Replacing W2K DC server with W2K3 DC server

  • Thread starter Thread starter jblaze
  • Start date Start date
J

jblaze

Hello all,

I was hoping someone could shed some light on an upcoming projec that
I have. Currently we have a 4 servers on our network with one
domain(local).

2 Domain Controller - Windows 2000 Server
1 Member Server - Windows 200 Server
1 Member Server - Windows NT4 Server

We have a brand new server that will be running Windows 2003 Server
STD. My hope is that, instead of having to step through all of the
procedures for upgrading the domain forest to 2003, I would merely
configure(offline) the 2003 server as a Domain Controller with all of
the same settings as the old 2k server.

1. Domain name will remain the same - %domainname%.local

2. I will configure the active directory with the same users via vbs
script(will this relieve of performing ADPREP?? and will the users be
able to login to the domain after the server replacement??

Will this work????

Thanks....
 
This will not work.

The domain is known to the computers by the SID. Even if you name the
domains the same the SID is different. You will have to join the users to
the new domain deal with the new profile that is created for each user and
how to get them access to their old profiles.

This is more work than "having to step through all of the procedures for
upgrading the domain forest". The reason you have to step through those
procedures is that they work.


hth
DDS W 2k MVP MCSE
 
Thanks for the quick reply. I'm not surprised that this wouldn't
work, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Now I have a couple more questions.

I have already configured the 2003 server with the following roles:
Application Server, File Server, Domain Controller, DHCP, and DNS
Server. What is the best approach for joining this to the existing
Domain (with two W2K Server DC's) as the Domain Controller?? Do I run
the ADPREP (domainprep, forestprep) on the existing DC and then join
the new server or vice versa. Is it possible to join the 2003 server
as a member server to the existing domain even though it's already
configured as a DC. I really can't afford a whole lot of downtime,
because our Warehouse is operational 24hrs.

I've read a lot of articles on different approaches and pitfalls to
watch out for...it just seems odd that this could be so difficult. If
you could point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate
it.

Thanks
 
I have already configured the 2003 server with the following roles:
Application Server, File Server, Domain Controller, DHCP, and DNS
Server. What is the best approach for joining this to the existing
Domain (with two W2K Server DC's) as the Domain Controller??
Click to expand...

Remove DHCP, remove DNS, run dcpromo to remove the DC status and make this a
member server. Run adprep /forestprep on the existing 2000 server that is
the schema master. Run adprep /domainprep on the existing server that is the
infastructure master. Add the Win 2k3 server to the domain as a member
server then run dcpromo, set up DNS and DHCP.

As it is now the Win 2k3 server is in a separate domain from the Win 2k
servers. This will add it to the Win 2k domain.

hth
DDS W 2k MVP MCSE
 
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