question on winnt -----> Win2k3 domain upgrade

[xmario2013]

i have some question about upgrade to win2003


we have 2 NT domain controllers
and one windows 2000 dc which has a AD of its own and which nobody uses
we are planning to upgrade the 2 NT DC into Win2k3 and delete the existing win2k AD to join this new Win2k3 Active directory

if the two NT dc is old hardware we need to eventually get rid of them, what is the best way of doing it ? before we upgrade them to Win2k3

 

[mlichstein]

If you want to replace the hardware that the PDC is running on, you'll need to bring up a new machine as a BDC in the NT domain.

Then promote it to PDC and upgrade to 2003. Then you can add more 2003 DCs as needed.

 

[GuyThomas]

You need lots of planning with an upgrade from NT to W2K3. The old saying is 7 mins of planning will save an hour of rework.

Firstly will you need a period of co-existence between the old and the new domains? Following on from this,next queston will you create new accounts in the new domain, or migrate the old ones?

Also make DNS a priority, will your DNS names be the same as your Active Directory names? Do you have DNS already?

For more advice, see here

http://computerperformance.co.uk/w2k3/w2k3_migratevupgrade.htm

Guy Thomas

Scripting Ezine

http://computerperformance.co.uk/ezine/newsletter_subs.htm

 

[GuyThomas]

You need lots of planning with an upgrade from NT to W2K3. The old saying is 7 mins of planning will save an hour of rework.

Firstly will you need a period of co-existence between the old and the new domains? Following on from this,next queston will you create new accounts in the new domain, or migrate the old ones?

Also make DNS a priority, will your DNS names be the same as your Active Directory names? Do you have DNS already?

For more advice, see here

http://computerperformance.co.uk/w2k3/w2k3_migratevupgrade.htm

http://computerperformance.co.uk/w2k3/w2k3_migratevupgrade.htm

Guy Thomas

Scripting Ezine

http://computerperformance.co.uk/ezine/newsletter_subs.htm

 

[markdmac]

You can make this a more direct approach, but the advice to plan ahead is most important. You can simply wip out your current Win2K server. Load it into your existing domain as an NT4 BDC.

Promote it to PDC.

Take the former PDC offline for safety.

Upgrade the new PDC to Win2K3. Your domain is now Win2K3. Bring your other server back online if there are no problems.

If there are problems, take the new server offline and bring the old PDC back Online. Promote it back to PDC.


If your existing NT4 PDC & BDC are unable to support Win2K3, you are probably better off just migrating their functions to new hardware which is easier once you have the network running Win2K3.


I hope you find this post helpful. Please let me know if it was.

Regards,

Mark