I have two forests [file.mail.xxx.com] and [mail.xxx.com] on two different Server 2003 machines. They each have their own FSMO, DNS, DC, and GC. [mail.xxx.com] is also running exchange 2003. The File and Mail servers share a majority of user accounts and groups.
My main goal is to add a new primary DC/GC and have password changes replicate. Since the forests have the same structure… [mail.xxx.com] and [file.mail.xxx.com] could I setup [file.mail.xxx.com] as a child trust and promote the new Domain controller as the primary for [mail.xxx.com]?
Or do I need to merge them into the same forest? If so, is there a suggested path to place these items in the same Forest? My plan was to create a new primary (AD/DC/FSMO/DNS/GC) server based off of [file.mail.xxx.com] and demote the File server. After that I was going to create a new Exchange 2003 server add it to the [File.mail.xxx.com] domain and then restore the mailboxes. If that works I would guess that I need to pre-create any accounts that exist on Mail that do not already exist on File.