We have a small NT4+Exchange5.5 network and we're planning on upgrading to win2k or win2k3 AD and Exch2000/2003. The previous IT manager didn't know nt4 very well and it's really messed up. A single PDC (no BDC/WINS/etc) with Exch5.5 running on it too. It's an old machine with not much RAM or CPU.
Anyway, I get to move us to AD and I'm trying to decide the best way to handle this. On the one hand, it'd be easy to do an in place upgrade and just upgrade the PDC/Exch5.5 box to win2k(3) and then join a new DC later. It's a small network with few servers, workstations and printers. Then, I could build new hardware and replace DC's and Member servers slowly over time.
On the other hand, since the old network is terribly misconfigured, it'd be nice to start over with a nice clean pristine AD environment and start over, so to speak. I could build a whole new AD environment on new hardware. Replication would be needed here but it's a lot more work compared to an in place upgrade and the network IS very small.
Would an in place upgrade be ok here or am I just overthinking the whole thing? We're only talking about 3 servers and 20 workstations.
TIA,
FredUG
Anyway, I get to move us to AD and I'm trying to decide the best way to handle this. On the one hand, it'd be easy to do an in place upgrade and just upgrade the PDC/Exch5.5 box to win2k(3) and then join a new DC later. It's a small network with few servers, workstations and printers. Then, I could build new hardware and replace DC's and Member servers slowly over time.
On the other hand, since the old network is terribly misconfigured, it'd be nice to start over with a nice clean pristine AD environment and start over, so to speak. I could build a whole new AD environment on new hardware. Replication would be needed here but it's a lot more work compared to an in place upgrade and the network IS very small.
Would an in place upgrade be ok here or am I just overthinking the whole thing? We're only talking about 3 servers and 20 workstations.
TIA,
FredUG
