Join two same domains

[jamykid]

I have been able to establish a vpn between two sites. The next step will be to join the two existing domains. Currently the site-to-site is setup to allow the servers to see each other only. My I am unsure of the best steps to enable joining the two domains.
The main office is Server 2008 std with 15 users.
The remote office is Server 2003 std with 20 users.

I would like to join these two domains, both named abc.123.com. As the users are small, I was going to remove all users from the domain at the remote location, take the server off the domain, establish the vpn and then join the server to the Main office. I would like to use the Server 2003 as a BDC.

As I would rather learn something than take what seems to be the easy route... would it be best to do as above, or prep the server 2003 for the 2008 (functional as 2003 not 2008 domain) and then demote to a BDC. As I have never done this before, I am seeking other opinions on the best method to join the same named domains. I do not want to bring up the tunnel before I am sure it will not mess up either site.

 

[58sniper]

No such things as a BDC in 2003.

You can't "join" two domains together if they have the same FQDN and NetBios names. In fact, you're likely going to run into problem with them on the same wire.

Right off the top of my head, I'd do a domain rename of one, then establish a trust between them. Then ADMT the resources over to the permanent domain. Then kill the trust, kill the remote domain, rebuild the box, and join to the permanent domain. But that's shooting from the hip, and would certainly require proper planning.

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/

 

[jamykid]

Well this would certainly explain why I could not find suitable information on this just by searching.
Thanks for the reply, did not realise the no BDC in 2003.
I would then think it would be best to just drop the limited number of users off of my 2003 server, remove AD and add it as a member server. Could I then just re-establish a trust on the workstations with the 2008, or is it best to remove them from the domain and then re-join them when the VPN is up.

I thought that using the 2003 as a BDC would mitigate any issues if we experienced a break in the VPN. I await any other opinions from this valued community before I move forward in my planning. This is very preliminary and again, I would rather learn than take the easy route.

 

[58sniper]

No such thing as a BDC since way back in NT 4. Not in 2000, not in 2003, not in 2008.

If you remove the remote server, you need to rejoin those workstations to a new domain. Which means potential for profile issues, etc. ADMT would help avoid this, but it won't work with two domains having the same name. You'd need to resolve that first.



Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/

 

[jamykid]

Well, as I have exposed myself as quite lacking in knowledge (honestly thought that the term BDC was still in use) I would ask forgiveness in thinking what I was asked to do was possible. I don't have an issue with re-creating new profiles as we have very few items to re-configure, I was hoping to learn something new and certainly did. Just not what I expected. I believe that it may be wise to leave this alone and create a trust between the servers and those users that may go back and forth. I take it the same reccomendation to change one domain name to be the same. I appreciate your quick responses, and thank everyone in advance for other words of wisdom that will teach me something new.

 

[58sniper]

Correct - you'd still have to rename one domain. And since you'd do that and create a trust in your scenario, using ADMT to migrate the resources over to the other domain is just another minor step. That would allow you to flatten that (now empty) domain, and retask that DC as a DC for the permanent domain. Cleaner, easier to administer.

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/