Running Wn2000 DC alongside Win2003 DC

[Paul D]

Hi everyone! Can someone offer some advice, please?

We have two DCs, both running AD and both running DNS. The first holds most
of the Operations Master roles, the second is the server licensing, and TS
CAL licensing server.

Is it safe to upgrade the second DC to Windows 2003, and run it as a DC
alongside the first Winsows 2000 DC server for a long period? Are there any
issues I should be concerned with when upgrading, bearing in mind our
environment as I've explained, other than that mentioned in the Microsoft
article?

325379 How to Upgrade Windows 2000 Domain Controllers to Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=325379


I really appreciate your assistance!
Best wishes
Paul

 

[Matjaz Ladava [MVP]]

No, there is no issues (have done it many times now), you just have to
extend AD schema and then do the upgrade. You can even only extend the AD
schema, and never upgrade to Windows Server 2003 and you will have no
issues. The only concern for me is, that it is not best practice to have a
DC, that is also a terminal server.

Regards.

 

[Paul D]

Hi Matjaz

Thank you for that! It's alright, our DC isn't a Terminal Server, it is
just a Terminal Services *Licensing* server! (a TS DC certainly wouldn't be
best practice! ;-))

Apologies for my ignorance, but could you point me to any articles which
explain "extending a schema", and how to go abou doing this?
Does it mean that the schema is modified to accomodate the new containers
and structure that Windows 2003 uses?

Many thanks for your kind help!
Paul

 

[Matjaz Ladava [MVP]]

Ah, then we agree ). the article you pointed out explains the procedure
on how to extend AD schema. The schema needs to be extended to accommodate
new AD functionality and to support windows Server 2003 as DC. This is a
required step mostly nonpainful .

Regards

--

Matjaz Ladava, MCSA, MCSE, MCT, MVP
Microsoft MVP Windows Server - Active Directory
(e-mail address removed), (e-mail address removed)

 

[Paul D]

That's nice to hear - there's nothing worse than pain in your active
directory; very difficult to treat!! ;-)
Thank you for your advice, Matjaz - very much appreciated.

Kind regards
Paul