consoidating from a multi domain to 2003 single domain

[jny04]

Hi guys,

I have recently taken over a engineering group who have many small companies, with an IT office on each site.

What my technician wants to do is consilidate them all into 1 domain.
2003, and have one mailserver at HQ.

Im not too technical however I have employed a chap I want to make sure his advise is ok.....

What are the reasons for using one domain? my main one is mobility....however if you could assist me with this i would be grateful, or give me a URL ??

 

[Stevehewitt]

Hi,

Are you after advice on how to do it, or what the benefits of consollodation are?

When I started at my current place we had 5 domains across just 30 servers. These have now been placed into 3 domains.

It all depends on your whole AD topology. For example, if you have 10 domains but they are all in the same forest and set as child domains of your main administrative domain (e.g. sales.company.com, marketing.company.com and your parent domain is company.com).
If this is the case then it's a bit hard to clearly state why you want to change things.

Having a single domain is easy for administration and management, however the hassle of changing workstations and users from one domain to another isn't the easiest of tasks (although it's got better in 2k3).
If using MS products such as Exchange, ISA and SQL then AD integration is so tight that as long as your topology is well designed; having multiple domains isn't an issue.

However it's always good to try and simpily things - if it's not a huge hassle to change to one domain then I would say it's probably a good thing - however it all depends on how much value you place on administration overheads.

If you can provide more information on exactly what you are after and ideally some more information on your AD topology then I'll be happy to post back.




Steve.

"They have the internet on computers now!" - Homer Simpson

 

[Spirit]

Thats not a small question and if you could be specific with questions that'd really help.

Reason for one domain;
1. Centralised managment.
2. Authentication occurs between sites, so you can plug in anywhere and get to your files


Reason for 1 centralised mail server;
1. Centralised managment.
2. Cost 1 exchange server rather than 5,6,7.....etc
3. Cost 1 Spam filter, rather than 5,6,7.....etc
4. Authentication occurs between sites, so you can plug in anywhere and get to your files

If you've got a specific idea of what you want to achieve then just ask.....

Iain

 

[Spirit]

Lol, typing race!

Are you talking consolidating;
sales.you.com
marketing.you.com
Finance.you.com

Or are you talking consolidating;
you.com
steve.com
me.com

Then the real question is why have you got that current setup.

Iain

 

[Stevehewitt]

You can have one Exchange server for multiple domains - again it depends on your AD topology. (One parent with multiple client domains in the same forest is a piece of cake for both administration and management including mail administration).




Steve.

"They have the internet on computers now!" - Homer Simpson

 

[itsfuntobeme]

The only REAL technical reason to have multiple domains is security policies that are domain-wide (secure passwords etc).

The only real reason to consolodate existing domains today is to save money (reduced server costs (as in example of multiple exchange servers), and reduced administration costs (non-centralised AD and GPOs)).

If the estimate to consolodate domains is not excessive in time or money, then the benefits will probably win, and consolodation will occur. If the estimations are costly in either time or money, then consolodation shouldn't occur.

One day, you will probably find a requirement to consolodate - but unless you have a fixed reason to do it now ($$$) then don't.