Which Server Version for Domain Controller do I Need

Hello
We are currently running two domain controllers with Server 2003 on them. We have a standard TCP/IP star topology networking including web servers, files servers, sql, iis etc.
We are upgrading 5 of our servers to 2012r2 and are using them as "host" servers for upgraded IIS (2012r2) and WebGrabber (2008r2) servers and these servers will be set up as virtual machines (the IIS and web grabbers) on the hosts.
My question is will using Windows Server 2003 domain controllers cause issues in the advanced settings in 2012r2 and Hyper-V? Should we upgrade our Domain Controllers and if so to what version? 2008r2 or 2012r2?
Thanks!
Theresa Greene
Theresa Greene

My question is will using Windows Server 2003 domain controllers cause issues in the advanced settings in 2012r2 and Hyper-V? Should we upgrade our Domain Controllers and if so to what version? 2008r2 or 2012r2?
At least Windows Server 2012
I highly recommend to upgrade the Domain Controllers to at least Windows Server 2012.
Besides the new functionality described by others in this thread, Windows Server 2012-based Domain Controllers (and beyond) offer virtualization safeguards, building on the VM-GenerationID offered by your new virtualization platform. This functionality helps
to protect your Domain Controllers from USN rollbacks and Lingering Objects. It also unlocks the Domain Controller Cloning functionality, that may help you deploy your five Domain Controllers faster and more streamlined.
More information:
New features in AD DS in Windows Server 2012, Part 12: Virtualization-safe
Active Directory
New features in AD DS in Windows Server 2012, Part 13: Domain Controller
Cloning
Cases where VM-GenerationID doesn’t help make Active Directory virtualization-safe, Part
1
Cases where VM-GenerationID doesn’t help make Active Directory virtualization-safe, Part
2
Getting to Windows Server 2012
In terms of getting your Active Directory to Windows Server 2012, there's good news and slightly bad news. The bad news is you can't in-place upgrade your Domain Controllers to Windows Server 2012. The good news: This makes the transition scenario
more appealing.
Instead of upgrading your Domain Controllers on their physical hardware, and, then, convert them to virtual machines, you can build new virtual Windows Server 2012 Domain Controllers, while your Windows Server 2003 Domain Controllers remain running.
Then, when you're ready to get rid of your Windows Server 2003 Domain Controllers, you simply demote them and remove them from your network. I've written a detailed step-by-step on this:
Transitioning your Windows Server
2003 Domain Controllers to Windows Server 2012

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Adding a Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller at a remote site

Hello. I have been trying to set up a hot site at a remote location. The story is long and involved but a few weeks ago it seemed to be finally working. Our setup is two mirrored 2008 R2 servers at main site, mirrored with Double Take.
The hot site is the same except that so far I only had one server working. The two sites connected via site to site VPN.
About a week later our primary server basically crashed. At first it worked but very slowly. I was on vacation at the time and so I am not sure of the sequence of events, or exactly what errors were presented, but my associate first tried rebooting.
It took over 20 minutes to boot and then it said something to the effect that no domain controllers were available (not sure about this message). He then discovered that the server at the remote site had some fsmo roles assigned to it. He transferred
the roles to the primary at the main site and then demoted the remote server to a workstation (but still a domain member).
After that, rebooting the primary was much faster and everything at the primary site is working again. Now I want to set the remote site up again, but avoid the problem. The way I originally set up the remote server was to use an IFM file, generated
from our primary. This should have made the remote server a catalog server, with DNS (which it did), but as far as I know should not have transferred any fsmo roles.
The remote server(s) are wanted to be in the same domain as the primary. They will also be mirrored from the primary (with Double Take). If we had total failure at the main site, we wish to be able to immediately begin operations at the hot site
(after a fail over). I freely admit that I am swimming out of my depth here. I am not sure that I have selected the correct architecture or used the correct options in setting up the remote servers. I am looking for information about what
went wrong, and whether some other setup is more desirable.
Thanks for any help, Russ
Russ

Philippe, thank you for you answers. I do not understand everything you said but I will address each point as best I can:
1. "In the remote site do you simply do a dcpromo / add the ADDS's role to make the server a active Domain Controller ?" Yes, but I use the method described at
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753720(v=ws.10).aspx, The GUI method. At step #8 I specified to use advanced mode so I could use the IFM file.
2. "In your AD' Site and Service MMC, do you configured the remote site ?" R do not know what you mean by this. How does one configure the site as 'remote'?
3. "Do you added that remote server as a Global catalogue ?". Yes, when I built the IFM file I specified to add the global catalog.
4. "Do you added the PC in site 1, the IP of those DNS server in them ? (last of course) So the computer in the main site will talk to the remote server in case of a crash." I am not sure I understand this item. After the remote server
was added, all of the members of both domain servers automatically appeared in the DNS of all servers in the domain. I do not recall if the new items were last, but I expect that they would be.
I have since reviewed the happenings with my associate and have a little more information. The order of the problems and the actions taken are:
1. Our primary (production) system was still working but extremely slow, and he observed that the slowness was caused by a lot of traffic with the remote site. Rebooting the production server took over 25 minutes and the server to came up saying
that domain information was not available. After another 30 minutes or so he discovered that the domain data was now available and the server worked, but still slow.
2. He did not check to verify that roles were held by the remote server, but he transferred all roles from the remote to the production server using ntdsutil. I would expect that if the role was not held by the remote, the transfer command would have
shown that fact.
3. He then tried to demote the remote server but had an error that it could not be demoted because "the active directory service is missing mandatory configuration information".
4. He forcefully demoted the remote server.
5. After rebooting the production server again performance was slightly better but still slow (and the rebood was still very slow).
6. After some research he removed the remote domain controller's meta data from the production server and then rebooted the production server again.
At that point reboot was fast (under 5 minutes) and the production system was working at normal speed again.
All of the above leads me to believe that somehow the FSMO roles got added to, or moved to the remote site when I used the IFM file to create the new domain controller. However nothing I have read says that this should happen. I hope someone
here can give me a better answer as to what caused the problem, as I do not wish to interrupt our production system like this again.
Thank you, Russ
PS: Sorry for the delay in getting back to this but some other priorities took me away from it for a week.
Russ

Windows 2012 Verification of prerequisites for Domain Controller promotion failed

Windows 2012 Verification of prerequisites for Domain Controller promotion failed and gave the below error(In computer management local group and user option is not there as suggested by a solution!)
"Verification of prerequisites for Domain Controller promotion failed. The local Administrator account becomes the domain Administrator account when you create a new domain. The new domain cannot be created because the local Administrator account password
does not meet requirements.
Currently, the local Administrator password is blank, which might lead to security issues. We recommend that you press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, use the net user command-line tool, or use Local Users and Groups to set a strong password for the local Administrator
account before you create the new domain."

OK, the reason you see this error is because when you set up and configured your Windows R2 environment you may have logged into the OS with an account other than Administrator. So, if you created your log in account named Bob, this is throwing off the Server.
So, hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete, and look who you are logged in as, and then change the account you are logging in as and use the local Administrator account. What you may find is that the default Admin account password has not been set.
Check that out and see if that is what you are experiencing.
Best wishes

Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller NOT logging EventID 4740

EventID 4740 (account lockout) is not being logged to the event viewer. When searching through the security log there are none to be found. Having accounts locked out and no logging is driving me nuts. Hope someone has run into this before. This is what
i have checked thus far.
>Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller
>Verified the following GPO settings are set and correct:
>Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Audit Policy\ all are set for Success & Failure
>Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Advanced Audit Configuration\Logon/Logoff) is set for Success and Failure
>Powershell command Get-Eventlog -log Security -InstanceId 4740 returns no results which makes sense since there are no entries in the security log file.
>No 4740 entries in the netlogon.log debug file
AD and the LockoutStatus tool show the account is locked out but i still have nothing in the logs.
Anyone have any ideas? From everything i can find online , it appears i have everything set properly.
Thanks, Chico

Hi Chico,
I suggest you try to enable this group policy below:
Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Audit Policy\Audit account management
More information for you:
Missing 4740 EventID's
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/c9871d72-7439-46b5-98e6-a7fadfa6ff28/missing-4740-eventids?forum=winserversecurity
If you have multiple Domain Controllers, check this event on other DCs, too.
Please feel free to let us know if there are any further requirements.
Best Regards,
Amy Wang

Exchange Server 2013 and Domain Controller

Hello,
I am planning to install domain controller and exchange server 2013 in same server hardware. Is that not recommended? If not, why is it no recommended?
Thank you in advance,

thanks for such a quick response.
Just a small question about the link that you put. Does member server mean other server other than domain controller?
Regards,
Yes, Also the server on which you are installing Exchange should have exchange installed.
Cheers,
Gulab Prasad
Technology Consultant
Blog:
http://www.exchangeranger.com    Twitter:
  LinkedIn:
   Check out CodeTwo’s tools for Exchange admins
Note: Posts are provided “AS IS” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

Unable to edit Default Domain policy on Server 2012 R2 domain controller

Hello,
I recently built a Server 2012 R2 domain controller and added it to my domain. When trying to edit the default domain policy I get the following error:
I can make edits to other GPO objects. All the other domain controllers are Server 2008 and are able to edit that GPO. The issue is on the Server 2012 box only. I've checked the delegated permissions, I'm a domain admin, and have opened
GPMC as administrator. Does anyone know what I'm missing? Thank you for your time.
Tino

Hi Tino,
>>Could that be the problem?
I don't think so, for we can still use FRS to replicate Sysvol. However, it is recommended that we use DFSR to replicate Sysvol if our domain
function level is Windows Server 2008 or above.
Besides, we can follow the suggestions from the following thread to check out which replication mechanism we are using.
DFS-R on 2008 R2 by default?
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/8f2042d3-193d-4414-b9da-cbcedc6a4c32/dfsr-on-2008-r2-by-default?forum=winserverDS
If the Sysvol is replicated by FRS mechanism, as I suggested in the last reply, we can do a non-authoritative restore for the Sysvol on the new Windows
Server 2012. This will restore the Sysvol from a healthy DC.
To perform a nonauthoritative restore, stop the FRS service, configure the BurFlags registry key, and then restart the FRS service. To do so:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type cmd and then press ENTER.
3. In the Command box, type net stop ntfrs.
4. Click Start, and then click Run.
5. In the Open box, type regedit and then press ENTER.
6. Locate the following subkey in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NtFrs\Parameters\Backup/Restore\Process at Startup
7. In the right pane, double-click BurFlags.
8. In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, type D2 and then click OK.
9. Quit Registry Editor, and then switch to the Command box.
10. In the Command box, type net start ntfrs.
11. Quit the Command box.
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Hope it helps.
Best regards,
Frank Shen

Exchange 2007 RTM support with Windows Server 2012 R2 Domain Controller

Hi All,
I have not found any TechNet Article which states about the Windows Server 2012 R2 Active Directory domain controller operating system support with Exchange 2007 RTM, can some one please let me know that does Exchange 2007 RTM supports Windows Server 2012
R2 domain controller operating system, we are in the process of upgrading the domain controllers to 2012 R2 but not the forest and domain functional level to 2012 R2.
thanks
If answer is helpful, please hit the green arrow on the left, or mark as answer. Salahuddin | Blogs:http://salahuddinkhatri.wordpress.com | MCITP Microsoft Lync

There are several likely reasons for this. The most significant is that Exchange 2007 RTM is no longer supported (outside ot extended support, which is not going to include adding support for new operating systems):
http://support2.microsoft.com/lifecycle/default.aspx?LN=en-us&p1=10926
You'll note from the following -
http://technet.microsoft.com/library/ff728623(v=exchg.150).aspx - that only Exchange 2007 SP3 is currently supported in any environment.
HTH ...

Cannot generate Account Logon Events (Event ID 4624) in Security Event Log on Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller

I have configured the Default Domain Controller's policy to log SUCCESS for Account Logon Events in the Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller, but these events are not logging in the Security Event log.
Default Domain Controllers Policy
Computer Configuration/Windows Settings/Security Settings/Local Policies/Audit Policies/Audit Account Logon Events = Success.
What tools can I use to troubleshoot this further? The results of "Auditpol.exe /get /category:*" are below.
System audit policy
Category/Subcategory                      Setting
System
Security System Extension               No Auditing
System Integrity                        No Auditing
IPsec Driver                            No Auditing
Other System Events                     No Auditing
Security State Change                   No Auditing
Logon/Logoff
Logon                                   No Auditing
Logoff                                  No Auditing
Account Lockout                         No Auditing
IPsec Main Mode                         No Auditing
IPsec Quick Mode                        No Auditing
IPsec Extended Mode                     No Auditing
Special Logon                           No Auditing
Other Logon/Logoff Events               No Auditing
Network Policy Server                   No Auditing
Object Access
File System                             No Auditing
Registry                                No Auditing
Kernel Object                           No Auditing
SAM                                     No Auditing
Certification Services                  No Auditing
Application Generated                   No Auditing
Handle Manipulation                     No Auditing
File Share                              No Auditing
Filtering Platform Packet Drop          No Auditing
Filtering Platform Connection           No Auditing
Other Object Access Events              No Auditing
Detailed File Share                     No Auditing
Privilege Use
Sensitive Privilege Use                 No Auditing
Non Sensitive Privilege Use             No Auditing
Other Privilege Use Events              No Auditing
Detailed Tracking
Process Termination                     No Auditing
DPAPI Activity                          No Auditing
RPC Events                              No Auditing
Process Creation                        No Auditing
Policy Change
Audit Policy Change                     No Auditing
Authentication Policy Change            No Auditing
Authorization Policy Change             No Auditing
MPSSVC Rule-Level Policy Change         No Auditing
Filtering Platform Policy Change        No Auditing
Other Policy Change Events              No Auditing
Account Management
User Account Management                 No Auditing
Computer Account Management             No Auditing
Security Group Management               No Auditing
Distribution Group Management           No Auditing
Application Group Management            No Auditing
Other Account Management Events         No Auditing
DS Access
Directory Service Changes               No Auditing
Directory Service Replication           No Auditing
Detailed Directory Service Replication No Auditing
Directory Service Access                No Auditing
Account Logon
Kerberos Service Ticket Operations      No Auditing
Other Account Logon Events              No Auditing
Kerberos Authentication Service         No Auditing
Credential Validation                   Success

Hi Lawrence,
After configuring the GPO, did we run command gpupdate/force to update the policy immediately on domain controller? Besides, please run command gpresult/h c:\gpreport.html to check if the audit policy
setting was applied successfully.
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Best regards,
Frank Shen

Certificate for Domain Controller Will not import

Hi,
I am having an issue importing a Certificate .crt file on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller. The Certiificate is needed for migrating our 2003 Domain Controllers to 2008r2.   When I try to use the command line to import the certificate
using the following:
I receive the following output:
Cannot find object or property. 0x80092004 (-2146885628)
I also tried this command
certreq.exe -accept hostname.crt -machine and received the same error.
When I try to import the Certificate using the GUI it works but there is no "private key" found.
The Certificate was issued from Digicert.
Does anyone know how to resolve this so my certificate imports correctly with a private key intact?
Thanks,
Kevin C.

Here are the steps as explained by Digicert:
How to Import and Export your SSL Certificate
https://www.digicert.com/import-export-ssl-certificate.htm
Note that I've used Digicert and haven't had a problem with the private key. If the private key's missing, there will be missing functionality. And also note, that Digicert's tech support is free and they are actually pretty good and can help almost immediately
as soon as you call them. They've helped me a number of times.
Give them a call 24/7: 1.801.701.9600
Ace Fekay
MVP, MCT, MCSE 2012, MCITP EA & MCTS Windows 2008/R2, Exchange 2013, 2010 EA & 2007, MCSE & MCSA 2003/2000, MCSA Messaging 2003
Microsoft Certified Trainer
Microsoft MVP - Directory Services
Complete List of Technical Blogs: http://www.delawarecountycomputerconsulting.com/technicalblogs.php
This posting is provided AS-IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

Biztalk 2013 R2 with Windows Server 2003 R2 Domain Controller

Hello, I have a client right who has a Windows Server 2003 R2 domain controller with active directory installed. Is there any reason why I can't install Biztalk 2013 on a Windows Server 2012 R2 box and add it to that farm to use active directory?
Thanks in advance,
-Adam

BizTalk Server is only going to use the User Groups created in Domain Controller so ideally i don't think there will be any compatibility issue. Also there isn't any microsoft article which talks about BizTalk compatibility with respect to domain controller.
You will have to create all the Windows Groups and User Accounts in AD, before BizTalk Server configuration.
Windows Groups and User Accounts in BizTalk Server
Thanks,
Prashant
Please mark this post accordingly if it answers your query or is helpful.

Promote this server to a domain controller still appears

Hi All, I've change one DC 2003 with a new DC 2012 in my forest (I've 4 DC e 3 sites) following these steps:
1 - Demote DC 2003
2 - Remove DNS 2003 Role
3 - Rename e change IP on Server 2003
4 - Waiting and verify replica
5 - Give the same Hostname and IP of Server 2003 to New DC 2012
5 - Add Role AD Directory Service and when finished I use the notification "promote this server to a domain controller" to promote it to a member domain controller.
6 - After reboot the notification STILL APPEARS, but it result as a DC and all work fine.
Any help me?
Thanks

Hi Federico,
Can you please confirm, whether you are seeing the notification as given in the below screenshot,
This notification implies that “Active Directory Domain Services” role binaries have been installed and now it is time to promote the server to a Domain Controller.
Checkout the below link on Step-by-Step Guide for Setting Up A Windows Server 2012 Domain Controller,
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/12370.step-by-step-guide-for-setting-up-a-windows-server-2012-domain-controller.aspx
Regards,
Gopi
www.jijitechnologies.com

10.5.7 server as primary domain controller

Setting up a 10.5.7 server -
Server is setup as a open directory master, I want it also to be a primary domain controller (smb).
But when I try to change it from Standalone Server to primary domain controller, using my directory admin user id and password, it just reverts back to standalone server. tried it with smb running and not running.
Any ideas ?

Having the same issue with Leopard Server 10.5.8.
SMB was previously set up as a "Domain Member" and now I want to make it a "Primary Domain Controller".
After reboot, the Role always reverts back to "Domain Member".
Any ideas?

Non riesco a ricevere acquisti fatti su itunes, mi da questo errore :erreu : you have an error in your sql syntax; checkthe manual that corresponds to your mysql server version for the right syntax to use near from news order by id desc at line. cosa devo

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ACS any Version with Domain Controller on Windows Server 2008 R2 64bit

Hi All
Is there currently any ACS version working with Windows Server 2008 R2 domain controllers?
Our server stuff has recently upgraded the Domain Controllers to 2008r2 and turned off the 2003 servers. This didn't make our ACS 4.1.4 really happy.
I've read now serveral posts regarding issues with ACS and Server 2008r2 and hope to find a solution (besides switching to LDAP, yukk).
Thanks
pato

Hi AllIs there currently any ACS version working with Windows Server 2008 R2 domain controllers?Our
server stuff has recently upgraded the Domain Controllers to 2008r2 and
turned off the 2003 servers. This didn't make our ACS 4.1.4 really
happy.I've read now serveral posts regarding issues with ACS and
Server 2008r2 and hope to find a solution (besides switching to LDAP,
yukk).Thankspato
Hi Pato,
Just check out the below link hope that help.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/net_mgmt/cisco_secure_access_control_server_for_windows/4.2/release/notes/ACS42_RN.html
As per the link it says The support for Windows Server 2008 is applicable for ACS 4.2 Patch 4 onwards.
Hope to Help !!
Remember to rate the helpful post
Ganesh.H

Exchange server-Removing a Domain Controller from the forest

Hi Guys,
I need some help on removing a faulty domain controller from the AD forest. Here is the scenario:
1. The FSMO roles have been seized to a new domain controller already.
2. The old one is non-functional and is down for ever.
I know the steps would be doing a meta-data cleanup And then remove some of the DNS entries related to the old server. But the real issue is:
> I have Exchange 2013 running in one of the machines configured in the Forest, which was migrated from the old Domain controller. I then set Exchange listening to the new domain controller.
So, my doubt is, if I delete the old domain controller and do a metadata cleanup, would it have any effect on the exchange server? The Exchange machine acts as an additional domain controller as well. Its a production environment and any
change that affects Exchange would cause a big loss. Looking forward for your valuable suggestions..
Regards,
Nash

Hi Ed,
I don't have issues with the AD on the Exchange server. Eventhough it is configured as an AD, Exchange is pointed to the main working domain controller, which is a different machine. I just want to remove the traces of an old domain controller from which
I transferred the FSMO roles to the new domain controller. The old domain controller is completely down and hence I can't do a conventional 'dcpromo' on it. So just planning to do a 'metadata clean up' for removing the non-working DC from the forest.
So, In essence, I just want to know that, if I do a metadata cleanup, would it affect the Exchange server in any way?
Regards,
Nash

Which Server Version for Domain Controller do I Need

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