Rebooting a Domain Controller
I have a single domain controller running on Windows 2003 Server.
I would like to schedule this server to be rebooted on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
Are they any pre-requisites to be taken prior to re-booting the DC?
What should I check for, once the server has been re-booted?
I would like to schedule this server to be rebooted on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
Are they any pre-requisites to be taken prior to re-booting the DC?
What should I check for, once the server has been re-booted?
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On this DC, I have Lotus Notes running, DHCP and DNS. That's about it.
I want to applaud Arnold & Leew, A backup plan is definitely something you should be concerned about, if you don't have one. That was a large error on my part. The worst thing that can happen is shutting down your only DC only to have it not come back up. Having a successful backup plan should be your first concern.
Once you have that out of the way, I would shut down Lotus Notes Server (I can only guess that it's not the client side software) and again make sure that all your users are logged out. Once you have accomplished that, if you are certain that's all that's on it, then you could proceed to perform the reboot and wait for it to come up.
Again, after it's been rebooted, you will want to make sure that your other clients are getting IP addresses, access to the web and of course your Lotus Notes app is back up.
Once you have that out of the way, I would shut down Lotus Notes Server (I can only guess that it's not the client side software) and again make sure that all your users are logged out. Once you have accomplished that, if you are certain that's all that's on it, then you could proceed to perform the reboot and wait for it to come up.
Again, after it's been rebooted, you will want to make sure that your other clients are getting IP addresses, access to the web and of course your Lotus Notes app is back up.
IMHO, it is unnecessary to have everyone logout for updating/rebooting the DC provided the users are made aware that access to their email will be down.
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Ok guys....I have no idea how to shut down Lotus Notes server and bring it up after that.
Lotus notes is not my area of expertise, but I would expect it's just a service or few... have you looked in Services and just tried stopping them?
Of course, I'm not sure why your doing any of this... and when you reboot the server, the services are stopped anyway...
Of course, I'm not sure why your doing any of this... and when you reboot the server, the services are stopped anyway...
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Ok Guys, so since its a graceful shutdown the services go down normally and would come up normally too. In terms of a DC, is there anything to check once the server is up, to confirm its in good health?
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And I would dare say checking the event logs without cause (other than a reboot) would be akin to taking your blood pressure and pulse each morning... again... not a bad idea... but MOST people don't do it.
I am happy to help. What are the roles of this DC? Does it house Exchange? I have to ask why you want to reboot it so often. Generally speaking, it's not something you should need to do so often.
I am guessing that you are performing updates and I would like to caution you that depending on your roles, doing so can cause serious problems if you do not exercise caution. It would be my recommendation you do not set Auto updates to enable (if they are)
In regards to shutting down, you will want to have all your users logged out (You say it's the only DC so this is necessary) and any open shares etc.,
Being a server (especially a DC) this can take some time, so don't be suprised if it doesn't shutdown and come back up as quickly as you are normally used to.
If you can give us a little more detail we can further assist, but typically speaking, once the server is rebooted and you verify that file shares, e-mail, any databases or installed applications are running you should be all set.
Brandon