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windows 2000 AD with a NT 4 PDC

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by jhicks

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Have a customer that has 2 NT 4 servers. 1 server is the PDC of the domain. This server only functions as the PDC and does not need to remain on the network. There is also no desire from the customer to upgrade this server to 2000. The 2nd was astand alone server that I upgraded to Windows 2000. On the 2000 server I need to upgrade Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2000. In order to upgrade Exchange, the 2000 server needs to be running Active Directory. Is there any way to run Active Directory on the 2000 server under the NT 4 domain? I want to keep all the NT 4 Domain settings in tact. Can I setup the 2000 server with the existing domain settings while the NT PDC is down? Then bring up the NT server and demote it to a BDC? Any suggestions to accomplish this would be greatly appreciated. Remember that the NT 4 PDC server can Disapear after the 2000 server comes up as the Domain Controller. It does not run anything needed for this company and can therefore be brought down after the 2000 server assumes Domain COntroller.

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by timwalsh

Some MUST FOLLOW rules for AD:

1. An NT4 PDC CANNOT exist in a Win2K AD domain.
2. A Win2K Domain Controller (DC) CANNOT exist in an NT4 domain.
3. To migrate a domain from NT4 to Win2K, you MUST install Win2K (and AD) on an NT4 PDC (cannot be done on a BDC.
4. NT4 BDCs CAN exist in a Win2K domain.
5. Installing AD on any Win2K server creates a DC.

By far, the easiest way to accomplish a migration when the existing PDC cannot be upgraded to meet Win2K minimum hardware requirements, or will be retired, is to install NT4 on the new server as a BDC, promote to PDC, and then install Win2K.

Since you have Exchange running on your intended sole DC, you need to take a slightly more circuitous route.

Install Win2K and AD on your present PDC (assuming it meets minimum requirements). Once you have created your Win2K AD domain (and it is working properly), you can then install AD on your intended sole DC. Once both DCs have synchronized, you can transfer the FSMO roles from your original PDC to the the other DC. Once this has been accomplished, you can retire your original PDC.

One note on your installation:

There is no requirement for AD to exist on the server running Exchange 2000. It only needs to be available somewhere in the domain.

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