Migrating a nt 4 DC to a new win 2000 server

[cyruss612]

Migrating a nt 4 DC to a new win 2000 server
Hello everyone, I am sure this question has been asked before, but I did a search and did not quite find the right answer .
I have an old hp lpr server it is around 7 years old and has been our pdc . I recently got some new servers and want to install win 2000 server on it, and make this the new pc. Is it possible to just make it a member server of our domain and than promote it to pdc. What steps guys/girls would I have to take for this. You guys I really appreciate all of your help.
Thank you so much
Andy

 

[kmcferrin]

Is there a reason for going to 2000 instead of 2003?

Also, in 2000 there are no longer PDCs and BDCs. And if you install a 2000 server in an NT4 domain and then make the 2000 box the DC, then you'll be defacto going to Active Directory.

 

[cyruss612]

To be honest with you the reason we are going to windows 2000 is because we have a copy of it. So I should be able to install the 2000 server as a member of the domain and than just install the active directory? Will that get the sams database of the users and everything?

 

[kmcferrin]

I would strongly recommend against doing so simply because you happen to have a license for 2000 handy. You're going to want at least two DCs anyway, so you'll need to buy a second license. Since you can no longer buy Windows 2000 Server licenses, you'll already have one 2003 license. Not only that, but Windows 2000 went into extended maintenance back in June. That means that Microsoft will no longer provide support or updates for it (other than critical security updates). There will be no more bug fixes for it. Moving to Windows 2000 now is a very bad idea.

There is a good whitepaper from Microsoft about upgrading from NT4 to 2003 located here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/whyupgrade/nt4/nt4domtoad.mspx

A lot of that will be applicable to 2000 as well, if you absolutely have to do it.