Using Exchange2003 when the PDC is offline

From: Mark Walsh (Walsh_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 11/17/04 

Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 21:33:01 -0800

Our PDC went belly up with a RAID controller failure. The full restore of
the server from tape takes about 8 hours and is still underway.

However, as soon as the PDC is taken off-line, for any reason, no one can
connect to the Exchange server, which is also a BDC, using Outlook. Plus,
OWA also refuses to play while the PDC is off-line. It just keeps coming ups
with authentication errors, as well as LDAP errors. Once the PDC is back on
line, these errors go away and the exchange server will start working again.

Now I was of the understanding that a BDC could handle authentication if the
PDC was off-line.

Or is it the case that having a single server fail, if it is the PDC, then
all the rest of the servers are inaccessible.

Is this normal behaviour? Not being able to use the Exchange server because
the PDC is off-line. Doesn't that also make us very vulnerable with all our
servers being at the mercy of a single server? The SQL server is they same,
can't authenticate. And it too is a BDC. What have I done wrong?

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Second Trust
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  • Re: NT 4.0 to windows 2003 AD in place upgrade.
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    (microsoft.public.windows.server.migration)
  • Re: PDC/BDC problem
    ... Did your BDC got all the FSMO rules after takeover? ... Seems that it is missing one of the roles after you take out the broken server and cleanup your metadata. ... The PDC arrived last Monday. ... everything to reestablish the trust. ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.networking)
  • Re: BDC DCDIAG Problem
    ... PDC and BDC are obsolete terms, ... I am looking through my DNS entries and I am only able to find SRV records ... server Security Configuration Wizard on this server perhaps? ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: NT4 to Server 2003 Migration
    ... based on everything you've said here, I would hire an experienced consultant, if only to assist you in the planning stage. ... I would not upgrade your current PDC to 2003. ... it's only 4-8 gig, not nearly large enough for 2003 server with SP1, and future service packs & upgrades. ... BDC 1 - RAS, Print Server, File Storage ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.migration)