I'm experiencing an issue with computer renames in my Active Directory setup, and it's getting quite frustrating. We have two domain controllers: one at our HQ (10.10.10.100) and the other at Branch B (10.20.10.100), with a solid 200/200 connection. There's also Branch C, which connects back to HQ (10.30.*.*). Our DHCP setup assigns the HQ as DNS1 and the secondary as DNS2. All branches are interconnected via Cisco routers with simple static routing rules.
Here's the weird part: when I rename a machine in Branch C, the rename reflects first on the secondary controller instead of the primary. After about 15 minutes, the change finally syncs to the primary. But when I rename a device on the HQ network, it correctly appears on the primary first. Similarly, renames in Branch B show up first on the secondary, which makes sense. So why is the rename from Branch C going through Branch B's DC instead of going directly to the primary? I've attached a general layout for reference: [link](https://imgur.com/a/XoXGl0n).
2 Answers
It sounds like a DNS issue to me. If you ping the domain name from different locations, the IP that responds is likely where the name change happens. I would double-check your DNS settings.
Have you checked your site configurations in Active Directory Sites and Services? If everything is lumped into the default site, it could lead to some unusual routing behavior, especially under replication scenarios. Make sure that all your subnets and sites are accurately defined for your branches.
Yes, I have all four branches set up properly. Each has its subnet configured with a site name and location in ADSS. There's a DEFAULTIPSITELIK with all branches at a cost of 100 and replication every 15 minutes. Could this setup be causing the renames to pick the wrong controller?
You're right; it was indeed a DNS problem. When I pinged from HQ, I got a response from the primary, but from Branch C, it pointed to the secondary. I've noticed that in the DNS records under domain.local_sitesBranchC_tcp, all entries are pointing to the secondary. Now I need to figure out how to redirect those.