I have just taken responsibility for a small business network with the task of upgrading the PDC to a new Dell server and Server 2008 R2. The network has been poorly supported for years, and is an unstable conglomeration that the client wishes to begin upgrading. I've evaluated the setup for a number of hours and have setup the new server and connected it to the network but not joined it to the domain. I began by cleaning up as many loose ends as I could find without digging too deeply, and then ran adprep32 /forestprep on the PDC to see if I could get the AD to migrate. The procedure fails with the message that there is a conflict with the Exchange schema. I've tried to summarize what I have done in this attempt, and would welcome any direction anyone might give me to proceed. However, my first question is: Do you think it is worthwhile to attempt to migrate this AD to the new server or would the time be better spent simply building a new domain on the Server 2008 box and avoid any issues from the legacy domain? There are 20 users, most of the data that is critical is on the file server GCITYMDRIVE and won't be affected by dumping the old domain. The two member servers that are application servers perform only those roles and could be brought in to the new domain since they are both Server 2003 boxes.
Thank you all in advance!
Summary of network and actions taken to date:
Domain structure prior to any modifications:
PDC is server 2k sp4, FSMO master, physical box with sufficient disk space, schema version is 13, seems functional although unstable for numerous reasons. Name= GCPHMAIN
Other domain controllers listed in GCPHMAIN:
Gcityexsvrbak: non-existent
Gcityfilesvr: non-existent
Gcityfilesvr2: non-existent
GCPHBDCVM: server 2k sp4 virtual machine running on Xen Server
GCServer04: server 2k sp4 virtual machine running on Xen Server
(This machine had description designating it as Old Exchange
2000 server. There was no installation of Exchange showing
Anywhere on the machine.) It is now the network anti-virus
Server, Trend Enterprise.
Other servers in domain:
GCServer01: Server 2k sp4, virtual machine on Xen Server,
Description showing as Old Accounting server
GCServer02: Server 2003, standalone hosting Timberline software.
GCServer03: Server 2003, standalone hosting Accounting software.
GCityMDrive: NAS server, non-Microsoft OS file sharing, clients map drives.
Xen Server is non-Microsoft OS, not showing as a member device in any of
The other servers, managed via remote console from GCServer03
There is no active or disabled Exchange Server on the network. Email is hosted off site. AD still shows Exchange objects throughout. There are no Email address attributes attached to the user accounts in AD on the PDC.
PDC event log shows continual long-term errors related to FRS, complaining of inability to synchronize.
Action taken to begin installation of Server 2008 R2 new PDC on Dell Server.
Attempt to run adprep32 on PDC. Failed due to schema conflict with Exchange 2000.
Proceed with cleanup operations as follows after discussion with onsite admin.
Checked through KB325379 verifying each step, details below.
Disable GCServer01 virtual machine, this server has not been accessed for some time and is not intended to be used again. (This server showed a domain controller named GCPHArchives which is non-existent.) Turned off in Xen server, no changes made to the
virtual machine itself. Removed this server from AD on PDC.
Demote (dcpromo) GCServer04 BDC virtual machine to member server status.
Run adsiedit to remove the orphaned DC’s from PDC AD. Removed all accessible information related to these three servers. Verified DNS record deletion and functionality. (KB216498, KB555846)
Run ntdsutil and verify the FSMO roles are all assigned to PDC. No issues.
(KB255504, did not have to seize any roles.)
Check for mangled Exchange attributes. The old naming convention attributes were present, no mangled names could be found using search. Attempted to run InetOrgPerson script but it failed. Manually renamed the three attributes referred to so they are
new format. (KB314649)
Removed all Exchange organization references from AD that could be found. There is no CN=ms-exch section using adsiedit to view the schema configurations.
Run repadmin /showreps, it shows the inbound neighbors deleted servers with the DEL preface and the BDC with replication success, outbound neighbors only the BDCvm and replication success.
Current status of network:
PDC is stable, BDCvm is stable, no other domain controllers showing. Member servers are stable, adprep32 still fails due to exchange schema conflicts.
SteveTaft