Is it OK to rename server name after configuring the domain controller in it?

I have Windows Server 2012 R2 and there is domain controller inside of it. Now I need to rename the server name, is it OK rename it directly ?

Solution 1:

You can rename a Win2008+ domain controller without major issues.

The preferred method is a three-steps netdom dance:

netdom computername <CurrentComputerName> /add:<NewComputerName>
netdom computername <CurrentComputerName> /makeprimary:<NewComputerName>
- reboot the DC -
netdom computername <NewComputerName> /remove:<OldComputerName>

Using the System Properties GUI is not the recommended method, especially because on older Windows versions it was not up to the task.

Please consider that both methods will leave some metadata behind. From Microsoft docs:

The corresponding nTFRSMember or msDFSR-Member object is not renamed automatically, but the reference attributes are correctly set so SYSVOL replication is not impacted. The only potential problem with not renaming these objects is that if another domain controller is created at a later date with the same NetBIOS name of the old domain controller, then a conflict can occur as described in KB article 316826. After the rename is complete, you can optionally rename the nTFRSMember or msDFSR-Member object as part of cleanup.

These stale metadata can strike back only when adding a new domain controller with the same old name of the renamed one. Otherwise, you will never need to bother with them.