SBS2011 Server with Major Exchange 2010 issues - Can't find DC
Greetings.
Customer engaged us because their physical server was down completely (hardware failure). Old server was 2012 R2 Hyper-V server, running three VMs, one of which was SBS 2011 acting as their DC, file and exchange server. We recovered the VHD files from failed server's disk and copied to another server, this one running 2019. FYI - There is NO backup of the guest operating systems, just the VHDs we pulled and file-level backups.
Created new VMs on the new box and attached the recovered VHDs. Everything seemed fine. One server (the SBS and most important) has issues thoguh. It boots fine and SMB shares, Active Directory, DNS, and everything work OK. Exchange 2010 is a totally different story. It keeps throwing errors about being unable to connect to a DC.
Server occasionally boots to blank desktop backgound with cursor (temporary) access to task manager, and all-around sluggishness. Also likes to hang on Applying Settings - almost like it's looking for something that's just not there.
The DNS on the VMs NIC points to itself, and nslookup returns the local DC.
Among the errors received:
Process MAD.EXE (PID=3736). Topology discovery failed, error 0x80040a02 (DSC_E_NO_SUITABLE_CDC). Look up the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) error code specified in the event description. To do this, use Microsoft Knowledge Base article 218185, "Microsoft LDAP Error Codes." Use the information in that article to learn more about the cause and resolution to this error. Use the Ping or PathPing command-line tools to test network connectivity to local domain controllers.
-----
The Third Party Replication Manager could not access Active Directory. Error: The Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service on server localhost did not return any suitable domain controllers.. Initialization will be retried automatically.
-----
The Microsoft Exchange Throttling Service encountered an Active Directory error while building an RPC security descriptor. This failure may indicate that no Domain Controllers are available at this time. The service will be stopped. Failure details: Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Th
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Th
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
-----
An unexpected failure has occurred. No modules were loaded and the service will perform no work. Diagnostic information:
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Service
errors1.png
errors2.PNG
Customer engaged us because their physical server was down completely (hardware failure). Old server was 2012 R2 Hyper-V server, running three VMs, one of which was SBS 2011 acting as their DC, file and exchange server. We recovered the VHD files from failed server's disk and copied to another server, this one running 2019. FYI - There is NO backup of the guest operating systems, just the VHDs we pulled and file-level backups.
Created new VMs on the new box and attached the recovered VHDs. Everything seemed fine. One server (the SBS and most important) has issues thoguh. It boots fine and SMB shares, Active Directory, DNS, and everything work OK. Exchange 2010 is a totally different story. It keeps throwing errors about being unable to connect to a DC.
Server occasionally boots to blank desktop backgound with cursor (temporary) access to task manager, and all-around sluggishness. Also likes to hang on Applying Settings - almost like it's looking for something that's just not there.
The DNS on the VMs NIC points to itself, and nslookup returns the local DC.
Among the errors received:
Process MAD.EXE (PID=3736). Topology discovery failed, error 0x80040a02 (DSC_E_NO_SUITABLE_CDC). Look up the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) error code specified in the event description. To do this, use Microsoft Knowledge Base article 218185, "Microsoft LDAP Error Codes." Use the information in that article to learn more about the cause and resolution to this error. Use the Ping or PathPing command-line tools to test network connectivity to local domain controllers.
-----
The Third Party Replication Manager could not access Active Directory. Error: The Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service on server localhost did not return any suitable domain controllers.. Initialization will be retried automatically.
-----
The Microsoft Exchange Throttling Service encountered an Active Directory error while building an RPC security descriptor. This failure may indicate that no Domain Controllers are available at this time. The service will be stopped. Failure details: Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Th
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Th
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
-----
An unexpected failure has occurred. No modules were loaded and the service will perform no work. Diagnostic information:
Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Di
at Microsoft.Exchange.Service
errors1.png
errors2.PNG
ASKER
Part of the issue here is that we have an extremely hard time actually getting INTO the server, as it boots to a blue screen as described. We can get in there via MMC for DNS and Event View and Services, erc. on a remote PC, and access the file system. But every once in a while we can get the Windows desktop to load.
ASKER
message received, Philip. Any advice on how to actually get into the server would be very helpful. Still the same blank blue screen. I do have access to the command line though
It takes a _very_ long time. I think 30-45 minutes but it's been a long time.
The time-outs for some of the services are 5 minutes each. Be patient. The desktop will come up ... eventually.
The time-outs for some of the services are 5 minutes each. Be patient. The desktop will come up ... eventually.
ASKER
The delay is brutal! I never should have rebooted! my concern here is that nothing is actually timing out. I’ve been keeping an eye on the various exchange processes. And they’re all in various states of starting and restarting, like it’s stuck in some kind of a loop. 😕 not sure what the secret sauce was before that allowed me to actually get in there.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Yeah, that will do it.
SBS Best Practices Analyzer. Download it and run it. It will tell you all about what's right and wrong with the setup.
SBS Best Practices Analyzer. Download it and run it. It will tell you all about what's right and wrong with the setup.
First, run the wizards.
Second, run the wizards.
Third, run the wizards.
Recovering the server OS to a new VM causes the NIC binding to break as there's a new MAC address and GUID associated with it.
So, first thing's first. Run the Getting Started Tasks Wizards.
Be patient. The reboots can take a while in this situation. BTDT many times.
Once the wizards are run and the final reboot happens SBS and Exchange will be happy.