HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 2003 R

February 18, 2008

Morning,

I have a client who we took over 3 months ago that was having issues with

their old server with WinSvr2003 and Exchange 2003. Previous consultant

setup their Local Disk as a 9GB partition and it became full soon after we

took over the account. We recommended resizing the partition with a server

grade partitioning app. However, they decided rather than doing that or

reformatting and restoring backups, they would buy new server.

Did not have discs for Windows Server 2003...so they bought 2003 R2 (not for

profit with limited purchasing capabilities through TechSoup). We have not

done many server replacements in the past, but all have been with same OS and

app versions.

We are having loads of issues now and the client insists its our fault, not

theirs or the previous company's. We simply restored the backups on to the

new server from the old (compnay docs and exchange DB).

One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot connect

at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available. There is

nothing on the server to indicate any problems. Only happens with certain

users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's settings, we

were able to reestablish connections just fine. But than, several users get

this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can connect to the

domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same settings as

the old server.

Is there something that jumps out at someone as to why this is happening and

some quick fix to resolve the problem?

Also...they now want to setup the PC's so that all users can access all PC's

if a machine goes down (roaming profiles). Some machines are allowing other

users to login, others are not. How would I set that up so that all PC's can

be accessed? And where do I find the profiles to copy over and where do I

copy that too?

I consider myself fairly knowledgable...but all of these issues are making

me think less of my IT abilities after 10 years. I am so lost and if I had

$250 avialable to me...I would just call MS and have someone hold my

hand...but I don't:( Please help me...the client is ready to fire us.

--

Thanks,

Binarydaddy

IT Consultant

Northwest Ohio

February 18, 2008

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 2003R

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 2003R

On Feb 18, 12:31 pm, binarydaddy

<binaryda...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Morning,

>

> I have a client who we took over 3 months ago that was having issues with

> their old server with WinSvr2003 and Exchange 2003. Previous consultant

> setup their Local Disk as a 9GB partition and it became full soon after we

> took over the account. We recommended resizing the partition with a server

> grade partitioning app. However, they decided rather than doing that or

> reformatting and restoring backups, they would buy new server.

>

> Did not have discs for Windows Server 2003...so they bought 2003 R2 (not for

> profit with limited purchasing capabilities through TechSoup). We have not

> done many server replacements in the past, but all have been with same OS and

> app versions.

>

> We are having loads of issues now and the client insists its our fault, not

> theirs or the previous company's. We simply restored the backups on to the

> new server from the old (compnay docs and exchange DB).

>

> One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot connect

> at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available. There is

> nothing on the server to indicate any problems. Only happens with certain

> users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's settings, we

> were able to reestablish connections just fine. But than, several users get

> this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can connect to the

> domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same settings as

> the old server.

>

> Is there something that jumps out at someone as to why this is happening and

> some quick fix to resolve the problem?

>

> Also...they now want to setup the PC's so that all users can access all PC's

> if a machine goes down (roaming profiles). Some machines are allowing other

> users to login, others are not. How would I set that up so that all PC's can

> be accessed? And where do I find the profiles to copy over and where do I

> copy that too?

>

> I consider myself fairly knowledgable...but all of these issues are making

> me think less of my IT abilities after 10 years. I am so lost and if I had

> $250 avialable to me...I would just call MS and have someone hold my

> hand...but I don't:( Please help me...the client is ready to fire us.

> --

> Thanks,

>

> Binarydaddy

> IT Consultant

> Northwest Ohio

DNS issues could be a place to start.

Are active directory roles on the new server?

Just some guesses.

February 18, 2008

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

What specific DNS Issues should I be looking for? I recreated the DNS server

and its settings to look like the old server. One thing I noticed just now

(as I have the old server plugged in at my desk) is that the serial number

interval on the new server was set to 2...the old server had 17. Should this

be something that matches as well?

And as far as active directory roles...I have all of the users setup on the

new server as they were on the old server. All of the settings (to what I

can see on old server and new one) look to be correct and I know that most of

it is correct because they have remote users at satellite locations

nationwide and they are all setuyp properly as they can remote in through the

VPN and work just fine with no issues. This appears to be a local problem as

the remote users arent having any problems of any kind.

--

Thanks,

Binarydaddy

IT Consultant

Northwest Ohio

"Ben" wrote:

> On Feb 18, 12:31 pm, binarydaddy

> <binaryda...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> > Morning,

> >

> > I have a client who we took over 3 months ago that was having issues with

> > their old server with WinSvr2003 and Exchange 2003. Previous consultant

> > setup their Local Disk as a 9GB partition and it became full soon after we

> > took over the account. We recommended resizing the partition with a server

> > grade partitioning app. However, they decided rather than doing that or

> > reformatting and restoring backups, they would buy new server.

> >

> > Did not have discs for Windows Server 2003...so they bought 2003 R2 (not for

> > profit with limited purchasing capabilities through TechSoup). We have not

> > done many server replacements in the past, but all have been with same OS and

> > app versions.

> >

> > We are having loads of issues now and the client insists its our fault, not

> > theirs or the previous company's. We simply restored the backups on to the

> > new server from the old (compnay docs and exchange DB).

> >

> > One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot connect

> > at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available. There is

> > nothing on the server to indicate any problems. Only happens with certain

> > users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's settings, we

> > were able to reestablish connections just fine. But than, several users get

> > this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can connect to the

> > domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same settings as

> > the old server.

> >

> > Is there something that jumps out at someone as to why this is happening and

> > some quick fix to resolve the problem?

> >

> > Also...they now want to setup the PC's so that all users can access all PC's

> > if a machine goes down (roaming profiles). Some machines are allowing other

> > users to login, others are not. How would I set that up so that all PC's can

> > be accessed? And where do I find the profiles to copy over and where do I

> > copy that too?

> >

> > I consider myself fairly knowledgable...but all of these issues are making

> > me think less of my IT abilities after 10 years. I am so lost and if I had

> > $250 avialable to me...I would just call MS and have someone hold my

> > hand...but I don't:( Please help me...the client is ready to fire us.

> > --

> > Thanks,

> >

> > Binarydaddy

> > IT Consultant

> > Northwest Ohio

>

> DNS issues could be a place to start.

> Are active directory roles on the new server?

> Just some guesses.

>

February 18, 2008

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 2003 R

> One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot

> connect

> at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available.

This is a symptom of DNS not being setup properly.

Only happens with certain

> users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's settings, we

> were able to reestablish connections just fine. But than, several users

> get

> this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can connect to

> the

> domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same settings

> as

> the old server.

My concern is with this step. When you set up the new server was it

connected to the existing domain?

The proper way to set up a new server in an existing AD domain is to add the

server to the domain as a member server, then run dcpromo to make it a DC.

Running dcpromo without the server being connected to the existing domain

will create a new domain. Even if you gave it the same name as the old, it's

still a new domain to the AD clients because the SID is different. Different

SID = new domain to the clients of the old domain. This "sounds" like what

happened in your case because of this: " All user accounts and settings were

recreated with same settings as

> the old server." statement.

Done correctly the user accounts would replicate from the old server to the

new server and there would be no need to recreate the user accounts.

Sorry to say this but if you are recreating the accounts you have done

something wrong. My guess is that the new server was installed while not in

communication with the existing domain and you now have 2 domains with the

same name.

I would suggest running dcpromo to the new server to make it a member

server, depending on how many users were actually using the new domain you

created on this server, you may have to manually go to each desktop and move

them to a workgroup, then move them back into the original domain. Once all

users are in the original domain, add the new server to the domain as a

member server (the same way you would add a client PC to the domain). Once

the new server is added to the domain then run dcpromo to make it a DC. The

user accounts will replicate to the new server. This MUST be done while the

new server is connected to the existing domain. After this it's just a

matter of setting the DNS as AD integrated (DNS info will replicate to the

new server) making the new server a global catalog, transferring the 5 FSMO

roles from the old server to the new server, restoring user files. If using

DHCP you would change the entry of the DNS server from the old server's IP

address to the new servers IP address, otherwise you would have to do this

manually. At this point you should be ready to run dcpromo on the old server

to make it a member server but I would suggest keeping it up and running

because if the new server goes belly up there is a second server in the

domain to hold the "AD info and user accounts" while you rebuild the failed

server WITHOUT creating a new domain.

hth

DDS

"binarydaddy" <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:1B3BBDE5-A2F7-48C8-B6AF-901AB708EE83@microsoft.com...

> Morning,

>

> I have a client who we took over 3 months ago that was having issues with

> their old server with WinSvr2003 and Exchange 2003. Previous consultant

> setup their Local Disk as a 9GB partition and it became full soon after we

> took over the account. We recommended resizing the partition with a

> server

> grade partitioning app. However, they decided rather than doing that or

> reformatting and restoring backups, they would buy new server.

>

> Did not have discs for Windows Server 2003...so they bought 2003 R2 (not

> for

> profit with limited purchasing capabilities through TechSoup). We have

> not

> done many server replacements in the past, but all have been with same OS

> and

> app versions.

>

> We are having loads of issues now and the client insists its our fault,

> not

> theirs or the previous company's. We simply restored the backups on to

> the

> new server from the old (compnay docs and exchange DB).

>

> One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot

> connect

> at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available. There is

> nothing on the server to indicate any problems. Only happens with certain

> users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's settings, we

> were able to reestablish connections just fine. But than, several users

> get

> this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can connect to

> the

> domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same settings

> as

> the old server.

>

> Is there something that jumps out at someone as to why this is happening

> and

> some quick fix to resolve the problem?

>

> Also...they now want to setup the PC's so that all users can access all

> PC's

> if a machine goes down (roaming profiles). Some machines are allowing

> other

> users to login, others are not. How would I set that up so that all PC's

> can

> be accessed? And where do I find the profiles to copy over and where do I

> copy that too?

>

> I consider myself fairly knowledgable...but all of these issues are making

> me think less of my IT abilities after 10 years. I am so lost and if I

> had

> $250 avialable to me...I would just call MS and have someone hold my

> hand...but I don't:( Please help me...the client is ready to fire us.

> --

> Thanks,

>

> Binarydaddy

> IT Consultant

> Northwest Ohio

February 18, 2008

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

Danny,

While your input seems logical...this is a single server environment. The

old server was setup improperly about 4 years ago and it was only a matter of

time before the 9GB primary partition was going to be full after updates and

service packs.

The new server is a replacement to the old server and the old server was the

only server. This is a small environment (only about 15 users total). The

old and new server are acting as a DC, File Server, DNS and DHCP Server...as

well as an exchange server.

So unless there is still some validity in your resolution to the the problem

in a single server environemnt...I am not sure that it will help.

I will say that after much research...I think it is a DNS problem. The

remote users arent having any problems. Only local users...and I see that if

I were to specify the DNS server address but let the DHCP handle the rest of

the requests...everything should work just fine. Does this sound like a

viable solution?

--

Thanks,

Binarydaddy

IT Consultant

Northwest Ohio

"Danny Sanders" wrote:

> > One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot

> > connect

> > at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available.

>

> This is a symptom of DNS not being setup properly.

>

> Only happens with certain

> > users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's settings, we

> > were able to reestablish connections just fine. But than, several users

> > get

> > this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can connect to

> > the

> > domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same settings

> > as

> > the old server.

>

> My concern is with this step. When you set up the new server was it

> connected to the existing domain?

>

> The proper way to set up a new server in an existing AD domain is to add the

> server to the domain as a member server, then run dcpromo to make it a DC.

> Running dcpromo without the server being connected to the existing domain

> will create a new domain. Even if you gave it the same name as the old, it's

> still a new domain to the AD clients because the SID is different. Different

> SID = new domain to the clients of the old domain. This "sounds" like what

> happened in your case because of this: " All user accounts and settings were

> recreated with same settings as

> > the old server." statement.

>

> Done correctly the user accounts would replicate from the old server to the

> new server and there would be no need to recreate the user accounts.

>

> Sorry to say this but if you are recreating the accounts you have done

> something wrong. My guess is that the new server was installed while not in

> communication with the existing domain and you now have 2 domains with the

> same name.

>

> I would suggest running dcpromo to the new server to make it a member

> server, depending on how many users were actually using the new domain you

> created on this server, you may have to manually go to each desktop and move

> them to a workgroup, then move them back into the original domain. Once all

> users are in the original domain, add the new server to the domain as a

> member server (the same way you would add a client PC to the domain). Once

> the new server is added to the domain then run dcpromo to make it a DC. The

> user accounts will replicate to the new server. This MUST be done while the

> new server is connected to the existing domain. After this it's just a

> matter of setting the DNS as AD integrated (DNS info will replicate to the

> new server) making the new server a global catalog, transferring the 5 FSMO

> roles from the old server to the new server, restoring user files. If using

> DHCP you would change the entry of the DNS server from the old server's IP

> address to the new servers IP address, otherwise you would have to do this

> manually. At this point you should be ready to run dcpromo on the old server

> to make it a member server but I would suggest keeping it up and running

> because if the new server goes belly up there is a second server in the

> domain to hold the "AD info and user accounts" while you rebuild the failed

> server WITHOUT creating a new domain.

>

> hth

> DDS

>

> "binarydaddy" <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:1B3BBDE5-A2F7-48C8-B6AF-901AB708EE83@microsoft.com...

> > Morning,

> >

> > I have a client who we took over 3 months ago that was having issues with

> > their old server with WinSvr2003 and Exchange 2003. Previous consultant

> > setup their Local Disk as a 9GB partition and it became full soon after we

> > took over the account. We recommended resizing the partition with a

> > server

> > grade partitioning app. However, they decided rather than doing that or

> > reformatting and restoring backups, they would buy new server.

> >

> > Did not have discs for Windows Server 2003...so they bought 2003 R2 (not

> > for

> > profit with limited purchasing capabilities through TechSoup). We have

> > not

> > done many server replacements in the past, but all have been with same OS

> > and

> > app versions.

> >

> > We are having loads of issues now and the client insists its our fault,

> > not

> > theirs or the previous company's. We simply restored the backups on to

> > the

> > new server from the old (compnay docs and exchange DB).

> >

> > One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot

> > connect

> > at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available. There is

> > nothing on the server to indicate any problems. Only happens with certain

> > users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's settings, we

> > were able to reestablish connections just fine. But than, several users

> > get

> > this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can connect to

> > the

> > domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same settings

> > as

> > the old server.

> >

> > Is there something that jumps out at someone as to why this is happening

> > and

> > some quick fix to resolve the problem?

> >

> > Also...they now want to setup the PC's so that all users can access all

> > PC's

> > if a machine goes down (roaming profiles). Some machines are allowing

> > other

> > users to login, others are not. How would I set that up so that all PC's

> > can

> > be accessed? And where do I find the profiles to copy over and where do I

> > copy that too?

> >

> > I consider myself fairly knowledgable...but all of these issues are making

> > me think less of my IT abilities after 10 years. I am so lost and if I

> > had

> > $250 avialable to me...I would just call MS and have someone hold my

> > hand...but I don't:( Please help me...the client is ready to fire us.

> > --

> > Thanks,

> >

> > Binarydaddy

> > IT Consultant

> > Northwest Ohio

>

February 18, 2008

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

It sounds like you have 2 domains with the same name. Even in a one server

domain if you add the second server incorrectly you can end up with 2

servers in 2 separate domains.

hth

DDS

"binarydaddy" <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:07D7D317-5D48-4DD5-A741-D9FC20973999@microsoft.com...

> Danny,

>

> While your input seems logical...this is a single server environment. The

> old server was setup improperly about 4 years ago and it was only a matter

> of

> time before the 9GB primary partition was going to be full after updates

> and

> service packs.

>

> The new server is a replacement to the old server and the old server was

> the

> only server. This is a small environment (only about 15 users total).

> The

> old and new server are acting as a DC, File Server, DNS and DHCP

> Server...as

> well as an exchange server.

>

> So unless there is still some validity in your resolution to the the

> problem

> in a single server environemnt...I am not sure that it will help.

>

> I will say that after much research...I think it is a DNS problem. The

> remote users arent having any problems. Only local users...and I see that

> if

> I were to specify the DNS server address but let the DHCP handle the rest

> of

> the requests...everything should work just fine. Does this sound like a

> viable solution?

> --

> Thanks,

>

> Binarydaddy

> IT Consultant

> Northwest Ohio

>

> "Danny Sanders" wrote:

>

>> > One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot

>> > connect

>> > at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available.

>>

>> This is a symptom of DNS not being setup properly.

>>

>> Only happens with certain

>> > users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's settings,

>> > we

>> > were able to reestablish connections just fine. But than, several

>> > users

>> > get

>> > this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can connect

>> > to

>> > the

>> > domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same

>> > settings

>> > as

>> > the old server.

>>

>> My concern is with this step. When you set up the new server was it

>> connected to the existing domain?

>>

>> The proper way to set up a new server in an existing AD domain is to add

>> the

>> server to the domain as a member server, then run dcpromo to make it a

>> DC.

>> Running dcpromo without the server being connected to the existing domain

>> will create a new domain. Even if you gave it the same name as the old,

>> it's

>> still a new domain to the AD clients because the SID is different.

>> Different

>> SID = new domain to the clients of the old domain. This "sounds" like

>> what

>> happened in your case because of this: " All user accounts and settings

>> were

>> recreated with same settings as

>> > the old server." statement.

>>

>> Done correctly the user accounts would replicate from the old server to

>> the

>> new server and there would be no need to recreate the user accounts.

>>

>> Sorry to say this but if you are recreating the accounts you have done

>> something wrong. My guess is that the new server was installed while not

>> in

>> communication with the existing domain and you now have 2 domains with

>> the

>> same name.

>>

>> I would suggest running dcpromo to the new server to make it a member

>> server, depending on how many users were actually using the new domain

>> you

>> created on this server, you may have to manually go to each desktop and

>> move

>> them to a workgroup, then move them back into the original domain. Once

>> all

>> users are in the original domain, add the new server to the domain as a

>> member server (the same way you would add a client PC to the domain).

>> Once

>> the new server is added to the domain then run dcpromo to make it a DC.

>> The

>> user accounts will replicate to the new server. This MUST be done while

>> the

>> new server is connected to the existing domain. After this it's just a

>> matter of setting the DNS as AD integrated (DNS info will replicate to

>> the

>> new server) making the new server a global catalog, transferring the 5

>> FSMO

>> roles from the old server to the new server, restoring user files. If

>> using

>> DHCP you would change the entry of the DNS server from the old server's

>> IP

>> address to the new servers IP address, otherwise you would have to do

>> this

>> manually. At this point you should be ready to run dcpromo on the old

>> server

>> to make it a member server but I would suggest keeping it up and running

>> because if the new server goes belly up there is a second server in the

>> domain to hold the "AD info and user accounts" while you rebuild the

>> failed

>> server WITHOUT creating a new domain.

>>

>> hth

>> DDS

>>

>> "binarydaddy" <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

>> news:1B3BBDE5-A2F7-48C8-B6AF-901AB708EE83@microsoft.com...

>> > Morning,

>> >

>> > I have a client who we took over 3 months ago that was having issues

>> > with

>> > their old server with WinSvr2003 and Exchange 2003. Previous

>> > consultant

>> > setup their Local Disk as a 9GB partition and it became full soon after

>> > we

>> > took over the account. We recommended resizing the partition with a

>> > server

>> > grade partitioning app. However, they decided rather than doing that

>> > or

>> > reformatting and restoring backups, they would buy new server.

>> >

>> > Did not have discs for Windows Server 2003...so they bought 2003 R2

>> > (not

>> > for

>> > profit with limited purchasing capabilities through TechSoup). We have

>> > not

>> > done many server replacements in the past, but all have been with same

>> > OS

>> > and

>> > app versions.

>> >

>> > We are having loads of issues now and the client insists its our fault,

>> > not

>> > theirs or the previous company's. We simply restored the backups on to

>> > the

>> > new server from the old (compnay docs and exchange DB).

>> >

>> > One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot

>> > connect

>> > at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available. There

>> > is

>> > nothing on the server to indicate any problems. Only happens with

>> > certain

>> > users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's settings,

>> > we

>> > were able to reestablish connections just fine. But than, several

>> > users

>> > get

>> > this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can connect

>> > to

>> > the

>> > domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same

>> > settings

>> > as

>> > the old server.

>> >

>> > Is there something that jumps out at someone as to why this is

>> > happening

>> > and

>> > some quick fix to resolve the problem?

>> >

>> > Also...they now want to setup the PC's so that all users can access all

>> > PC's

>> > if a machine goes down (roaming profiles). Some machines are allowing

>> > other

>> > users to login, others are not. How would I set that up so that all

>> > PC's

>> > can

>> > be accessed? And where do I find the profiles to copy over and where

>> > do I

>> > copy that too?

>> >

>> > I consider myself fairly knowledgable...but all of these issues are

>> > making

>> > me think less of my IT abilities after 10 years. I am so lost and if I

>> > had

>> > $250 avialable to me...I would just call MS and have someone hold my

>> > hand...but I don't:( Please help me...the client is ready to fire us.

>> > --

>> > Thanks,

>> >

>> > Binarydaddy

>> > IT Consultant

>> > Northwest Ohio

>>

February 19, 2008

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

binarydaddy <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Danny,

>

> While your input seems logical...this is a single server environment.

> The old server was setup improperly about 4 years ago and it was only

> a matter of time before the 9GB primary partition was going to be

> full after updates and service packs.

Yes, understood, but that isn't really relevant here, I think.

>

> The new server is a replacement to the old server and the old server

> was the only server. This is a small environment (only about 15

> users total). The old and new server are acting as a DC, File

> Server, DNS and DHCP Server...as well as an exchange server.

But exactly *how* did you install the new server? Based on your description,

it isn't clear. This should have been simple - set up the R2 server in the

existing domain as a member server, than do the schema updates for R2 and

promote it to a DC. Then install Exchange, and mov mailboxes & rehome public

folders (never ever run dcpromo on an Exchange server).

Then you'd install DHCP/WINS, copy your data files (I like robocopy with the

/sec switch), make sure the new server has AD-integrated DNS working

properly, make it a GC.....and transfer the FSMO roles to the new server.

Then followed the official procedures for removing the first Exchange server

from the domain. At that point, you could've kept the old one up as a

secondary DC or shut it down...everything would be on the new box.

If you didn't do the above, what you've got now is a totally different AD

domain, regardless of what you named it,and in that case, yes, loads of

things aren't going to work right. Your computers would all need to be

disjoined/rejoined to the new domain, your user profiles migrated (ugh), and

all sorts of ugly tweaks would likely be required.

>

> So unless there is still some validity in your resolution to the the

> problem in a single server environemnt...I am not sure that it will

> help.

>

> I will say that after much research...I think it is a DNS problem.

> The remote users arent having any problems. Only local users...and I

> see that if I were to specify the DNS server address but let the DHCP

> handle the rest of the requests...everything should work just fine.

> Does this sound like a viable solution?

>

>>> One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot

>>> connect

>>> at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available.

>>

>> This is a symptom of DNS not being setup properly.

>>

>> Only happens with certain

>>> users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's

>>> settings, we were able to reestablish connections just fine. But

>>> than, several users get

>>> this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can

>>> connect to the

>>> domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same

>>> settings as

>>> the old server.

>>

>> My concern is with this step. When you set up the new server was it

>> connected to the existing domain?

>>

>> The proper way to set up a new server in an existing AD domain is to

>> add the server to the domain as a member server, then run dcpromo to

>> make it a DC. Running dcpromo without the server being connected to

>> the existing domain will create a new domain. Even if you gave it

>> the same name as the old, it's still a new domain to the AD clients

>> because the SID is different. Different SID = new domain to the

>> clients of the old domain. This "sounds" like what happened in your

>> case because of this: " All user accounts and settings were

>> recreated with same settings as

>>> the old server." statement.

>>

>> Done correctly the user accounts would replicate from the old server

>> to the new server and there would be no need to recreate the user

>> accounts.

>>

>> Sorry to say this but if you are recreating the accounts you have

>> done something wrong. My guess is that the new server was installed

>> while not in communication with the existing domain and you now have

>> 2 domains with the same name.

>>

>> I would suggest running dcpromo to the new server to make it a member

>> server, depending on how many users were actually using the new

>> domain you created on this server, you may have to manually go to

>> each desktop and move them to a workgroup, then move them back into

>> the original domain. Once all users are in the original domain, add

>> the new server to the domain as a member server (the same way you

>> would add a client PC to the domain). Once the new server is added

>> to the domain then run dcpromo to make it a DC. The user accounts

>> will replicate to the new server. This MUST be done while the new

>> server is connected to the existing domain. After this it's just a

>> matter of setting the DNS as AD integrated (DNS info will replicate

>> to the new server) making the new server a global catalog,

>> transferring the 5 FSMO roles from the old server to the new server,

>> restoring user files. If using DHCP you would change the entry of

>> the DNS server from the old server's IP address to the new servers

>> IP address, otherwise you would have to do this manually. At this

>> point you should be ready to run dcpromo on the old server to make

>> it a member server but I would suggest keeping it up and running

>> because if the new server goes belly up there is a second server in

>> the domain to hold the "AD info and user accounts" while you rebuild

>> the failed server WITHOUT creating a new domain.

>>

>> hth

>> DDS

>>

>> "binarydaddy" <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in

>> message news:1B3BBDE5-A2F7-48C8-B6AF-901AB708EE83@microsoft.com...

>>> Morning,

>>>

>>> I have a client who we took over 3 months ago that was having

>>> issues with their old server with WinSvr2003 and Exchange 2003.

>>> Previous consultant setup their Local Disk as a 9GB partition and

>>> it became full soon after we took over the account. We recommended

>>> resizing the partition with a server

>>> grade partitioning app. However, they decided rather than doing

>>> that or reformatting and restoring backups, they would buy new

>>> server.

>>>

>>> Did not have discs for Windows Server 2003...so they bought 2003 R2

>>> (not for

>>> profit with limited purchasing capabilities through TechSoup). We

>>> have not

>>> done many server replacements in the past, but all have been with

>>> same OS and

>>> app versions.

>>>

>>> We are having loads of issues now and the client insists its our

>>> fault, not

>>> theirs or the previous company's. We simply restored the backups

>>> on to the

>>> new server from the old (compnay docs and exchange DB).

>>>

>>> One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot

>>> connect

>>> at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available.

>>> There is nothing on the server to indicate any problems. Only

>>> happens with certain users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing

>>> the old one's settings, we were able to reestablish connections

>>> just fine. But than, several users get

>>> this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can

>>> connect to the

>>> domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same

>>> settings as

>>> the old server.

>>>

>>> Is there something that jumps out at someone as to why this is

>>> happening and

>>> some quick fix to resolve the problem?

>>>

>>> Also...they now want to setup the PC's so that all users can access

>>> all PC's

>>> if a machine goes down (roaming profiles). Some machines are

>>> allowing other

>>> users to login, others are not. How would I set that up so that

>>> all PC's can

>>> be accessed? And where do I find the profiles to copy over and

>>> where do I copy that too?

>>>

>>> I consider myself fairly knowledgable...but all of these issues are

>>> making me think less of my IT abilities after 10 years. I am so

>>> lost and if I had

>>> $250 avialable to me...I would just call MS and have someone hold my

>>> hand...but I don't:( Please help me...the client is ready to fire

>>> us. --

>>> Thanks,

>>>

>>> Binarydaddy

>>> IT Consultant

>>> Northwest Ohio

February 19, 2008

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

LAN,

Well it seems apparent that I did not know what I was doing:( I guess I can

tell you what I have done since installing the new server and you can tell me

if what I did makes sense and if you see that there is anything else I need

to do. Looks like a refresher course in server installation might be a good

thing for me at this point:(

Okay...so yes, I basically installed everything on the new server, verified

the settings, policies, AD and components were identical to the old server.

I then backed up data and the email store through WinBackup and shut down the

old server. I then restored the data and email to the new server.

Once complete, it seemed the main problem we had was that email wasnt

reconnecting as it should have. The solution I know of and confirmed on this

discussion board was to first, try to disable and reenable the cached

exchange mode (including rebooting before and after to get a fresh updated

ost file). WHen that didnt seem to work, I then recreated a fresh profile on

each machine and that seemed to take care of that.

The next issue that has been ongoing is that users where not able to login

from time to time to the domain at the bootup screen of XP Pro. After much

runaround on here and so forth, this morning I changed all of their internal

PC's to static IP's and specified the DNS address on the server and am about

to remote into the server and add the DNS host records. What confuses me is

that the DHCP and DNS services on the old server had added the host files in

DNS through DHCP. It has not done that on the new server which is what

prompted me to change to static IP's and add the host records manually since

I am leary of adding DNS records for DHCP clients when their leases could

expire and thus giving them new IP's that are different from those associated

to their respective computer names on the DNS records. Again...just what I

am seeing and trying to determine...If I am wrong on this, please let me

know:(

So as of now, the issues seem to all be worked out and this change to the

DNS and static IP's appears to be what the concensus is on MS Newsgroups as

to what the problem is and what needs to be done to fix it. Again, please

inform me if I am wrong and what to do.

FInally...a third party app on one of the local machines had attempted to

pull the new profiles I created for Outlook into a PST file instead of a

general mailbox. I have seen this issue once before and it did the same

thing as before by exchange seeing the problem and stopping the profile setup

and deleting the PST file...reverting back to the original profile when it

had failed. However, this time around, the pst file was deleted

automatically when the error occurred and about 1 weeks worth of email was

already in the pst file when it was deleted (pulled in 1 week to the inbox in

about 2 seconds before failing and deleting).

In reference to the above, the old server was setup by a different company

had not been backing up exchange at all. We spotted the issue and let

WinBackup do exchange backups on the new server. The problem is that I am

not able to restore the individual messages through the WinBackups because it

is prompting me to restore the entire mailbox from a specific date...which

doesnt include mail from the period after the backup was finished...thus the

potential of losing more email (have I lost you yet??).

So...we found out later that the weeks worth of email was lost and the

backups only went back 1 week and had already been updated. We have since

then recovered local mail from inside users from that date range...but the

backups have since been overwritten and the email from that range from

outside sources is no longer avialable. The old server did not have recovery

storage group setup...but they had Backup Exec 11d that could have been used.

They did not have the media for that until recently and we have set it up to

back up and allow recovery of individual messages through backup exec and

extended their backup schedule to three weeks of full backups.

I just say that to make sure I am covering every detail based on what we did

and the issues we have come across and our solutions to them. If you see

anything in here that catches you as being incorrect or a different solution

recommended...please let me know:) Thanks, LAN, for your help.

FYI - I know some of this is exchange related...but given the circumstances,

I wanted to cover everything in one thread so you can see what was done and

offer any solutions without referring to other posts. Also...if in fact you

might be able to offer any assistance off of this discussion board, my email

address is bstossel@dacor.net if you would allow me to forward you any useful

information via screenshots or otherwise. I cant afford $250+ a pop for some

MS flunky to try and guide me over the phone...I have wasted over $600

through that service and nothing has been fixed. I get better help from guys

like you and you personally have replied to numerous threads of mine and your

input is the best so far...thanks again and sorry for the lengthiness.

--

Thanks,

Binarydaddy

IT Consultant

Northwest Ohio

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

> binarydaddy <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> > Danny,

> >

> > While your input seems logical...this is a single server environment.

> > The old server was setup improperly about 4 years ago and it was only

> > a matter of time before the 9GB primary partition was going to be

> > full after updates and service packs.

>

> Yes, understood, but that isn't really relevant here, I think.

> >

> > The new server is a replacement to the old server and the old server

> > was the only server. This is a small environment (only about 15

> > users total). The old and new server are acting as a DC, File

> > Server, DNS and DHCP Server...as well as an exchange server.

>

> But exactly *how* did you install the new server? Based on your description,

> it isn't clear. This should have been simple - set up the R2 server in the

> existing domain as a member server, than do the schema updates for R2 and

> promote it to a DC. Then install Exchange, and mov mailboxes & rehome public

> folders (never ever run dcpromo on an Exchange server).

>

> Then you'd install DHCP/WINS, copy your data files (I like robocopy with the

> /sec switch), make sure the new server has AD-integrated DNS working

> properly, make it a GC.....and transfer the FSMO roles to the new server.

> Then followed the official procedures for removing the first Exchange server

> from the domain. At that point, you could've kept the old one up as a

> secondary DC or shut it down...everything would be on the new box.

>

> If you didn't do the above, what you've got now is a totally different AD

> domain, regardless of what you named it,and in that case, yes, loads of

> things aren't going to work right. Your computers would all need to be

> disjoined/rejoined to the new domain, your user profiles migrated (ugh), and

> all sorts of ugly tweaks would likely be required.

>

> >

> > So unless there is still some validity in your resolution to the the

> > problem in a single server environemnt...I am not sure that it will

> > help.

> >

> > I will say that after much research...I think it is a DNS problem.

> > The remote users arent having any problems. Only local users...and I

> > see that if I were to specify the DNS server address but let the DHCP

> > handle the rest of the requests...everything should work just fine.

> > Does this sound like a viable solution?

> >

> >>> One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot

> >>> connect

> >>> at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available.

> >>

> >> This is a symptom of DNS not being setup properly.

> >>

> >> Only happens with certain

> >>> users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's

> >>> settings, we were able to reestablish connections just fine. But

> >>> than, several users get

> >>> this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can

> >>> connect to the

> >>> domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same

> >>> settings as

> >>> the old server.

> >>

> >> My concern is with this step. When you set up the new server was it

> >> connected to the existing domain?

> >>

> >> The proper way to set up a new server in an existing AD domain is to

> >> add the server to the domain as a member server, then run dcpromo to

> >> make it a DC. Running dcpromo without the server being connected to

> >> the existing domain will create a new domain. Even if you gave it

> >> the same name as the old, it's still a new domain to the AD clients

> >> because the SID is different. Different SID = new domain to the

> >> clients of the old domain. This "sounds" like what happened in your

> >> case because of this: " All user accounts and settings were

> >> recreated with same settings as

> >>> the old server." statement.

> >>

> >> Done correctly the user accounts would replicate from the old server

> >> to the new server and there would be no need to recreate the user

> >> accounts.

> >>

> >> Sorry to say this but if you are recreating the accounts you have

> >> done something wrong. My guess is that the new server was installed

> >> while not in communication with the existing domain and you now have

> >> 2 domains with the same name.

> >>

> >> I would suggest running dcpromo to the new server to make it a member

> >> server, depending on how many users were actually using the new

> >> domain you created on this server, you may have to manually go to

> >> each desktop and move them to a workgroup, then move them back into

> >> the original domain. Once all users are in the original domain, add

> >> the new server to the domain as a member server (the same way you

> >> would add a client PC to the domain). Once the new server is added

> >> to the domain then run dcpromo to make it a DC. The user accounts

> >> will replicate to the new server. This MUST be done while the new

> >> server is connected to the existing domain. After this it's just a

> >> matter of setting the DNS as AD integrated (DNS info will replicate

> >> to the new server) making the new server a global catalog,

> >> transferring the 5 FSMO roles from the old server to the new server,

> >> restoring user files. If using DHCP you would change the entry of

> >> the DNS server from the old server's IP address to the new servers

> >> IP address, otherwise you would have to do this manually. At this

> >> point you should be ready to run dcpromo on the old server to make

> >> it a member server but I would suggest keeping it up and running

> >> because if the new server goes belly up there is a second server in

> >> the domain to hold the "AD info and user accounts" while you rebuild

> >> the failed server WITHOUT creating a new domain.

> >>

> >> hth

> >> DDS

> >>

> >> "binarydaddy" <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in

> >> message news:1B3BBDE5-A2F7-48C8-B6AF-901AB708EE83@microsoft.com...

> >>> Morning,

> >>>

> >>> I have a client who we took over 3 months ago that was having

> >>> issues with their old server with WinSvr2003 and Exchange 2003.

> >>> Previous consultant setup their Local Disk as a 9GB partition and

> >>> it became full soon after we took over the account. We recommended

> >>> resizing the partition with a server

> >>> grade partitioning app. However, they decided rather than doing

> >>> that or reformatting and restoring backups, they would buy new

> >>> server.

> >>>

> >>> Did not have discs for Windows Server 2003...so they bought 2003 R2

> >>> (not for

> >>> profit with limited purchasing capabilities through TechSoup). We

> >>> have not

> >>> done many server replacements in the past, but all have been with

> >>> same OS and

> >>> app versions.

> >>>

> >>> We are having loads of issues now and the client insists its our

> >>> fault, not

> >>> theirs or the previous company's. We simply restored the backups

> >>> on to the

> >>> new server from the old (compnay docs and exchange DB).

> >>>

> >>> One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot

> >>> connect

> >>> at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available.

> >>> There is nothing on the server to indicate any problems. Only

> >>> happens with certain users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing

> >>> the old one's settings, we were able to reestablish connections

> >>> just fine. But than, several users get

> >>> this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can

> >>> connect to the

> >>> domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same

> >>> settings as

> >>> the old server.

> >>>

> >>> Is there something that jumps out at someone as to why this is

> >>> happening and

> >>> some quick fix to resolve the problem?

> >>>

> >>> Also...they now want to setup the PC's so that all users can access

> >>> all PC's

> >>> if a machine goes down (roaming profiles). Some machines are

> >>> allowing other

> >>> users to login, others are not. How would I set that up so that

> >>> all PC's can

> >>> be accessed? And where do I find the profiles to copy over and

> >>> where do I copy that too?

> >>>

> >>> I consider myself fairly knowledgable...but all of these issues are

> >>> making me think less of my IT abilities after 10 years. I am so

> >>> lost and if I had

> >>> $250 avialable to me...I would just call MS and have someone hold my

> >>> hand...but I don't:( Please help me...the client is ready to fire

> >>> us. --

> >>> Thanks,

> >>>

> >>> Binarydaddy

> >>> IT Consultant

> >>> Northwest Ohio

>

February 19, 2008

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

binarydaddy <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> LAN,

>

> Well it seems apparent that I did not know what I was doing:( I

> guess I can tell you what I have done since installing the new server

> and you can tell me if what I did makes sense and if you see that

> there is anything else I need to do. Looks like a refresher course

> in server installation might be a good thing for me at this point:(

Set up a lab - virtual servers make this stuff easy. The whole point of AD

is that you're not limited to a single server with a local SAM - you can add

domain controllers, retire old ones, etc - you pretty much never need to do

what you did. Migrations and server work also require careful planning, and

research beforehand...don't just charge in, even if you're absolutely sure

of what you're doing.

I hope you don't take this badly, but you've gotten the network into a bit

of a dog's breakfast now, and the client has a right to be annoyed. You

should be able to fix this, but it's going to take some work - you may

consider bringing in someone else with a bit more experience to help out &

speed the process; it will likely pay for itself quickly enough.

>

> Okay...so yes, I basically installed everything on the new server,

> verified the settings, policies, AD and components were identical to

> the old server.

To the human eye, they may have been. However, the SIDs are entirely

different. What you have now is a brand new domain - with brand new user

accounts, and so forth.

> I then backed up data and the email store through

> WinBackup

NTBackup?

> and shut down the old server. I then restored the data and

> email to the new server.

If you were using Exchange, and were able to do this, you were d__d lucky if

you got the stores to mount cleanly (or at all).

>

> Once complete, it seemed the main problem we had was that email wasnt

> reconnecting as it should have. The solution I know of and confirmed

> on this discussion board was to first, try to disable and reenable

> the cached exchange mode (including rebooting before and after to get

> a fresh updated ost file). WHen that didnt seem to work, I then

> recreated a fresh profile on each machine and that seemed to take

> care of that.

No, you will still have problems. Disjoin the workstations from the old

domain (which no longer exists, remember) & put them in a workgroup. Rejoin

the new domain.

You will have orphaned your user profiles - what you may wish to do first

is:

While the computer is still in domain A, create a local user account,

clearly named to distinguish it from the domain user (e.g, LauraLocal as

opposed to Laura).

Log in once as the local user account.

Log out.

Log back in as an account with admin rights (but *not* the real domain user)

Go to control panel, system, advanced....in User Profiles, click the

Settings button

Select the domain user's profile, click on Copy To, and browse to the new

local user's c:\documents and settings\username folder.

Click OK.

Click the Change button in "Permitted to use" and pick Everyone

Close out.

Log in as the local user and make sure the settings look right.

If so, you should be good to go...disjoin the computer from the domain,

making sure you know the local admin credentials....and then join the new

one.

Then, you can reverse the process, so the new domain user has the local

profile copied up to *it*.

>

> The next issue that has been ongoing is that users where not able to

> login from time to time to the domain

Not surprising!

> at the bootup screen of XP Pro.

> After much runaround on here and so forth, this morning I changed all

> of their internal PC's to static IP's

Not necessary -

> and specified the DNS address

> on the server and am about to remote into the server and add the DNS

> host records. What confuses me is that the DHCP and DNS services on

> the old server had added the host files in DNS through DHCP.

Host files aren't relevant to DNS, so I don't think that's what you mean....

> It has

> not done that on the new server

How did you set up DNS and DHCP on the new server? You should have

AD-integrated DNS running, and the DHCP server should be dishing out *only*

the internal IP address of the new server for DNS. No public DNS servers.

The primary DNS suffix must be correct & match the AD domain name (e.g.,

company.local). Automatic client DNS registration should be happening

....well, automatically.

> which is what prompted me to change

> to static IP's and add the host records manually since I am leary of

> adding DNS records for DHCP clients when their leases could expire

> and thus giving them new IP's that are different from those

> associated to their respective computer names on the DNS records.

Don't mess around in your DNS.... at least not yet.

> Again...just what I am seeing and trying to determine...If I am wrong

> on this, please let me know:(

>

> So as of now, the issues seem to all be worked out

I wouldn't say that, not yet...

> and this change to

> the DNS and static IP's appears to be what the concensus is

You haven't mentioned what you did with DNS, and you should not need static

IPs.

> on MS

> Newsgroups as to what the problem is and what needs to be done to fix

> it. Again, please inform me if I am wrong and what to do.

See if the above helps.

>

> FInally...a third party app on one of the local machines had

> attempted to pull the new profiles I created for Outlook into a PST

> file instead of a general mailbox. I have seen this issue once

> before and it did the same thing as before by exchange seeing the

> problem and stopping the profile setup and deleting the PST

> file...reverting back to the original profile when it had failed.

> However, this time around, the pst file was deleted automatically

> when the error occurred and about 1 weeks worth of email was already

> in the pst file when it was deleted (pulled in 1 week to the inbox in

> about 2 seconds before failing and deleting).

I don't understand how a PST file could be automatically deleted from the

system - search for it! If the mail was downloaded to it, it wouldn't be a

single PST file for multiple mail profiles. But, if you have mail that was

downloaded to PST, and then the PST file was deleted & can't be recovered,

and you have no backup of the mail store made prior to that, the data is

gone. PST files don't belong on a network w/Exchange.

If this third party app causes problems, uninstall or disable it for now.

Fix your profile problems & many issues should go away. You need to edit

your mail profiles so there are no PST files or Internet mail in them. Just

Exchange.

>

> In reference to the above, the old server was setup by a different

> company had not been backing up exchange at all. We spotted the

> issue and let WinBackup do exchange backups on the new server. The

> problem is that I am not able to restore the individual messages

> through the WinBackups because it is prompting me to restore the

> entire mailbox from a specific date...which doesnt include mail from

> the period after the backup was finished...thus the potential of

> losing more email (have I lost you yet??).

Normal NTBackup does not back up invididual mailboxes - it backs up the

whole store. If you have E2003 and up you have the Recovery Storage Group as

an option, but that isn't for the faint of heart. If you support Exchange

you should start doing a little reading up on this stuff, seriously. :-)

>

> So...we found out later that the weeks worth of email was lost and the

> backups only went back 1 week and had already been updated. We have

> since then recovered local mail from inside users from that date

> range...but the backups have since been overwritten

Ouch. This is Not Good. Backup media should be stored offsite.

> and the email

> from that range from outside sources is no longer avialable. The old

> server did not have recovery storage group setup...but they had

> Backup Exec 11d that could have been used. They did not have the

> media for that until recently and we have set it up to back up and

> allow recovery of individual messages through backup exec and

> extended their backup schedule to three weeks of full backups.

I don't personally recommend brick/mailbox-level backups - I use BE in some

locations, but I only back up the stores. Brick level sucks up way too much

time/media and is useless for disaster recovery -use it only if you're also

doing full online backups which purge the committed transaction logs.

>

> I just say that to make sure I am covering every detail based on what

> we did and the issues we have come across and our solutions to them.

> If you see anything in here that catches you as being incorrect or a

> different solution recommended...please let me know:) Thanks, LAN,

> for your help.

>

> FYI - I know some of this is exchange related...but given the

> circumstances, I wanted to cover everything in one thread so you can

> see what was done and offer any solutions without referring to other

> posts. Also...if in fact you might be able to offer any assistance

> off of this discussion board, my email address is bstossel@dacor.net

> if you would allow me to forward you any useful information via

> screenshots or otherwise. I cant afford $250+ a pop for some MS

> flunky to try and guide me over the phone...I have wasted over $600

> through that service and nothing has been fixed. I get better help

> from guys like you and you personally have replied to numerous

> threads of mine and your input is the best so far...thanks again and

> sorry for the lengthiness.

No problem. Hope this helps. Sorry, can't do individual email support unless

you want to pay *my* consulting fees :-)

>

>> binarydaddy <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>>> Danny,

>>>

>>> While your input seems logical...this is a single server

>>> environment. The old server was setup improperly about 4 years ago

>>> and it was only a matter of time before the 9GB primary partition

>>> was going to be full after updates and service packs.

>>

>> Yes, understood, but that isn't really relevant here, I think.

>>>

>>> The new server is a replacement to the old server and the old server

>>> was the only server. This is a small environment (only about 15

>>> users total). The old and new server are acting as a DC, File

>>> Server, DNS and DHCP Server...as well as an exchange server.

>>

>> But exactly *how* did you install the new server? Based on your

>> description, it isn't clear. This should have been simple - set up

>> the R2 server in the existing domain as a member server, than do the

>> schema updates for R2 and promote it to a DC. Then install Exchange,

>> and mov mailboxes & rehome public folders (never ever run dcpromo on

>> an Exchange server).

>>

>> Then you'd install DHCP/WINS, copy your data files (I like robocopy

>> with the /sec switch), make sure the new server has AD-integrated

>> DNS working properly, make it a GC.....and transfer the FSMO roles

>> to the new server. Then followed the official procedures for

>> removing the first Exchange server from the domain. At that point,

>> you could've kept the old one up as a secondary DC or shut it

>> down...everything would be on the new box.

>>

>> If you didn't do the above, what you've got now is a totally

>> different AD domain, regardless of what you named it,and in that

>> case, yes, loads of things aren't going to work right. Your

>> computers would all need to be disjoined/rejoined to the new domain,

>> your user profiles migrated (ugh), and all sorts of ugly tweaks

>> would likely be required.

>>

>>>

>>> So unless there is still some validity in your resolution to the the

>>> problem in a single server environemnt...I am not sure that it will

>>> help.

>>>

>>> I will say that after much research...I think it is a DNS problem.

>>> The remote users arent having any problems. Only local users...and

>>> I see that if I were to specify the DNS server address but let the

>>> DHCP handle the rest of the requests...everything should work just

>>> fine. Does this sound like a viable solution?

>>>

>>>>> One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users

>>>>> cannot connect

>>>>> at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available.

>>>>

>>>> This is a symptom of DNS not being setup properly.

>>>>

>>>> Only happens with certain

>>>>> users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's

>>>>> settings, we were able to reestablish connections just fine. But

>>>>> than, several users get

>>>>> this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can

>>>>> connect to the

>>>>> domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same

>>>>> settings as

>>>>> the old server.

>>>>

>>>> My concern is with this step. When you set up the new server was it

>>>> connected to the existing domain?

>>>>

>>>> The proper way to set up a new server in an existing AD domain is

>>>> to add the server to the domain as a member server, then run

>>>> dcpromo to make it a DC. Running dcpromo without the server being

>>>> connected to the existing domain will create a new domain. Even if

>>>> you gave it the same name as the old, it's still a new domain to

>>>> the AD clients because the SID is different. Different SID = new

>>>> domain to the clients of the old domain. This "sounds" like what

>>>> happened in your case because of this: " All user accounts and

>>>> settings were recreated with same settings as

>>>>> the old server." statement.

>>>>

>>>> Done correctly the user accounts would replicate from the old

>>>> server to the new server and there would be no need to recreate

>>>> the user accounts.

>>>>

>>>> Sorry to say this but if you are recreating the accounts you have

>>>> done something wrong. My guess is that the new server was installed

>>>> while not in communication with the existing domain and you now

>>>> have 2 domains with the same name.

>>>>

>>>> I would suggest running dcpromo to the new server to make it a

>>>> member server, depending on how many users were actually using the

>>>> new domain you created on this server, you may have to manually go

>>>> to each desktop and move them to a workgroup, then move them back

>>>> into the original domain. Once all users are in the original

>>>> domain, add the new server to the domain as a member server (the

>>>> same way you would add a client PC to the domain). Once the new

>>>> server is added to the domain then run dcpromo to make it a DC.

>>>> The user accounts will replicate to the new server. This MUST be

>>>> done while the new server is connected to the existing domain.

>>>> After this it's just a matter of setting the DNS as AD integrated

>>>> (DNS info will replicate to the new server) making the new server

>>>> a global catalog, transferring the 5 FSMO roles from the old

>>>> server to the new server, restoring user files. If using DHCP you

>>>> would change the entry of the DNS server from the old server's IP

>>>> address to the new servers IP address, otherwise you would have to

>>>> do this manually. At this point you should be ready to run dcpromo

>>>> on the old server to make it a member server but I would suggest

>>>> keeping it up and running because if the new server goes belly up

>>>> there is a second server in the domain to hold the "AD info and

>>>> user accounts" while you rebuild the failed server WITHOUT

>>>> creating a new domain.

>>>>

>>>> hth

>>>> DDS

>>>>

>>>> "binarydaddy" <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in

>>>> message news:1B3BBDE5-A2F7-48C8-B6AF-901AB708EE83@microsoft.com...

>>>>> Morning,

>>>>>

>>>>> I have a client who we took over 3 months ago that was having

>>>>> issues with their old server with WinSvr2003 and Exchange 2003.

>>>>> Previous consultant setup their Local Disk as a 9GB partition and

>>>>> it became full soon after we took over the account. We

>>>>> recommended resizing the partition with a server

>>>>> grade partitioning app. However, they decided rather than doing

>>>>> that or reformatting and restoring backups, they would buy new

>>>>> server.

>>>>>

>>>>> Did not have discs for Windows Server 2003...so they bought 2003

>>>>> R2 (not for

>>>>> profit with limited purchasing capabilities through TechSoup). We

>>>>> have not

>>>>> done many server replacements in the past, but all have been with

>>>>> same OS and

>>>>> app versions.

>>>>>

>>>>> We are having loads of issues now and the client insists its our

>>>>> fault, not

>>>>> theirs or the previous company's. We simply restored the backups

>>>>> on to the

>>>>> new server from the old (compnay docs and exchange DB).

>>>>>

>>>>> One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users

>>>>> cannot connect

>>>>> at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available.

>>>>> There is nothing on the server to indicate any problems. Only

>>>>> happens with certain users. Once we setup the new server,

>>>>> mimicing the old one's settings, we were able to reestablish

>>>>> connections just fine. But than, several users get

>>>>> this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can

>>>>> connect to the

>>>>> domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same

>>>>> settings as

>>>>> the old server.

>>>>>

>>>>> Is there something that jumps out at someone as to why this is

>>>>> happening and

>>>>> some quick fix to resolve the problem?

>>>>>

>>>>> Also...they now want to setup the PC's so that all users can

>>>>> access all PC's

>>>>> if a machine goes down (roaming profiles). Some machines are

>>>>> allowing other

>>>>> users to login, others are not. How would I set that up so that

>>>>> all PC's can

>>>>> be accessed? And where do I find the profiles to copy over and

>>>>> where do I copy that too?

>>>>>

>>>>> I consider myself fairly knowledgable...but all of these issues

>>>>> are making me think less of my IT abilities after 10 years. I am

>>>>> so lost and if I had

>>>>> $250 avialable to me...I would just call MS and have someone hold

>>>>> my hand...but I don't:( Please help me...the client is ready to

>>>>> fire us. --

>>>>> Thanks,

>>>>>

>>>>> Binarydaddy

>>>>> IT Consultant

>>>>> Northwest Ohio

February 19, 2008

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

Okay Wrench:)

You basically confirmed my own stupidity:( But that's okay. One thing I

can safely say is that the customer went against our recommendation of fixing

the old server and decided to buy a new one...which we screwed up...but not

on purpose.

So I think I get your user profile explanation...I will try that and respond

to this once I get that running. Although it will be somewhat time consuming

given that I will have to get to each machine while they are there and they

dont like it when I need to push them away...but if they want it fixed...oh

well:)

As far as backup goes...they had a tape backup previously but it went KAPUT!

So they took their old consultants recommendation and bought a Buffalo

Terastation to replace it. I understand the offsite need and explained that

to them initially so they are aware of the possibility of losing everything

if there was an onsite disaster.

My question though is the following: Based on what I have available to me, I

setup BE to do three weeks worth of backups to the Exchange Store. I used

the wizard and created full backups of each day (M-F) and allowed overwriting

the media. Am I correct in thinking that if I choose the option to append to

existing media that it will simply add the changed data to the previously

full backup rather than overwriting everything...thus saving the life

expectency of the terastation hard drives? I can easily change that since I

have just configured this recently since the current NTBackup's are virtually

useless in restoring individual messages. Oh and BE says that I can purge

transaction logs as each backup appends or overwrites the previous...is this

what needs to happend in reference to what you said about purging the logs?

Also...in reference to above, other than using recovery storage group (which

sounded too complicated before I had these problems) BE says during setup

that I can enable it to allow me to restore individual messages. Is that

true and is it something that is easily done or would it take too much effort

on my part that could in fact screw things up even more?

At this point, we are so close of losing the client that we may not have the

chance to make things right. If you can tell me about the above and give me

some assurance that I am on the right track with the BE backups and being

able to restore messages from those...I would appreciate it.

Lastly...regarding BE backups...if I have the three week rotation setup on

them...would it be easier and less time consuming on both mine and

terastations part to continue with full backups over three weeks or should I

do incremental or differential and would I still be able to easily restore

messages from that if lost?

Thanks for your help and if it comes down to it...I may need your contact

info and pay your consulting fees to get out of this. As of now...I am more

in fear of my job than losing the customer...and any help to that effect

would be well worth it. Please use the email address from previous to send

me your contact info and prices if it comes to that. Thanks.

--

Thanks,

Binarydaddy

IT Consultant

Northwest Ohio

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

> binarydaddy <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> > LAN,

> >

> > Well it seems apparent that I did not know what I was doing:( I

> > guess I can tell you what I have done since installing the new server

> > and you can tell me if what I did makes sense and if you see that

> > there is anything else I need to do. Looks like a refresher course

> > in server installation might be a good thing for me at this point:(

>

> Set up a lab - virtual servers make this stuff easy. The whole point of AD

> is that you're not limited to a single server with a local SAM - you can add

> domain controllers, retire old ones, etc - you pretty much never need to do

> what you did. Migrations and server work also require careful planning, and

> research beforehand...don't just charge in, even if you're absolutely sure

> of what you're doing.

>

> I hope you don't take this badly, but you've gotten the network into a bit

> of a dog's breakfast now, and the client has a right to be annoyed. You

> should be able to fix this, but it's going to take some work - you may

> consider bringing in someone else with a bit more experience to help out &

> speed the process; it will likely pay for itself quickly enough.

>

> >

> > Okay...so yes, I basically installed everything on the new server,

> > verified the settings, policies, AD and components were identical to

> > the old server.

>

> To the human eye, they may have been. However, the SIDs are entirely

> different. What you have now is a brand new domain - with brand new user

> accounts, and so forth.

>

> > I then backed up data and the email store through

> > WinBackup

>

> NTBackup?

>

> > and shut down the old server. I then restored the data and

> > email to the new server.

>

> If you were using Exchange, and were able to do this, you were d__d lucky if

> you got the stores to mount cleanly (or at all).

>

> >

> > Once complete, it seemed the main problem we had was that email wasnt

> > reconnecting as it should have. The solution I know of and confirmed

> > on this discussion board was to first, try to disable and reenable

> > the cached exchange mode (including rebooting before and after to get

> > a fresh updated ost file). WHen that didnt seem to work, I then

> > recreated a fresh profile on each machine and that seemed to take

> > care of that.

>

> No, you will still have problems. Disjoin the workstations from the old

> domain (which no longer exists, remember) & put them in a workgroup. Rejoin

> the new domain.

>

> You will have orphaned your user profiles - what you may wish to do first

> is:

>

> While the computer is still in domain A, create a local user account,

> clearly named to distinguish it from the domain user (e.g, LauraLocal as

> opposed to Laura).

> Log in once as the local user account.

> Log out.

> Log back in as an account with admin rights (but *not* the real domain user)

> Go to control panel, system, advanced....in User Profiles, click the

> Settings button

> Select the domain user's profile, click on Copy To, and browse to the new

> local user's c:\documents and settings\username folder.

> Click OK.

> Click the Change button in "Permitted to use" and pick Everyone

> Close out.

> Log in as the local user and make sure the settings look right.

>

> If so, you should be good to go...disjoin the computer from the domain,

> making sure you know the local admin credentials....and then join the new

> one.

>

> Then, you can reverse the process, so the new domain user has the local

> profile copied up to *it*.

>

> >

> > The next issue that has been ongoing is that users where not able to

> > login from time to time to the domain

>

> Not surprising!

>

> > at the bootup screen of XP Pro.

> > After much runaround on here and so forth, this morning I changed all

> > of their internal PC's to static IP's

>

> Not necessary -

>

> > and specified the DNS address

> > on the server and am about to remote into the server and add the DNS

> > host records. What confuses me is that the DHCP and DNS services on

> > the old server had added the host files in DNS through DHCP.

>

> Host files aren't relevant to DNS, so I don't think that's what you mean....

>

> > It has

> > not done that on the new server

>

> How did you set up DNS and DHCP on the new server? You should have

> AD-integrated DNS running, and the DHCP server should be dishing out *only*

> the internal IP address of the new server for DNS. No public DNS servers.

> The primary DNS suffix must be correct & match the AD domain name (e.g.,

> company.local). Automatic client DNS registration should be happening

> ....well, automatically.

>

> > which is what prompted me to change

> > to static IP's and add the host records manually since I am leary of

> > adding DNS records for DHCP clients when their leases could expire

> > and thus giving them new IP's that are different from those

> > associated to their respective computer names on the DNS records.

>

> Don't mess around in your DNS.... at least not yet.

>

> > Again...just what I am seeing and trying to determine...If I am wrong

> > on this, please let me know:(

> >

> > So as of now, the issues seem to all be worked out

>

> I wouldn't say that, not yet...

>

> > and this change to

> > the DNS and static IP's appears to be what the concensus is

>

> You haven't mentioned what you did with DNS, and you should not need static

> IPs.

>

> > on MS

> > Newsgroups as to what the problem is and what needs to be done to fix

> > it. Again, please inform me if I am wrong and what to do.

>

> See if the above helps.

> >

> > FInally...a third party app on one of the local machines had

> > attempted to pull the new profiles I created for Outlook into a PST

> > file instead of a general mailbox. I have seen this issue once

> > before and it did the same thing as before by exchange seeing the

> > problem and stopping the profile setup and deleting the PST

> > file...reverting back to the original profile when it had failed.

> > However, this time around, the pst file was deleted automatically

> > when the error occurred and about 1 weeks worth of email was already

> > in the pst file when it was deleted (pulled in 1 week to the inbox in

> > about 2 seconds before failing and deleting).

>

> I don't understand how a PST file could be automatically deleted from the

> system - search for it! If the mail was downloaded to it, it wouldn't be a

> single PST file for multiple mail profiles. But, if you have mail that was

> downloaded to PST, and then the PST file was deleted & can't be recovered,

> and you have no backup of the mail store made prior to that, the data is

> gone. PST files don't belong on a network w/Exchange.

>

> If this third party app causes problems, uninstall or disable it for now.

>

> Fix your profile problems & many issues should go away. You need to edit

> your mail profiles so there are no PST files or Internet mail in them. Just

> Exchange.

> >

> > In reference to the above, the old server was setup by a different

> > company had not been backing up exchange at all. We spotted the

> > issue and let WinBackup do exchange backups on the new server. The

> > problem is that I am not able to restore the individual messages

> > through the WinBackups because it is prompting me to restore the

> > entire mailbox from a specific date...which doesnt include mail from

> > the period after the backup was finished...thus the potential of

> > losing more email (have I lost you yet??).

>

> Normal NTBackup does not back up invididual mailboxes - it backs up the

> whole store. If you have E2003 and up you have the Recovery Storage Group as

> an option, but that isn't for the faint of heart. If you support Exchange

> you should start doing a little reading up on this stuff, seriously. :-)

> >

> > So...we found out later that the weeks worth of email was lost and the

> > backups only went back 1 week and had already been updated. We have

> > since then recovered local mail from inside users from that date

> > range...but the backups have since been overwritten

>

> Ouch. This is Not Good. Backup media should be stored offsite.

>

> > and the email

> > from that range from outside sources is no longer avialable. The old

> > server did not have recovery storage group setup...but they had

> > Backup Exec 11d that could have been used. They did not have the

> > media for that until recently and we have set it up to back up and

> > allow recovery of individual messages through backup exec and

> > extended their backup schedule to three weeks of full backups.

>

> I don't personally recommend brick/mailbox-level backups - I use BE in some

> locations, but I only back up the stores. Brick level sucks up way too much

> time/media and is useless for disaster recovery -use it only if you're also

> doing full online backups which purge the committed transaction logs.

> >

> > I just say that to make sure I am covering every detail based on what

> > we did and the issues we have come across and our solutions to them.

> > If you see anything in here that catches you as being incorrect or a

> > different solution recommended...please let me know:) Thanks, LAN,

> > for your help.

> >

> > FYI - I know some of this is exchange related...but given the

> > circumstances, I wanted to cover everything in one thread so you can

> > see what was done and offer any solutions without referring to other

> > posts. Also...if in fact you might be able to offer any assistance

> > off of this discussion board, my email address is bstossel@dacor.net

> > if you would allow me to forward you any useful information via

> > screenshots or otherwise. I cant afford $250+ a pop for some MS

> > flunky to try and guide me over the phone...I have wasted over $600

> > through that service and nothing has been fixed. I get better help

> > from guys like you and you personally have replied to numerous

> > threads of mine and your input is the best so far...thanks again and

> > sorry for the lengthiness.

>

> No problem. Hope this helps. Sorry, can't do individual email support unless

> you want to pay *my* consulting fees :-)

> >

> >> binarydaddy <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> >>> Danny,

> >>>

> >>> While your input seems logical...this is a single server

> >>> environment. The old server was setup improperly about 4 years ago

> >>> and it was only a matter of time before the 9GB primary partition

> >>> was going to be full after updates and service packs.

> >>

> >> Yes, understood, but that isn't really relevant here, I think.

> >>>

> >>> The new server is a replacement to the old server and the old server

> >>> was the only server. This is a small environment (only about 15

> >>> users total). The old and new server are acting as a DC, File

> >>> Server, DNS and DHCP Server...as well as an exchange server.

> >>

> >> But exactly *how* did you install the new server? Based on your

> >> description, it isn't clear. This should have been simple - set up

> >> the R2 server in the existing domain as a member server, than do the

> >> schema updates for R2 and promote it to a DC. Then install Exchange,

> >> and mov mailboxes & rehome public folders (never ever run dcpromo on

> >> an Exchange server).

> >>

> >> Then you'd install DHCP/WINS, copy your data files (I like robocopy

> >> with the /sec switch), make sure the new server has AD-integrated

> >> DNS working properly, make it a GC.....and transfer the FSMO roles

> >> to the new server. Then followed the official procedures for

> >> removing the first Exchange server from the domain. At that point,

> >> you could've kept the old one up as a secondary DC or shut it

> >> down...everything would be on the new box.

> >>

> >> If you didn't do the above, what you've got now is a totally

> >> different AD domain, regardless of what you named it,and in that

> >> case, yes, loads of things aren't going to work right. Your

> >> computers would all need to be disjoined/rejoined to the new domain,

> >> your user profiles migrated (ugh), and all sorts of ugly tweaks

> >> would likely be required.

> >>

> >>>

> >>> So unless there is still some validity in your resolution to the the

> >>> problem in a single server environemnt...I am not sure that it will

> >>> help.

> >>>

> >>> I will say that after much research...I think it is a DNS problem.

> >>> The remote users arent having any problems. Only local users...and

> >>> I see that if I were to specify the DNS server address but let the

> >>> DHCP handle the rest of the requests...everything should work just

> >>> fine. Does this sound like a viable solution?

> >>>

> >>>>> One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users

> >>>>> cannot connect

> >>>>> at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available.

> >>>>

> >>>> This is a symptom of DNS not being setup properly.

> >>>>

> >>>> Only happens with certain

> >>>>> users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's

> >>>>> settings, we were able to reestablish connections just fine. But

> >>>>> than, several users get

> >>>>> this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can

> >>>>> connect to the

> >>>>> domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same

> >>>>> settings as

> >>>>> the old server.

> >>>>

> >>>> My concern is with this step. When you set up the new server was it

> >>>> connected to the existing domain?

> >>>>

> >>>> The proper way to set up a new server in an existing AD domain is

> >>>> to add the server to the domain as a member server, then run

> >>>> dcpromo to make it a DC. Running dcpromo without the server being

> >>>> connected to the existing domain will create a new domain. Even if

> >>>> you gave it the same name as the old, it's still a new domain to

> >>>> the AD clients because the SID is different. Different SID = new

> >>>> domain to the clients of the old domain. This "sounds" like what

> >>>> happened in your case because of this: " All user accounts and

> >>>> settings were recreated with same settings as

> >>>>> the old server." statement.

> >>>>

> >>>> Done correctly the user accounts would replicate from the old

February 19, 2008

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 20

binarydaddy <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Okay Wrench:)

Extraneous "r" there. :)

>

> You basically confirmed my own stupidity:(

No, don't be silly. We all blunder sometimes.

> But that's okay. One

> thing I can safely say is that the customer went against our

> recommendation of fixing the old server and decided to buy a new

> one...which we screwed up...but not on purpose.

Well, getting a new server is fine....it just shouldn't have been installed

as though they were starting from 0. How long ago did you do this? If you

still have the old server available, what about trying to get back to where

you were, and trying again?

>

> So I think I get your user profile explanation...I will try that and

> respond to this once I get that running. Although it will be

> somewhat time consuming given that I will have to get to each machine

> while they are there and they dont like it when I need to push them

> away...but if they want it fixed...oh well:)

Yep.

>

> As far as backup goes...they had a tape backup previously but it went

> KAPUT! So they took their old consultants recommendation and bought a

> Buffalo Terastation to replace it. I understand the offsite need and

> explained that to them initially so they are aware of the possibility

> of losing everything if there was an onsite disaster.

You can back up to file, and still not have it overwrite so quickly. In

fact, with a Terastation, there should've been no need to overwrite until,

like, a year, I'd suspect! But yes, removable media is important. They can

do both - get some USB hard drives & swap them out - and also keep the

Terastation. However, backups over the network tend to suck, in my

experience.

>

> My question though is the following: Based on what I have available

> to me, I setup BE to do three weeks worth of backups to the Exchange

> Store. I used the wizard and created full backups of each day (M-F)

> and allowed overwriting the media. Am I correct in thinking that if

> I choose the option to append to existing media that it will simply

> add the changed data to the previously full backup rather than

> overwriting everything...thus saving the life expectency of the

> terastation hard drives? I can easily change that since I have just

> configured this recently since the current NTBackup's are virtually

> useless in restoring individual messages. Oh and BE says that I can

> purge transaction logs as each backup appends or overwrites the

> previous...is this what needs to happend in reference to what you

> said about purging the logs?

Contact Symantec for support with BE - I don't use it much. NTBackup with a

simple batch file works well enough for me.

>

> Also...in reference to above, other than using recovery storage group

> (which sounded too complicated before I had these problems) BE says

> during setup that I can enable it to allow me to restore individual

> messages. Is that true and is it something that is easily done or

> would it take too much effort on my part that could in fact screw

> things up even more?

It's true if you use their brick-level backup - which is not recommended by

Exchange folk.

>

> At this point, we are so close of losing the client that we may not

> have the chance to make things right. If you can tell me about the

> above and give me some assurance that I am on the right track with

> the BE backups and being able to restore messages from those...I

> would appreciate it.

You might be ok....if you've got good backups. I'm not sure what you've

lost here that you could have backed up, though.....

> Lastly...regarding BE backups...if I have the

> three week rotation setup on them...would it be easier and less time

> consuming on both mine and terastations part to continue with full

> backups over three weeks or should I do incremental or differential

> and would I still be able to easily restore messages from that if

> lost?

I do only full backups, personally - I like knowing that I can recover

everything I need from a single backup. Just my preference.

>

> Thanks for your help and if it comes down to it...I may need your

> contact info and pay your consulting fees to get out of this. As of

> now...I am more in fear of my job than losing the customer...and any

> help to that effect would be well worth it. Please use the email

> address from previous to send me your contact info and prices if it

> comes to that. Thanks.

Let's see how it goes in here first. You can't blame yourself entirely here,

you know - your company is responsible for sending you in there, and they

ought to know what your experience/skill level is - and they ought to have

comeup with a detailed proposal/project plan for the client. If your company

has to eat the cost of bringing in the cavalry, it's worth it to keep the

customer happy.

Don't kick yourself over this - just remain calm, as clients can smell fear!

>

>> binarydaddy <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>>> LAN,

>>>

>>> Well it seems apparent that I did not know what I was doing:( I

>>> guess I can tell you what I have done since installing the new

>>> server and you can tell me if what I did makes sense and if you see

>>> that there is anything else I need to do. Looks like a refresher

>>> course in server installation might be a good thing for me at this

>>> point:(

>>

>> Set up a lab - virtual servers make this stuff easy. The whole point

>> of AD is that you're not limited to a single server with a local SAM

>> - you can add domain controllers, retire old ones, etc - you pretty

>> much never need to do what you did. Migrations and server work also

>> require careful planning, and research beforehand...don't just

>> charge in, even if you're absolutely sure of what you're doing.

>>

>> I hope you don't take this badly, but you've gotten the network into

>> a bit of a dog's breakfast now, and the client has a right to be

>> annoyed. You should be able to fix this, but it's going to take some

>> work - you may consider bringing in someone else with a bit more

>> experience to help out & speed the process; it will likely pay for

>> itself quickly enough.

>>

>>>

>>> Okay...so yes, I basically installed everything on the new server,

>>> verified the settings, policies, AD and components were identical to

>>> the old server.

>>

>> To the human eye, they may have been. However, the SIDs are entirely

>> different. What you have now is a brand new domain - with brand new

>> user accounts, and so forth.

>>

>>> I then backed up data and the email store through

>>> WinBackup

>>

>> NTBackup?

>>

>>> and shut down the old server. I then restored the data and

>>> email to the new server.

>>

>> If you were using Exchange, and were able to do this, you were d__d

>> lucky if you got the stores to mount cleanly (or at all).

>>

>>>

>>> Once complete, it seemed the main problem we had was that email

>>> wasnt reconnecting as it should have. The solution I know of and

>>> confirmed on this discussion board was to first, try to disable and

>>> reenable the cached exchange mode (including rebooting before and

>>> after to get a fresh updated ost file). WHen that didnt seem to

>>> work, I then recreated a fresh profile on each machine and that

>>> seemed to take care of that.

>>

>> No, you will still have problems. Disjoin the workstations from the

>> old domain (which no longer exists, remember) & put them in a

>> workgroup. Rejoin the new domain.

>>

>> You will have orphaned your user profiles - what you may wish to do

>> first is:

>>

>> While the computer is still in domain A, create a local user account,

>> clearly named to distinguish it from the domain user (e.g,

>> LauraLocal as opposed to Laura).

>> Log in once as the local user account.

>> Log out.

>> Log back in as an account with admin rights (but *not* the real

>> domain user) Go to control panel, system, advanced....in User

>> Profiles, click the Settings button

>> Select the domain user's profile, click on Copy To, and browse to

>> the new local user's c:\documents and settings\username folder.

>> Click OK.

>> Click the Change button in "Permitted to use" and pick Everyone

>> Close out.

>> Log in as the local user and make sure the settings look right.

>>

>> If so, you should be good to go...disjoin the computer from the

>> domain, making sure you know the local admin credentials....and then

>> join the new one.

>>

>> Then, you can reverse the process, so the new domain user has the

>> local profile copied up to *it*.

>>

>>>

>>> The next issue that has been ongoing is that users where not able to

>>> login from time to time to the domain

>>

>> Not surprising!

>>

>>> at the bootup screen of XP Pro.

>>> After much runaround on here and so forth, this morning I changed

>>> all of their internal PC's to static IP's

>>

>> Not necessary -

>>

>>> and specified the DNS address

>>> on the server and am about to remote into the server and add the DNS

>>> host records. What confuses me is that the DHCP and DNS services on

>>> the old server had added the host files in DNS through DHCP.

>>

>> Host files aren't relevant to DNS, so I don't think that's what you

>> mean....

>>

>>> It has

>>> not done that on the new server

>>

>> How did you set up DNS and DHCP on the new server? You should have

>> AD-integrated DNS running, and the DHCP server should be dishing out

>> *only* the internal IP address of the new server for DNS. No public

>> DNS servers. The primary DNS suffix must be correct & match the AD

>> domain name (e.g., company.local). Automatic client DNS registration

>> should be happening ....well, automatically.

>>

>>> which is what prompted me to change

>>> to static IP's and add the host records manually since I am leary of

>>> adding DNS records for DHCP clients when their leases could expire

>>> and thus giving them new IP's that are different from those

>>> associated to their respective computer names on the DNS records.

>>

>> Don't mess around in your DNS.... at least not yet.

>>

>>> Again...just what I am seeing and trying to determine...If I am

>>> wrong on this, please let me know:(

>>>

>>> So as of now, the issues seem to all be worked out

>>

>> I wouldn't say that, not yet...

>>

>>> and this change to

>>> the DNS and static IP's appears to be what the concensus is

>>

>> You haven't mentioned what you did with DNS, and you should not need

>> static IPs.

>>

>>> on MS

>>> Newsgroups as to what the problem is and what needs to be done to

>>> fix it. Again, please inform me if I am wrong and what to do.

>>

>> See if the above helps.

>>>

>>> FInally...a third party app on one of the local machines had

>>> attempted to pull the new profiles I created for Outlook into a PST

>>> file instead of a general mailbox. I have seen this issue once

>>> before and it did the same thing as before by exchange seeing the

>>> problem and stopping the profile setup and deleting the PST

>>> file...reverting back to the original profile when it had failed.

>>> However, this time around, the pst file was deleted automatically

>>> when the error occurred and about 1 weeks worth of email was already

>>> in the pst file when it was deleted (pulled in 1 week to the inbox

>>> in about 2 seconds before failing and deleting).

>>

>> I don't understand how a PST file could be automatically deleted

>> from the system - search for it! If the mail was downloaded to it,

>> it wouldn't be a single PST file for multiple mail profiles. But, if

>> you have mail that was downloaded to PST, and then the PST file was

>> deleted & can't be recovered, and you have no backup of the mail

>> store made prior to that, the data is gone. PST files don't belong

>> on a network w/Exchange.

>>

>> If this third party app causes problems, uninstall or disable it for

>> now.

>>

>> Fix your profile problems & many issues should go away. You need to

>> edit your mail profiles so there are no PST files or Internet mail

>> in them. Just Exchange.

>>>

>>> In reference to the above, the old server was setup by a different

>>> company had not been backing up exchange at all. We spotted the

>>> issue and let WinBackup do exchange backups on the new server. The

>>> problem is that I am not able to restore the individual messages

>>> through the WinBackups because it is prompting me to restore the

>>> entire mailbox from a specific date...which doesnt include mail from

>>> the period after the backup was finished...thus the potential of

>>> losing more email (have I lost you yet??).

>>

>> Normal NTBackup does not back up invididual mailboxes - it backs up

>> the whole store. If you have E2003 and up you have the Recovery

>> Storage Group as an option, but that isn't for the faint of heart.

>> If you support Exchange you should start doing a little reading up

>> on this stuff, seriously. :-)

>>>

>>> So...we found out later that the weeks worth of email was lost and

>>> the backups only went back 1 week and had already been updated. We

>>> have since then recovered local mail from inside users from that

>>> date range...but the backups have since been overwritten

>>

>> Ouch. This is Not Good. Backup media should be stored offsite.

>>

>>> and the email

>>> from that range from outside sources is no longer avialable. The

>>> old server did not have recovery storage group setup...but they had

>>> Backup Exec 11d that could have been used. They did not have the

>>> media for that until recently and we have set it up to back up and

>>> allow recovery of individual messages through backup exec and

>>> extended their backup schedule to three weeks of full backups.

>>

>> I don't personally recommend brick/mailbox-level backups - I use BE

>> in some locations, but I only back up the stores. Brick level sucks

>> up way too much time/media and is useless for disaster recovery -use

>> it only if you're also doing full online backups which purge the

>> committed transaction logs.

>>>

>>> I just say that to make sure I am covering every detail based on

>>> what we did and the issues we have come across and our solutions to

>>> them. If you see anything in here that catches you as being

>>> incorrect or a different solution recommended...please let me

>>> know:) Thanks, LAN, for your help.

>>>

>>> FYI - I know some of this is exchange related...but given the

>>> circumstances, I wanted to cover everything in one thread so you can

>>> see what was done and offer any solutions without referring to other

>>> posts. Also...if in fact you might be able to offer any assistance

>>> off of this discussion board, my email address is bstossel@dacor.net

>>> if you would allow me to forward you any useful information via

>>> screenshots or otherwise. I cant afford $250+ a pop for some MS

>>> flunky to try and guide me over the phone...I have wasted over $600

>>> through that service and nothing has been fixed. I get better help

>>> from guys like you and you personally have replied to numerous

>>> threads of mine and your input is the best so far...thanks again and

>>> sorry for the lengthiness.

>>

>> No problem. Hope this helps. Sorry, can't do individual email

>> support unless you want to pay *my* consulting fees :-)

>>>

>>>> binarydaddy <binarydaddy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>>>>> Danny,

>>>>>

>>>>> While your input seems logical...this is a single server

>>>>> environment. The old server was setup improperly about 4 years ago

>>>>> and it was only a matter of time before the 9GB primary partition

>>>>> was going to be full after updates and service packs.

>>>>

>>>> Yes, understood, but that isn't really relevant here, I think.

>>>>>

>>>>> The new server is a replacement to the old server and the old

>>>>> server was the only server. This is a small environment (only

>>>>> about 15 users total). The old and new server are acting as a

>>>>> DC, File Server, DNS and DHCP Server...as well as an exchange

>>>>> server.

>>>>

>>>> But exactly *how* did you install the new server? Based on your

>>>> description, it isn't clear. This should have been simple - set up

>>>> the R2 server in the existing domain as a member server, than do

>>>> the schema updates for R2 and promote it to a DC. Then install

>>>> Exchange, and mov mailboxes & rehome public folders (never ever

>>>> run dcpromo on an Exchange server).

>>>>

>>>> Then you'd install DHCP/WINS, copy your data files (I like robocopy

>>>> with the /sec switch), make sure the new server has AD-integrated

>>>> DNS working properly, make it a GC.....and transfer the FSMO roles

>>>> to the new server. Then followed the official procedures for

>>>> removing the first Exchange server from the domain. At that point,

>>>> you could've kept the old one up as a secondary DC or shut it

>>>> down...everything would be on the new box.

>>>>

>>>> If you didn't do the above, what you've got now is a totally

>>>> different AD domain, regardless of what you named it,and in that

>>>> case, yes, loads of things aren't going to work right. Your

>>>> computers would all need to be disjoined/rejoined to the new

>>>> domain, your user profiles migrated (ugh), and all sorts of ugly

>>>> tweaks would likely be required.

>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>> So unless there is still some validity in your resolution to the

>>>>> the problem in a single server environemnt...I am not sure that

>>>>> it will help.

>>>>>

>>>>> I will say that after much research...I think it is a DNS problem.

>>>>> The remote users arent having any problems. Only local

>>>>> users...and I see that if I were to specify the DNS server

>>>>> address but let the DHCP handle the rest of the

>>>>> requests...everything should work just fine. Does this sound like

>>>>> a viable solution?

>>>>>

>>>>>>> One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users

>>>>>>> cannot connect

>>>>>>> at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available.

>>>>>>

>>>>>> This is a symptom of DNS not being setup properly.

>>>>>>

>>>>>> Only happens with certain

>>>>>>> users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's

>>>>>>> settings, we were able to reestablish connections just fine.

>>>>>>> But than, several users get

>>>>>>> this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can

>>>>>>> connect to the

>>>>>>> domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same

>>>>>>> settings as

>>>>>>> the old server.

>>>>>>

>>>>>> My concern is with this step. When you set up the new server was

>>>>>> it connected to the existing domain?

>>>>>>

>>>>>> The proper way to set up a new server in an existing AD domain is

>>>>>> to add the server to the domain as a member server, then run

>>>>>> dcpromo to make it a DC. Running dcpromo without the server being

>>>>>> connected to the existing domain will create a new domain. Even

>>>>>> if you gave it the same name as the old, it's still a new domain

>>>>>> to the AD clients because the SID is different. Different SID =

>>>>>> new domain to the clients of the old domain. This "sounds" like

>>>>>> what happened in your case because of this: " All user accounts

>>>>>> and settings were recreated with same settings as

>>>>>>> the old server." statement.

>>>>>>

>>>>>> Done correctly the user accounts would replicate from the old

March 16, 2008

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 2003R

Re: HELP!! Cannot Find Domain When Logging on to Windows Server 2003R

Are you serious with this brother? I am a Unix Engineer and your

posting is yet another example of why I don't let consultants into the

building unless they are forced on me. How can you justify billing

this client for something that plainly doesn't work?

It is neither their problem nor the previous consultants problem. You

took the job and told them you could deliver a system. I am going to

go out on a limb and guess that you billed yourself as an exchange and

AD expert. Am I right? Can you please tell me what service you are

providing to this client, other then taking their money. I am quite

sure they could have had an internal person screw up their system for

a lot less. I work for a large company in NY. If you had been doing

this "work" for us you would, even as I type, be fleeing from our

corporate counsel.

The most amazing comment you make here is that you won't foot the 250

bucks to call MS. How much money do you think your inability to fix

this server is costing the company you are "working" for.

I can't judge your overall technical ability based on this post,

although there is a saying about first impressions, but I can say that

not taking responsibility for your failure shows a lack of integrity.

Behavior like this gives our whole industry a bad name.

James Dowd

On Feb 18, 1:31 pm, binarydaddy

<binaryda...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Morning,

>

> I have a client who we took over 3 months ago that was having issues with

> their old server with WinSvr2003 and Exchange 2003. Previous consultant

> setup their Local Disk as a 9GB partition and it became full soon after we

> took over the account. We recommended resizing the partition with a server

> grade partitioning app. However, they decided rather than doing that or

> reformatting and restoring backups, they would buy new server.

>

> Did not have discs for Windows Server 2003...so they bought 2003 R2 (not for

> profit with limited purchasing capabilities through TechSoup). We have not

> done many server replacements in the past, but all have been with same OS and

> app versions.

>

> We are having loads of issues now and the client insists its our fault, not

> theirs or the previous company's. We simply restored the backups on to the

> new server from the old (compnay docs and exchange DB).

>

> One of the biggest issues yet to be fixed is that some users cannot connect

> at initial login. They get Domain not found or not available. There is

> nothing on the server to indicate any problems. Only happens with certain

> users. Once we setup the new server, mimicing the old one's settings, we

> were able to reestablish connections just fine. But than, several users get

> this error and it takes sometimes 5+ attempts before they can connect to the

> domain. All user accounts and settings were recreated with same settings as

> the old server.

>

> Is there something that jumps out at someone as to why this is happening and

> some quick fix to resolve the problem?

>

> Also...they now want to setup the PC's so that all users can access all PC's

> if a machine goes down (roaming profiles). Some machines are allowing other

> users to login, others are not. How would I set that up so that all PC's can

> be accessed? And where do I find the profiles to copy over and where do I

> copy that too?

>

> I consider myself fairly knowledgable...but all of these issues are making

> me think less of my IT abilities after 10 years. I am so lost and if I had

> $250 avialable to me...I would just call MS and have someone hold my

> hand...but I don't:( Please help me...the client is ready to fire us.

> --

> Thanks,

>

> Binarydaddy

> IT Consultant

> Northwest Ohio

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