Windows 2003 Domain With Other 2k Servers

[judgestone]

I should know the answer to this; but thought I'd ask the experts first.

Scenario:

- Will bring up a "new" domain with Windows 2003 Servers as DCs.

- Will take existing Windows 2000 "member" servers, not DCs, out of there "exisiting" domain to workgroup, and then add them to the "new" domain. (Would upgrade to 2003; but there is no scheduled down time for this due to they are in a production environment)

Question:

Is there going to be a problem with the Windows 2000 member servers by doing this? Is there going to be a policy issue?

I know that if I were trying to add the Windows 2003 servers to the "existing" domain, there would be a problem; but by creating a "new" domain and bringing the Windows 2000 servers in, it seems it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[ntinlin]

Very much depends what is on your member servers.

You might have services using accounts from the old domain.
File shares for the old domain etc.
Even if you have local groups on the servers they will no doubt be populated by domain users.

Why would you bother doing this anyway?
Just do the forestprep and domain prep for W2003 and add your W2003 servers then promote them and move the FSMO roles.
You can then demote your W2K DC's and remove them from the environment.
Obviously there is other stuff to consider like DNS, WINS, DHCP etc. but would still probably be easier.

Look at previous threads in this forum for more or the W2003 documentation on MS site.

 

[FloDiggs]

ntinlin is right, but if you are hell bent on a new domain, look into the Active Directory Migration Tool. This will also help you move your PCs, users, groups, etc.