Two identical W2K3 Server problem

[Henryvw]

Hi,

We have two identical industrial PCs we use as Servers. We are running Server 2003 Standard edition, Active Directory, DNS, DHCP.

I made a ghost copy of the hard disk of server 1 onto the hard disk of server 2.

Server2 starts up fine with no problems, but when I start the client computers, I get that message about unable to find the user or computer account and that I have to check if the Domain Controller is running or not.

Only way I then get the clients to logon again is to take all the client computers off the Domain and reconnect them to the Domain again.

Now when I want to use Server 1 again, same thing happens.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[biglebowski]

did you clone the hdd after installing AD? You may have an issue with duplicate SIDs

Biglebowskis Razor - with all things being equal if you still can't find the answer have a shave and go down the pub.

 

[Henryvw]

The clone was after installing AD, DNS, DHCP. The two servers are not used together. The one is a complete backup for the other one. Not even switched on.

The moment the main server fails, we switch it off, unplug all cables, connect all cables to the backup server and switch the server on.

 

[jamesbird]

I think as bigebowski says it's an issue with the SIDs. Although they are identical hardware, windows knows they are not the same machine.
For the 'hot standby' situations I have, I use the product UMove from UTools. Don't know if this would suit your situation. Some pros don't like it 'cos it doesn't conform to some of the real deep do-do of server replication, but in the 20 or so times I've used it I've not had any trouble.
Alternatively, have you looked at VM emulation?