FRS - SYSVOL not shared

[judge7]

This has been going on for a while...

I have two DC's that aren't sharing the SYSVOL. After trawling through KB articles and many forums, I'm still none the wiser! I don't know whether it's DNS, FRS or something else.

Just wondering if anyone could give us a hand, it's in a production environment, so I can't afford to mess it up! I've got ultrasound, sonar etc installed, so if anyone needs output, I'll gladly deliver..

Thanks in advance!

 

[vbrocks]

Do you mean they are not replicating?

 

[judge7]

Hi Vbrocks, thanks for responding first of all.

Yes, that's correct, file replication is not happening from the pdc, and the second machine won't become a domain controller until that happens. I'm pretty sure it's FRS, as after having demoted a machine that was a domain controller because we were having the same problem, and promoting another machine, the problem persists. I'm just not sure which path to take..

AD replication is functioning ok.

 

[vbrocks]

Have you checked the fismo roles of the DCs, and do you have a global catalog server that is also an infrastructure master? If you do, the pdc (root server) should be the global catalog server and the other should hold the infrastructure master role, You can transfer the role pretty easily. You should have the 5 roles in your domain.... split between the two DCs.
PDC
Schema Master role
Domain Naming Master role
PDC emulator Master role
*Global Catalog Server*

Other DC
RID Master role
Infrastructure Master role

If you only have one DC in your domain then it has all 5 roles.

If a role is missing it could cause weird stuff like this to happen...

 

[vbrocks]

Another thing to do is check the event logs to see what is going on....

 

[buddafish]

just checking, FRS is started and set to automatic, yes?

 

[mlichstein]

What are the errors in the file replication log? Journal wrap?

 

[judge7]

hi all,

The PDC holds all 5 FSMO roles, and both dc's are GC's.

the FRS event log has the 13508 error:

The File Replication Service is having trouble enabling replication from MALDIVES to FILESERVER for c:\winnt\sysvol\domain using the DNS name maldives.beaconsfield.fresca.co.uk. FRS will keep retrying.
Following are some of the reasons you would see this warning.

[1] FRS can not correctly resolve the DNS name maldives.beaconsfield.fresca.co.uk from this computer.
[2] FRS is not running on maldives.beaconsfield.fresca.co.uk.
[3] The topology information in the Active Directory for this replica has not yet replicated to all the Domain Controllers.

This event log message will appear once per connection, After the problem is fixed you will see another event log message indicating that the connection has been established.

FRS is set to auto on both dc's.

Thanks for your help!

 

[ColdAsIce]

Both DC's are in the same site? If not, have both sites been created in AD Sites & Services? Do they have a connection to each other (run Check Replication Topology)?

Have you checked the DNS Entries of the servers?
Is there a FW between the DC's?

Regards,

ColdasIce

 

[vbrocks]

[1] FRS can not correctly resolve the DNS name maldives.beaconsfield.fresca.co.uk from this computer.

This is easy to check ...

See if you can ping maldives.beaconsfield.fresca.co.uk
and it's IP address from the pdc.

 

[judge7]

Hi Vbrocks, ColdAsIce

In answer to your questions...

I can successfully ping the machine using the FQDN from the PDC, and looking at DNS entries and replication topology, everything seems to be cool.

There is no firewall between the DC's.

The sysvol structure looks sound too, so I'm a bit puzzled!

 

[motty123]

hi

may want to refer to kb257338 - it certainly helped me when looking at missing sysvol shares.

 

[ColdAsIce]

You say that 1 server holds all FSMO roles and the DC's are both GC's. I remember that this can cause problems in replication!

I found the KB-article (you can also find this information in the Microsoft Courses), from Q223346:
As a general rule, the infrastructure master should be located on a nonglobal catalog server that has a direct connection object to some global catalog in the forest, preferably in the same Active Directory site. Because the global catalog server holds a partial replica of every object in the forest, the infrastructure master, if placed on a global catalog server, will never update anything, because it does not contain any references to objects that it does not hold.

Hope this helps!

 

[ColdAsIce]

I Think this will solve point 3 from the eventlog!!!!

 

[ricpinto]

[1] FRS can not correctly resolve the DNS name maldives.beaconsfield.fresca.co.uk from this computer.

Definitely a DNS issue, download netdiag.exe and run netdiag/fix and see if the error messages can help you.

 

[ColdAsIce]

Sorry vbrocks, I see that I've practically repeated your answer!! Hadn't read that one yet!

judge7, have you moved the FSMO roles and put the infrastructure master on a different DC nog GC?

regards,

ColdasIce

 

[judge7]

Hi ColdasIce,

Not yet, would it be only the infrastructure FSMO rule that needs to move? The PDC is now the only GC server, so I guess that the secondary could seize that role.

My only concern is that as the SYSVOL is not shared, the secondary server isn't really a DC! How does that affect the distribution of roles?

After having read loads of KB articles, I've also noticed that there may be an issue with the replica set parent key on the secondary server that I could possibly try.

Many thanks guys, this all really helps understand what's going on..

 

[ColdAsIce]

That is the only role that needs to be moved.

I don't think you will need to wory about the sysvol thing. The second server is a Domain Controller, but does not service any requests yet.

In every new forest you always start with one DC! Which will contain all FSMO roles and is a GC. Thus every second DC would have trouble becoming a DC and you would not be able to transfer anything. As this is not the case, the second DC can seize the FSMO role of Infrastructure master and thus solving the issue (As long as you don't make the second server a GC).

Also have a look at KB 197132 and 223787 for more info on the FSMO roles and the seizure process.

CU

 

[diablo266]

keep it simple: the ad database needs at least +/- free hd space...

I had the same prob, no mentionning in eventlog though


...maybe

 

[ricpinto]

What's the result of nslookup maldives.beaconsfield.fresca.co.uk Can you post it?