OD Replica and admin login problems

Hi,

First, sorry about the long post.  Hopefully this is coherent.

Seems that I have a big problem and can't seem to resolve it.  I'll try to make a long story short.

I have 4 servers:

Server 1: xserve - web, mail, OD replica, has graphics card and is connect to a monitor

Server 2: xserve - file, streaming, OD Master, headless

Server 3: xserve - student file, student management, OD replica, headless

Server 4: Backup server (only for very critical documents) 2-8GB HD.

All servers are now running OS 10.4.3 .  Last Friday (11/4/05) I upgraded all servers from 10.4.2 to 10.4.3.  Seemed to not have any problems.  Sunday evening I decided to check on servers via VPN and ARD.  Everything seemed fine except that I could not connect to server 3. I thought that maybe it was just because of ARD and due to the fact that sometimes I get "access denied" status or the vnc icon on clients that I shouldn't, but I still can connect to the clients and do what needs done.  

Monday rolls around, I also teach a full schedule, and have no break time between classes.  After all of my classes are over, I decide to see what is wrong with  server 3.  All services seem to be working, but I can't login as administrator.  Since it is headless and I can't login via ARD, I replace the HD in  server 1 with  server 3 so that I can use  a monitor.  I reboot  server 3 HD (now in server 1)  get the login screen and can't login as admin.  I then login as root.  It gets me to the root desktop.  I think that maybe some preference file is corrupt, so I remove login.plis files.  Log out and try to login as admin.  No go.  So I open workgroup manager (thinking that since this is a replica...)  and change the password - then save.  Log out - then login as admin - no go.  

At this point I think that maybe I can boot  server 3 with install disk and reset the admin password to see if that works.  But I recalled reading somewhere that resetting admin password on the server messed things up. So I decided to call apple tech support.  Got through quickly, tech told me to do everything that I had done before ( which I did again) except for the start from install disk.  We also tried to make a new user with admin privileges but the  server 3 kept freezing after I tried to save.  At this time I mentioned that  server 3 was a replica.  So the tech had me use server admin tool to make  server 3 a standalone server, then change it back to a replica.  

It seems that when I try to make  server 3 a replica I get an error stating "unable to authenticate as directory domain administrator".

Now I can't login as admin and I can't bind  server 3 to OD master - so none of my students can login to the computers and access their home folders that reside on  server 3.

Tech says that I have to reinstall OS 10.4  server.  Tech hung up. Don't really want to do that if I don't have to (since we have money to burn in public education - of course I have backup software and hardware to correctly back up  server 3 - not).  

I do know that the login and passwords for  making the replica are valid because I made server 4 a standalone and then a replica (again) using the valid logins and passwords.  Everything worked fine.

I did boot  server 3 from install disc and reset admin password.  I can now login to  server 3 with admin password.  Server 3 HD is now back in its' proper xserve, but I still can't get it to become a replica because it keeps telling me that  "unable to authenticate as directory domain administrator".  I look in the slapconfig log and see this:

2005-11-07 23:18:15 -0600 - slapconfig -createreplica

2005-11-07 23:18:15 -0600 - command: ssh email@hidden.4 /usr/sbin/slapconfig -checkmaster diradmin 0 3 3

2005-11-07 23:18:17 -0600 - ssh command failed with status 77

2005-11-07 23:18:17 -0600 - Error: Incorrect username or password. You must enter a directory domain administrator username and password.

2005-11-07 23:19:23 -0600 - slapconfig -setmacosxodpolicy

I might mention one other thing that is odd - I can't seem to get the serial number for server 3 via the "about this mac" or system profiler.

SO.....

Is there a workaround so that I can get this server to become a replica?

If I can't and I have to reinstall the OS - is there a way I can copy the students home folder (which I can still get to) and replace them once it is fixed and replicated?

I would appreciate any help and thank you for your time.. Again sorry about the long post.

Tom Watkins

USD 371