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ERROR_DS_EXISTING_AD_CHILD_NC
Naming-context hierarchies must be created top-down
Active Directory arranges naming contexts as a forest partition tree. When a child NC already exists below the name proposed for a new parent NC, creating the parent afterward would require retroactively changing the established partition hierarchy. AD blocks that bottom-up construction and requires parent partition structure to exist first.
The error is about directory partitions, not ordinary parent entries. An LDAP tree can contain entries created under existing parents, but NC heads define replication boundaries and are represented by forest-wide crossRef metadata. Their hierarchy has stricter creation ordering.
What to inspect
- List crossRef objects and NC names that are descendants of the proposed NC DN.
- Confirm whether the existing child partition is legitimate, stale from a failed lifecycle operation, or was created in the wrong order.
- For a new hierarchy, create and converge parent NC metadata before creating child partitions. Do not rename crossRef objects to simulate ordering.
References
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