Renaming a domain has been made easier in Windows Server 2003 domains, however it is no walk in the park. James Rudley (forum member saint) recently went through the process and documented it to be posted here. It is a three part article and if you are interested in the domain rename option read on! Part 1 covers the setup.
By no means is this article a complete step by step as every network is different. Please, let me note that this is no walk in the park. Use this article as a guide when you are testing in your test network. There are some requirements that need to be fulfilled before you can start the domain rename process.
- Windows Server 2003 is required. All domain controllers must be running Windows Server 2003, and the Active Directory forest functional level must be set at the Windows Server 2003 level.
- Exchange Server 2003 SP1 is required. The domain rename tools are supported in Exchange Server 2003 SP1. All Exchange servers in the organization must be running Exchange Server 2003 SP1.
- Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 5.5 are not supported The Rendom.exe and XDR-fixup.exe tools are not supported in Exchange Server 2003 without SP1, Exchange 2000 Server, or Exchange Server 5.5. If the Rendom.exe tool detects Exchange 2003 servers that do not have SP1 installed or if it detects Exchange 2000 servers, the tool will not proceed.
- You will need a Windows Server 2003 computer to act as a control center. This is where you will issue all your commands.
- Do not use a domain controller as your control center.
Install the support tools. Before you start you need to add a new DNS zone for the new domain name I want. This demo will take domain.com and rename it thelazyadmin.com. Start by adding a primary zone called thelazyadmin.com and allow secured dynamic updates which should be selected by default. At this point, force replication and get a cup of coffee. Once you verified that your dns has replicated, do not make any more major changes in your network such as adding DCS, creating trusts, etc. Go ahead and run ntbackup and backup the system state on ALL domain controllers as a precaution. Now, on your control center server, we are going to need the RENDOM tools. Insert your windows 2003 cd and run the following from a command prompt:
copy D:\valueadd\msft\mgmt\domren\*.* C\domainrename
At this point, we can generate the current forest description file. Go to start, run, cmd. Navigate to your folder where the random tool is and type
rendom /list
This will generate the domainlist.xml file.
Now, go ahead and save the domainlist.xml file as domainlist-save.xml
You will use this file when we work with exchange. Now, if you use notepad and open domainlist.xml, you will see your forest information
I put brackets around the section you will need to change to reflect your new domain. See below to look at my domainlist.xml once it has been edited.
This is very important that you do not make any spelling mistakes at this point. Once you have edited and saved the domainlist.xml, go ahead and run the following from the command prompt
rendom /showforest
This will verify your changes. This is your last chance to make any changes to your domain name. At this point we are ready to generate the domain rename instructions.