Requirement:
============
Move existing DC from outside network to our network.
Present Setup:
============
The DC is setup on the external datacenter on an SBS 2008 R2 server. This used to include
the exchange server (2007) too, which we already migrated to our end on dedicated
hardware (Win2012 & Exchange2013) .
Now the client requirement has changed and they want us to move the DC to our end
too to centralize their hardware – both ADS and Exchange within the same datacenter.
Right now, we created an additional VPS and installed ADS on it. We connect to the VPN
using SonicWALL, and promoted the VPS to ADC. So currently we have 2 ADC servers – one
on hardware (having also Exchange) and one on the VM.
For testing, we tried pointing Exchange to the ADC by changing preferred DNS. But it didn’t
work and Exchange reported error “Active Directory Topology couldn’t locate domain
controller”.
FSMO roles are not yet transferred from the external SBS server, but in the end, we’d like
to promote the VPS to DC. Could you please guide us on how to proceed to achieve the
following:
1. Point exchange to use the ADC on the VPS(for testing before transferring FSMO
roles)
2. Promote the ADC on the VPS as the DC, by actually transferring the FSMO roles.
3. Setup the new DC as the domain controller for Exchange.
Complications:
============
Both ADCs were replicated over the private network. Meaning the private IP address range is
currently being used for DNS. We need to eventually get rid of the private network, because
this will no longer be used on the new network. Not sure whether the private IPs would cause any issues while using the new DC. Also please let me know how to point the Exchange to the new DC? My impression was that, just updating the preferred DNS would
make the Exchange point to the new DC. Is there something else needs to be done?
Please give me your valuable suggestions.
Regards,
Nash Burns