Score:0

Renaming Windows Domain Controller. Is it easier to demote, rename, and promote?

in flag

We have several Windows domain controllers at our location, but the naming conventions are not consistent. Each time a new site was added, the administrator in charge of that site made a new DC and gave it whatever name he or she pleased.

We now have a company-wide naming standard and want to rename our DCs. We could follow the Microsoft instructions, but wouldn't it be simpler to just demote the DC, rename the server, then promote it back to DC? Granted, that DC would be unavailable for the ~30 minutes this takes. Are there any other drawbacks to this?

djdomi avatar
za flag
install a new one is mostly faster
joeqwerty avatar
cv flag
**wouldn't it be simpler to just demote the DC, rename the server, then promote it back to DC?** - Probably, so long as you account for the domain clients need for authentication, DNS name resolution, etc. during the transition.
Score:0
cn flag

From my POV, it's actually quicker and simpler to rename the DC, reboot, and rename the msDFSR-Member attribute using ADSIEdit. That Microsoft instruction might look at little bit complicated, but it's literally just one value that you need to change in the Topology settings. (Presumably you're using DFSR at this stage.)

It'll take a few minutes to rename the DC + reboot time and less than a minute to change msDFSR-Member for the same. Then replication of that attribute.

Demoting + repromoting requires unregistering the DC, cleaning up the OS and subsequent replication time, which can leave odd leftover objects (such as the replication GUIDs - you normally clean that if you remove demoted DC from AD Sites and Services. Then the DPromo, creating new replication GUIDs, SAM database + SYSVOL replication (in my environment, it takes 45 minutes minimum, if it's on the same LAN segment as another DC) and domain replication after.

So I highly recommend just a rename + modifying msDFSR-Member for the DC.

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