Exchange 2000/2003 still requires WINS! (by Dave Bermingham)
Here is an interesting tidbit that I discovered this past weekend. Apparently Exchange 2000 and 2003 still require WINS. Microsoft says they have not tested MS Exchange 2000/2003 without NetBIOS name resolution functioning, aka WINS. They suspect that WINS is only required in routed networks, but as I found out this weekend, it is may still be required in some single subnet, single domain networks as well.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=837391
Here is the scenario…
I was installing a new Windows 2003/Exchange 2003 server into an existing single site, single subnet, single Windows 2000 native domain that already had an existing Exchange 2000 server. I found this excellent article that tells you how to do this step-by-step. http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Migrating-Exchange2000-Exchange-2003-Hardware.html
I managed to install the Exchange 2003 server and moved a few mailboxes over a few weeks ago. Everything was running fine, so I decided to migrate all of the mailboxes this past Friday night. There were only about 20 users so it didn’t take too long. After all of the mailboxes moved successfully, I let the servers sit until Sunday when I had to power them down for a few hours because the building was doing electrical maintenance. When I restarted the servers later that day, the new Exchange server could not find the domain, and the ExchangeSA service was stuck at “Starting”. The System log gave me this error…
Event Type: Error
Event Source: NETLOGON
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5719
Date: 8/7/2005
Time: 12:59:47 PM
User: N/A
Computer: EX1
Description:
This computer was not able to set up a secure session with a domain controller in domain DOMAINNAME due to the following:
There are currently no logon servers available to service the logon request.
This may lead to authentication problems. Make sure that this computer is connected to the network. If the problem persists, please contact your domain administrator.
ADDITIONAL INFO
If this computer is a domain controller for the specified domain, it sets up the secure session to the primary domain controller emulator in the specified domain. Otherwise, this computer sets up the secure session to any domain controller in the specified domain.
For more information, see Help and Support Center
Data:
0000: 5e 00 00 c0 ^..
After banging my head on the wall for a few hours, numerous reboots, replacing cables, etc., I ran Netdiag and found that WINS was failing. I went to investigate and found that WINS was no longer running on my network. I had set up WINS about 4 years ago and do not recall uninstalling it, however, it was gone. A Google search turned up other reports of WINS mysteriously disappearing. So I reinstalled WINS and added an entry for the WINS server on the new Exchange 2003 server, rebooted, and all was well.
I guess the rumors of WINS’ death have been greatly exaggerated!
