Upgrading NT to 2K AD

[mairving]

Okay here is the scenario. I am in the process of upgrading my domain from a NT one to a 2K AD one. Here is the current setup:
--PDC running NT, Exchange 5.5 and several other apps.
--3 Linux Servers running Samba, one is a fileserver, one is a proxy server and the other is a web development machine. All are running Samba 2.28a.
--Windows 2000 Server running SQL Server 2000, not AD.
--Windows 2000 Server that will be replacing the NT Server. Currently only used to backup drives across the network.

The problem that I keep running into is that to get AD running, I will have to upgrade the PDC to W2K. Well since it is the only DC in the organization, I can't really do that without major risk. I could take the new Server, load NT on it, make it a BDC, upgrade it to PDC and then add W2K back to it. But since it is used to for backup, there would be some risk there as well. So my thoughts are to introduce another spare machine into the mix, make it a BDC, promote it to a PDC and install W2K on it. I have spent most of the day trying to get NT installed on this machine with no luck. It is an Athlon 2000+ with an ASUS A7V8X-X MD, which uses the via chipset. So I am thinking would it be easier to create a new domain, create a trust relationship with it and the old domain and approach things that way.

I didn't setup the network initiallly and there are also things that I would like to change.

So just curious about what others think of this. As an FYI, the Linux servers will stay on the Network running in mixed mode until I have finished testing Samba 3.0. Once that is installed I will change to native mode. Also I don't know how big of a process it will be moving Exchange to a different domain.

 

[karlisi]

There is another shorter way. Install Windows 2000 Server as member server on the new server, install and configure DNS server on it (needed for AD). Join this new server to your NT domain. Review event logs for errors and correct problems. And then run DCPROMO and promote this new server to DC, it will install AD in mixed mode. Wait for full domain replication and shut down your old NT server. Thats all.

===
Karlis
ECDL; MCP

 

[mairving]

Well it already is a member server and has already joined the domain. It is my understanding that you can't have a NT PDC in a 2000 domain. That you must first upgrade the PDC to 2000. When I run DCPROMO, I get a message that it can't find a 2000 DC.

 

[funkygibbon]

Hi mairving,

You're correct in what you say about needing to upgrade the PDC first.

I've upgraded a couple of NT domains to Win2K recently, and I reckon that the safest option is to do what you originally suggested - i.e. build an NT BDC on a temporary machine (service packed and patched), promote it to PDC, and then run an in-place upgrade on it. This way you have a very clean install of NT and no nasty shocks when you upgrade. In fact if you're paranoid you could take your temporary machine off the network, put NT on it and upgrade it all offline, to test that all will work the way you think it will (i.e. all the hardware is W2K compatible, etc). Then wipe it and do it for real...

Once you've got your temporary server up as a W2K DC you can dcpromo up your existing Win2K server, transfer all the FSMO roles and the licence logging service to it, and dcpromo your temporary box back down.

As for Exchange, I'd probably be inclined to export all the data out of Exch 5.5 and import it into an entirely new E2K setup (via exmerge.exe or something), but I guess this depends on how many users you have there.

That's my 0.02 anyway, it's all worked out for me (so far!)

 

[mairving]

Thanks.

Microsoft does list 2 methods of upgrading.
1.) Upgrading the PDC

http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...ows2000/en/server/help/upgrading_a_domain.htm

2.) Upgrading a member server

http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...ows2000/en/server/help/upgrading_a_domain.htm

I think though that upgrading a member server means upgrading a NT Member Server not a 2000 Member Server. Not at lot of documentation on it.

Only about 100 users so exmerge should work okay.

I am still thinking about creating a new domain and then creating a trust relationship between the 2 and migrating that way. Not too certain about that though. If I create a new domain, what IP addressed should I use. Currently it was setup to use 10.1.1.0, which I would like to change to 192.168 but if I make the new domain 192.168. , I assume that I will have to have a router between the two domains.

 

[funkygibbon]

That's the way I read it (MS are talking about upgrading an NT member server to a W2K member server).

Creating a new domain - you could do it that way. I can see why it would look a safer option, but I still think that I prefer using the temporary server scenario above. If the upgrade of the temp server fails, you can promote your main NT server back to PDC and you're back in business. And if you've tested it offline you'll know that it won't fail (unless you get a power cut or something!). But it's really down to personal preference.

Another thing to consider is user profiles - if you move to a new domain, the chances are the users will get new profiles, and need the old ones copied over. This can be pretty traumatic as they're easily corrupted...

If you do decide to use a new domain you can use your existing IP range, or change to 192.168, or whatever - you'll need a router, as you say, and you'll need to find all those ancient printers that got installed ten years ago and figure out how to change their IPs :-(

 

[mairving]

Well, I finally was able to get NT Server installed on the Athlon machine. I had a 30Gb hard drive but since it was an old version, I could only get it to see 8GB's. I also couldn't get a NTFS partition larger than 2GB. I should have been able to get 4GB but for some reason that didn't work. So I loaded it on a 2GB partition and after some effort was able to get it on the domain as a BDC. Then I ghosted the drive a couple of times so that I could use the whole drive. It is running fine, now I will promote it to PDC and upgrade it to 2K.

Thanks, for the help. I didn't think about the profiles that would be a major pain to copy those over.