I have just completed a domain rename operation on a Windows Server 2003 R2 domain that apparently came down smoothly, without errors and with everything working at the end. Quick background: This domain has two DCs and a bunch of XP SP3 client members.
Nothing else. No other server members (other than the Control Station server that I created and added to the domain for the purpose of running rendom). No Exchange, no Internet (i.e., no visibility to anything outside the domain). Simple. After renaming the
domain, I renamed the two servers, and also changed the IP addresses of every system (including all members) in the domain. Everything (DFS, AD, Group Policies, everything) works. Apparently. As far as I can tell... so far.
But I am bothered by the DNS structure and my clients (Windows XP members) are bothered by their default directory name. In DNS, I see entries for both the old domain name and the new domain name, and even though I set the new domain name to be primary via
netdom, the old domain name records "appear to me" to be "in control".
Under Forward Lookup Zone for .(root) -> local, I have a folder for 'old_domain_name' that contains two Host(A) records, one for each DC -and- I have a folder for 'new_domain_name' that contains a Name Server (NS) record pointing back to 'computername.old_domain_name.local'.
So this looks to me like 'new_domain_name' is just an alias or a pseudonym for old_domain_name. I sort of expected that after completing this procedure and cleaning up everything, old_domain_name would no longer appear in DNS. The way things look to me suggests
that if I did (and if I could) delete or remove DNS entries referencing old_domain_name, everything would break (because new_domain_name depends on old_domain_name for its definition). Apparently.
But wait. Maybe not. Moving on down the tree, I have Forward Lookup Zone entries for old_domain_name.local and new_domain_name.local and _msdcs.old_domain_name.local and _msdcs.new_domain_name.local, and the entries associated with new_domain_name appear
to be fully-populated, while the odl_domain_name entries are not. But there are still entries scattered throughout the tree that refer to old_domain_name.
So my question here is: Is this a problem, and would everything break if I tried to delete all the DNS records that are defined in terms of old_domain_name?
It might help here for me to add -- in case you were wondering why we changed everything, including the IP addresses of every system in the domain -- all of this operation is in preparation for a new domain, currently bearing the same names and IP addresses
and structure as old_domain_name ... to join the forest. In other words, we have two identically configured domains, each standing alone with no knowledge of each other or anything else in the world ... and we need to join them together as two DIFFERENT
domains in the SAME FOREST. So ONE of the domains has to change its name, the names of its DCs, and all of its IP addresses. And my domain is the lucky one that gets to change.
So... it is my assumption that in MY domain, I need to get rid of all remnants and vestiges of old_domain_name, as well as its computernames and IP addresses. Before we join our two extant domains at the hip in a common forest. So on this basis, I think
the remnants of old_domain_name in my current domain could be a problem. Down the road and around the next corner.
The other name problem -- and this is (I think) a completely separate problem and a problem in name only -- is that my Windows XP client members, all of which are well-aware of the new domain name, still associate with each computer user a default directory
of the form
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>.old_domain_name
Is there a way to change this to C:\Documents and Settings\<username>.new_domain_name ?? Maybe just rename the directory and watch everything break? I think that this is just a name issue, not a functionality issue, but my users are picky. I'm
less worried about this than about the remnants of old_domain_name in my DNS.
Any suggestions about either of these "clean up" issues will be greatly appreciated !!
Chris