At many times we have to switch IP address of domain controllers because of change of hardware or Virtual machine. So this guide will help to overcome this scenario.

1. Step by Step Guide to Switch IP address of 2 Domain Controllers
This article defines how to switch IP address of 2 Domain controllers. There are basically 2
scenarios to switch IP address between 2 DC’s.
1) If System Administrator has installed new OS and would like to replace old DC.
2) If one of the sites is closed and DC has been move to a new site with new IP subnet.
In this article we will talk about IP switch for the same site and we have installed new Operating
System in our new site.
So, we are going to do IP switch between Windows 2008 and Windows 2012 R2 Domain
Controllers.
What are the Prerequisites to do this task?
Before switching IP address between 2 Domain Controllers, we have to make a note of
prerequisites & dependency on those DC.
1) Get Temp IP from network team from same subnet range.
2) Check if DC is used for Exchange server or not. And if yes informed Exchange team to do
necessary steps.
3) DHCP – Make sure you change DNS IP in DHCP after IP switch.
4) DRAC IP or VMware ESXi host credentials are working or not.
5) This task requires at least Domain Admin rights.
To do this Operation recommended time would be off office hours.
If DC’s are on remote location, make sure you have DRAC or VMware ESXi Credentials. To begin
with the task, login into DRAC and take a remote console of the server.
In this scenario below are the details for DC
Operating System Hostname Current IP Address New IP Address
Windows Server 2008 WINITEXP-DC1 192.168.1.2 192.168.1.5
Windows Server 2012
R2
WINITEXP05 192.168.1.5 192.168.1.2
And I have used 192.168.1.7 as a temporary IP address

2. Go to Run and type ncpa.cpl to open Network Properties Window. As shown in below snap.
Right click on the Network Adapter and select properties.
Select IPv4 and click properties.

3. Now change current IP with Temp IP address.

4. Go to DNS Manager and right click on the DC hostname. And click on the properties.

5. Select Interface tab and click on the radio button “Only the following IP address” & select Temp
IP address.

6. Run Command ipconfig /flushdns & ipconfig /registerdns

7. Expand Forward Lookup Zone and right click on the” _msdcs.domain.com” and click on the
properties. Select Name Servers tab and check if Temp IP has been updated.

9. Then Right click on the domainname.com and right click on the Properties. Select Name Servers
tab and check if IP has been updated.

10. Take a Remote Console of Windows 2012 R2 DC from DRAC or VMware ESXi. And change IP
address to first DC. In our case, it’s Windows 2008 DC.

11. f
On Window 2012 R2 DC, Open DNS Manager MMC and Expand Forward lookup Zone and right
click on _msdcs.domainname.com, click on properties and select Name Servers tab, check if
new IP has been updated, if not select DC name and click on Edit as shown in below snap.

12. Insert FQDN of the DC and click on Resolve and now it should resolve with new IP. Click on OK.

15. Now select domainname.com and right click on it. Click on Properties and select Name Server
Tab. Make Sure new IP has been updated for that particular DC.

16. Change IP on Windows 2008 DC
It’s time to change Windows 2008 DC IP with Windows 2012 IP. Simply change IP and follow
above given steps recommended for DNS. Below snaps are for illustration purpose.

20. Hereafter changing IP address of DC, Host A record for DC was removed and DC IP address was
not updated in above snap. The reason behind this issue was “Only the following IP address”
which is DNS server listening interface was not selected. So as soon as I check correct IP, host A
record of DC appear into DNS Manager MMC.

23. IP switch activity is now completed. After changing IP address for each DC do not forget to run
flushdns and register DNS with ipconfig /flushdns & ipconfig registerdns. Also, run dcdiag and
repadmin /replmon tools from cmd to check for any errors and correct them.
Hope it would be helpful for you and do comment below if you like it. Thank you and will meet
in next Article.