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Mixed and Native Modes and dcpromo

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by slewis

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Hi,

I just started a 6 month job at a company to do some Windows work for them. The company has 4 Windows 2000 server machines with replicated Active Directories. One 2000 server is the master AD and also is running Exchange 2000. My task is to bring up a new Windows 2003 server box and get AD on it.

I?m confused about the difference between Mixed and Native Modes with 2 different aspects.

As I said above there is an Active Directory instance on the exchange box and 3 other Domain Controllers.

When I go into the Active Directory Users and Computers properties it says ?Mixed mode (supports both Windows 2000 and pre-Windows 2000 domain controllers)?. However when I go into the actual Service Manager for exchange on the same Exchange Server box the properties tell me the following: Native Mode (no pre-Exchange 2000 servers).

I?m unsure what the difference is between the two modes in the two different locations on the Exchange box. Does anyone have any clue of what I should do?

I want to bring all of them to Native Mode. Can I just upgrade all 4 of the existing 2000 servers to Native mode in the AD properties? The reason I have to do this is that I have to run the 2003 dcpromo.exe /forestprep on the old Exchange AD to be able to promote the 2003 server to a Domain Controller.

I appreciate any help and direction you can give me.

Thanks in advance,
--
Steve Lewis

3 replies

by Former member

Since you're not running any NT4 servers, Native Mode would be no problem. It's also quite common to see Exchange in Native Mode and the AD still in Mixed Mode.

by cmiller5400

These are pretty basic settings in AD. May I suggest that you read the book "Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment" by Microsoft Press (exam 70-290)?

And may I suggest that you check out http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx There is a lot of useful information there.

But on to your question. If you raise the domain level from Mixed to Native it will do so on all the DC's, no need to change it on all of them. The Exchange mode is separate from the domain level. I suggest that you read up on things before you start changing settings because there are also forest levels to consider as well.

Good Luck in your conversion!!

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