Attn: Paul Bergson

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Firstly, sorry for asking you for help directly but your post at:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/microsoft.public.windows.server.active_directory/browse_thread/thread/ebb6ef3d30be87af/ecc35a0e05be72fc?q=copy+%22active+directory%22&rnum=1#ecc35a0e05be72fc
caught my attention.

<quote>
We just dcpromo another server in our environment, make it a dns server
as
well. Make a backup of it, demote it, move it to our test lab and do a
restore. Just make sure to never allow this machine talk to your
production
environment again.
</quote>

I wonder if you could elaborate a little more about this process as
it's
something I'm really interested in trying? I'm not that experienced
with
2000 and want to setup a test bed at work that I can play with, without
it
having an impact on our working domain.

Are there any things to watch out for?
Do you sync dns with AD?
Do you use imaging software to clone your hdd before demoting, or do
you
just use ntbackup to save the system state?
Can the machine be re-used on the production environment if it is wiped
and
a new OS installed? Or will a rename do?

.

Relevant Pages

  • RE: DNS configuration for external domain trust
    ... on the specific of your environment (network layout, security, ... I have done this a number of times and used secondary zones for this ... forwarding, and on one occasion stub zones. ... > is there a special configuration that needs to be made to the DNS server ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.active_directory)
  • Re: is it possible to handle two different domain for DNS?
    ... and xxx.abc.com is in domain in linux environment and hosting linux email. ... creat new DNS for exchange or using exsiting DNS xxx.abc.abc.com to creat ... instead for creat new DNS server for exchange? ... A DNS Server can have more than one namespace so this is not the problem. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.dns)
  • DHCP, DNS and IPCONFIG on CE 5.0
    ... All TCP settings are set via DHCP (IP address, network mask, default gateway and DNS server). ... In his environment the IPConfig command does not show the DNS server but a ping command using a domain name works fine! ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsce.platbuilder)
  • DNS Multiple Zone issues!
    ... Our environment is Windows NT 40 and I'm a moving to ... do I test that my DNS server is working properly? ... When I ping for 1 I get a reply sr1.DMI1.com an it seems ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.dns)
  • Re: Netdiag DNS error
    ... > Yes it is and it responds to nslookup and resolves with no ... > in this environment, this error is from a 2003 DNS server. ... > What is causing this? ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.dns)