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The Windows Server 2003 domain controller boots up very slowly. It may take more than 15 minutes for the domain controller to boot up.
This may occur when the following situations are true:
1. There are several domain controllers in the forest.
2. The Domain Controller is a DNS server.
3. The server points to itself as the DNS server, and no secondary DNS server is configured.
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Windows Server 2003 domain controllers would try a replication first when booting up. This depends on DNS. When the DNS server service is also installed on the domain controller, it tries to load Active Directory integrated zones. However, since the intial replication is not finished, this fails too.
Therefore, when the Domain Controller points to itself as the only DNS server, the problem occurs when the computer reboots.
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To resolve this issue, point the Domain Controller to at least two DNS servers.
Option 1: Point it to use a remote DNS server as the preferred DNS server, and use itself as the secondary DNS server.
Option 2: Point to itself as the preferred DNS server, and use another DNS server as the secondary DNS server.
You may refer to the documents listed in the "More Information" section about the best practices for DNS setting.
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