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Domain Connectivity

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by gregberry

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I have two Windows 2000 Servers.

I have setup an AD domain called amsi on one of the servers. I didn't use the DNS format for reasons I won't get into. I have a second server I want to add to this domain.
I ran the AD wizard and selected "additional domain controller for an existing domain" and entered the Administrator and the admin password along with the domain "amsi". I click next and get the following error.

"The wizard cannot gain access to the list of domains in the forest. Theerror is: The RPC server is unavailable."

I ran net start rpcss, but the service was already started.

Any Ideas?

7 replies

by maxwell edison

According to Microsoft article Q257187

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;KO;q257187

(REMOVE SPACES from the pasted URL)

SYMPTOMS
When you are viewing the status of Active Directory replication between two domain controllers, the following messages may be displayed for the result of the last replication attempt:

The RPC server is unavailable.

-or-

The RPC server is too busy to complete this operation.

These error messages may be reported in the Event log through Active Directory Replication Monitor (Replmon.exe) from the Windows 2000 Support Tools, or Repadmin.exe from the Windows 2000 Support Tools.

CAUSE
By default, Windows 2000-based computers synchronize time as described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

Q216734 How to Configure an Authoritative Time Server in Windows 2000

However, this behavior can be overridden by specifying a time server as described in the article.

If the time server is not available and the time difference between domain controllers drifts beyond the skew allowed by Kerberos, authentication between the two domain controllers may not succeed and the RPC error messages can result.

RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows 2000. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q260910 How to Obtain the Latest Windows 2000 Service Pack

(continued..)

by maxwell edison

.
.
One method of synchronizing time amongst domain controllers is to use the net time command to synchronize the time with the computer that holds the Primary Domain Controller (PDC) Operatons Master role. To do this, use the following command:
net time \\ mypdc /set /y

This command instructs the local computer to synchronize its time with the server named Mypdc . The /set option specifies that the time not only be queried, but synchronized with the specified server. The /y switch skips the confirmation for changing the time on the local computer.

Another method is to use the W32tm.exe tool that is included with Windows 2000 to determine if a time server is explicitly configured for the local computer and if synchronizationsagainst that host are not working. At a command prompt on the server displaying the error messages, type the following command:

w32tm.exe -v

In the following sample output, a time server named MYTIMESERVER has been configured, but it is unreachable by the local computer:

W32Time: BEGIN:GetSocketForSynch
W32Time: NTP: ntpptrs[0] - MYTIMESERVER
W32Time: rgbNTPServer MYTIMESERVER
W32Time: NTP: gethostbyname failed
W32Time: Port Pinging to - 123
W32Time: NTP: connect failed
W32Time: END:Line 1147
This article also fixes an incorrect calculation in the round trip which under certain conditions causes W32TIME and W32TM to potentially set the system time about 65 seconds ahead of real time.

STATUS
The time service does not record an event in the Event log when the Windows Time service is configured to synchronize time against a specific host and that host is not available. Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Windows 2000 Service Pack 2.

Maxwell

by gregberry

Don't you think I already looked that up in the MS Knowledge base? That error is completely different from the one I am experiencing.

by chrissaw

Hi
Unfortunately, you can't use the feature from dcpromo "additional domain controller for an existing domain" if you do not want use DNS. W2K is based on DNS feature and a second Server with W2k Server on it cannot contact another one without DNS installed on both server.

Hope it help.
Christian

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