No scopes imported in w2k8 -> w2k8R2 setup

Hi all,

I installed everything as documented on a w2k8 Server (primary) and a w2k8 R2 Server (secondary).
The detection of the primary's host dhcpd status and starting/stopping of the secondary dhcpd works fine.

My problem is that the all scopes and settings on the secondary server are deleted (as expected), but the exported config of the primary dhcpd isn't imported. But a manual import of the primary's dhcpd config (sized 23kb) with "netsh dhcp server import DHCP-Backup" works without problems.

I enabled the debug mode and find the following output in debug.txt after the fallback to the secondary server occured:

---
Deleting old secondary DHCP config: C:\Windows\system32\dhcp\redundancy\DHCP-Backup.sync
Start the secondary DHCP service
Secondary DHCP service has started
->Event log: DHCP-service on server 10.129.244.12 is not functionalling, starting redundant DHCP-Service
Sending mail that the main DHCP service is down
Mail sent
Quiting the main routine
End of main routine
---

Afterwards the DHCP-Backup file has vanished but - no scopes at all.

What's going on?
Thanks for your support!

Christoph

Please check that the DHCP-Redundancy service on the second server runs as a user that has full system rights (preferely 'System')

Admin wrote:

Please check that the DHCP-Redundancy service on the second server runs as a user that has full system rights (preferely 'System')

Thanks for the feedback, but that doesn't seem to be the problem - the service was configured to run as "Local System". I changed it to another account with domain administrator rigths, but that didn't solve the problem too. Any idea?

Regards
Christoph

In Debug.txt, isn't there a line stating: Importing DHCP-Backup , after the dhcp service is started ?

Admin wrote:

In Debug.txt, isn't there a line stating: Importing DHCP-Backup , after the dhcp service is started ?

No, I've never seen a message like this. The debug.txt always start's with the sequence of lines already quoted in my first posting...

Regards
Christoph

Thanks for still investigating this case.

Please check that you selected the correct path to the redundancy files in the Config Tools. The path must be the same as you entered in the sheduled export script on the main server.

eg. if you shared the folder c:\temp\dhcp as dhcp on server 2:

you enter \\server2\dhcp in the export script on server 1

and enter c:\temp\dhcp in the config tool on server 2

Admin wrote:

Please check that you selected the correct path to the redundancy files in the Config Tools. The path must be the same as you entered in the sheduled export script on the main server.

I've double-checked that the paths are correct.
BTW: The redundancy service successfully deletes the DHCP-Backup.txt, which is written to this path by the export script, so I think it's obvious that both sides have configured the same path, or do I get something wrong here?

Can you please enable debugging, wait 2 minutes, run the export script on server 1, stop the DHCP-server on server 1, wait until dhcp-service has been up and running on server 2 for 3-4 minutes, start DHCP service on server 1, wait until DHCP-service shuts down on server 2. Then disable debugging and paste the debug log here.

Done.

My debug.txt:

-----
Deleting old secondary DHCP config: C:\Windows\system32\dhcp\redundancy\DHCP-Backup.sync
Start the secondary DHCP service
Secondary DHCP service has started
->Event log: DHCP-service on server 10.129.244.12 is not functionalling, starting redundant DHCP-Service
Sending mail that the main DHCP service is down
Mail sent
Quiting the main routine
End of main routine


Start of main routine
Status of Update value= No
Querying status of main DHCP service
Result of query= unable to determine the dhcp server version for the server 10.129.244.12.
Main DHCP service is down
Main DHCP service was down the last check too, quiting main routine
End of main routine


Start of main routine
Status of Update value= No
Querying status of main DHCP service
Result of query= unable to determine the dhcp server version for the server 10.129.244.12.
Main DHCP service is down
Main DHCP service was down the last check too, quiting main routine
End of main routine


Start of main routine
Status of Update value= No
Querying status of main DHCP service
Result of query= unable to determine the dhcp server version for the server 10.129.244.12.
Main DHCP service is down
Main DHCP service was down the last check too, quiting main routine
End of main routine


Start of main routine
Status of Update value= No
Querying status of main DHCP service
Result of query= unable to determine the dhcp server version for the server 10.129.244.12.
Main DHCP service is down
Main DHCP service was down the last check too, quiting main routine
End of main routine


Start of main routine
Status of Update value= No
Querying status of main DHCP service
Result of query= unable to determine the dhcp server version for the server 10.129.244.12.
Main DHCP service is down
Main DHCP service was down the last check too, quiting main routine
End of main routine


Start of main routine
Status of Update value= No
Querying status of main DHCP service
Result of query= the current server is 10.129.244.12 with ip address = 10.129.244.12
The main DHCP service is up
Stopping the secondary DHCP service
Sending mails that the main DHCP service is up
->Event log: DHCP-service on server 10.129.244.12 is functionalling, stopped redundant DHCP-Service
End of main routine


Start of main routine
Status of Update value= No
Querying status of main DHCP service
Result of query= the current server is 10.129.244.12 with ip address = 10.129.244.12
The main DHCP service is up
Main DHCP service was up the last check too, quiting main routine
End of main routine


Start of main routine
Status of Update value= No
Querying status of main DHCP service
Result of query= the current server is 10.129.244.12 with ip address = 10.129.244.12
The main DHCP service is up
Main DHCP service was up the last check too, quiting main routine
End of main routine


Start of main routine
Status of Update value= No
Querying status of main DHCP service
Result of query= the current server is 10.129.244.12 with ip address = 10.129.244.12
The main DHCP service is up
Main DHCP service was up the last check too, quiting main routine
End of main routine


Start of main routine
Status of Update value= No
Querying status of main DHCP service
Result of query= the current server is 10.129.244.12 with ip address = 10.129.244.12
The main DHCP service is up
Main DHCP service was up the last check too, quiting main routine
End of main routine


Start of main routine
Status of Update value= No
Querying status of main DHCP service
Result of query= the current server is 10.129.244.12 with ip address = 10.129.244.12
The main DHCP service is up
Main DHCP service was up the last check too, quiting main routine
End of main routine


Start of main routine
Status of Update value= Yes
Start reading settings from the registry
-----

If you would like to have a look at our servers via Teamviewer just send me a mail...

Regards
Christoph

I see the problem, you have installed the program in C:\Windows\system32\dhcp\redundancy\

C:\Windows\system32\dhcp\ is the only place on the server where you can not install the the program !

Try installing it somewhere else, eg c:\program files

Dont forget to change the export script on server 1.

Admin wrote:

I see the problem, you have installed the program in C:\Windows\system32\dhcp\redundancy\

Sorry, I *installed* the program in C:\Program Files (x86)\DHCP-Redundancy but chose the path mentioned above for the "redundancy"-folder, the DHCP-Backup.txt is saved to. Anyhow I've changed the path for the DHCP-Backup.txt to C:\tmp, configured both servers for the new path and tried again. Now I find the following output in the debug-log:

-----
Start of main routine
Status of Update value= No
Querying status of main DHCP service
Result of query= unable to determine the dhcp server version for the server 10.129.244.12.
Main DHCP service is down
A new DHCP backup exists, renaming DHCP-Backup.txt -> DHCP-Backup.sync
Deleting old secondary DHCP config: C:\Windows\system32\dhcp\dhcp.mdb
Deleting old secondary DHCP config: C:\Windows\system32\dhcp\DhcpSrvLog-Mon.log
Deleting old secondary DHCP config: C:\Windows\system32\dhcp\DhcpV6SrvLog-Mon.log
Deleting old secondary DHCP config: C:\Windows\system32\dhcp\j50.chk
Deleting old secondary DHCP config: C:\Windows\system32\dhcp\j50.log
Deleting old secondary DHCP config: C:\Windows\system32\dhcp\j50res00001.jrs
Deleting old secondary DHCP config: C:\Windows\system32\dhcp\j50res00002.jrs
Deleting old secondary DHCP config: C:\Windows\system32\dhcp\OptionBasedAssignment.xml
Start the secondary DHCP service
Secondary DHCP service has started
DHCP-Backup.sync exists, start importing DHCP backup
->Event log: Syncronization of DHCP has started.
->Event log: Syncronization of DHCP has finished.
DHCP backup is imported, renaming DHCP-Backup.sync -> DHCP-Backup.old
->Event log: DHCP-service on server 10.129.244.12 is not functionalling, starting redundant DHCP-Service
Sending mail that the main DHCP service is down
Mail sent
Quiting the main routine
End of main routine
-----

Obvously it *seems* to work now, but the scopes are still not imported. From the Windows event log I find that the timestamps for the start and end events of the synchronisation are within one second. That looks.. strange because the manual import with "netsh dhcp server import" takes a moment.

The debug output reveals another problem: the OptionBasedAssignment.xml is deleted too. Thats a problem because this is an independent configuration file of the "Option based IP Address assignment Callout Dll", an dhcp server addon from Microsoft, which adds some interesting functionality: http://blogs.technet.com/b/teamdhcp/archive/2009/06/12/option-based-ip-address-assignment-callout-dll.aspx
The configuration file is automatically saved in the dhcp servers database path which cannot be changed as far as I know. So it would be necessary for a redundant setup with this dll installed to either *not* delete that file *or* delete it and afterwards copy it from the same path the DHCP-Backup.txt is saved in back to the dhcp server database path.

Thanks!

Regards
Christoph

Maybe if you have this addon installed on both servers, the backup cant be installed on server 2 if this is missing, since it is accidently deleted. If this is true you shouldnt be able to import the backup manually now. Can you verify this?

I can then send you an updated version that doesnt deletes OptionBasedAssignment.xml

Admin wrote:

Maybe if you have this addon installed on both servers, the backup cant be installed on server 2 if this is missing, since it is accidently deleted. If this is true you shouldnt be able to import the backup manually now. Can you verify this?

I can then send you an updated version that doesnt deletes OptionBasedAssignment.xml

The manual import of the DHCP-Backup.txt works fine on the secondary server - with or without the OptionBasedAssignment.xml. It doesn't matter wether this file is deleted or not. I tried the manual import using the same userid the redundancy service uses. Hmm.. tricky...
A version which doesn't delete the xml-File would be helpfull anyway. Thanks!

Regards
Christoph

From the config tool, choose to stop and uninstall dhcp-redundancy service.
Delete DHCP-Redundancy-Service.exe (do not overwrite or delete the file until you have uninstalled the service!)
Download the new version of DHCP-Redundancy-Service.exe from the link in your messagebox, and put it in your install folder.
From the config tool, chose to install and run the dhcp-redundancy service.

This new version does not delete the .xml file. Try if you still get the same result.