Hi, I currentley have one Server 2008r2 domain controller in our domain. I am getting ready to create anther virtual Domain controller as GC DNS for redundencey. I was curious if this can cause any problems if I do this durring business hours? All host are only set to receive dns from the first domain controller. I have a limited amount of time to get this going and I was thinking since I am just building a backup everyting should still run fine. Any feedback on this would be great Thank you Thomas

Hi, I currentley have one Server 2008r2 domain controller in our domain. I am getting ready to create anther virtual Domain controller as GC DNS for redundencey. I was curious if this can cause any problems if I do this durring business hours? All host are only set to receive dns from the first domain controller. I have a limited amount of time to get this going and I was thinking since I am just building a backup everyting should still run fine. Any feedback on this would be great Thank you Thomas There would be no issues if you promote a DC during business hours ! I have performed such activities numerous times and haven't had any issues. Once you promote a server as an additional domain controller, make sure to configure the DNS properly. Set your additional DC IP as primary DNS and the existing DC as secondary DNS on NIC properties on additonal domain controller. If you have DHCP in place, make sure to append DNS config part and set additional DC IP as secondary DNS server in IP scopes which are already defined. As you are considering virtualising the DC, please have a look at following articles Running Domain Controllers in Hyper-V http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd363553(WS.10).aspx Time Synchronization in Hyper-V http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2010/11/19/time-synchronization-in-hyper-v.aspx Timekeeping best practices for Windows, including NTP http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1318 HTH I do not represent the organisation I work for, all the opinions expressed here are my own. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights. - .... .- -. -.- ... --..-- ... .- -. - --- ... ....

The first DC is a physical server-- the backup will be a vm using vmware. I have the EXSI host pointed at the first DC for NTP.

The first DC is a physical server-- the backup will be a vm using vmware. I have the EXSI host pointed at the first DC for NTP. Then, there shouldn't be any problems.I do not represent the organisation I work for, all the opinions expressed here are my own. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights. - .... .- -. -.- ... --..-- ... .- -. - --- ... ....

Hi, I currentley have one Server 2008r2 domain controller in our domain. I am getting ready to create anther virtual Domain controller as GC DNS for redundencey. I was curious if this can cause any problems if I do this durring business hours? All host are only set to receive dns from the first domain controller. I have a limited amount of time to get this going and I was thinking since I am just building a backup everyting should still run fine. Any feedback on this would be great Thank you Thomas What is the current Time Expiration for your current DCHP Leases? You need to make sure you re-configure DNS Server settings to point to your new AD server as secondary on your DHCP Server and wait at least 24 Hours before you take a breath of relief. Not until all of your clients have an updated DHCP record will they be able to have uninterruptible AD services. Santosh is right on the money. Steve Kline Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Active Directory, Network Infrastructure, Application Platform, Windows 7 Microsoft Certified Product Specialist & Network Product Specialist Red Hat Certified System Administrator Microsoft Community Contributor Award 2011 All opinions expressed on my own behalf and not that of my company. This posting is "as is" without warranties and confers no rights.

We are running our DHCP from our router. In our office all of our PC have to be static due to port forwading for remote access. I will set the secondary DNS server up on the IPV4 settings after the new DC is up and running, unless there is a better way?

In case of static IP addresses, Yes, you need to set secondary DNS IP manually on desired machines. OR You can create a batch file to add secondary DNS IP and run that on every machine which will update the IP in NIC settings. Here is the command which you can use to set secondary DNS IP netsh interface ip add dns name="Local Area Connection" xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx index=index_number For secondary DNS entry, command would look like netsh interface ip add dns name="Local Area Connection" 10.20.30.40 index=2I do not represent the organisation I work for, all the opinions expressed here are my own. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights. - .... .- -. -.- ... --..-- ... .- -. - --- ... ....