Win2k upgrade

[richyd]

I've been asked to perform a Win2k upgrade on our NT4 servers. As much as I know how to upgrade a server to Win2k, I've never done this to multiple servers in a live environment. Is this as easy as upgrading each server or do I need to perform other tasks before going to each server. The network will not be running AD so I won't need to migrate any user accounts. Would I need to upgrade the exchange server any differently?

I've started planning this upgrade and I'm comfortable that all the software on all the boxes are Win2k compatible. Apart from upgrading their PDC first, what other checks should I take in to considerations before I start running off and upgrading. I'll be installing Ghost 7 on a machine so I can take images from servers before I start so if something was to slip up I'm covered.

Any help you can throw my way will be appreciated

Rgds
R

 

[FilthPig]

If you're upgrading domain controllers then you will in fact be running active directory after the upgrade. You still won't have to migrate user accounts however, since the upgrade will include the accounts.

Make sure you're comfortable with Windows 2000 DNS. DNS is hugely important to an Active Directory domain. Make sure it's set up on the upgraded PDC before you try to upgrade your other servers.

Here's a technet article that may help prepare you for performing the upgrade on the exchange server:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...odtechnol/exchange/deploy/depopt/upgd2000.asp

Marc Creviere

 

[rdavis21]

Thanks for your reply.

That's a very useful document. We have sites in the U.S that are still running NT4, also our main Exchange server is based there. Will this cause any problems to any trust relationships etc as their not running AD.
I thought AD is setup after the promote command was excuted. Would this be promoted automatically if upgrading a PDC?

 

[FilthPig]

The first time you boot your newly-upgraded server it will automatically start DCPROMO and go directly to the part where it asks if you want to create a new tree or child domain. Marc Creviere

 

[FilthPig]

Oops, submitted before I talked about the trusts. I'm not sure if the upgrade will maintain established trusts. In my experience (and this may be something that wasn't right on my network) NT 4 trusts are fragile and prone to inexplicable breakage. You may want to re-establish your trusts anyway after the upgrade. Trusts can be made between an NT 4 domain and an Active Directory domain. Marc Creviere

 

[rdavis21]

ok I'll look up some documentation regarding the DNS etc. Many thanks for your help!!

Rich

 

[GlenJohnson]

You may want to run WINS on them also. It's not as important as DNS by a long shot, but I've upgraded one nt4 box and created a domain. WINS seems to help just in general with networking. Glen A. Johnson
Microsoft Certified Professional
gjohn76351@msn.com

"The definition of the individual was: a multitude of one million divided by one million."
Arthur Koestler (1905-83); Hungarian-born British author.

 

[b203116]

Other important things to remeber when doing any in-place upgrade are to upgrade any NT 4 server running RAS early in the process. Microsoft has some great documentation on the web site for in-place upgrades. When you upgrade a server running WINS the service should be stopped so the upgrade can have full access to the dtatbase files. Prior to doing an inplace upgrade make sure you understand the requirements/restrictions to naming you AD Forest/Domain. Improper configuration in this area will be extremely painful to recover from.

Pat