Active Directory Cookbook

3.11. Moving a Domain Controller to a Different Site

Problem

You want to move a domain controller to a different site.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

1. Open the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in.

2. In the left pane, expand the site that contains the domain controller.

3. Expand the Servers container.

4. Right-click on the domain controller you want to move and select Move.

5. In the Move Server box, select the site to which the domain controller will be moved and click OK.

Using a command-line interface

When using the dsmove command you must specify the DN of the object you want to move. In this case, it needs to be the distinguished name of the server object for the domain controller. The value for the -newparent option is the distinguished name of the Servers container you want to move the domain controller to.

> dsmove "<ServerDN>" -newparent "<NewServersContainerDN>"

For example, the following command would move dc2 from the Default-First-Site-Name site to the Raleigh site.

> dsmove "cn=dc2,cn=servers,cn=Default-First-Site-Name,cn=sites,cn=configuration,[RETURN] 
rallencorp" -newparent "cn=servers,cn=Raleigh,cn=sites,cn=configuration,rallencorp"

Using VBScript

' This code moves a domain controller to a different site
' ------ SCRIPT CONFIGURATION ------
strDCName      = "<DomainControllerName>"  ' e.g. dc2
strCurrentSite = "<CurrentSiteName>"       ' e.g. Default-First-Site-Name
strNewSite     = "<NewSiteName>" ' e.g. Raleigh ' ------ END CONFIGURATION --------- strConfigDN = GetObject("LDAP://RootDSE").Get("configurationNamingContext") ...