We are planning on upgrading our AD from 2003 to 2008. I've read (at least a dozen times) the instructions on how to do it found here -
We are going the "transition" route. Our current configuration is 6 DC's all running 2003.
DC1 - PDC. Resides in main office.
DC2 - Secondary DC in main office and DNS for main office as well as 3 other smaller offices.
DC3 - DC in one of the 3 smaller offices.
DC4 - DC in one of the 3 smaller offices.
DC5 - DC in one of the 3 smaller offices.
DC6 - main DC in large branch office. Also does DNS for large branch office.
My question is this - my plan was to install 2008 AD on new hardware (DC7). Transfer FSMO roles from DC1 to new DC7. Demote DC1. Assuming everything was working, over time, I would begin transitioning the other DC's from 2003 to 2008 by same method, minus the transferring of the FSMO roles.
Will this work? Can I have the PDC at 2008 (making the domain 2008) while having the other DC's (including the ones doing DNS) at the 2003 level and transition the 2003's out over time?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Erik
We are going the "transition" route. Our current configuration is 6 DC's all running 2003.
DC1 - PDC. Resides in main office.
DC2 - Secondary DC in main office and DNS for main office as well as 3 other smaller offices.
DC3 - DC in one of the 3 smaller offices.
DC4 - DC in one of the 3 smaller offices.
DC5 - DC in one of the 3 smaller offices.
DC6 - main DC in large branch office. Also does DNS for large branch office.
My question is this - my plan was to install 2008 AD on new hardware (DC7). Transfer FSMO roles from DC1 to new DC7. Demote DC1. Assuming everything was working, over time, I would begin transitioning the other DC's from 2003 to 2008 by same method, minus the transferring of the FSMO roles.
Will this work? Can I have the PDC at 2008 (making the domain 2008) while having the other DC's (including the ones doing DNS) at the 2003 level and transition the 2003's out over time?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Erik