rename 2003 server

[dpowell1]

We have only one server in our office which is our DC, DNS server, file and print server (no exchange). How major are the ramnifications if we needed to rename it?

 

[overdraft015]

it all depends on what you have pointing to/from it using UNC paths.

e.g. your print shares if they use \\servername\printername then you would need to update all your clients to \\newservername\printername

This can be done with a simple script

any GPO's that might be using UNC paths and obviously any shared folders would also need to be re-mapped.

again you should be able to acomplish the change with a script if you have many clients.

Michael

 

[dpowell1]

We can redo our printer shares and no GPOs set. A reply to our post on another forum said we should "never" rename a DC. If we have a really simple network should this be an issue?

 

[technome]

With one server you should have minimal problems. You do not have multiple DCs, multiple sites, trusts, many programs installed. Sound like you have a couple hours of work, unless you have many wks with programs pointing to the old server, or you need to reconfigure multiple server resident programs which have pointer to the old server's name.



........................................
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[dpowell1]

Any idea what types of server side stuff we would need to address as a result of the computer name change? I'm guessing that the AD stuff would be most likely to be unhappy. Printer shares and server mappings are pretty easy but I'm worried about the DC part of it.

 

[58sniper]

Well, first, you might explain WHY you want to rename the server. Renaming it won't change the domain name, or anything else, really. Users would only see a different name in Windows Explorer for mapped drives, etc.

Generally, renaming a server isn't that difficult, even if it is a DC. In fact, there are KB articles at Microsoft that document what to do.

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

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[dpowell1]

Frankly, the reason for renaming the server is rather embarrassing. Our compnay has been purchased by another firm and the new "brass" doesn't like the fact that our server bears the old company name. If it's really not that big of a deal then we'll do it but if it's going to cause undo hassle then....