win2000 server as pdc and winnt4 bdc

[cisco2511]

hello ,
i have a nt4 server as pdc and another nt4 server as bdc.now i would like to install a win2000 server on one of the existing servers and retain nt4 on the other .
ultimately i would like a setup like this
win2000 server as pdc
winnt4 as bdc
is this setup possible?
will the two server synchronise ?
if so how do i go about with the setup ?
Thanks in advance
Good day
kcp

 

[CBR929]

Microsoft in there infinite wisdom abandoned the whole PDC/BDC thing and went to active directory. Your Win2K server will be the main server and you can have other servers in a forest, but BDC's to a Win2k don't exist. Also when you set up your Win2k Server there will be a point where you can have Win2k be less secure by allowing info (data on users and security) to be passed to a NT4 server or you can have increased security by not allowing this and the assumption at this point is that you will not have any NT4 workstations or servers on your network.....Sorry to tell you this, but I was in the same prediciment myself not to long ago...it is not good. But from a security point its awesome.

 

[IDT]

Its no problems as Microsoft have allowed for a full migration path. You need to upgrade your PDC first, Check that the hardware is OK for W2K and all drivers are available. Backup server then run Winnt32 from the CD-ROM and it will upgrade your server. This will now be in mixed mode when you have upgraded all your NT4 servers you can then going Native mode which is a lot better with the ability to nest gobal groups and you get another group called a universal group. Plenty of info available on the microsoft site. been there seen that done it. It is a big improvement on NT4. Have fun Microsoft have moved things around so play with a test system if you can first then migrate.

Steve C

 

[racer514]

I am going through hell with this right now so I have some advise. Upgrade your PDC first (you have to). Let it run for a week or so and make sure you have no problems like long logon times with win2k machines or whatever. Check event viewer for warnings. Your bdc shoudl remain in tact. Check the microsoft knowledge base for any articles, I think there is one concerning replication with NT BDC. If you want to add another NT BDC to the domain you must do it from the older server manager program wich exists but is not shown on 2000. You must run srvmgr or svrmgr ont he 2000 machine and add the BDC from there. You cannot add a NT BDC to active directory through users and computers.
Good luck, hopes your goes better than ours.
SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY

 

[cisco2511]

Thank you for your valuable suggestions. i will go ahead this weekend.
hope everything goes fine