Anyone upgrade to Windows Server 2003 yet? 1

[tahoe2]

I heard the migration of user accounts into Active Directory is much easier with 2003 vs 2000 server.
Has anyone used it yet?
I just installed the beta version of Server 2003 on our demo server.
Does anyone know if I migrate user accounts into AD on my demo server, will that mean I no longer have user accounts in my 'real' domain?

Corie

 

[tahoe2]

One more question: right now our DC runs Exchange 5.5, Proxy Server, DNS, DHCP, WINS, IIS, and just about every other thing you can imagine. Any advice on migration will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Corie

 

[RRoth]

From what I have read there is no direct migration path between NT4.0 and 2003. I think you need to do it incrimentally although I could be totally wrong and if I am please tell me so. I have also heard that Exchange 5.5 wont go on NT 4.0 so it is Exchange 2000 then possibly Exchange 2003 for you.

 

[mrstm]

I went to a technet briefing on this and it does seem 2003 has some improvements. You can veiw a seminar on line or download the official MS Presentation at

http://www.Microsoft.com/technet

goto
training, Careers, events,online seminars
goto
windows online seminars

Search for
Upgrading to Windows Server 2003 Active Directory from Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000

 

[Dogers]

well you'll hit a few problems upgrading!

exchange 5.5 wont work, you'll need 2003 (or 2000, if youre willing to kludge it - unsupported by MS!)

proxy, erm, if MS Proxy, ive not heard anything about this on 2003, i suspect it wont work, as ISA server has replaced it a long long time ago!

WINS has also been put to rest, everything uses the DNS service now, with Active Directory. IIS and DHCP come with the server

as for the actual migration, i'd look around and plan for what youll need to replace first of all, then later run a test setup on a spare server, if possible!

 

[tahoe2]

I always knew it wouldn't be easy! Maybe I'll call a professional... LOL!

Anyways, I had heard what a headache it was to migrate user accounts and get everything upgraded when going to W2K. I also attended the Tech Net Seminar on 2003 Server and just wondered if anyone actually upgraded to it yet. We will probably stick woth 2000, because of the licensing requirements (and the fact that our main SW package only supports W2K).

I actually have 2003 server Beta installed on my demo server. It certainly starts and shuts down faster than W2k server, but I can't get SharePoint Services to work...

Corie

 

[Dogers]

if youre on 2000 now, its probably best to wait a while, whilst other upgrade, find the bugs and perhaps make tools to help

 

[mwcart]

Tahoe2

Making the jump to Win2003 this week. I'll let you know how it goes. Assuming I survive.

 

[tahoe2]

Good Luck! We've had to move our migration back due to rising Worker's Comp costs, so I'm very interested in your results.

and remember, pizza IS health food!

Corie

 

[jasonboyes]

Here is a question can you bring up a 2003 server as a BDC and then promo it or do I actually have to install it onto a NT BDC and do the DCPROMO?


Jason

 

[wick1]

We are getting ready to upgrade our pdc to 2003. We invested in a consultant company to write up a plan of action for us. This is what he said. (This is assuming you have another "new" server to work with. As for the pdc, install 4.0 on your new server. Make it a bdc so it can inherit the users and permissions. Pull it off the network and then upgrade it to 2003. Once this is done, promote it ot the pdc and replace your old domain controller. As for exchange, from Microsoft I am told you can only run exchange 2003 (coming out later this year) on a server 2003.

Hope this helps!

 

[jasonboyes]

fvrs7189

Thanks this is what I thought

Jason


Rich Cook -- "Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."

 

[mwcart]

Tahoe2

I told you I'd be back to give some details once we completed our migration to 2003. Well it went off with no problems and we've been up for a couple of weeks now and we’ve only had a few minor issues.

We had a couple of Windows 95 machines (I know, you don't have to say it!) and there's a problem with them logging into the domain only it's sporadic. Sometimes the user can logon and sometimes they can’t. Didn’t bother looking into this as we intend on taking everything to XP Pro, so we just upgraded those few immediately.

Here’s the highlight’s of what we did.

We couldn’t do an in place upgrade on our PDC since Exchange was running on it. We set up another box as a new BDC and then took it offline as a failsafe. Then we promoted another one of our BDC’s to PDC which automatically demoted our PDC to BDC. Worked exactly as it should. Then we did an in place upgrade on our newly promoted PDC. Once that process completed then we installed AD on our two new 2003 servers and moved the master roles to one of those. That’s the readers digest version but if you have any specific questions just shoot me an email and I’ll try to help. So far the only issue was with the 95 machines in our environment.

I do know (from experience) that with Windows 2000 servers that Win 98 machines will not map drives below a root share. So if you have Win 98 systems and run login scripts to map drives they won’t map below the root share or I never could figure out how to make it happen. I used Kixtart and tried a lot of different ways but nothing worked. It’s a known issue with the Redirector in Win 98 and you can find docs about it on the Microsoft site.

Hope this provides a little help to anyone out there.

 

[Scully87]

The only issue I had was RAS users would no longer Authenticate. I had to build a W2003 member and move RAS to it prior to the migration. I had done it just as you said and when the RAS didn't work I rolled back to the offline BDC and promoted it to the PDC. The roll back worked like a charm. Now that I've got that done I'll go ahead and migrate.

 

[Scully87]

BTW: if you go to MS website they have a complete migration guide for NT 4.0 to 2003. The guide is very helpful.

 

[tahoe2]

Thanks! I have upgraded all our member servers to 2000 server, but the PDC and BDC both remain NT. Our company has had a rough time of it here in California, but hopefully, this July we'll get the go-ahead. The problem is that since our PDC is running Exchange 5.5, Proxy server, etc, all have to be upgraded. I am looking at building a new server with W2K, making it the DC (only running AD) and running all the other services off a member server.

Since we do have to upgrade all the rest as well, I will look into 2003 server, Exchange, and whatever thing they have to replace Proxy Server. Price will be the key, however, since we already have W2K licenses.


Thanks again, you guys rock!
Corie

 

[VBVines]

I am in the process of going from nt 4.0 to w/2003 so if
mwcart or tahoe2 could get in touch that would be great.

aspvbwannab

 

[tahoe2]

Hi. I never did get the chance to upgrade the PDC, but now our main application needs Exchange 2000 (at least) so I'm looking into buying Small Business Server 2003 for our company.
We only have 15 users, and since I need to upgrade PDC, Proxy and Exchange, this bundle seems to have what I need.
Also, I am in the process of building a Linux firewall, so I believe I can pass the duties of DNS and DHCP serving to the Linux box.
This will all take time since I am new to both AD and Linux, but I have NEVER backed down from blowing up a PC!!

Corie