Windows – PDC is dead, others are not replicating what should I do first

active-directorywindows

I have a windows domain that had a Primary Domain controller that Died (Was a VM with snapshots and the host died). My secondary DC is a physical machine running Server 2008 x32 that really needs to be replaced.

To get the domain back into shape I added a physical Server 2012 and added the AD, DHCP and DNS Roles to it. To get it into the domain I had to delete the PDC from the "Domain Controllers" group in "AD Users and Computers". So now I have 2 domain controllers but I'm starting to have problems with some computers saying "a domain controller cannot be located to service this request".

In Server Manager I am seeing the following error for both DC's:

The File Replication Service is having trouble enabling replication
from {dc2} to {dc3} for c:\windows\sysvol\domain using the DNS
name {dc2}.{domain}. FRS will keep retrying.

Following are some of the reasons you would see this warning.
[1] FRS can not correctly resolve the DNS name {dc2}.{domain} from this computer.

[2] FRS is not running on {dc2}.{domain}.
[3] The topology information in the Active Directory Domain Services for this replica has not yet replicated to all the Domain Controllers.

When I run dcdiag on the Server 2012 machine {dc3} that was added, one of the things I see (amongst several other errors about the other DC {dc2} being owner of several things and not responding is the following message:

A Primary Domain Controller could not be located.
The server holding the PDC role is down.
……………………. {domain} failed test LocatorCheck

So the question is where do I start?

  1. promote the Server 2012 to PDC
  2. Attempt to resolve the replication issue.
  3. Something Else

Best Answer

You'll need to use ntdsutil to seize the FSMO roles to another DC and to remove the failed server from AD. Additionally, you'll need to make sure you have at least one Global Catalog server, if you don't then designate one in Active Directory Sites and Services. You'll also need to make sure that you've updated your DNS client settings on all domain members (including the Domain Controllers) to use the new DC/DNS server for DNS.

You'll also need to sync the new PDCe with an external timesource. You an use the following command from the PDCe to do this:

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:time.windows.com /syncfromflags:MANUAL

you can substitute the time server or servers of your choice in that command.

Related Topic