Single to forest

[MSR63]

I inherited a domain which at first my predessor and I thought would be migrated to a new domain and become part of an enterprise environment.

This is no longer the case. I now have two domain networks at my one location. Can I add one of the domains to my AD and create a forest instead of a single domain?
If so - does that take alot or is it fairly simple?
Thanks

 

[sutors]

No, you cannot add external domain to existing forest.
You can however create a trust between your two domains.

What is the end result that you're looking for? If you want to have two domains in one forest, you would have to create a second domain in your original forest and then migrate your external domain to that newly created domain in your original forest.

Lukasz

 

[MSR63]

First excuse my mispelling of "Predecessor"
No spellcheck in here

I just wanted to clean up the networks some. I already have trust between the two domain -- physically I have two domains, ADs, exchange and BES boxes etc..

I just wanted to see if I could minimize hoping into various ADs and work off of one forest.

Thanks

 

[pendal1]

Actually I read that you can merge forests but it's not an easy process. You have to clone secruity principals, migrate objects and decommission domain controllers to member servers and then add each of the servers to the new domain. This is only what I read. Maybe someone else has some experience with doing this. Administratively, having a single forest with only one domain is the ideal but it all depends upon your situation. Having two forests would be a pain administratively.