SZayat's questions

What causes hard disk failures in general. I would like to know the common causes and how to prevent such incidence.

I used to manage two domain controllers when the primary DC which handled all domain roles, DNS and DHCP service went down. So I configured DHCP and DNS on the other domain controller. The problem is the following:

All PC that are already joined to the domain cannot see the domain. For example when I want to give permission to a shared folder in windows xp I could only give local users permission, I cannot see any other locations other than the local PC it self where I used to view the domain and select domain users before.

I think this problem has to do with the DNS, I am not sure if I configure it correctly as if even DHCP clients are not updating the DNS directory at all.

I am running Windows 2003 Server Standard R2. Please help!

thank you.

EDIT: I am currently running only one domain controller.

DC Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DC2
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : GOLDEN.AE
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : GOLDEN.AE

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : HP NC7761 Gigabit Server Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-35-C2-36-F1
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.54
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.70
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.54

PC Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : MyWorkSpace
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : GOLDEN.AE
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : GOLDEN.AE

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet
NIC
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-2F-70-3A-69
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.57
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.70

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.54

C:\Documents and Settings\Admin>DCDIAG

Domain Controller Diagnosis

Performing initial setup:
   Done gathering initial info.

Doing initial required tests

   Testing server: Default-First-Site-Name\DC2
      Starting test: Connectivity
         The host 0629e11f-c68e-4fbd-acbd-a4f99f47d67e._msdcs.GOLDEN.AE could
not be resolved to an
         IP address.  Check the DNS server, DHCP, server name, etc
         Although the Guid DNS name
         (0629e11f-c68e-4fbd-acbd-a4f99f47d67e._msdcs.GOLDEN.AE) couldn't be
         resolved, the server name (DC2.GOLDEN.AE) resolved to the IP
         address (192.168.0.54) and was pingable.  Check that the IP address is
         registered correctly with the DNS server.
         ......................... DC2 failed test Connectivity

Doing primary tests

   Testing server: Default-First-Site-Name\DC2
      Skipping all tests, because server DC2 is
      not responding to directory service requests

   Running partition tests on : Schema
      Starting test: CrossRefValidation
         ......................... Schema passed test CrossRefValidation
      Starting test: CheckSDRefDom
         ......................... Schema passed test CheckSDRefDom

   Running partition tests on : Configuration
      Starting test: CrossRefValidation
         ......................... Configuration passed test CrossRefValidation
      Starting test: CheckSDRefDom
         ......................... Configuration passed test CheckSDRefDom

   Running partition tests on : ALGHAITH
      Starting test: CrossRefValidation
         ......................... ALGHAITH passed test CrossRefValidation
      Starting test: CheckSDRefDom
         ......................... ALGHAITH passed test CheckSDRefDom

   Running enterprise tests on : ALGHAITH.AE
      Starting test: Intersite
         ......................... ALGHAITH.AE passed test Intersite
      Starting test: FsmoCheck
         ......................... ALGHAITH.AE passed test FsmoCheck

UPDATE:

I am getting DNS Event ID: 4521 now!

I am running two domain controllers in a windows 2003 r2 infrastructure. The main domain controller with the global catalog role went down and I had to reformat it. Now I am facing issues with creating new users in the active directory. I think I must create a global catalog but how? or is it possible since the original domain controller is not there anymore?

Thanks in advance

One of the main domain controllers harddisk failed so I had to replace it and reinstall Windows Server 2003 all over again from scratch. Luckily, I have another domain controller layer around.

Now the problem is that I could join the domain because of "The specified user already exists". I went to AC Users and Computers on the other domain controller to delete the old computer name but I received "The object SER1 (or some of the objects it contains) cannot be deleted because: Access is denied" note that I logged in with a Enterprise admin privileges. This is really weird.

Did some internet searching and found that I have to delete the old name using ADSI Edit (adsiedit.msc) but to no avail. I still get Access is denied.

Kindly advice. I am really getting frustrated and I need to use the same old name on the server.

Thanks in advance SZ

My manager was wondering if I could monitor employees activity such as Internet history, email messages (email hosted externally) and other applications like LimeWire and Solitaire.

I am managing Windows Domain (2k8). I prefer a freeware monitor if possible.