Duplicate DC name

I found a whole load of duplicate computer names listed in Windows 2000 active directory of the format:

Machine 1
Machine 1 CNF (very long SID number)

I assume this has been caused by machines being deleted and rejoined to the domain - something which I need to do occasionally, and have probably forgotten to delete the original entry.

I have deleted the duplicate names, apart from one which was a Domain Controller itself. When I try to delete that, I get a message "The DSA object cannot be deleted "

I have run through the ntdsutil.exe program to delete it , but when I am presented with a list of DC's, there is no way to distinguish from the real and duplicate name. I don't want to delete the wrong one, can anyone help?

Thanks

 

I'm not sure if this will help, but if you are running a WINS service, the Active Directory could be picking up the duplicates from there. If you are running WINS, I'd suggest flushing the database. Also check your DNS entries.

However, this could be just an AD "feature ", which would explain the lack of other responses!

 

Thanks for the reply. I have solved it, sort of anyway.

What I had to do was to demote the real DC, delete the bad using Adsiedit utility then promote the original.

It has worked but has messed up DNS a little, so I will have to go through and correct a few entries.

We dont use WINS so no more work to do there.

Thanks

 

Conflicting Objects can be the result of Lingering Objects being introduced by a DC that was offline for longer than the AD Tombestone Period or just like you said creating numerous machines with identical names. They can be a mess to clean up, but thankfully it sounds like you had an easier situation to deal with.