new forest

[Andrew]

Hello all - apologies but another post.....

What is the recommended way to migrate from a win2k forest to a win2k3
forest. Do you need to upgrade the win2k domain first? Or just migrate the
objects...we have exchange2k aswell, this will also be upgraded to 2k3 in
the new forest.

thanks for all your help, andrew

 

[Cary Shultz [A.D. MVP]]

Andrew,

There are a couple of ways that you could approach this.

One of the easier ways would be to simply upgrade the first DC to WIN2003.
This requires that you first drop in the WIN2003 CD and run adprep
/forestprep. You would need to do this on the DC that holds the FSMO Role
of Schema Master using an account that is a member of the Schema Admins
group. Give this time to replicate to all DCs in the forest.

You would then need to run adprep /domainprep. This could be on the DC that
holds the FSMO Role of PDC Emulator and you would need to use an account
that is a member of the Domain Admins group. You would need to do this in
each Domain that is part of the Forest. Also, give this a bit of time to
replicate to all of the DCs in the Domain(s).

Since you have Exchange 2000 you need to be aware of the 'Mangled
Attributes' problem that might pop up. Here is the MSKB Article that
describes the problems and offers a solution:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=314649

You could then simply upgrade the DC to WIN2003. Just make sure that you
have the proper forest level and domain level. You could then slowly ( or
not so slowly ) upgrade the other DCs to WIN2003. Just make sure to test
this in a test lab.

You could also create a new forest ( but it would have to have a different
NetBIOS and DNS name ) and use ADMT v2 to migrate all of the user and group
and computer account objects over to the new Forest. If you need to have
the same NetBIOS and DNS names then you could use a go-between domain. So,
you would migrate the objects from the WIN2000 environment to the 'holding'
or 'go-between' environment ( with different NetBIOS and DNS names ) and
then from the 'holding' environment to the environment with the names that
you need.

Is the current hardware capable of dealing with WIN2003? I would hope so!
Are you planning on purchasing new hardware ( and since you are getting new
hardware your thought is that you might as well go with the new software?
That is usually a good thought ) or have you purchased new hardware?

--
Cary W. Shultz
Roanoke, VA 24014
Microsoft Active Directory MVP

http://www.activedirectory-win2000.com
http://www.grouppolicy-win2000.com

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply Cary, much appreciated.

The hardware used for the new domain controllers will be temporary dell
power edge 1650's and 1750. When we have fully migrated all services and are
confident it is all working, we will use the original forests dc's as dc's
for the new forest.

Soooo, do we need to upgrade the orginal forest to win2k3 first, then
migrate? How do we deal with exchange?

Thanks, Andrew

 

[Cary Shultz [A.D. MVP]]

Andrew,

You are most welcome.

This is still a good question.

Do you require that you have the same NetBIOS and DNS name as the currect AD
environment? If you do, then you will need to use either the 'in-between',
or place-holder, forest with a different NetBIOS and DNS name first, migrate
everyone over using ADMT v2 to the 'in-between' environment, create the new,
correctly named environment and then migrate everyone over using ADMT v2 or
follow the upgrade route. This seems like a lot of work. I might suggest
that you simply take the upgrade path!

Do not forget the possible 'mangled attributes' problem that might pop up!

Or, simply prepare the environment for WIN2003 Domain Controllers via
adprep. Then, simply add the Dells as WIN2003 Domain Controllers. If you
are going to upgrade I would run adprep /forestprep, let that replicate,
run adprep /domainprep, let that replicate and then add the Dell PowerEdge
servers as WIN2003 Domain Controllers. You would want to transfer all five
of the FSMO Roles to one of the WIN2003 Domain Controllers. You could then
dcpromo all of the WIN2000 Domain Controllers out of the environment
one-at-a-time. Once you are clear that all is okay you simply wipe and load
the 'old' servers ( obviously installing WIN2003 Server ) to introduce them
back into the environment. Again, transfer all five of the FSMO roles to
the 'new' Domain Controllers ( formerly the 'old' ones ) and then dcpromo
the 'old' Domain Controllers ( the Dell's ) out of the environment
one-at-a-time.......

I can not really answer the question as it all depends on what you want to
do.

I would say that at face value it seems silly to upgrade and then migrate
( using something like ADMT and / or the 'in-between' set up ).

But, again, that all depends on what you want to do. Sometimes people like
to start all over. There is a lot of garbage that has been placed on the
Domain Controllers ( or wherever ) and the easiest way to 'fix' this is to
wipe and load ( or, load new in your case ). It does not sound to me like
you want to do this.

I might check with the Exchange Admin group about the Exchange 2000
concerns. The news group is found at
microsoft.public.exchange2000.admin.......I bet that you could upgrade
Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2003 rather easily.


--
Cary W. Shultz
Roanoke, VA 24014
Microsoft Active Directory MVP

http://www.activedirectory-win2000.com
http://www.grouppolicy-win2000.com

 

[Andrew]

Cary, another good reply and thaks again for your time!

We are indeed wanting to change the dns name to someting else and upgrade to
2k3 from 2k. I have read articles about the domain name rename tool, but it
dosen't seem to get good press, and I wouldn't like to see what may happen
if something whent wrong!

We will most liekly want to migrate from our existing 2k forest to a 2k3
forest with different dns name. I think youve provided me what I need, many
thanks for your efforts.

Cheers, Andrew

 

[Cary Shultz [A.D. MVP]]

Andrew,

Glad to help. If you have any more questions or still have any remaining
open 'thoughts' please let us know!

--
Cary W. Shultz
Roanoke, VA 24014
Microsoft Active Directory MVP

http://www.activedirectory-win2000.com
http://www.grouppolicy-win2000.com