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slamb
Welcome Newcomer
USA
2 Posts
Status: offline |
 Posted - 10/17/2008 : 11:25:17 PM
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I have an odd requirement from my company. I need to move a lab based NT domain made up of NT workstations (75 nodes) to either MS 2000 or MS 2003 Domain, but only until a contractual agreement is over - six months. Then the upgraded network will be wiped out and a new system put in its place. The workstations are too old to be upgraded from NT to anything else. A partial working solution is fine with this group.
My three biggest unknowns are -
- Can I still use the NT workstations with MS 2003, like MS 2003 mixed domain or MS 2003 interim domain? Can I relax the security authentication on the DC to match what NT domain uses. They are in a lab setting so I am not worry (too much) about clear text authentication.
- This NT domain uses system policies to lock down the workstations. Will I lose these security settings on the NT workstations when I upgrade to 2000 or 2003 domain (roaming profiles stored on the user's home directory).
- Can I keep Exchange 5.5 or will 2003 force me to upgrade 5.5 to Exchange 2000. Email is the only important portion of this domain. 35GB of email over a period of 10 years.
I will build a test bed network to try out various solutions, but I was hoping that those who did this already might have some suggestions.
Thanks for any insight.
steve
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wkasdo
Administrator
Netherlands
7403 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 10/18/2008 : 08:08:27 AM
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1. Yes.
2. No, as long as you do an inplace upgrade of the domain.
3. You can keep Exchange 5.5
Think about how exactly you want to do the domain migration. Details are important here. Key words: swing migration, DNS, DHCP. |
Make it as simple as you can, but not simpler -- Albert Einstein |
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slamb
Welcome Newcomer
USA
2 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 10/23/2008 : 7:50:05 PM
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wkasdo,
Hmm... swing migration. Thanks!!! I am currently looking at a Swing Migration site - sbsmigration.com. Any other sites you would recommend?
My NT site doesn't use DHCP nor does it have a WINS server. Note to self - crack the books on Wins to see if this will bite me during the migration.
Anyone you know that try to use Linux Samba as a solution? The only major concern that the company has is mandatory security patching. And I can't patch the NT servers anymore. So if I can kill off the NT servers and replace it with anything else that can be patched and still authenticate the NT/2000 workstations, I am gold.
Thanks again for your help.
steve |
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wkasdo
Administrator
Netherlands
7403 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 10/24/2008 : 03:10:44 AM
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If you are familiar with Linux/Samba that could be a solution, although you did say that AD is a requirement? The AD upgrade is not that hard. The simplest way is like this, assuming your current DC is too weak to run W2003.
1. install a new server as NT4 BDC
2. configure all clients to use the new server for DNS.
3. promote to PDC
4. inplace upgrade to Windows 2003
5. make sure DNS service is OK.
6. install additional services: AV, backup, etc.
7. turn off the old NT BDC.
etc. A swing migration is nicer because you end up with a clean (not upgraded) w2003 DC. But an upgrade is fine for a temporary environment. |
Make it as simple as you can, but not simpler -- Albert Einstein |
Edited by - wkasdo on 10/24/2008 03:11:29 AM |
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ptwilliams
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
United Kingdom
4401 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 10/24/2008 : 04:49:17 AM
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In addition, you might want to use a VM for the actual upgrade and then add new physical 2003 machines with clean builds, i.e. create an NT4 VM, upgrade that to 2003, and then inroduce freshly built 2003 physical servers and demote and disjoin the VM.
Also, if all clients are NT4 workstations you don't need to worry about DNS however I'm amazed you don't have WINS. I know it'll work with broadcast, but WINS would make things a lot faster. Stick WINS on the new 2003 machine and configure everything in the domain to use it. Only NT5x systems require DNS (so the DC itself *must* have it).
Make sense? |
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NT domain upgrade to 2003
