Mixed network upgrade
I am trying to help a local charity. They currently have an NT4 server, 2 Windows 2000 servers, and 1 Windows 2003 server. The NT4 server is their PDC, and in fact the only server acting as a domain controller. The others are set up as member servers in their domain, but don't handle log ins, etc. The NT4 server is about out of hard drive space to the point where upgrading to windows 2000 is infeasable. They have purchased another Windows 2003 server, and plan on retiring the NT4 server completely. What would the best path be to accomplishing this? Is it possible to promote a windows 2000 server to a bdc, then demote the nt4 server and promote the windows 2000 server to pdc? Active directory could be done later, but I think it would have to be done after the NT4 server was out of the mix. This organization works 7 days a week (it is the local Humane Society animal shelter) and can't have any network downtime. I am looking for the quickest way to retire the NT4 server and install the Windows 2003 server while retaining their network domain name, user accounts, etc. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Software/Hardware used:
Software/Hardware used:
ASKED:
September 15, 2005 11:33 AM
UPDATED:
September 15, 2005 1:34 PM
Answer Wiki:
Check out this web site: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/deploy/cookbook/cookintr.mspx
This should give you most of what you need to know. When our techs actually did our migration, they found 2003 has some wizards that automate most of the process.
If the 4.0 box can't be cleaned up enough to have room for an upgrade to 2000, you have a problem. We had several boxes with 1 gig c: partitions, (don't ask me why, it was done before I arrived). We did what we could to remove them from active directory but I still had to do some of the, (painful), process of manually removing a DC from active directory. This process exists for machines that die and leave a ghost in active directory. Avoid it if you can. See this link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;216498&Product=win2000
rt
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The 1 gig partitions are exactly the boat I am in. When NT4 came out I think they recommended at leat a 400 megabyte partition for the operating system. My own servers had 2 gig partitions and when we migrated we did them all at once and added one new server with larger partitions to preserve our domain, then upgraded or replaced our remaining servers and joined them to the domain. The charity’s network grew out of the hardware they could afford and the hardware that was donated along the way. Kind of a mishmash. I don’t think upgrading the NT4 server, even temporarily, is an option. Thanks for the help. The links are full of just what I needed.