Networks

Ask something
Question Locked

Active Directory 2003

0 helpful
6 replies

by em dubyah

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
I need some guidance. I am working at a location which has 2 forests, each with 1 domain. There are no trusts. The desired result is to migrate all accounts from the domain in another forest, then decommissioning that server/domain/forest. I think I stepped in something stinky...

6 replies

by maniacman

Are the 2 forests in Windows 2003, Windows 2000 Native, or Windows mixed mode? If they are both in Windows 2003 mode, which means that all servers are running Windows Server 2003 and nothing less, you can setup forest trusts and then use the Active Directory Migration Tool v3 (ADMT) to move the user and computer accounts over, preserving the SID history and other new and cool things which are native to Windows 2003 native mode. If the functional levels are lower and you still have Windows 2000 or NT4 servers in any of the domain, you'll have to either upgrade them to Windows Server 2003 or decommission them first before you can change the functional level to Windows Server 2003 native.

What you are tasked with is not rocket science and with some guidance and basic fundamentals, you'll accomplish this with ease. I trust you can do it.

by cg it

the stinky part is domains and DNS because AD relies upon DNS to work correctly. 2 forests each with it's own domain usually equates in DNS language to 2 noncontiguous domain namespaces.

so what's the plan with moving and/or consolidating domain namespaces?

by maniacman

Yeah...I see your point. I guess it aint that easy now.

by em dubyah

both domains are Windows 2003. No 2k or NT involved. what confuses me is they (the client)say they want to use DFS to sync-up drives from one domain to the next. i thought that DFS was to create a single access share for endusers from multiple servers/drives, or have i missed something about DFS?

by maniacman

but I don't think DFS works across different domains. I've never really deployed DFS to be honest, so you may have to do some reading on it, but I'm certain that DFS is domain specific and won't cross domain boundaries. DFS is basically to take files and folders from multiple sources and and create a virtual directory structure that can be replicated to multiple DCs' using what's known as the File Replication Service, but I doubt it's to be used for file synchronization among multiple servers. Again, you may want to verify this.

This discussion is closed to new replies.