# dcpromo failure, don't know how to get replication working



## thecheat (Mar 17, 2005)

i have 2 DCs on my network, OCP and OCP2. i have only one domain in my forest. i want to demote the second one (OCP2), but dcpromo is not working. i get the following error: "The operation failed because: The Directory Service failed to replicate off changes made locally. 'The DSA operation is unable to proceed because of a DNS lookup failure.'" i've read that i could do a /forceremoval but that it is only a last resort, so i'd like to see if i can remedy this without forcing removal.

in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/332199 MS states "Microsoft Windows 2000 or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 domain controllers may not gracefully demote by using the Active Directory Installation Wizard (Dcpromo.exe). CAUSE: This behavior may occur if a required dependency or operation fails. These include network connectivity, name resolution, authentication, Active Directory directory service replication, or the location of a critical object in Active Directory."

i know that replication is NOT working. i made policy changes a few weeks ago, and any workstation that pulls its policies from OCP2 does not get the most recent changes. i can also tell by comparing the "registry.pol" files. on OCP, the file is 4,856 bytes and dated 3/4/05. on OCP2, the file is 4,216 and dated 2/17/05. however, when i view the group policy on both machines through an MMC, they are the same. i don't know how to fix this.

how do i get these machines in sync with each other?

on a side note, i have verified that OCP is the global catalog server, domain naming master, pdc emulator, rid master and infrastructure master. i do not know how to verify if it is the schema master before i demote OCP2.

how do i verify that the DC i am not trying to demote is not the schema master?

thank you for any and all help. i've been fighting with this for weeks now.


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## thecheat (Mar 17, 2005)

someone on windowsforumz.com posted this and it solved my problem. i am passing it on so others can have the info. 

All DCs and workstations should point to internal DNS servers only, so
preferred set as 192.168.1.44. OCP should point to itself as well and
configured to forward requests to your ISP dns server.

my main server's dns was not set to itself. as soon as i did that, the second DC could demote itself.

http://www.windowsforumz.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=1083753


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## Dagk (Mar 18, 2005)

*Is my problem the same???*

Hi,

I have a windows 2000 server which is a DC. I have set up an additional PC with Windows 2000 server. I have ran DCPROMO and made it an additional DC. I have also made it an additional global catalog. When I turn off the original DC server however and leave the additional DC pc on and try to access users and computers on the PC I get the following error message: 

Naming information cannot be located because: The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted.

What can I do to allow me to access AD when the original DC is switched off

Is this the same problem? Should I point the DNS on the additional server to point to itself?


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

Dagk said:


> Hi,
> 
> I have a windows 2000 server which is a DC. I have set up an additional PC with Windows 2000 server. I have ran DCPROMO and made it an additional DC. I have also made it an additional global catalog. When I turn off the original DC server however and leave the additional DC pc on and try to access users and computers on the PC I get the following error message:
> 
> ...


Here is my quick run down to make this work.
Before you start make sure you have DHCP running.

1. Install the new server as a second Domain Controller
2. Set the new server as a Global Catalogue
3. Set the new server as a DNS Server with the existing AD Integrated Zone as a Primary Zone
4. Transfer the 5 FSMO Roles to the new server.
5. Reset client and server IP information to make the new server primary DNS


I'd suggest that you monitor the server for a week, regular checks of the event logs and make sure everything is working correctly. After everything looks fine, demote the old DC to a member server and remove it from the network.


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