Reboot server when pdc is down? 1

[maybeimaleo]

Our pdc is down due to a bad power supply fan (I have to BDC's that are up and running). Considering this server is at least ten years old I am not sure if I can find a replacement part.

My question is, there are member servers in this domain - can I safely reboot them while the PDC is down?

 

[cmeagan656]

Yes, you can safely reboot the other servers in the domain if the PDC is down.

Cheers.

 

[maybeimaleo]

If I promote one of my BDCs to a PDC does the new PDC need to be rebooted after promotion?

Also, I am seeing a lot of errors in the event viewer on the BDC from the member server accounts (finapp1$, for example) saying:

The session setup for the computer finapp1 failed to authenticate. The name of the account referenced in the security database is finapp1$. The following error occured: access is denied.

Will promoting the BDC to a PDC, letting it replicate, then rebooting the member servers in question solve the problem?

 

[SimonDavies]

It should do, the BDC's are read only devices and if the computer account passwords have changed they won't be reflected on the BDC.

You may want to have a look for nltest.exe and do a secure channel reset on the member servers once the BDC has been promoted.. oh and to be safe I would reboot the newly promoted PDC anyway (you will want that up first ensuring that it's the browser master). You may want to check that none of your network systems were running on the old PDC (WINS, DHCP etc).

Simon

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[Zelandakh]

You might want to take the hard drive out of that server and take a copy of it - then you could virtualise the PDC on another box quite quickly by using virtualise now.

 

[maybeimaleo]

We are thinking of building virtual two BDC's (we have ESX 3.5) and then using one of them as the new PDC (after promotion of course).

Here is another question:

When I promoted the BDC it displayed a message that it could not contact the PDC and that errors would occur if the old PDC were brought back up. Is this true? I have a replacement part and I could bring it back up (I would leave it as a BDC) although I am leaning towards building a virtual BDC.

 

[SimonDavies]

It won't be a BDC tho, as far as it's concerned it's still the PDC.

If you promoted the BDC to a PDC role is there any reason you can't rebuild the old PDC into a BDC and once done you can promote it back to the PDC role, that way nothing will be out of sync.

Simon

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[maybeimaleo]

I could rebuild the old PDC to a BDC as the old PDC's only function was to administer the domain.

 

[maybeimaleo]

Once I setup a new BDC is there anything else that must be done? When I log on to the BDC and look at server manager it shows itself and all of the servers in the domain as up. Event Viewer shows that the BDC has synchronized with the PDC.

But when I log on to the PDC and look in the server manager, the BDC is grayed out. But event viewer on the PDC shows that it synch'ed with the BDC.

Is this something to worry about?

 

[SimonDavies]

Is this the new PDC or the old PDC? Or to put it a different way, is the new BDC the rebuild old PDC?

Simon

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[maybeimaleo]

BDC = new
PDC = promoted from old BDC

 

[SimonDavies]

Did you put SP6a on to the new machine? are all the machines running the same level of SP?

Normally either rebooting the server or leaving it a couple of days resolves the issues if you're all at the same level.

One thing you could do is create a new account on the PDC and then check the BDC to ensure that the account is replicated, if it is then you don't have too much to worry about.

Simon

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[maybeimaleo]

I fixed the issue by rebooting the PDC. Everything is working as it should.

Thanks for all of your help!

 

[Zelandakh]

(Hint: Purple star for Simon)

 

[ShackDaddy]

{trumpet blows}

Dave Shackelford
ThirdTier.net