This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
A forest has schema master and domain naming master. A domain has RID master, PDC emulator, and infrastructure master. The reference lists them. The transfer script drafts a move you have not run. Neither tool connects to a domain.
A transfer is a planned move while the current holder is healthy. A seizure is what you do when the holder is gone and a disaster ticket says so. It is not this page's first step. Do not seize a role because the script was short.
The domain is one you administer. One role, if you ever transfer, is one window. 192.0.2.10/24 and example.com are documentation. They stay in the note.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.
Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Name the domain.
- List who holds each role, later, from a read.
- Write the role this ticket cares about.
- Draft a transfer only as a note.
- Do not seize.
- Do not run a transfer during the reading.
Mistakes that outlive the command
FSMO Roles Explained goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- A seizure as the first step.
- All five roles moved in one hour.
- A domain you do not administer.
- The holder not identified.
- The script run during the reading.
Decisions to write down
One decision for FSMO Roles Explained: The five roles are named. The holder is identified or marked unknown. Seizure is not this window. The domain is yours. And no transfer was run yet.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The domain is written. The role is written. The current holder is written or marked unknown. No seizure was drafted as the action. And nothing was run. If one of those fails, stop.
| Role | Scope | Ordinary note |
|---|---|---|
| Schema master | Forest | One holder |
| Domain naming master | Forest | One holder |
| RID master | Domain | Do not seize as a test |
| PDC emulator | Domain | Time and password questions often land here |
| Infrastructure master | Domain | Know the holder before you move it |
# Transfer is planned. Seizure is not the first step.
# One role.
# A domain you administer.Before you leave the host
FSMO Roles Explained ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.
192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.
One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.
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