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Replacing NT PDS with a Win 2000 server

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I need some help. I have a old NT 4.0 PDS and I need to replace this with a new computer with windows 2000 server. Making this the PDS. What will happen to the backup server also running NT? How do I migrate the user accounts and what will happen to the SAMS system. Any advice greatly apreciated

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Re: Replacing NT PDS with a Win 2000..

In reply to Replacing NT PDS with a Win 2000 server

If you have NT4 (or older) clients and/or Other NT-servers on the same network your new server will need to run in mixed mode, pretending to be a pdc. With windows 2000 and active driectory there is no longer PDC and SDC’s, they are all DC’s replicating in a multi master model.
My personal opinion after using w2k for a while is that if you can afford it, upgrade all NT servers and clients to 2000 and run native mode active directory. (Windows 95/98 clients can talk to w2k in native AD mode with a simple and free client sowftare package, NT can not)
If you have to run in mixed mode, I don’t know too much about it, I trashed that idea pretty fast when I upgraded mysefl.
No matter what solution you are going for, I suggest you buy W2K server resource kit and read the deployment guides, it goes pretty good into details about all preparements you need to do. normally I don’t suggest MS press books because they are written by and for MS-confident users, but I do suggest you get that pileof res-kit books.
I also bought O’reilly’s “Windows 2000 Active Directory”, that one helped me quite a bit on solving some issues, and understanding how to take advantage of AD.

replacing NT with 2000

In reply to Re: Replacing NT PDS with a Win 2000..

All that I scraped together. But what happens if I now scrap the NT PDC and startup the network. Which will now take over as I have another NT BPDC running Exchange and IIS. Can I make the 2000 the PDC. How does the NT BPDC see the 2000 PDC

replacing NT with 2000

In reply to replacing NT with 2000

I don’t have expreience in your situation.
Generally, Yes, your new server can be a PDC running in mixed mode.
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Look in the w2k server res kit book
“Deployment planning guide”,
page 179 tells you what can be done and what can not, e.g. You must replace the PDC before anything else, which I guess means there should be no big problems. The pages before that generlizes server functions compabilit/issues, the pages after describes member servers and clients.
Application compabilites on page326, might not be relevant.
If you have two BDC’s, a good way to have full recovery is described on page 332,
page 335 describes the mixed mode you will be running.
As far as I can see there shoudl be no direct problems, just be sure to choose “pre-windows” compability during your installation, and mixed mode, do not start active directory (unless you need it). You probably don’t need it as a DNS server, you might need it as a wins server (?), all that is pretty simple to set up in w2k.
Take one BDC offline, take the old PDC offline, put your w2k online and see what work and what doesn’t, if it fails, put the pdc and bdc back in?

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