Recipe 11.16 Moving a Domain Controller to a Different Site

11.16.1 Problem

You want to move a domain controller to a different site. This may be necessary if you promoted the domain controller without first adding its subnet to Active Directory. In that case, the domain controller will be added to the Default-First-Site-Name site.

11.16.2 Solution

11.16.2.1 Using a graphical user interface

Open the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in.
In the left pane, expand Sites, expand the site where the server you want to move is contained, and expand the Servers container.
Right-click on the server you want to move and select Move.
Select the site to move the server to.
Click OK.

11.16.2.2 Using a command-line interface

> dsmove "cn=<ServerName>,cn=servers,cn=<CurrentSite>,[RETURN]
cn=sites,cn=configuration,<ForestRootDN>" -newparent "cn=servers,cn=<NewSite>,[RETURN]
cn=sites,cn=configuration,<ForestRootDN>"

11.16.2.3 Using VBScript

' This code moves a server to a different site.
' ------ SCRIPT CONFIGURATION ------
' Should contain the common name of the server object
strDC = "<DomainControllerName>" ' e.g. dc02
' Name of servers current site
strCurrentSite = "<CurrentSite>" ' e.g. Default-First-Site-Name
' Name of site you want to move server to
strNewSite = "<NewSite>"         ' e.g. Raleigh
' ------ END CONFIGURATION ---------

strConfigDN = GetObject("LDAP://RootDSE").Get("configurationNamingContext")
strServerDN = "LDAP://cn=" & strDC & ",cn=servers,cn=" & _
                           strCurrentSite & ",cn=sites," & strConfigDN
strNewParentDN = "LDAP://cn=servers,cn=" & strNewSite & ",cn=sites," & strConfigDN

Set objCont = GetObject(strNewParentDN)
objCont.MoveHere strServerDN, "cn=" & strDC

11.16.3 Discussion

After you move a server to a new site, you might want to monitor replication to and from that server to make sure that any new connections that are needed get created and start replicating. See Recipe 12.2 for more on viewing the replication status of a server.