Hi,
I had followed these steps in our windows 2003 Single forest - Single Domain environment and domain without exchage. It may help you undestand what all steps are involved in domain rename operation. Has to be done carefully.
Requirements :-
Cotrol Station :- The computer that will be used to execute rendom.exe should be a member Computer with windows 2003 Standard/Enterprise/Data Center installed.
Credentials Required :- User should be a member of Enterprise admin group.
Domain Naming Master must be running.
Domain functional level – Windows 2003 OR above.
STEPS :-
1. Create DNS zone for new domain.
[ DNS zone should be Active Directory Integrated so that changes made to this zone during rename operation will get replicated to all domain controllers automatically ]
2. Configure domain to accept new DNS suffix.
[ ADSI Edit is used to perform this operation. Install windows 2003 support tools from CD….
How To Add New DNS suffix :--
Install Windows 2003 support tools.
Click start à Programs à Windows 2003 support toolsà ADSI Edit OR startà Runà AdsiEdit.exe
Double click the corresponding domain directory partition of Domain to be renamed.
Right Click domain container à Properties àAttribute Editor à Double Click MsDs-AllowedDNSSuffixes à In multivalued string editor àValue to Add == New DNS Suffix à OK ]
3. Enable update DNS suffix option for computers.
System Properties à Computer Name à Change à More à select Change Primary DNS suffix when Domain membership changes option
OR
Using group policy –
Computer configuration à Administrative Templates à Network à DNS client à Primary DNS suffix à Type New suffix.
Important :-
Domain Controllers are not configured to accept new DNS suffix automatically. Change DNS suffix of all Domain controllers after rename operation is completed.
4. Set Up control station :-
Copy rendom.exe & gpfixup.exe to a folder on Hard Disk
<cdrom>\valueadd\msft\mgmt\domren\ to c:\DomainRename
Rendom.exe will be run under credentials of currently logged on user . To
supply different username and password use /user & /pwd switch
5. Generate forest description file :-
C:\DomainRename\rendom /list
This will create a file domainlist.xml in c:\DomainRename.
Create copy of domainlist.xml
Copy domainlist.xml copy-domainlist.xml
6. Specify the New forest Description :-
Edit Domainlist.xml using Notepad
Replace Old Domain DNS & Netbios names with New Domain DNS name and NetBios name.
** Changing NetBios name is optional.
7. Specify Source Domain Controller ( Optional )
Domain rename tool contacts one arbitrarily chosen domain controller
OR
It can be specified in each domain entry by
<DcName>Dc-Old-Dns-Name</DcName> in domainlist.xml
8. Review New Forest Description :-
rendom /showforest
[ This command will display contents of domainlist.xml in easier to read format & in which one can see forest structure .
Run this command every time you make changes to domainlist.xml ]
9. Generate Domain Rename Instructions :-
rendom /upload
[ This command will upload domain rename instructions to the configuration partition on Domain Naming Master in special script format]
Check dclist.xml file created in C:\DomainRename directory.
** Open dclist.xml with notepad and check if it contains entry for each
Domain Controller.
10. Push Domain Rename Instructions to all DCs and Verify DNS readiness:-
repadmin.exe and dsquery.exe must be installed on control station
** Use repadmin.exe to force Active Directory replication of directory
Changes on the domain naming master to all DCs in the forest .
If not run we’ll have to wait till replication occurs.
Check Domain Naming Master’s availability :-
dsquery server –hasfsmo name
To force replication :-
repadmin /syncall /d /e /P /q DomainNameMaster
If replication fails , reattempt above command.
Check following DNS records :-
CNAME à DsaGuid._msdcs.DnsForestName
SRV à _ldap._tcp.pdc._msdcs.DnsDomainName
SRV à _ldap._tcp.gc._msdcs.DnsDomainName
SRV à _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.DnsDomainName
KDC à
11. Verify Readiness of Domain Controllers :-
*** All previous steps must be completed successfully
rendom /prepare
Check the file dclist.xml to determine whether all DCs have achieved
the prepare state.
e.g. <State>Prepared</State>
*** If in any case DC fails to get updates , then its entry should
be removed from dclist.xml & should be demoted in new forest after
renaming is done.
*** Backup dclist.xml after each change.
*** Check log in c:\DomainRename directory
12. Execute Domain Rename Instructions:-
rendom /execute
After this successful DCs will reboot automatically. If any DC fails ,
Dclist.xml file we’ll be updated accordingly.
e.g. following entries in dclist.xml file
<state>error</state> à indicates Error has occurred
<LastError></LastEror> à contains Error Code
<FatalErrorMsg></ FatalErrorMsg> à contains Error description.
*** To force retry for failed DCs edit
<Rerty></Retry> to <Rerty>yes</Retry> in dclist.xml
*** If error still persists irrecoverable error has occurred.
13. End Rendom command :-
rendom /end
14. Change DNS suffix of all DC
15, Gpfixup.exe is needed to run after Renaming Domain to Fix UP Group Policy related
errors.
Gpfixup.exe is a free ultility available on Microsoft website
***This Document is useful for performing Rename operation in Single Domain environment.
If multiple domains / Domain having MS Exchange installed exists additional steps are required to configure trusts / Ms Exchange
For details visit http://www.microsoft.com
How to rename domain netbios name ?
