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ADFHogan's avatar
ADFHogan
Copper Contributor
Apr 22, 2024

Decommissioning Essentials 2012 server, replacing with 2022 - final steps before remove old AD role?

Hi folks,

 

Had another post on this where SYSVOL and NETLOGON weren't working.. figured it out..

 

I confirmed DFS was definitely in use.

I've migrated the FSMO roles to the new server.

I've updated the PDC emulator to the new server.

I removed the certificate service (as I understand it's not needed given I'm not using all the web fluff of old Essentials, and new one doesn't have it) - but I did back it up.

 

Is there anything else I need to do?

... or just remove the AD role on the old server?

Active Directory
Essentials
Windows Server

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  • ADFHogan's avatar
    ADFHogan
    Copper Contributor
    Apr 28, 2024

    Ok.. thus far, no responses from anyone else.. so right now, before I remove the old Essentials 2012 server, I'm examining the output of "dcdiag /v /c /f:..." on both servers, comparing them, looking for errors, and for traces of the old DC in the new DC's output (where it's therefore likely the old DC is still primarily responsible).

     

    Eg. I found the domain master was still set to the old one

     

    Hopefully once the new DC doesn't refer to the old DC for anything (besides it just being a member of the domain), it'll then be safe to remove, but some confirmation would be nice if there's something else I need to check.

     

    Yes, I'm aware, in a perfect world, that a network would have at least two DCs, they'd be virtualised etc.. This is a small office, with a single server, using an Essentials license.

    • ADFHogan's avatar
      ADFHogan
      Copper Contributor
      Apr 28, 2024
      Ok.. I think I've cleared everything that appeared in dcdiag.. I noticed when I went to remove the roles, that it was complaining about Global Catalog. I manually disabled GC on the old DC after confirming new DC's had GC all along.. that removed complaint about GC, leaving DNS server. Have confirmed that new DC has DNS server as well.
      • ADFHogan's avatar
        ADFHogan
        Copper Contributor
        Apr 28, 2024

        Ok.. DC is demoted.. saw a few errors in logs.. went and removed references to old DC in DNS (switching to new DC where only a single value, removing old DC where two options listing both).. re-ran DCDIAG..

        It seems only remaining potential issues:

        • DCOM errors in dcdiag output about trying to reach old DC (what would these be about?)
        • Potential issues around DFSR on SYSVOL and NETLOGON (do I need to do anything there?)

         

        To be clear, I demoted the DC through removing the role in the Server Manager (rather than forcing it as if it were no longer available).

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