Need advise for Active Directory migration

[faisalt]

I have a Windows 2000 AD domain controller, which is also hosting DHCP, DNS, and File server. Exchange server has already been migrated to Windows 2003. Now I am planning AD migration to windows 2003. We are going to purchase another hardware for the new domain controller. Ideally, I like to test migration in vmware that should not interfere with my current AD server. How should I approach this problem?
Thanks in advance...

 

[itsp1965]

You said you have already implemented Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003. Is this server part of the existing domain?
Usually you could add a Windows 2003 domain controller to an exisitng Windows 2000 domain by running dcpromo /adprep and dcpromo /forestprep from the domain controller that holds the schema master FSMO role (your main DC in this case). From there you can transfer the roles/services to the new domain controller
You can also run the Active Directory Migration Tool from MS which could also be used in order to migrate to a Win2K3 domain.
Again you're following the right procedure by testing this in a virtual environment before proceeding. You could try both methods in order to investigate additional gotchas.
Others can chime in and fill in the blanks where I have left something out. Hope this helps.