samba - Jan 2026 - Question RE upgrading Linux domain member

Hello, I want to do an OS upgrade with a larger Linux domain member (DCs 
are SAMBA4, but probably irrelevant).

My plan is to clone the system, decativate all samba services, , then 
demote the old system from the domain, thne join the new one. But 
probably I need to demote the new system (same name) also before 
re-joning? Can I demote two times ???

What happens if I just join the new system to the domain with the same 
name? A name change would be hard to do as the name is on all the file 
shares on various client PCs.

Sure there must be a way to do this right without changing the name and 
without long downtimes?

Regards, Jakob

Old server can be removed from domain (leave domain) and its IP changed. Reboot.
I would then create a new Samba Member server, and rsync data (using -AXav
options to keep all xattr and acls) and then join domain. I have done this loads
of times, never had a problem.

Once data is rsynced join domain with the same IDMAP as the original.

Regards,

http://samba.bigbird.es/doku.php?id=samba:file-server

On Jan 8, 2026 at 15:36 +0000, Jakob Curdes via samba <samba at
lists.samba.org>, wrote:
> Hello, I want to do an OS upgrade with a larger Linux domain member (DCs
> are SAMBA4, but probably irrelevant).
>
> My plan is to clone the system, decativate all samba services, , then
> demote the old system from the domain, thne join the new one. But
> probably I need to demote the new system (same name) also before
> re-joning? Can I demote two times ???
>
> What happens if I just join the new system to the domain with the same
> name? A name change would be hard to do as the name is on all the file
> shares on various client PCs.
>
> Sure there must be a way to do this right without changing the name and
> without long downtimes?
>
> Regards, Jakob
>
>
>
> --
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> instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/options/samba

On Thu, 8 Jan 2026 16:24:35 +0100
Jakob Curdes via samba <samba at lists.samba.org> wrote:
> Hello, I want to do an OS upgrade with a larger Linux domain member
> (DCs are SAMBA4, but probably irrelevant).
> 
> My plan is to clone the system, decativate all samba services, , then 
> demote the old system from the domain, thne join the new one. But 
> probably I need to demote the new system (same name) also before 
> re-joning? Can I demote two times ???
> 
> What happens if I just join the new system to the domain with the
> same name? A name change would be hard to do as the name is on all
> the file shares on various client PCs.
> 
> Sure there must be a way to do this right without changing the name
> and without long downtimes?
> 
> Regards, Jakob
Your Linux domain member should have two or three records in AD:

A computer record in 'CN=Computers'
A forward DNS record in DC=your.dns.domain,CN=MicrosoftDNS,DC=Doma
 inDnsZones
Possibly a reverse dns record in
DC=1.168.192.in-addr.arpa,CN=MicrosoftDNS,DC=DomainDnsZones

Where '1.168.192.in-addr.arpa' is your reversezone

You can see yours with:

sudo ldbsearch -H ldap://YOUR_DC_HOSTNAME -P --cross-ncs -b
dc=your,dc=dns,dc=domain -s sub name=<your_domain_members_host>

and

sudo ldbsearch -H ldap://YOUR_DC_HOSTNAME -P --cross-ncs -b
dc=your,dc=dns,dc=domain -s sub name=IPADDRESS

Obviously replace the placeholders above with your information.

Running 'net ads leave' should remove the computers record from
'CN=Computers' and you will probably have to remove the DNS records
yourself.

Having said that, if you backup any required data from the old Linux
domain member and then demote it, you should then be able to bring up
your new Linux domain member, change its hostname and IP, reboot and
then join the domain and it should just work.
I would check the dns records again after the join.
Once you are sure everything is working correctly, restore your backed
up data.

Rowland