In case of disaster
or DC failure how can I transfer (seize) FSMO Roles from one DC to another?
The five FSMO roles are:
Schema master – Forest-wide and one per forest.
Domain naming master – Forest-wide and
one per forest.
RID master – Domain-specific and one for each
domain.
PDC – PDC Emulator is domain-specific and
one for each domain.
Infrastructure master – Domain-specific
and one for each domain.
If a DC become unreliable, try to get it back online and
transfer the FSMO roles to a reliable DC. If is not possible seize FSMO role if
original holder is not connected to network. After seize a FSMO role never
connect original server to network.
What will happen if you do not preform seize in time? Well…depends:
FSMO Role: Schema
Master – you will not be able to extend schema. Usually in short term
nobody will notice a missing of Schema Master.
FSMO Role: Domain
Naming – if you do not need to add or remove a DC, you will not miss this
role
FSMO Role: RID –
is possible to have on existing DC enough unused RIDs to last sometime, unless
you are create many objects in AD (users, computers)
FSMO Role: PDC
Emulator – you will miss this role very soon. There will be no time synchronization
in the domain, you will have problem to change or troubleshoot group policies
and password changes.
FSMO Role: Infrastructure
– if you have multiple domains group membership may be incomplete.
Moving roles using Ntdsutil:
(using Ntdsutil utility incorrectly can damage your AD)
1. On any domain controller, run command prompt as admin and
start Ntdsutil
2. Type: roles and
press ENTER
3. Type connections,
and press ENTER
4. Type connect to
server <servername>, where <servername> is the name of domain
controller you want to use, and press ENTER
5. Type q and press ENTER
6. Type seize <role>,
where <role> is the role you want to seize. For example seize PDC
Options
for roles are:
- Seize domain naming master (if you are using
windows server 208 and 2012 use seize naming master otherwise you will get an error message)
- Seize infrastructure master
- Seize PDC
- Seize RID master
- Seize Schema master
