dcpromo was unsuccessful

[JBruyet]

Hey all,

I'm trying to "promo" my three 2k servers up to DC machines but I've run into a snag. I can promo my first machine, and everything seems to run fine but any attempts to promo my other computers results in the following error:

The wizard cannot gain access to the list of domains in the forest. This condition may be caused by a DNS lookup problem. For information about troubleshooting common DNS lookup problems, please see the following Microsoft Web site:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkId=5171.

The error is:

The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted.

I've double-checked the DNS on my first machine and it seems to be set right (I'm using it as my DNS server in my NT 4.0 domain and it works). My other 2k machines are looking to it to resolve their DNS queries. Any ideas on what I'm overlooking?

Thanks,

Joe Brouillette

 

[Guest_imported]

DO you have IIS installed on your DC?

 

[GlenJohnson]

NetShield 2000 Just curious, what is this? Is this anything like net commando? Doubt it has anything to do with your problem, but don't leave any stone unturned. You can also go to

http://www.google.com

and do a search for the event id's. Just type in Event ID 257 in the search box and it'll most of the time give some good info. Also, take Oddisy's suggestion and post the results here so we can look at them. (Had 3 users this week not able to get on the network, did an ipconfig and at first it looked good, but when I compared them to mine, I saw that they were going to local host. Did some checking and there ipx was set to auto, changed it to 802.3 and they were on in a flash. Ipconfig is a handy tool. Use it often. Glen A. Johnson
Microsoft Certified Professional
glen@nellsgiftbox.com


"Patience is more powerful than force."
Plutarch (46-125 A.D.);

 

[JBruyet]

Bookouri--Could be. I'll have to check it when I Promo it once again this Saturday.
Bijo--Reverse lookup is configured and running.
UU--I don't have a DC at this time. I have to DCPromo it back down because my current DC is an NT 4.0 box (I shut this computer down before I do the DCPromo stuff).
Glen--NetShield 2000 is Mcafee's server product. When I started finding viruses on my servers I thought I should upgrade my system and the NetShield is a part of that.

Here are the IPCONFIGs for my three servers:

FIRST DCPROMO MACHINE
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : FileGuy
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Compaq NC3163 Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-02-A5-EA-41-83
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.11
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.9
192.168.2.11
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.9
Secondary WINS Server . . . . . . : 192.168.2.11
SECOND DCPROMO MACHINE
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : fleetnet
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Compaq NC3163 Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-02-A5-EA-4E-2D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.8
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.11
192.168.2.9
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.9
Secondary WINS Server . . . . . . : 192.168.2.11
THIRD DCPROMO MACHINE (never made it this far)
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : MailServer
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Compaq NC3163 Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-02-A5-EA-41-9B
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.9
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.11
192.168.2.9
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.11
Secondary WINS Server . . . . . . : 192.168.2.9

Thanks for the time and the help,

Joe Brouillette

 

[Odissey]

1.
When you work in NT4 envinronment, you use domain name like NT4DOM. When you promote your PDC, you begin work in another domain, like DOM.LOCAL or AAA.BBB.COM If you append records about your servers in zone LOCAL / BBB.COM on your W2K DNS server, your nslookup may be succesful. And DCPROMO.
2. Why Primary DNS Suffix and Connection-specific DNS Suffix empty? Try to define it.

 

[Levi_imported]

This might sound a bit daft, but try manually specifying the DNS suffix for each of the two 'problem' servers before running DCPROMO. I have hit problems when promoting servers / activating the active directory if this is missing from the TCP/IP config.

A Shot in the dark perhaps, but it fixed the problems I was having

 

[JBruyet]

Odissey--
<1> The first server that I Promo is also the one of my DNS servers. Shouldn't the records be appended automatically? I guess the followup question is why doesn't NSLOOKUP work now even though DNS is working fine?
<2> I'd rather not &quot;fix&quot; something that isn't broke.
Levi--Actually there's only one problem server because that's all the farther I get with Promo-ing them. Also, one of the first steps in Promo-ing the second server is to specify an account with Admin privileges (mine), password, and confirm the Domain name. You think I should change the DNS domain name BEFORE I promo the second server?

Thanks,

Joe Brouillette

 

[JBruyet]

OK! It's working! The two additional steps I took were authorizing DHCP and flushing and registering the DNS. I did them both in the same step so I don't know if one was just along for the ride, but I saw a Microsoft bulleting somewhere that mentioned a need to authorize DHCP before continuing with installing DNS. DHCP and static IP addresses. Hey, I guess it makes sense to somebody.

Many, many thanks to everyone who participated in this endeavor with me. I appreciated all the help.

Thanks again,

Joe Brouillette