Join existing domain or create forest?

[Tony414]

Hello,
I have a question involving domain naming. Here is an example. If I have 5 seperate 2003 servers and each are their own domaain. Can I change it so that it's one domain and the other 4 are childs? Thanks for the help.

Tony

 

[MrGeek]

IF you are running windows 2003 yes. Use the Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Domain Rename Tool.


The Geek


Dont be afraid to share what you know. There are no losers in our arena, only self rightous monkeys atop their own tree.

 

[markdmac]

How many forests do you currently have?

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[Tony414]

I have 4. I will be creating a new one and want the others to be childs of the new one. Is this possible?

 

[markdmac]

Sure, but you will first need to demote those machines to standalone servers to remove AD. Then re-run DCPROMO again to make them members of the same forest and DCs for a new domain in that forest.

Why though do you wish to do this? Most organizations only require a single domain thanks to OUs. How many users do you have?

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[Tony414]

The reason I am doing this is because when I first installed 2003 I created 4 machines all their own domain. I was new to this so I really didn't know what I was doing. As you can see I still don't Now I want to create one domain and have the other to be childs. Isn't that the way I should do it?

Thanks,
Tony

 

[markdmac]

I would need to know more about your needs. How many users do you have. How many admins? How many locations? Do you need to delegate admin rights?

More likely than not, you only need one single domain and could have multiple DCs for that domain. Create OUs to mimic your organizational structure and move users into those OUs.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[Tony414]

First off. Thanks for the help with this. It's really appreciated.

1.) Not many users. About 100-150.
2.) 2 Admin (1 is myself)
3.) 5 locations (all connected by point-to-point T1's)
4.) I don't need to delegate admin rights.

 

[markdmac]

Are all of the servers in one location or spread out among different locations?

Assuming you have a server at each location since the numbers match.

I would put them all in one domain with a DC at each location. Make each DC also a GC. You will not have to worry about authenticating across the WAN that way. Setup 5 sites in AD with a DC in each site.

Read up on setting up sites through AD Sites & Services.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[Tony414]

2 are located at my site and 3 are at other locations. Back to my initial questions. When I first put these in place I really didn't know what I was doing. I created each with their own domain. So your saying I can do this?

"Sure, but you will first need to demote those machines to standalone servers to remove AD. Then re-run DCPROMO again to make them members of the same forest and DCs for a new domain in that forest.

 

[markdmac]

If you are hell bent on having multiple domains, yes you can do that. I don't advise it based on your circumstances.

As I mentioned above I would move them all to the same domain and simply move the servers to new sites for the ones that are at a different physical location.

You still need to DCPROMO the servers down to standalone to join them to the forest you plan to keep. Then after that you run DCPROMO again and make them DCs in the EXISTING DOMAIN in the EXISTING FOREST.

Go into AD Sites & Services. RIght click on Sites and choose New Site. Make a new site for your remote locations. Select the IP Transport and give your new site a name. THen follow the onsccreen to do list such as mving a DC to that site and adding thhe subnet for it.



I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[Tony414]

Thanks for the info. No I am not hell bent on that. I'm sure it's just the way I'm explaining it. Your explaination is the way I want it. Thank you!

 

[markdmac]

Let us know how you make out when you start the conversions. I suggest first making the sites in the forest you plan to keep.

Then create your machine accounts in AD Users & Computers and move the accounts into the respective sites. When you join the domain the machines will link to the precreated account and already be configured for their respective sites. Then all you need to do is the DCPROMO.

You don't mention if you have Exchange, but going the route I have suggested will allow you to host Exchange at your main location for all the sites using a single mail server. So there are added benefits to this kind of implementation.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[foadah]

I am in a simliar situation. I have 2 sites, siteA.com has 2 DCs, an Exchange server and 500 Users. SiteB.com has 1 DC and 200 users. All of siteA.com's users have 1 account, while siteB.com's users have an account in siteB.com for logging on to machines, accessing shares, etc. and they have an account in siteA.com for email only.
Is it possible to move user accounts across domains in anyway that is even remotely simple?

 

[markdmac]

Using ADMT you could create accounts, migrate passwords and computers and preserve SID history.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript