Replicating Active directory on a member server.

Total n00be question.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I need to replicate our company's active directory on a new server and am not sure exactly where to begin. Are there any Windows components I'll need to install? Will it interrupt anything with our current Domain Controller? We have 2 as it is, but for DR purposes, we now want 3.

This is my first time and I don't want to be the guy who brings down the network. Any thaughts before I just start pointing and clicking at random? I would normally ask my manager for help, but for some reason I think I should know how to do this. Plus I don't want him to put me back on desktop support for lack of experience (I hate desktop support).

Danke

Oh, and the OS is Windows Server 2003 x64 R2.

[edit on 14-12-2006 by Rasobasi420]

I would suggest you spend a week on this site Experts Exchange and see what exactly needs to happen and in what order when bringing a new server into your cluster. Once you get it promoted into the server line, AD propagation will happen automatically. It would take me a year of sundays to explain all that has to happen to get it to the Promoting stage. Experts exchange is the only site i actually pay for a subscription to due to the fact it is weeeeellllll worth the price.

Good luck and happy IT'ing

Here is a good place to start.

A checklist from microsoft.
Additional Domain controller

You're making a new DC, right?

I remember an odd problem with DNS issues when I did this..
I'll go back and look it up, and post it here too. It had me stumped for a while.

AH, I found it already..

Once you;re ready to join the new controller:
Doublecheck that DNS is running on the primary DC.
Then, on the new DC..Make sure the Address of the PREFERRED DNS server, is the Address of the Primary DC...otherwise it won't be able to Join.





[edit on 14-12-2006 by spacedoubt]

Yes SD, I am making it a DC.

I'm not concerned with DNS though as we have a seperate DNS server.

Thanks for the links guys.

Raso

Yeah, thats why I had the DNS problem, we had a seperate DNS server already, and that was the preferred address I put into the Backup DC.
And thats where the problem occurred. The new server could not find the Domain.

When you first join your Backup DC to the domain, make the Primary DC's IP the preferred DNS entry as part of your initial settings on you new backup machine.


This will allow it to find the domain. YOu can change to something else, after you join. DNS does not even have to be running on the Primary at all.

I guess you would call it a quirk, or an assumption by Microsoft that everyone uses DC's as DNS servers as well.

And I have finished BTW, with Spacedoubt and SILV3R4DO'S help.

You guys get my Way Aboves for this month

You have voted S1LV3R4D0 for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have two more votes this month.

You have voted spacedoubt for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have one more vote left for this month.

Many thanks guys.

[edit on 15-12-2006 by Rasobasi420]

Congratualtions!

2 4 6 8!
May all your DC's replicate!

[edit on 15-12-2006 by spacedoubt]

You are more than welcome Raso. Glad i could help out a little. Good job on getting that done. It can be a pain sometimes. Especially if coming into an already existing cluster that is Fraked up from the start.

LMFAO at your little rhyme there spacedoubt...I needed a good laugh today. Now ill be chanting that in my head when i bring customers servers online...lolol

And BTW Raso, it was in no way a noob question. Most people who claim to know computers, couldnt bring a server up into a cluster if their lives depended on it. With the ever changing technology, we all need some info points and good minds to bounce stuff off of.