Rename a domain controller

In this tutorial, we will see how to rename domain controller in the “rules of the art”.

The name change happens in several times, here is a summary:

• Add a secondary name to the DC
• Permutation of the secondary name in primary
• Deleting the secondary name

In an environment with multiple domain controllers, it is advisable to ensure that replication is effective across all DCs between each step.

Change the name of a domain controller

The following commands are to be executed on the controller to rename as Administrator.

Add a secondary name:

netdom computername dc-old-name.dom.loc /add:dc-new-name-secondary.dom.loc

It is possible to check that the command is taken into account by looking at the Active Directory attribute msDS-AdditionalDnsHostName.

Passer le nom secondaire en primaire :

netdom computername dc-old-name.dom.loc /makeprimary:dc-new-name-secondary.dom.loc

Restart the server to take into account the name change.

Delete the old name:

netdom computername dc-new-name-secondary.dom.loc /remove:dc-old-name.dom.loc 

Complement

It is possible to display the names with the following command:

netdom computername dc-name.dom.loc /enumerate