Comments on: ADMT or dcpromo?

By: ltimothy

ltimothy — Sun, 22 May 2005 22:25:42 +0000

I’m still unclear on what you are trying to do.
IF you are moving from two win2k machines to two different machines on which you plan to install win2k3, then use ADMT. I would want the other machine that is not running EXchange to be my DC/GC, so, as long as you have on DC in your domain, you could demote the DC running Exchange. IF you are migrating on the same hardware, validate that the HW is on the HCL. THen research the upgrade process. UPgrading a DC to win2k3 is very straight forward, but I’n not clear on the in place upgrade of a server running EXchange…

By: maclanachu

maclanachu — Sun, 22 May 2005 17:41:08 +0000

Oh mate I feel ur Pain! I did a 2K to 2K3 AD migration A LOT of grief. Still not 100% happy with it. backup, backup, backup. DO NOT assume that ur NEtlogon share will b ok. Mine wasn’t! make sure that replication between ur existing 2k DC’s is flawless. Go thru Event logs and fix any errors before u start the migration.
If u really do want to move to a new domain remember that in 2003 u can actually rename ur domain once ur DC is in 2003 native mode.
So u could try upgrading ur DC’s to 2K3, but clean installs is usually better.
Funny things to watch out for afterwards:
Accounts locking up.
Domain administrator unable to view event logs on DCs.
Users unable to change passwords, must wait 21 days first.

May the force be with u.
Brian

By: jauninais

jauninais — Fri, 20 May 2005 03:24:35 +0000

Paul,
What did you mean with it?

However, the login scripts will be dependent on the group policy that you set up. At worst, you will need to set up the policy on the child domain and move the scripts that way.

If I promote the 2003 server as domain controller, where can I set up group policy? What did you mean about child domain? I will not have a child domain.

Can I change the domain name after your described procedure?
I was read that Windows 2003 and Exchange 2003 support it.
Thank you!

By: paulieeddie

paulieeddie — Thu, 19 May 2005 11:11:49 +0000

The NETLOGON Share as well as SYSVOL will be copied. However, the login scripts will be dependent on the group policy that you set up. At worst, you will need to set up the policy on the child domain and move the scripts that way.

Paul

By: schnell

schnell — Thu, 19 May 2005 11:09:42 +0000

Yes, If you promote a new server 2003 to domain controller, old scripts will be copied in the new domain cotroller becouse all the content on this folder is replicated between domain controllers. Paul give you an excellent procedure. Go ahead !!!

By: jauninais

jauninais — Thu, 19 May 2005 10:48:55 +0000

Thank you Paul!
If I promote a new server 2003 to domain controller, will NETLOGON share with old scripts be copied in the new domain cotroller or I need to do it mannually?

By: balbertson

balbertson — Thu, 19 May 2005 10:42:01 +0000

you should use both utilities. You will want to dcpromo your 2003 DC with whatever domain you wish to create and then install Exchange on the second 2003 box. Then you will have two environments. Use ADMT to migrate user and computer accounts to your new 2003 domain infrastructure.

By: paulieeddie

paulieeddie — Thu, 19 May 2005 10:34:42 +0000

IF you are going to change the domain name you will need to do some migration – that is if your Windows 2000 domain is mycompany.com and the Windows 2003 domain will be called Corp.com. These will be two different domains. If instead you want to upgrade to a Windows 2003 Directory and upgrade your Exchange server, you can do that without migration. Unless you have a truly compeling reason to change the domain name, I would go with the upgrade option.

If you upgrade (including installation on new hardware):

1) Run the dcpromo /forestprep and dcpromo /domainprep from the Windows 2003 Cd (or better the MS web site). This prepares the domain for Windows 2003
2) Install Windows 2003 on a new server
3) Join the new server to the domain
4) Run DCPROMO on the new server and ask it to be a domain controller in the Windows 2000 domain.
5) Migrate the FSMO roles to the Windows 2003 server.
6) Install the Exchange 2003 server.
7) Install Exchange 2003 following standard installation
8) Migrate the mailboxes and public folders at your leisure
9) Migrate the OAB, Free/Busy Schedulers, etc to the Exchange 2003 server
10) Uninstall Exchange 2000
11) Remove the old Exchange server from the domain
12) Run DCPromo on the Windows 2000 Server
13) Remove the Windows 2000 Server from the domain
14) Raise the functionality level on the Windows 2003 domain controller provided their are no more Windows 2000 Domain controllers. The Functionality level should be Native 2003
15) Raise the functionality level on Exchange 2003 server to native 2003.

And there you have it. Simple eh?

Paul

Reference Material:

Exchange Migration Methods: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;327928
Removing the First Exchange 2000 server:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307917
Moving FSMO Roles:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;255504
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;255690
Info on Upgrading Domain Controllers and domainprep/forestprep
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;325379

By: jauninais

jauninais — Thu, 19 May 2005 10:11:30 +0000

I want to migrate to a new windows 2003 domain (I will install 2 2003 servers on a new hardware where first will be win 2003 domain controller but second win 2003 server with Exchange 2003 installed).