[Samba] DC upgrade: "Samba failed to prime database" (4.7.6-Ubuntu -> 4.14.6)

[Rowland Penny]

On Wed, 2021-08-04 at 10:50 +0200, Daan Nusman via samba wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> first of all: thank you, got a secondary DC working now on the
> latest 
> Ubuntu.
> 
> 
> On 2021-07-31 16:58, Rowland Penny via samba wrote:
> > On Sat, 2021-07-31 at 16:18 +0200, Daan Nusman via samba wrote:
> > > Hi everyone,
> > > 
> > > I am in the procress of trying to upgrade a DC from a packaged
> > > "4.7.6-Ubuntu" to a self-compiled 4.14.6.
> > Why upgrade like that ?
> 
> I tried updating like this because the Ubuntu packages were lagging.
> I 
> did not know about the repo.
> 
> > > I copied a self-compiled version of Samba over to
> > > /usr/local/samba,
> > > and
> > > copied the config files, databases (private folder etc) from
> > > their
> > > typical debian locations too.
> > I cannot recommend doing that.
> 
> In-place upgrading seems the main recommendation on the wiki 
> (https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Upgrading_a_Samba_AD_DC), though
> I'll 
> admit that this is an update over a major release.
> 
> > > * Should this work or should I give up and go for a scary DC
> > > rejoin?
> > No, I don't think it will work and joining a new DC isn't scary :-)
> 
> On the wiki there's strongly worded advice not to do this ("Joining a
> DC 
> to domain can be a troublesome process for some users, and it can be 
> difficult to recover your DC if something goes wrong. Only consider 
> using this approach if you are an advanced Samba user") so I didn't.
> In 
> the end it worked out fine for me, and I certainly am not an
> advanced 
> Samba user. Maybe the Wiki needs an update? I have documented the
> entire 
> process, and am willing to give it a go if an experienced person
> would 
> check the text.
> 
> > Ubuntu and Samba 4.7.6 means 18.04, so I suggest you create a new
> > computer running 20.04, then install Samba from here:
> > https://apt.van-belle.nl/
> > 
> > Then join this as a new DC, transfer all the FSMO roles to the new
> > DC
> > and then demote the original DC.
> 
> This has worked for me, thank you again.
> 
> ~ Daan
> 

Yes, that wiki page is a bit scary, I will attempt to re-write it.

Glad you are sorted now :-)

Rowland