Windows Forum

Ask something
Discussion Locked

demote and promote server

0 helpful
8 replies

by cnunez

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

I am about to switch the roles of my BDC and PDC. Which should I do first, demote the PDC or Promote the BDC? I was thinking of synchronizing them manually, then turning off the PDC, promoting the bdc, turning on the first pdc.... and expecting to get an error message- demote the first PDC. What do you think? is this the best way?
cn

8 replies

by admin-stuart

Assuming NT is the OS, I don't see a problem with your method, but if you leave the PDC running,it would be automatically demoted anyway when you promoted the BDC.

by mebudman

start server manager, highlight the bdc, click on computer->Promote to PDC. The only role that changes it the write enabling of the SAM database on the newly Promoted PDC, and the read-only enabling of the SAM database on the newly demoted BDC. During this process the SAM database and other BDC's are synched to the new PDC. Takes about 2-3 minutes all told.

Hope this helps. You do not have to re build anything. The mechanism is built in to NT, to provide for maintenance and hardware replacement of the PDC.

by joncr

First make sure you sync the domain.
at a command prompt type:

net accounts /sync

this means that you dont loose any account updates in the process. Its always wise to do this before changing your domain infrastruture.

After this simply promote your BDC and the PDC will automatically become a BDC.

This discussion is closed to new replies.