I lost my Global Catalog

[oneillj]

I migrated a server the other day on a network that has one domain controller and no backup regime. I installed 2003 on the new machine, ran dcpromo, moved over the master role databases, made the tests, demoted old one, and took it off line. Now I get a messge that it can't find the global catalog server when I try to create a new user. I can still create new users, and they can log in, but the error message is annoying, it slows down user creation, and I'm not sure what other ramifications might be present.

I have not tried this and my research on the Technet site doesn't confirm it either, but I thought maybe by making the new server a GC machine, I might be able to generate a new catalog. Microsoft implies that you need the old catalog to replicate to the new machine. The old machine is still in tact but it has been demoted. Is this possible? If not, what can I do, if anything, to fix the problem?

Thanks,

Jim

[cluberti]

If you created a new domain controller to replace the old one, but didn't specify that the second DC (the new server) was a GC server in AD sites and services, and you also didn't allow time to replicate, the old GC data is gone unless you have a system state backup from the old DC you can restore (from before you demoted it). You can indeed specify the new DC is a GC in it's object's properties in AD sites and services, but you will have lost old GC data - it is gone.

[oneillj]

The old data is not that important becuase there is only one DC in one domain. I'll go ahead and designate the new server as a GC. Thanks for the help.

Jim

[arctirus]

It's odd that the GC didn't get copied over. When you demoted the old DC did you check the radio button that said "This is the last DC" or something like that?

[oneillj]

I'm not sure what happened but the GC on the new server is up and I can create users without an error message.