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2000 PDC?

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by bc42bike

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Is it possible to have a 2000 Server be a PDC or do I have to bring it online as domain controller with active directory?

9 replies

by petemcc

In w2k there is no PDC/ BDC, it's either a domain controller or not and all DC's are peers. You have to run dcpromo to create a domain controller and that will by default install active directory. You can certainly add it as a member server to an existing domain, say for file/print, web, application services, etc. without installing AD. If you have an existing NT domain, you need to follow specific procedures to add a w2k box as a Domain Controller.

by petemcc

I guess the particular answer to your question is no, you can't install 2k on the new box and then bring it online as a DC, that will create conflicts with the existing NT PDC.
In a migration you need to upgrade your PDC first. A W2k DC and NT BDC's will coexist in a mixed mode domain. If you do the upgrade it's recommended to sync a BDC and take it off line as a backup that can be promoted to PDC in the event something goes wrong. If the new box needs to be a W2k DC, you'll want to install NTon it, promote it to PDC, then upgrade to w2k. This is a good article on NT to w2k:

http://www.winntmag.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=7967

by bc42bike

Here is the situation, currently my PDC is NT4, there are 2000 servers installed currently in the domain. I need to order a new server and make it the the domain controller. I do not want to do a complete migration to 2000 Active Directory at thistime, planned for later. Is it possible to have only the new server be a domain controller
with the existing NT domain, of course the current NT 4 PDC would be rebuilt as a 2000 member server.

by netuser

No. PDC is only exists in NT. Just leave it as NT until you are ready with your new server where you can install the w2k server. Then if you decide not to migrate your NT yet, then run w2k server in a mixed mode and make your NT as a member.

by derek schauland

You can still introduce BDC/PDC type systems (for use as backups) into your AD domain. You would need to leave them as member servers however, making them DCs in the active directory eliminates the PDC/BDC methodology.

The roles of the PDC/BDC are now handled by DCs in the form of the flexible operations master roles. These are things that in an NT network would be handled by the PDC and that can only be handled by one system so the FSMO roles are available in certain instances some at theForest level and some at the Domain level. This means that for all the Domains in your forest these domain wide FSMO roles will be present. Where as the Forest wide FSMO roles are only present once in the forest.

I hope this helps

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