Windows 2003 Active Directory domains uses a Single Operation Master method called FSMO (Flexible Single Master Operation). One of the FSMO roles includes "Infrastructure master". When a FSMO role owner goes down and cannot be brought back online, you no longer can transfer the role; you instead have to seize it. To seize a FSMO role you need to use the ntdsutil utility.
To seize the infrastructure master role in Active Directory
- Open Command Prompt.
- Type: "ntdsutil"
- At the ntdsutil command prompt, type: "roles"
- At the fsmo maintenance command prompt, type: "connections"
- At the server connections command prompt, type: "connect to server DomainController"
- At the server connections prompt, type: "quit"
- At the fsmo maintenance command prompt, type: "seize infrastructure master"
where,
DomainController: The domain controller to which you want to assign the new operations master role. Use only for recovery purposes.
Note: Before seizing the infrastructure master role, use the repadmin command-line tool to verify whether the new operations master has received any updates performed by the previous role holder, and then remove the current operations master from the network.
Note: Do not seize the infrastructure master role if you can transfer it instead. Seizing the infrastructure master role is a drastic step that should be considered only if the current operations master will never be available again.
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