Window Server 2008 R2: Can you change the IP address of the domain controller?

windows-server-2008 domain-name-system domain-controller ip-address

22,022

Solution 1

Microsoft has a procedure posted here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794931%28WS.10%29.aspx

Down in the section titled, "To change the static IP address of a domain controller"

Solution 2

I'm pretty sure you'll be okay if you change the IP address. It's the hostname that can sometimes get you into trouble-- however, if it's the primary DNS server for your network client machines, you will at least have to configure your clients with the new DNS server address. Hopefully you either use DHCP which will distribute this change for you (once you modify the DNS setting in your DHCP config and maybe reboot the clients), or you don't have a lot of clients to manually configure.

22,022

Reuben

I'm a Windows Power User (XP, 7), very new to Windows Server Technologies so please be kind to my questions.

Updated on September 17, 2022

Comments

Reuben almost 2 years

Recently configured the IP address of the server 192.168.0.2, then I went ahead and configured its role as a domain controller (This process also configured the DNS). Now I would like to reconfigure the IP as 192.168.1.2

Will this mess domain controller configuration and also the users created on the network (stored on the AD db)? or will this wreak the DNS in anyway?
- Hecter almost 14 years
  
  Your domain controller will continue to work, but will the clients still be able to find it? Is it also your DHCP server? Will it now be on a different subnet from the client PCs? (This might be OK, if your router has a properly configued DHCP proxy feature.) Lots to think about.
- Jason Berg almost 14 years
  
  You may regret that IP range choice later. 192.168.1.0 is so commonly used in home routers. If you implement a remote access VPN, it could cause a lot of issues.
- Reuben almost 14 years
  
  what kind of issues?
- Hecter almost 14 years
  
  Let's say that your VPN user's home wireless router has an IP address of 192.168.1.1 and his PC is 192.168.1.2. He connects to your VPN, and... well, at best, he won't be able to authenticate against your DC; at worst, you'll have an inadvertent denial of service attack stemming from the IP address conflict.
Reuben almost 14 years

what about the dns servers? as it currently shows 127.0.0.1 and I had put in 192.168.0.1 to point it to my router. Will I have to change it back to 192.168.1.1 or can it just be left there just like that?
Reuben almost 14 years

how can I input more that 2 dns addresses?
Deb almost 14 years

@Reuben On the TCPIPv4 setup screen, where you set the IP address, the bottom half of that screen is the Advanced button. Click it. On the Advanced TCP/IP Settings screen there is a DNS tab. You can add more than two DNS servers there.
Reuben almost 14 years

Never looked that up, sounds amazing to me! I have another question based on this, but its comprehensive so I'm making another thread
Reuben almost 14 years

Never said this before but this is an amazing place to learn on the go!