Transfer FSMO Roles
Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) roles are critical for the proper functioning of Active Directory (AD). These roles are assigned to specific domain controllers (DCs) to manage certain tasks.
If you need to transfer FSMO roles from one DC to another, follow these steps:
Prerequisites
- Ensure you have administrative privileges on the domain.
- Identify the current FSMO role holders and the target DC to which you want to transfer the roles.
FSMO Roles Overview
There are five FSMO roles in Active Directory:
- Schema Master: Manages changes to the schema.
- Domain Naming Master: Controls the addition and removal of domains in the forest.
- RID Master: Allocates pools of RIDs to DCs in a domain.
- PDC Emulator: Acts as a primary domain controller for backward compatibility and manages password changes.
- Infrastructure Master: Updates references from objects in its domain to objects in other domains.
List Current FSMO Role Holder(s)
To determine which server(s) hold the FSMO roles, execute the following PowerShell commands:
Domain level FSMO roles
Get-AdDomain | Select InfrastructureMaster, PDCEmulator, RIDMaster
Forest level FSMO roles
Get-AdForest | Select DomainNamingMaster, SchemaMaster
