RE: NT to 2003 Migration and changing the domain name

From: Carsyn Gu [MSFT] (kshengu_at_online.microsoft.com)
Date: 11/09/04 

Date: Tue, 09 Nov 2004 09:36:19 GMT

Hello Eric,

Thank you for your post.

You typically have two choices with an NT4 migration to AD 2003.

Firstly, you may do an In-place upgrade (upgrade the PDC to Windows Server
2003 then run DCPROMO to make it the first DC). The best practice will be
to take a clean, newly-created BDC and turn it into the PDC - then upgrade
that machine. It makes the process easier and reduces things to
troubleshoot.

Before the upgrade sync up the BDCs - take one offline for rollback. If you
run into problems, pull the AD DC offline, and bring the offline BDC back.
Promote to PDC - if 2000/XP clients connected to the AD DC then they will
have to be re-added to the domain to work in NT4 again.

Upgrade the NT4 BDCs to Windows 2003 as soon as you can - otherwise you are
not taking full advantage of AD 2003.

Second option is the parallel upgrade - this is where you create a new
pristine AD 2003 environment and migrate objects from NT4 to AD 2003.
Migration is handled by Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT).

Domain rename is a nice feature but it can be ugly - use it as a last
resort. Uses RENDOM.exe. You can change the name of the forest root, but
you cannot change the domain which is the forest root. There are a few
reboots involved (forest wide) and you will have to use some CLI tools to
fix the GPOs. Also you will have to clean up DNS for any straggling
records and to change DNS resolution (depending on what new name you
choose). So it will be best for CU to choose the Option 1 instead of using
the ADMT+RENDOM.exe. The option 1 will be easier.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not
hesitate to let me know. I am happy to be of further assistance. Thank you
for your time and cooperation!

Sincerely,
Carsyn Gu
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

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| Thread-Topic: NT to 2003 Migration and changing the domain name
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| From: "=?Utf-8?B?RXJpYw==?=" <Eric@discussions.microsoft.com>
| Subject: NT to 2003 Migration and changing the domain name
| Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 09:49:06 -0800
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| We are looking to migrate to Windows 2003 (from NT 4.0) and Exchange 2003
| (from 5.5). I see all the artilces / deployment guides on the migration.
 
| What I can't find is how to migrate and change the domain name at the
same
| time without starting over or using the domain rename functionality of
2003
| Server. We currently have one domain now NT_PCDOM, 1PDC, 2 BDC's, 270
| desktops, one physical site, and one Exchange 5.5 Server. Exchange is
also a
| concernt becuase of the intregration with Active Directory. I am not
sure
| how that would affect changing the domain name. Does anybody have any
advice
| or links to KB's / deployment guides that fit this scenario?
|
| Thank you,
|

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