Introducing 2000 Server and Active Directory

[ilpadrino]

I have downloaded the ~1000 page migration article from MS, but I thought it might also help to post a question here. We are running an NT 4 domain network with 3 primary servers. One is the Exchange/PDC/WINS primary server. The second is an apps and storage server that is slowly becoming the SQL and database app server. We would like to make the Exchange server do email only and the SQL server do SQL only and add another server for PDC/DHCP/WINS or ADS or whatever is involved with Windows 2000 server.

My question is this: does the upgrade of the servers have to be all or nothing, or can we for instance, upgrade the exchange server to 2000 and promote another server to PDC? Can a 2000 server be a member server in a NT 4 domain? Or do we have to have a PDC 2000 server running ADS?

So that we can upgrade the email server now while we have the new hardware to 2000 as a member server in an NT domain, then gradually incorporate the other servers into a 2000 realm. But we don't want the email server to run the show.

A seperate question... Can NT 4 servers exist in 2000 domains with ADS?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions..

Joe

 

[TheOtherKiwi]

No, yes, yes and yes.

Or more sensibly, lets answer each of your questions in turn...you can simply upgrade one of your servers to Win2K and have the NT4 servers participate in the W2K mixed-mode (backward compatible) domain.

However I would recommend NOT having the Exchange server as the PDC in the win2k environment as it is loaded enough doing mail. This role should reside on a server that is not as intensely loaded if you cach my drift.

So, the first thing to do is to promote another (or new) server to be the PDC in the NT4 domain. Then upgrade it to Win2k, just run setup on it (after taking precautionary backups and doing an install "clone"...long story for another thread maybe) and then upgrade your Exchange box to Win2k (same precautions and make sure you run at least SP3 on Exchange5.5).

During the process the NT4 server can participate in the win2k domain just as members servers or in fact as Domain Controllers DCs (not BDCs anymore).

Bobs your aunty