree structure. You are saying to add my dc as a second dc in that forest allow data to replicate then make my dc a child through dcpromo?
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
So, am I going to take my DC at my location and demote it then make it a child so I can add it to the parent server at the other physical location? How do I retain all my AD data if I need to demote to become a child? Right now I have just a DC setup with DNS and DHCP this is also the file and print server.
ASKER
And I will not be using the previous scenario about the dc into an existing domain correct?
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
The setup at my sight is at its infancy - it is the basic setup of AD - I have users in the users folder and computers listed in the computers folder - the individual that set this up before me has established some group policies - but there are no OU's - the GPS are set on the domain contoller at the root. Other than this there is not much else. I have been hired to setup OU's, roaming profiles, GPS according to how the OU's function and the task we have been discussing which is to take a dc that is not a child, make the dc a child and add it to the parent (other location - corporate) domain.
ASKER
As for backing up AD, I attempted this at another job and it did not work and we had to start from stratch anyway.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER