Question : File Replication Service, Can Not Build Global Catalog - HELP!!

Hello,

I have gotten myself into a catach 22 situation.....

Server 1 - Win 2k Server (BDC)
Server 2 - Win 2003 Server (PDC)
Server 3 - Win 2003 Server (BDC)

Okay,  I made Servers 2 & 3 a global catalog servers, booted them, waited a week, booted them again and thought everything was fine.....everything was fine.....

Demoted Server 1 to non - Global Catalog Server....before this demotion, I successfully moved all operations masters functions to Server 2 and 3 (Infrstructure), reset DSN GC records....thats when my problems started....
First sypmtom was the users could no longer log onto the domain.....spent hours researching this problem and finally set a value in the Registry to IgnoreGCErrors, just to get them logged on.  Server 2 is also an Exchange 2003 server, Server 1 was an Exchange 2000 server.  Exchange 2000 was removed at the same time Server 1 was demoted to non-Global Server.  Finally, out of desperation, I re-commissioned SERVER 1 as a global catalog server again, just hoping to get back to square one.....still failed even after booting Server 1 as a new GC server.

So after much reading and testing, I finally ran the DCDIAG tool on all servers and it tells that the Global Catalog has not completed being built for any of the DCs.  Servers 2 and 3 apparently never really became a GC server, and after demoting SERVER 1
it also could not become a GC server.  So I have 3 servers that have not completed the funtion of become GC servers.    

Went back to the EVENT logs and found many failures to perform File Replication between the servers.  Particularly with Server 1.  So I downloaded the FRSDIAG tool from MS and ran it on all 3 servers.  It runs fine on all servers but SERVER 1.  When I try to force a replication between all servers, Server 1 fails, with this error message:

   Triggering pull from all upstream partners.
   Could not detect any upstream partners.  This server seems to be Orphaned.
   You should double check this.

Server 1 fails with the same error when FRSDIAG ran from all DCs.

So my problem is such:

   File Replication is failing between Server 1 and all other servers (DCs)
   Unable to determine Why.....DNS can resolve the FQDN of SERVER 1 on each of the
      other servers.
   FRS service is running on all servers.
  NET SHARE show SYSVOL in the list of SHARED stuff.

I am in a pickle.....Exchange service on Sever 2 can not start sto Outlook is down
for the entire organization.  I do not have a valid GC server and no idea how to fix this
problem......and I really do not know what the real problem is......PLEASE HELP!!!

Answer : File Replication Service, Can Not Build Global Catalog - HELP!!

You should also convert the DNS zones to active directory integrated. If changes don't happen instantly, or don't start working instantly, wait a little bit. Replication of changes with W2000 servers can take up to 30 minutes, only a select few changes are instant.