Domain Controller error

thehourman

Hey guys,

I am have a problem with my Server 2008 that's in VirtualBox. First, when I turned it on, it took 15 minutes on Applying Computer Settings then after that I can press CTRL+ALT+DEL.

Now, it is still takes 15 minutes, but when I logged in, the domain controller is gone. I got this error message "naming information cannot be located because the specific domain either not exist or could not be contacted". BTW, this is on Server Manager.
Also, the server is not in a domain anymore. Its in public.

I can open mmc with the AD snap-in, though. And it seems alright, it looks like it was yesterday. All the OUs I made are still there.

All I have been doing is checking the properties on OU's for verification. Basically, I just followed what the MS press 70-640 book says.

Do I need to reinstall the AD using dcpromo again?
I'm completely lost.

Thanks

thehourman

Now, after an hour of wait and a restart the AD came back online, I guess it needs some info from other DC.
However, when I looked at the connection it is still in public. It should say my domain.

How change that public back to my domain?

Bl8ckr0uter

disclaimer: WinServer Noob

I know this isn't the same error but it sounds like what happens to me. This happens to me quite a bit when I am doing patch management. When your computer boots up, it tries to get to a DC and the first one it gets to is the DC it talks to. When you reboot the DC, it doesn't automatically talk to the other DC. That's why you don't want all of your DCs down at once. My "faster" DC is the PDC emulator as well and holds some other roles that make it very, very important. Any who I think this is what is happening to you. When I do patches, I make sure DC2 is completely up (not just pinging, log in and check services) before I mess with DC1.

When someone post here who isn't a server noob, they will probably know right off the bat but I am pretty sure it is DNS related.

Here are some links:

http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-2003/server-2003-ad-dns-issues/5307.html
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/identitylifecyclemanager/thread/21078f44-79e0-482d-80e3-548ede9afd2b

thehourman

It used to work with just DC1. This morning it started acting up like this. Now, I have to turn on all my DCs just to practice AD.

Also, when I open Network and Sharing Center, I have the network as Public. It was in my domain before. I don't know why it become public.
Any idea why?

How does your server boots up?

All my DCs take like 10-15minutes, before it prompt me to press CTRL+ALT+DEL. The portion where it says Applying Computer Settings, that is where it is.

docrice

Without knowing your exact logical topology, I'd be just guessing. But the fact that the Network Location Awareness configuration for your DC's interface is set to Public is a concern. As mentioned, it could be that it couldn't contact another DC, but that really shouldn't cause the lag you're experiencing. Did you check your VirtualBox's virtual interface setting to make sure it's the same as before (NAT, bridged, etc.)?

Also, virtual DCs shouldn't take 15 minutes to load up. If you're running on a slow or overloaded disk, maybe it's a read / write bottleneck and it's competing with other system resources, causing Server 2008 to time-out and give you the error. In my experience, Windows tends to be sensitive to lengthy time-outs. The lag might be causing the AD DS, KDC services, etc. to just give up and determine that it can't read its own database within a reasonable amount of time.

As I said, I'm just guessing here...

thehourman

I have an x58 machine with 6GB of RAM. Each server has 1024 of RAM.

About the connection to the other DCs, I have been using one DC the entire time without the problem just this morning that I got the error. I kind of fixed the error when I turned on the other DC and the child DC. But the network is in Public.
My topology is: DC, DC and a child DC.

I can also ping the all the DC from the main root server.

The VB network adapter is in Internal Network. Because that is the only adapter settings I can use if I want to connect all my VB machines. And it is still the same settings nothing has changed.

Should I use a loopback as a default gateway for my network?

docrice

Did you look through your event logs to see if they indicate issues? That's the first place I usually look at. DC issues should be readily apparent.