Demote BDC/PDC to standalone server?

[Majo]

Hi

Is it possible to demote a BDC or PDC to a standalone server?

Thanks!

[Matt]

Afraid not Majo.
A BDC can be changed to a PDC and visa versa. A Windows NT member server cannot be upgraded to a Domain Controler and a DC cannot be downgraded. You need W2k for that mate.

Matt


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Majo at 11/12/2002 11:03:45 AM


Hi

Is it possible to demote a BDC or PDC to a standalone server?

Thanks!

[williej55]

http://www.algintech.com/UTools/UPromote.asp

I haven't used this before, but I have heard good things about it.

[gunderstone]

Just make sure that you are aware that any of these third party options to demote an NT4 BDC/PDC to a stand alone server is not a supported option.

If you end up having an issue with that system and plcaed a support call it will not be handled.

That said - if you're not concerned with that detail you can always take a look at that option.

I would ask though, why not perform the OS reintallation to that server (which is the supported method of "demoting" an NT4 domain controller to a member server), is there some reason in particular that this cannot be done?

[gary59]

I have a similar issue but an additional problem. We are moving to Windows 2000 server soon, but because of corporate problems we cannot migrate from Exchange 5.5. Our current exchange server is sitting on an NT4 BDC. I would like to know if anyone has experience of demoting a BDc using either the reistall or 3rd party methods that also houses an exchange server. Any tips on pitfalls? The choices are promote it to PDC leave it as the sole server in a trusted domain with the win2k domain or demote it and eventually join it to the win2k domain. Any help/advice gratefully received.


Gary

[Temlock]

UPromote is a great tool. I have used it quite a bit when merging NT 4 domains during acquisitions and most recently to assist in the migration to Active Directory.

My Exchange 5.5 servers are also DCs, as is the best practice to localize passthrough authentication. What I recommend, and will be doing myself next weekend, is to shut down your exchange servers and take an image (Ghost or PQDI) of all of the partitions;especially the system partition. Then, go through your UPromote demotion process and fire the server back up. Test your performance throughly. You may want to have user passwords reset to a default for a short time so that you can test that permissions are stable on Exchange as well as performance. You may want to benchmark your performance prior to demoting to measure and degredation and make an intelligent decision as to whether or not the performance remains in an acceptable range.

Good Luck

Temlock