Domain controllers are incorrectly listed as offline in Active Directory Administration Center

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Symptoms

When you run the Active Directory Administrative Center (Dsac.exe) and then select the "Change Domain Controller" command, many domain controllers are listed as in an "Offline" status. However, when you examine those domain controllers, you find that they are online, that they are available over the network, and that they are operating correctly.

Only domain controllers that are running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003 are listed as in an "Offline" status. Domain controllers that are running Windows 2000 Server are not listed at all.

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Cause

This issue is expected behavior when the out-of-band (OOB) Active Directory Management Gateway Service component is not installed on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003. This component is a version of the Active Directory Web Services interface that exists on the domain controllers that are running Windows Server 2008 R2 after Active Directory Domain Services is installed.

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Resolution

To resolve this problem, download the Active Directory Management Gateway Service component and install it on all domain controllers that are running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003. After the component is installed, verify in Services.msc that the "Active Directory Web Services" service is started and that it is set to the "Automatic" setting.

Notes

To download the Active Directory Management Gateway Service component for Windows Server 2003 and for Windows Server 2008, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Active Directory Management Gateway Service (Active Directory Web Service for Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008)
http://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=008940c6-0296-4597-be3e-1d24c1cf0dda

Note The install may fail silently with no error if all system requirements are not met. Read the system requirements carefully to determine which hotfixes are required before installing the Active Directory Management Gateway Service.
There is no Active Directory Management Gateway Service for Windows 2000 Server. Windows 2000 Server is no longer in mainstream support and will be discontinued from extended support on July 13, 2010.
There is no Active Directory Management Gateway Service for Windows Server 2008 Server Core. Active Directory Management Gateway Service requires the .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1) that cannot be installed on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 Server Core.

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Workaround

To work around this problem, do not use Dsac.exe to connect to domain controllers that are not running Windows Server 2008 R2 or Active Directory Management Gateway Service.

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