Here are the steps to recover DFSR replication when the replication stopped to work, in my case after a full system restore because of hardware issue. I did this when troubleshooting DFSR replication problem between a Windows 2003 R2 server and a Windows 2008 R2 server.

First step is to clear off all the related setting in the DFS configuration in the MMC (Replication Group, Member and etc). Wait for the changes to be reflected on all DFS Group members.

Next Step:

1. Stop the “DFS Replication” service.

2. On the drive(s) in question, grant yourself full permission to the hidden system “System Volume Information” folder.

3. Navigate into the folder and delete or rename the DFSR folder.

4. Navigate to each replication group the server was a member of and delete or rename each hidden system “DfsrPrivate” folder.

5. Start the “DFS Replication” service.

The DFS replication should now reinitialize and resume the DFSR replication.

Reference:

https://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windows.server.dfs_frs/browse_thread/thread/9f441212874acfb3/f5d6929d7ecf61ab?lnk=gst&q=2104&hl=en#f5d6929d7ecf61ab

Article by:

Wan Azmir Wan Mohamed

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==============================================================

Warning: All objects that are managed by the Directory Synchronization Tool will be deleted.

1. On your Domain Controller, Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. Right-click the domain name, point to New, and then point to Organizational Unit.

3. On the New Object – Organizational Unit page, type EmptyOU, and then click OK. Do not create or move any Active Directory objects to this organizational unit.

4. On your Directory Sync Server, Open Windows Explorer.

5. Locate the Directory Synchronization Tool installation folder. The default location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Online Directory Sync\SYNCBUS\UIShell.

6. Run the Miisclient.exe file.

7. In the Identity Manager window, click the Management Agents button.

8. In the Management Agents view, right-click SourceAD, and then click Properties.

9. On the Properties page, select Configure Directory Partitions.

10. On the Configure Directory Partitions properties page, select the domain partition in which the EmptyOU organizational unit was created from the Select directory partitions field.

11. On the Configure Directory Partitions properties page, find the Select containers for this partition setting, click on the Containers button.

12. On the Credentials page, type the credentials for a user that has at least Read access to the selected directory partition. This credential is not saved.

13. On the Select Containers page, deselect all containers by clearing the check mark in the box at the directory partition root level. Search for the container that is named EmptyOU, select this container, and then click OK.

14. Click OK.

15. Open Regeditry Editor.

16. Browse to HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSOLCoExistence. Modify the FullSyncNeeded registry entry to a value of 1, and then click OK. This value will be reset to 0 after a full synchronization is completed.

17. Exit Registry Editor.

18. Open Windows PowerShell window as an Administrator.

19. At the Windows PowerShell prompt, type Add-PSSnapin Coexistence-Configuration and then press ENTER.

20. At the Windows PowerShell prompt, type Start-OnlineCoexistenceSync, and then press ENTER.

21. In the Identity Manager window, click the Operations button. Monitor the progress of the full synchronization until the export stage completes successfully. Once it is complete, verify that all Active Directory objects were removed from your Microsoft Online Services company. Only those objects that were synchronized by the Directory Synchronization Tool will have been removed. All objects that were manually created in Microsoft Online Services will continue to exist.

Please let me know if you have any questions by performing this step.

PANCHANATHAM RAJKUMAR
MCTS/MCITP

Performing an Offline Defragmentation

Before you attempt an offline defragmentation, I strongly recommend making a full, system state backup of the domain controller. I have never had an offline defragmentation go belly up on me, but since there is at least a potential for database corruption to occur, I recommend starting with a backup.

Once you have created a backup of your domain controller, the next thing that you should do is to make note of the existing Active Directory database’s size. By default, the Active Directory database is located at C:\Windows\NTDS, although the DCPROMO process does allow you to choose a different location. The name of the actual database file is NTDS.DIT. A freshly installed Active Directory database on a Windows Server 2008 domain controller is about 12 MB in size, but the database can grow to be several GB in size, depending on the amount of data that is stored in the Active Directory.

Once you have noted the database’s size, you will have to create a directory that you can use as a temporary repository for a copy of the Active Directory database. When you perform an offline defragmentation, Windows does not alter the original Active Directory database. Instead it creates a defragmented copy database. I recommend creating a folder named TEMP beneath the \Windows\NTDS folder.

The next step in the process is to stop the Active Directory Domain Service. Unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows Server 2008 offers the ability to start and stop the Active Directory just as you would any other service. Depending on how your server is configured, there may be dependency services that Windows will also have to shut down.

When the Active Directory Domain Service finishes shutting down, open a Command Prompt window, and enter the NTDSUTILcommand. The command prompt will now display an NTDSUTIL prompt. Now enter the following command:

Activate Instance NTDS

At this point, NTDSUTIL will display a message stating that activate instance has been set to “NTDS”. Now enter the Filescommand. This will cause NTDSUTIL to switch to the File Maintenance prompt. You should now enter the Info command. This will cause NTDSUTIL to display information about the size and location of the Active Directory database, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A You should double check the database size against the size that you recorded earlier.

You should make sure that the information that is displayed coincides with the size that you recorded earlier. Otherwise, some corruption may exist. Assuming that everything looks good, you can launch the defragmentation process by entering the following command:

Compact to c:\Windows\NTDS\temp

The command shown above assumes that you have created a folder named Temp beneath the c:\windows\ntds folder.

The amount of time that the defragmentation process will take varies depending on the speed of your server, and on the size of the Active Directory database. You can see what a successful defragmentation looks like in Figure B.

Figure B This is what a successful defragmentation looks like.

When the process completes, enter the Q command at the NTDSUTIL prompt to close NTDSUTIL. Next, verify that Windows has created a copy of the Active Directory database in the C:\Windows\NTDS\Temp folder. This copy is the defragmented version of the database. To use it, you must either delete or rename the original database (the one in C:\Windows\NTDS), and then copy the defragmented database from C:\Windows\NTDS\Temp to C:\Windows\NTDS. You must also either rename or delete the log files located in the C:\Windows\NTDS folder.

You can now restart the Active Directory. The easiest way to do this is to simply start the Active Directory Domain Service that you shut down earlier. If a bunch of dependency services were also shut down too though, it may be easier to just reboot the server.

Conclusion

In this article, I have shown you how to perform an offline defragmentation of the Active Directory database. It is important to remember though, that you should always perform a full, system state backup prior to attempting this procedure.

1. In DSRM, compact the database file to a local directory or remote shared folder, as follows:
   • Local directory: Go to step 2.
   • Remote directory: If you are compacting the database file to a shared folder on a remote computer, establish a network connection to the shared folder as shown below. Because you are logged on as the local administrator, unless permissions on the shared folder include the built-in Administrator account, you must provide a domain name, user name, and password for a domain account that has Write permissions on the shared folder. In the example below, \\SERVER1\NTDS is the name of the shared folder, and K: is the drive that you are mapping to the shared folder. After typing the first line and pressing ENTER, you are prompted for the password. Type the password and then press ENTER.

     H:\>net use K: \\SERVER1\NTDS /user:domainName\userName *

     Type the password for \\SERVER1\NTDS:

     Drive K: is now connected to \\SERVER1\NTDS

     The command completed successfully.

2. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

ntdsutil

3. At the ntdsutil: prompt, type files, and then press ENTER.
4. At the file maintenance: prompt, type compact to drive:\ LocalDirectoryPath (where drive:\ LocalDirectoryPath is the path to a location on the local computer), and then press ENTER.

If you have mapped a drive to a shared folder on a remote computer, type the drive letter only (for example, compact to K:\).

5. If defragmentation completes successfully, type quit, and then press ENTER to quit the file maintenance: prompt. Type quitagain, and then press ENTER to quit Ntdsutil.exe. Go to step 6. If defragmentation completes with errors, go to step 9.

6. If defragmentation succeeds with no errors, follow the Ntdsutil.exe onscreen instructions to:

• Delete all of the log files in the log directory by typing:

  del drive:\pathToLogFiles\*.log

• You should make a copy of the existing Ntds.dit file if at all possible, even if you have to store that copy to a secured network drive. If the compaction of the database does not work properly, you can then easily restore the database by copying it back to the original location. Do not delete the copy of the Ntds.dit file until you have at least verified that the domain controller starts properly. If space allows, you can rename the original Ntds.dit file to preserve it or else copy it to a different location. Avoid overwriting the original Ntds.dit file.
• Manually copy the compacted database file to the original location, as follows:

  copy temporaryDrive:\ntds.dit originalDrive:\pathToOriginalDatabaseFile\ntds.dit

6. Type ntdsutil and then press ENTER.
7. At the ntdsutil: prompt, type files and then press ENTER.
8. At the file maintenance: prompt, type integrity and then press ENTER.

If the integrity check fails, the likely cause is that an error occurred during the copy operation in step 6.c. Repeat steps 6.c through step 9. If the integrity check fails again:

• Contact Microsoft Product Support Services.

  -or-

• Copy the original version of the Ntds.dit file that you preserved in step 6.b. to the original database location and repeat the offline defragmentation procedure.
3. If the integrity check succeeds, proceed as follows:
   • If the initial compact to command failed, go back to step 4 and perform steps 4 through 9.
   • If the initial compact to command succeeded, type quit and press ENTER to quit the file maintenance: prompt, and then type quit and press ENTER again to quit Ntdsutil.exe.
4. Restart the domain controller normally. If you are connected remotely through a Terminal Services session, be sure that you have modified the Boot.ini file for normal restarting before you restart the domain controller.

If errors appear when you restart the domain controller:

1. Restart the domain controller in Directory Services Restore Mode.
2. Check the errors in Event Viewer.

   If the following events are logged in Event Viewer on restarting the domain controller, respond to the events as follows:

   • Event ID 1046. “The Active Directory database engine caused an exception with the following parameters.” In this case, Active Directory cannot recover from this error and you must restore from backup media.
   • Event ID 1168. “Internal error: An Active Directory error has occurred.” In this case, information is missing from the registry and you must restore from backup media.
3. Check database integrity and then proceed as follows:

   If the integrity check fails, try repeating step 6.c through step 9 above, and then repeat the integrity check. If the integrity check fails again:

   • Contact Microsoft Product Support Services.

     -or-

   • Copy the original version of the Ntds.dit file that you preserved in step 6.2. to the original database location and repeat the offline defragmentation procedure.

     If the integrity check succeeds, perform semantic database analysis with fixup.

4. If semantic database analysis with fixup succeeds, quit Ntdsutil.exe and restart the domain controller normally.

Cannot activate database copy ‘Activate Database Copy…’.

Activate Database Copy…                                  Failed Error:
An Active Manager operation failed. Error: The database action failed. Error: An error occurred while trying to validate the specified database copy for possible activation. Error: Database copy ‘Mailbox Database 01′ on server ‘ex1.exchangeserverpro.local’ has content index catalog files in the following state: ‘Failed’. [Database: Mailbox Database 01, Server: EX2.exchangeserverpro.local]

An Active Manager operation failed. Error: An error occurred while trying to validate the specified database copy for possible activation. Error: Database copy ‘Mailbox Database 01′ on server ‘ex1.exchangeserverpro.local’ has content index catalog files in the following state: ‘Failed’.

When you view the copy status of the mailbox database the content index is in a failed state.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | fl name, contentindexstate

Name              : Mailbox Database 01\EX1

ContentIndexState : Failed

Name              : Mailbox Database 02\EX1

ContentIndexState : Healthy

To resolve the issue update the content index on the server on which it has failed.

[PS] C:\>Update-MailboxDatabaseCopy “Mailbox Database 01\EX1″ -CatalogOnly

The content index should now be in a healthy state.

[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | fl name, contentindexstate

Name              : Mailbox Database 01\EX1

ContentIndexState : Healthy

Name              : Mailbox Database 02\EX1

ContentIndexState : Healthy

Astaro Settings:

Remote Gateway Settings:

Gateway Type: Initiate Connection
Gateway: WAN1 Address of FG 60B
Authentication Type: Preshared Key
Remote Networks: Entire network on Internal Interface of FG 60B

Policies Settings:

Policy Name: Fortigate
IKE encryption algorithm: 3DES
IKE authentication algorithm: MD5
IKE SA lifetime: 7800
IKE DH group: Group5: MODP 1536

Connections Settings:

Remote Gateway: As defined above
Local Interface: External (WAN1)
Policy: Fortigate
Local Networks: Internal

Fortigate 60B Settings:

VPN Auto Key (IKE) Phase 1:

Remote Gateway: Static IP Address
IP Address: WAN Interface of Astaro
Local Interface: wan1
Mode: Main (ID protection)
Authentication Method: Preshared Key

Advanced VPN Auto Key (IKE) Phase 1:

Enable IPSec Interface Mode: Not checked
P1 Proposal:
1 – Encryption: 3DES Authentication: SHA1
2 – Encryption: 3DES Authentication: MD5
DH Group: 5
Keylife: 7800
XAuth: Disabled
NAT-traversal: Disabled
Keepalive Frequency: 10

Dead Peer Detection: Enabled

VPN Auto Key (IKE) Phase 2:

Phase 1: As defined above

Advanced VPN Auto Key (IKE) Phase 2:

P2 Proposal:
1 – Encryption: 3DES Authentication: SHA1
2 – Encryption: 3DES Authentication: MD5
Enable replay detection: yes
Enable perfect forward secrecy(PFS): yes
DH Group: 5
Keylife: 7800

Quick Mode Selector:
Source adress: Entire internal network on FG60B
Source port: 0
Destination address: Entire internal network on Astaro
Destination port: 0
Protocol: 0

Firewall Policy Settings:

Internal => WAN1
Source Interface/Zone: Internal
Source Address: All
Destination Interface/Zone: WAN1
Destination Address: All
Schedule: always
Service: ANY
Action: IPSEC

VPN Tunnel: As defined above
Allow inbound: yes
Allow outbound: yes
Protection profile: as desired
Traffic shaping: as desired