Active Directory server down, recovering without reinstalling
- by whatever
My Windows 2003 server suddenly ceased to function as a DC (this server is the only DC of the domain). All AD related services are down. The only way I can login to the AD is physically to the machine. Everytime I access an AD-related service (e.g. "AD users and computers") I get the below error:
Naming information cannot be located because:
The specified directory service attribute or value does not exist.
Contact your system administrator to verify that your domain is properly configured and is currently online.
I found the below system event which matches the time when the issue started, this re-occurs everytime I reboot the server.
NTDS General | Global Catalog | Active Directory was unable to establish a
connection with the global catalog.
Additional Data
Error value:
1355 The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted.
Internal ID:
3200d33
I started the troubleshooting with DNS. Netdiag throws the below error although I think this is simply a consequence of not being able to access the Global Catalog.
The procedure entry point DnsGetPrimaryDomainName_UTF8 could not be located in the dynamic link library DNSAPI.dll.
Anyway DNS seems OK because I can ping the DC FQDN from the DC itself. I found the below solution which is supposed to help by doing some cleanup of the metadata:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216498
If I follow procedure 1 here is what I get at step 9:
no current site
Domain - DC=<mydomain>,DC=<com>
no current server
no current naming context
I can continue the procedure until step 14. I haven't tested step 15 as my understanding is that I will have to reinstall the whole AD again.
Is there any way I can recover my AD from there without having to reinstall the whole thing?
Update:
Yes, the server was powered off/on because reboot would take forever (not because I thought power cycling the unit would fix it more than a reboot).
