To which domain controller (DC) will Exchange Migrator write during a migration? (NETIQKB3412)

goal

To which domain controller (DC) will Exchange Migrator write during a migration?

goal
How do I configure Exchange Migrator to communicate with a specific target Domain Controller?

goal
How do I specify a domain controller during a migration?

fact
Exchange Migrator 1.x

fact
Exchange Migrator 2.x

fix

During the migration, Exchange Migrator (EM) writes account information to the domain controller (DC) with which the target Exchange server is communicating. Hotfix 39487 adds a registry key identifying the DC that has the account information. You can:

• Read the following registry key to identify the DC with the account information
• Update the following registry key to specify a DC for a pending migration

Under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NetIQ\ExchangeMigrator registry key, there is a registry key called DomainControllers. Under this key is a subkey for identifying the DC targeted by the Exchange server. Each Exchange server's key has two Values:

ValueName: DC
ValueType: String[REG_SZ]
Value: This is the name of the DC, without the leading '\\'

ValueName: AutoCreated
ValueType: DWORD [REG_DWORD]
Value: Determines EM behavior when the DC specified in the DC key is
unavailable

• AutoCreated=1 (the default) EM calls DsGetDoName to specify a different DC and updates the DC key <
  to the newly specified server - this is the default behavior
• AutoCreated = 0 EM attempts to use the specified server and does not try to specify a different server

EM creates these registry keys automatically during the migration.  No intervention is required.  To force EM to use a specific DC, enter the DC name in the DC key, and set the AutoCreated key to 0. If you have not upgraded to EM 2.3 Hotfix 39487 or later, you can use either of two command line utilities to specify the target DC for Exchange server communication. Both utilities are included in the Windows Support Tools. The two commands are NETDOM and NLTEST. Descriptions of these commands follow:

NETDOM

1. Open a command prompt on the EM console.
2. Type NETDOM VERIFY target_exchange_server_name/DOMAIN:target_domain_name
Where target_exchange_server = the netBIOS name of the target Exchange server
Where target_domain_name = the netBIOS name of the target domain

This will return the status of the secure channel between the specified Exchange server and the target domain. It will also tell you the name of the domain controller with which that Exchange server currently has a secure channel established. This will be the domain controller that Exchange Migrator will use.

NLTEST

1. Open a command prompt on the target Exchange server.
2. Type NLTEST/DSGETDC:
   where target_domain_name = the netBIOS name of the target domain
3. Type NLTEST/SC_QUERY:
   where target_domain_name = the netBIOS name of the target domain

note

To install Support Tools on Windows XP see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 306794, How to Install the Support Tools from the Windows XP CD-ROM, at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306794

To install Support Tools on Windows 2000/2003 see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 301423, How to install the Windows 2000 Support Tools to a Windows 2000 Server-based computer, at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;301423

Formerly known as NETIQKB3412