Possible Monkey Wrench in Migration from NT 4 domain to Win2003 AD

From: bertman (bertman_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 02/22/05 

Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 01:35:04 -0800

I may have a possbile problem in a migration from NT 4 domain to Win2003 AD

We have:

Box A - NT 4 PDC on a a newly installed box
Box B - NT 4 BDC on the File Server
Box C - NT 4 DC on the Exchange 5.5 server (which also has Proxy Server
installed ... don't ask)
About 40 client PC's, mostly WinXP now

Will migrate all to new hardware with Win2003, Active Directory, Exchange
2003. We also now have a

separate hardware firewall, so no need (yet) for ISA server.

When finished:

Win2003 DC, FSMO, DNS, DHCP, WINS (maybe), SAV SCC, Backup Services, etc
Win2003 DC File/Print Server
Win2003 Member server Exchange 2003
--- All running in Win2003 Native Mode

My plan of action is to use the In Place Upgrade Methodology

Build another NT 4 BDC, take it offline, promote it to PDC (for recovery if
needed)
Install/Upgrade Win2003 onto the existing NT 4 PDC (box A)
Build brand new Win2003 box which will eventually be the PDC (box D)
Synchronize DNS and Active Directories between A and D
Move FSMO roles and GC role to newly built Win2003 box D
Run DCPromo on old box A to remove AD, remove from Domain

..... So far so good.

But, the "Monkey Wrench", as I see it:

I have seen in the Exchange 2003 Migration technotes that Microsoft
recommendeds that the AD be in Native

Mode before migrating from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2003, so that Universal
Groups and other Native Mode

only AD objects can be utilized. This would require that all NT 4 BDC's be
removed from the domain. But I

can't do this because Box C is an NT 4 BDC running the Exch 5.5 server that
I need to migrate to Exch 2003.

And of course, I can't "demote" the NT 4 BDC to a Member server.

Is there a work-around for this?

Can I leave Box C as NT 4 / BDC on a Native Mode Win2003 AD?

If I do the above, will this cause any problems for the domain or for client
PC's, especially login issues?

Can anyone fix this Microsoft Discussion groups web page? I could not for
the life of me find the microsoft.public.windows.server.migration page from
the 10,000 item long drop down ..... that's not even alphabetized .... and
yes, I tried posting via Outlook Express ... apparently, my ISP won't accept
posts to the microsoft groups for reasons I've yet to fathom ...

Relevant Pages

  • Monkey Wrench: Exchange 5.5 Server is a BDC
    ... I may have a possbile problem in a migration from NT 4 domain to Win2003 AD ... Box A - NT 4 PDC on a a newly installed box ... Box B - NT 4 BDC on the File Server ... Will migrate all to new hardware with Win2003, Active Directory, Exchange ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.migration)
  • Monkey Wrench in Migration from NT 4 to Win2003 AD?
    ... I may have a possbile problem in a migration from NT 4 domain to Win2003 AD ... Box A - NT 4 PDC on a a newly installed box ... Box B - NT 4 BDC on the File Server ... Will migrate all to new hardware with Win2003, Active Directory, Exchange ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.migration)
  • RE: Multiple NT 4.0 Domains to 2003 Migration
    ... This is a good plan on the operating system side. ... Active Directory Migration Tool v.2.0 ... Windows Server 2003 Active Directory ... I believe you will get informative and detailed suggestions on Exchange ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.migration)
  • Re: Update vom Ex2000 --> EX2003 !!!! @Daniel
    ... Benutzer neu erstellt (von mir aus auch per ADMT nach W2003 replizieren, ... Dort habe ich 4 Exchange Server, ... Migration noch mehr dranhängt als nur Exchange, ...
    (microsoft.public.de.german.exchange2000.setup.installation)
  • Re: Migrating off SBS to Microsoft Live Office
    ... SBS2003 server for my wife's very small business. ... business with 4 users, using mostly Outlook with Exchange, and other Office ... applications Very limited use of roaming profile for one of the users. ... Exchange so that it does not pull any new messages until the migration is ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
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