I thought I read somewhere (this is years ago), that FSMO roles should be split, with some qualifications (some FSMO roles had to be connected together on the same machine).
DHCP is from server2 (yes, one of the DC’s). WINS. Not sure if there is a real requirement. Not sure if a reboot was done. I’ll check with the user today. Thanks for the advice/comments. Mark From: Andrew Levicki [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 7:40 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Domain controllers, what is supposed to happen. Hi Mark, I have a couple of questions if you don't mind. Firstly why have you split the FSMO roles out on to two different domain controllers? It's not that it's wrong or anything, it's just simpler (and Microsoft's recommendation) to keep them all on one domain controller unless there is a specific need to do otherwise. Secondly, which server(s) is/are your DHCP server? Another server right? Not one of the domain controllers? Thirdly, what is your requirement for WINS, out of interest? To answer your questions, yes the DNS/WINS services on the remaining domain controller should have fulfilled client requests, so I would certainly look into why that didn't happen. Did anyone try rebooting their PCs, as that may have helped? If you had been unable to get Server1 running again then yes you would have had to seize the domain-wide FSMO roles (RIP) from Server1 on to Server2 and modify your DNS/WINS. But don't try and bring Server1 back up at this point ("Then work on getting Server1 running again, or replacing it."), you must rebuild or replace it. Regards, Andrew On 21 April 2010 22:14, Reimer, Mark <[email protected]> wrote: Sorry, long email. Windows 2003 Native Domain, two domain controllers, server1 and server2. Workstations are primarily XP, some Windows 7. Other servers (file server, email etc) are all Windows 2003. We have about 150 workstations. We have AD DNS, and WINS. Server1 has FSMO roles Infrastructure Master, PDC Emulator, RID Master. Server2 has FSMO roles Domain Naming Master, Schema Master. Both are GC’s. In the DHCP settings workstations get both server’s IP’s as DNS. Server2 is listed first, then server1. Primary WINS server is server1, secondary is Server2. Last night Server1 went down. It was off hours, but I got a call from some late night worker (using XP), saying they couldn’t do anything. Couldn’t reach any of the servers, or internet. I was able to get the server going again (bad memory chip, so I just took it out). I thought that if one server went down, the DNS/WINS look up would go to the other server. But it might be slower (note, I didn’t try any of this, just going on what the user said). Comments? If I didn’t get Server1 running again, what should I have done? I assume I should do the following. 1. Seize the FSMO roles from server1, and put them on server2. 2. Change DHCP so Primary WINS server is server2. Maybe even take out Server1 as DNS/WINS possibilities. Then work on getting Server1 running again, or replacing it. Did I miss anything? Thanks for any help and insight you can give. Mark -- Kind regards, Andrew Levicki ルビッキー アンドルュー Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist on Windows 7 MCITP Enterprise Administrator on Windows Server 2008 MCITP Enterprise Messaging Administrator on Exchange Server 2007 Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on Windows Server 2003 Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) ITILv3 ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
