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My PDC is a WinServer 2003. My BDC is our Exchange Server running 2007 serving AD and DNS. I want to replace the Exchange BDC with a new machine.

It's my understanding all I would have to do is build the new BDC, install AD and DNS Roles set it up as a GC Server and set it up as a BDC pointing at the PDC. At that point I can demote Exchange as a BDC and remove the DNS , AD from the server.

Can anyone confirm this? Does AD and or DNS need to be installed on an Exchange Server?

Skyhawk
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Greg
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    Are you using Windows NT4? If not, you don't have a PDC or a BDC. Those died with the birh of Windows 2000. – MDMarra Nov 13 '13 at 17:28
  • "Does AD and or DNS need to be installed on an Exchange Server?" - no...and preferably shouldn't (unless we are talking SBS) – TheCleaner Nov 13 '13 at 17:30

2 Answers2

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AD and DNS do not need to be installed on an Exchange server. If fact, they shouldn't be.

There's also no step to "set it up as a BDC and point it at the PDC" as you've said. There are no PDCs and BDCs. Those died with NT4 in 1999.

The proper way to decommission a domain controller is:

  1. Install a new one.

  2. Transfer any roles that are on the to-be-decommissioned box.

  3. Update anything using the old box for DNS to point at the new box. This includes DHCP options and statically configured servers.

  4. Demote the old server.

Of course, installing Exchange on a DC is terrible practice, and all kinds of weird things can happen when the server being demoted is also an Exchange server, so be prepared to troubleshoot.

MDMarra
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Your Exchange server does not need to be a domain controller.

Before demoting your Exchange server, identify any machines that may be statically configured to use it as a DNS server and update their network settings. Of course, you will be updating your DHCP server settings as well.

"PDC" and "BDC" are severely outdated terms that are not relevant to a Server 2003 domain. You can have many domain controllers (each of which is neither primary nor backup), and one of them has a FSMO role called "PDC Emulator".

Skyhawk
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