Demoting a domain controller

Every domain controller has a life cycle. After a certain period of time, it should make room for newer, better, more agile, or even more cost-efficient, domain controllers or other solutions, such as Azure Active Directory (Domain Services).

Getting ready

Before you can demote a domain controller, you should make sure of the following:

• It no longer hosts any FSMO roles.
• It no longer offers networking services, such as DNS, LDAP, RADIUS, or WINS. These protocols are largely manually configured on networking devices and other servers. Demoting a domain controller that offers these services might negatively impact the networking infrastructure. Reconfigure networking devices and servers to use alternative...