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NT -> 2003

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by cmptrwhz

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Hi All,

Got a quick question for you. I am going to be upgrading the domain from NT 4 to 2003 and implementing AD and Group Policy. My question is : The current PDC and BDC for the NT Domain are going away (the machines are physically being replaced) -- what is the easiest way to get all of the users, computers, etc... migrated over without having the PDC and new DC conflict with each other? It is that I have to turn off the PDC and install the new DC and set it some how to get the info from the BDC?

Any thoughts would be great.

Thanks.
Mike

9 replies

by david.korte

Install the new server as a stand alone server. Upgrade the BDC to 2003 (using the upgrade tools included with 2003). Once the BDC is upgraded to 2003 and on the same domain as the NEW stand alone server. Run "dcpromo" on the NEW server. This will migrate all the data to the new server. Make sure you keep the PDC in tacked and off the network during the upgrade as a backup.

by david.korte

Also, check out this link for the official Windows NT Server 4.0 Upgrade Guide http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/partners/isvs/ntmigrate.mspx

by sativocomputerservices

Install the new server with 2003 and join it to the existing domain. This will replicate all the domain information. Turn off your old servers and test authentication. This will keep all the GUIDS the same for your remote machines. If all goes well, you can migrate the data from the old boxes to the new one if there is any. There are some shareware programs that can migrate shares while keeping permissions intact. Otherwise the move should be easy. Just keep those old boxes handy in case Bill Gates has anything up his sleeve during the installation on the new server!

Glad to hear you are moving away from NT4, this move in the long run should make your job much easier! Good Luck!

by mikelazz

The absolute best way is: install NT on one of the servers as a BDC. Promote it to a PDC. upgrade to win2k3. Check out this forum that microsoft has set up for just such an occassion: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/community/newsgroups/operatingsystems/default.mspx

This is their reccomended method.

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