Computer account exists

[ramone_johnny]

Hi guys,

We have an interesting situation within our organisation at the moment. We are running a server based application called Pharos which basically administers and manages public space computers, registrations, money handling etc. Patrons have their own membership cards that contain credit. Unfortunately you can only run one instance of this application on the same domain, and it is not supported on 2003 clustering. This then presents a problem of having a single point of failure across the network, should the main server go offline. This would result in taking 50 odd public workstations down with it.

According to the pharos documentation, to prevent this and ensure there is no downtime, they suggest simply creating a 'duplicate' server with the same computer name and IP address, then restoring the Pharos database accross from a backup of the mdf file from the secondary server.

Supposed example.

1. Main server running pharos goes offline, taking down all of the clients.

2. Duplicate server is plugged in on the network and brought online with a restored backup of the pharos database.

3. The clients then point to the duplicate server as a seamless intergration.

NOW HERES MY PROBLEM....

When trying to create this so called DUPLICATE server as they suggest, I am prompted with the following error ...

"The following error occrurred attempting to rename the computer to "(servername)" ; the account already exists."

I get this error for obvious reasons, however I still get this even when I do the following...

1. Unplug the server with the same credentials

2. Flush every instance of the name from the DNS listing on all servers

3. Flush the name from within AD.

4. Restart all the domain controllers

Basically Im out of ideas guys. Where else would the name exist? I really need a solution here as we intend to go live the end of this month.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

John

[ramone_johnny]

Looks like this might be my answer...

http://www.petri.co.il/delete_failed_dcs_from_ad.htm

RJ

[ixion]

I dont get why they have to have the same computer name anyway, just build a spare server with the restored database, call it something different and if the original box fails create a static entry in DNS which redirects requests to the backup server.

If the applications you are using are reliant on computer names then its only going to take you a few minutes to delete the original account from AD and change the backup servers name to the original name.

[ramone_johnny]

I dont get why they have to have the same computer name anyway, just build a spare server with the restored database, call it something different and if the original box fails create a static entry in DNS which redirects requests to the backup server.

If the applications you are using are reliant on computer names then its only going to take you a few minutes to delete the original account from AD and change the backup servers name to the original name.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Already tried the DNS redirection thing. Didnt work. The Pharos application is pretty stubborn I must admit.

Deletion of the computer account (domain controller) from AD is something that Ive never had to do before, and using the guidelines I found in the article I posted does just that.

And yes, It only takes as you say "a few minutes"

RJ