AD, Group Policy Error and client cannot access DC

[samuelmitch]

Hi guys,

There are a number of problems I am having as follows:
1. The domain controller (DC) cannot be access by the other machines on the domain. the error from the other machines is "there is no server avaliable to service this logon request".
2. When i try to open the Active Directory (AD), i get an error stating "naming information cannot be located. The specific domain either does not exist or cannot be contacted. Contact you administrator to verify that the domain is properly configured and is currently online"
3. When opening the Domain and DC security policy, i get this error "Fail to open the group policy object. you may not have approperiate rights. Detail: the network path was not found"

Checks
-------
-There is an error in the Directory Service event log stating that "unable to establish connection with global catolog"
-In App Log error "Windows cannot determine the user or computer name. Return value (1355)."
-The sysvol folder is not shared (note: each time i restart the dc, it unshares the sysvol folder but once i share it AD and the policies gives not error)
-there were two DC called them DC1 and DC2. DC1 - PDC and DC2 - RID
i transfer roles to DC2 from DC1 and demoted DC1 and take it off the network. I did not restart the DC2 at the same time but everyting was working. I restarted it on Friday but since then I was having problems getting the machines to access the DC2 which is not the PDC with all 5 roles.

Note: I can browse the other machines from the DC but the machines cannot access the DC with the error stated earlier.

[juba]

Seems to be a name resolution issue. Was DC1 your WINS and DNS servers? If so, did you transfer those roles as well?

[jamrock]

Seems to be a name resolution issue.

I agree. Sounds a lot like DNS issues. The machines can't locate the server and it resources.

What happens when you type "nslookup DC2" from the command prompt on a workstation?

Type "ipconfig /all" from the command line on a workstation. Which machine is listed as the DNS server? Is that machine still active on the network?

[samuelmitch]

What happens when you type "nslookup DC2" from the command prompt on a workstation?

Type "ipconfig /all" from the command line on a workstation. Which machine is listed as the DNS server? Is that machine still active on the network?

I am going to try this and see what I get but my DC1 was not the DNS server, I had another server as the DNS and I dont use WINS on my domain. Let me see what I and get back to you.

[samuelmitch]

This is the result I get when i try nslookup
--------------------------------------
>nslookup DC2
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.0.1: Server failed
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.0.34: Non-existent domain
*** Default servers are not available
Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.0.1

Name: DC2.domain.local
Address: 192.168.0.1

[jamrock]

It seems as DNS is no longer working on your network. As a result, the machines can't find the servers and their resources.

What happens when you nslookup the fully qualified name of the server.

[samuelmitch]

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : domain.local
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-09-D4-0E-37
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.5
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.34
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.34

[samuelmitch]

It seems as DNS is no longer working on your network. As a result, the machines can't find the servers and their resources.

What command did you type?

I am seeing a reference to servername and DC2. What are the differences between these machines?

Which machine has the address 10.0.0.1? Is this a router?

What happens when you nslookup the fully qualified name of the server. nslookup servername.name_of_domain.com?

Actually the servername is what i refer to as DC2, i never get to change the name, it is support to say nslookup DC2

[jamrock]

Here is a nslookup from my network

nslookup appserver

Server: dc1.test.com
Address: 192.168.1.5

Name: appserver.test.com
Address: 192.168.1.3

First of all it shows the name and address of the DNS server. It then shows the result of the query.


Here is the result from your network

nslookup DC2
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.0.1: Server failed
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.0.34: Non-existent domain
*** Default servers are not available
Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.0.1

Name: DC2.domain.local
Address: 192.168.0.1

It is not recognizing the DNS server. Not sure why the removal of the domain controller would cause this. I can't tell without looking at how DNS was set up on your network.

You may have to review the configuration of your DNS. Here is a link to a very good document from Microsoft on setting up DNS for Windows 200x networks.

It is the Windows 2000 DNS White Paper. Windows 2003 DNS works the same way.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../Bb742582.aspx

I have removed the real name of your server from my post. Perhaps you could do the same.

BTW, is 192.168.0.1 the correct i.p. address for DC2?

[samuelmitch]

thanks @jamrock, I am checking it out now.