forestprep domainprep

[Guest]

Hi all,

In the process of looking into upgrading my network to 2003. I just have a
couple of questions regarding the process.

Some backround info. Its a 2000 domain with two DCs and 7 other application
servers.

First I run /adprep /forestprep, then I run /adprep /domainprep

Can I run these well in advance of actually doing the upgrade?
How long do they take (On average, a day, an hour..)?

Should I upgrade the 2 DCs at the same time or is it ok to upgrade one this
week and another next week per say incase anything goes wrong?

Because I only have 2 DCs I am quite worried incase things go pear shaped
and leave me with a crippled domain.

Thanks

 

[Seahawk60B]

Yes you can run forestprep and domainprep ahead of time. Running
adprep with these switches modifies your schema for Windows 2003. So
as soon as you run them you'll be messing with your AD environment
without many options to fall back. You could get a full backup of one
of your DCs, or you might prefer to build a third DC - it could even be
a VM - and power it off. Should your existing environment then blow
up, you would have a working DC containing your original AD that you
could revert back to.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Seahawk60B

What do you think of this plan.
Here are the steps that I will make to upgrade the domain to Windows 2003.

1. Run adprep /forestprep on DC1 using a Win 2003 server Standard version CD.
2. Then run adprep /domainprep on DC1
3. Backup system state of DC1 and image DC1 to a mobile hard disk
4. Format DC2, install Windows 2003 server and install all the
updates/service pack. This machine is will be named DC2003
5. Run DCPROMO on DC2003 to promote the server to a domain controller.
6. Transfer all FSMO roles from DC1 to DC2003
7. Install DHCP on DC2003 and configure it like the DHCP on DC1
8. Use DCPROMO to demote DC1 and take out of the domain.
9. Reformat and install Windows 2003 server on DC1 naming it DC2, then run
DCPROMO to make it a domain controller (as the Windows 2003 backup domain
controller)

 

[Seahawk60B]

I would do step 3 first, before you begin modifying the schema, in case
something blows up while running forestprep and domainprep. In step 4,
I would dcpromo DC2 before formatting, so he is removed from the
domain. Especially if step 9 is correct and you want to change the
name of DC1 to DC2 and reuse that name.

As a side note, (and I hear references like this all the time),
technically speaking, you don't have backup domain controller as you
did in the NT4 days. While some DC's may hold certain unique FSMO
roles, they're essentially equal.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Seahawk60B

I have changed my plan accordingly. Fingers crossed all will go well