Exch 2010 loses connection to AD when old DC is shut down
I have an old Server 2003 machine that has been acting as the domain controller for the network. I installed a brand new Server 2008 R2 machine, joined it to the network, ran adprep32 on the old server to prepare it so I could elevate the 2008 server to a DC. Did all of that and it was successful. I transferred all of the FSMO roles over from the 2003 to 2008 server successfully. I changed the DNS settings on each server so that it points to the new 2008 DC first then the old one second. My Exchange 2010 server (separate 2008 R2 machine) works fine as long as the old 2003 DC is up and running. But once I shut it down, mail stops working. If I try to go to OWA, it lets me log in but then I get the message "A server that contains information about your user account and mailbox can't be found." It looks like the Exchange Server is not looking at the new DC.
Charles Walker
Did you update your domain controller settings inside of Exchange 2010? If you didn't, go to Organization Configuration and then on the left colum, click Modify Configuration Domain Controller and force it to point to your 2008 DC.
Sorry, I meant right column.
ASKER
Found it and made the change. But, I have a question. Shouldn't Exchange automatically look at the new DC without having me hard code it?
It should but I've found that most times it won't when the 2003 server is still in use. I would definately be careful when you completely remove the 2003 DC. Make sure that after you run dcpromo to remove it that you check to make sure your Exchange is still running correctly.
The easiest way to check before running dc promo is after making the above change, try shutting down the 2003 DC and then restart your exchange server. After it comes back up you can verify that it still works before removing the 2003 server completely.
ASKER
Thanks. I'll give that a go
Just out of curiosity, did you migrate from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010? I'm finding that most users with this issue went from 2003 directly to 2010 and skipped 2007.
ASKER
Yes we did. Migrated from Exchange 2003 to 2010
ASKER
So, after making that change, I shut down the old 2003 DC. Outlook clients in the office could no longer connect to Exchange and when I tried to use OWA, I could login but then I got the message, "A server that contains information about your user account and mailbox can't be found." I'm missing something here. Anyone have an idea?
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ASKER
That mailbox migration occurred a while ago with no issues.I have checked the DNS settings on the Exchange, old DC and new DC and they all point to the new DC first.
ASKER
In the EMC on the Exchange 2010 server in Server Configuration, Mailbox Properties, under System Settings, it is pointing to the old DC under Domain Controller servers being used by Exchange and Global Catalog server being used by Exchange.
Confirm your new domain controller is global catalogue server?
ASKER
Confirmed.
Have you rebooted exchange since dc removal?
It would be useful to see if any errors are logged to event log.
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Sounds like you are getting close. Everything should work now.
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ASKER
After doing some research online, I found the solution.