P2V Domain Controller

[pmichelli]

We have one remaining physical DC running Server 2016 that is giving some problems.  It is not the FSMO holder, but it does run DNS.

Does anyone have experience P2V'ing a DC ? Ideally I would rebuild it but I don't have time right now. I'd rather virtualize it for a few months until I can find time to spin up a new one.

Does anyone have experience with this (or rebuilding a DC using the same IP address ?) 

I have spent the past 20 years mostly working with VMware and Linux.  I am by no means a Windows AD expert.

[mark24]

Hi,

Decommission the existing domain controller using dcpromo, and provision a new domain controller during the installation of new Windows Server in a new virtual machine. Do not perform the conversion, but use the source server's host name and IP address.

OR

Ensure another domain controller is online on the network and properly synchronized. If one is not available, provision a new domain controller as a virtual machine and promote it. Demote the domain controller using dcpromo. Set any static IP addresses to DHCP prior to conversion. When converted power off the source server, reassign static IP address, and promote the virtualized server.

[pmichelli]

Thanks for the reply.  My Windows co-worker laughed at me and said we're never virtualizing the DC's.  We got the boss to buy us a new server instead.

[alantz]

I find that funny/ironic since I've been running DC's virtualized for 15 years, never an issue.

--Alan--

[pmichelli]

I should have been a bit more clear. We have a few DCs that are already virtualized, but we keep one physical server as a DC as well.  That was what the co-worker was on about, he didn't want all of them inside VMware and wants to replace physical for physical