When I attempt to demote the a server called AUTH, I get the following error:
The operation failed because:
Active Directory could not transfer the remaining data in directory partition DC=COMPANY,DC=COM to domain controller DC1.COMPANY.COM
"Insufficient attributes were given to create an object. This object may not exist because it may have been deleted and already garbage collected."
Investigating the event logs on DC1 report the following:
Active Directory Domain Services Replication encountered the existence of objects in the following partition that have been deleted from the local domain controllers (DCs) Active Directory Domain Services database. Not all direct or transitive replication partners replicated in the deletion before the tombstone lifetime number of days passed. Objects that have been deleted and garbage collected from an Active Directory Domain Services partition but still exist in the writable partitions of other DCs in the same domain, or read-only partitions of global catalog servers in other domains in the forest are known as "lingering objects".
Source domain controller:
35e39ab5-0739-4bdd-a0b8-913414917ab3._msdcs.COMPANY.COM
Object:
CN=ACCTS01-Auto HP Color LaserJet 2600n on DONNA-PC (from VALUE\0ADEL:aeaf6e4e-6085-47bb-bd53-138212827607,CN=Deleted Objects,DC=COMPANY,DC=COM
Object GUID:
aeaf6e4e-6085-47bb-bd53-138212827607 This event is being logged because the source DC contains a lingering object which does not exist on the local DCs Active Directory Domain Services database. This replication attempt has been blocked.
The best solution to this problem is to identify and remove all lingering objects in the forest.
User Action:
Remove Lingering Objects:
The action plan to recover from this error can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/?id=314282.
If both the source and destination DCs are Windows Server 2003 DCs, then install the support tools included on the installation CD. To see which objects would be deleted without actually performing the deletion run "repadmin /removelingeringobjects <Source DC> <Destination DC DSA GUID> <NC> /ADVISORY_MODE". The eventlogs on the source DC will enumerate all lingering objects. To remove lingering objects from a source domain controller run "repadmin /removelingeringobjects <Source DC> <Destination DC DSA GUID> <NC>".
If either source or destination DC is a Windows 2000 Server DC, then more information on how to remove lingering objects on the source DC can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/?id=314282 or from your Microsoft support personnel.
If you need Active Directory Domain Services replication to function immediately at all costs and don't have time to remove lingering objects, enable loose replication consistency by unsetting the following registry key:
Registry Key:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Parameters\Strict Replication Consistency
Replication errors between DCs sharing a common partition can prevent user and compter acounts, trust relationships, their passwords, security groups, security group memberships and other Active Directory Domain Services configuration data to vary between DCs, affecting the ability to log on, find objects of interest and perform other critical operations. These inconsistencies are resolved once replication errors are resolved. DCs that fail to inbound replicate deleted objects within tombstone lifetime number of days will remain inconsistent until lingering objects are manually removed by an administrator from each local DC.
Lingering objects may be prevented by ensuring that all domain controllers in the forest are running Active Directory Domain Services, are connected by a spanning tree connection topology and perform inbound replication before Tombstone Live number of days pass.”
The source domain controller is AUTH referenced by the GUID of 35e39ab5-0739-4bdd-a0b8-913414917ab3._msdcs.COMPANY.COM. I have ran the command repadmin /removelingering objects and it ran successfully – however 0 objects were deleted.
Active Directory Domain Services has completed the removal of lingering objects on the local domain controller. All objects on this domain controller have had their existence verified on the following source domain controller.
Source domain controller:
364409ae-2436-4115-b870-1dc7eff203cf._msdcs.COMPANY.COM
Number of objects deleted:
0
Next I can try forcing a demote by running dcpromo /forceremoval which will demote the DC to a member server but will not notify DC1 that it has been demoted. I have already transferred the FSMO roles to DC1. What do you think guys? Thanks in advance