To AD or not to AD, that is the question

[BillJ]

We're testing our 2003 server AD in a lab environment for
rollout this December and I have questions concerning
exactly when xp pro and w2k pro clients - which are now on
the NT4 domain - first see and authenticate to AD.

Initial lab setup:
- NT4 domain (pdc/2bdc's)
- BIND DNS (static IP for all) configured according to KB
255913 (or at least as close as I could get it).
- 2003 member server running DNS to take care of the
underscore zones handed off from BIND (again, KB 255913).
- Other nodes: w2k server/pro and xp pro.
- Namespace: NetBIOS=name1.edu; DNS=name2.edu

Process:
Synced the nt4 domain, took a bdc offline and did a 2003
server in-place upgrade on the pdc (seemed to go smoothly).

QUESTION: At what point exactly do the W2k and xp pro
platforms see and authenticate with the AD? And once
they've authenticated with AD, is there any going back
(authenticating) to NT for those clients?
Thanks for your attention, Bill.

 

[Neal]

Turn off your remaining NT4 BDC and when you log on a workstation it MUST be
authenticating against the new AD.

Also try bringing your BDC back online and turn off the AD server and see
how the clients log on then.

Neal (-:

 

[Guest]

A few KB articles to look at -

309273 Windows Server Members Still Authenticate with BDCs After PDC Is Upgraded
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=309273

305027 Summary of "Piling On" Scenarios in Active Directory Domains
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=305027

298713 How to Prevent Overloading on the First Domain Controller During Domain
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=298713

284937 Windows 2000-Based Clients Connect Only to the Domain Controller That
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=284937

- Craig