NT to 2003 Server

[madrino]

Hello,

Thank you for reading my post.

I have a client/Friend that is upgrading his NT4 Server box to Windows 2003 server. Here is his setup.

NT1: Windows NT4
PDC
DHCP Server
File Server
This is the server he wants to replace with with the new windows 2003 server. Which will also become the DNS server.


NT3: Windows Server 2000
Wins Server
Runs our Veritas Backup Software backing up to 8MM Tape library
Mac File Server

WEB: Windows Server 2000
DNS Server
This server is going away but he wants to copy the DNS files over to the new windows 2003 server.


Proxy : Windows NT4
Microsoft Proxy Server
This server is going to go away

WEB: Windows Server 2000
Domino Server

Here is my question

Can we make the name of the new server NT1 just like the server that we are replacing? We am assuming we will either need to demote it to BDC so we can still copy the files or should we just copy the file server files over to the new server and then just remove it from the domain totally?

Do I need to copy the DNS files off the old server?

He is also worried that if we copy the files from the file server that the excel spreadsheets will get messed up because they are all linked together.

Should I run WINS on the new Windows 2003 server or just leave the W2K server running WINS?

Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Madrino

 

[Jpoandl]

This is what I would do... Take a phased approach. I would do a in place upgrade of the domain as instead of a migration. Its just much easier and takes less time.

1) Build new server. Install Windows NT 4.0

2) Make the new server a BDC of the current NT 4 domain.

3) Promote this server new BDC to PDC. (This will automatically make the PDC file server as BDC.) Normally you would now take the old PDC offline and save this in case of problems...but you can't because this server is a file server too.)

4) In place upgrade the NEW PDC to Windows 2000/2003. the clean OS will be upgraded to the latest software. Your domain will be upgraded to Windows 2000/2003.

5) Migrate your domain services (DNS, WINS [still needed for Non-2K/2K3 machines would be nice to have more than one server to provide all of these services for redundancy...), DHCP, etc.

6) migrate your DNS records (you probably only have a few of them...so you can probably just manually recreate the records that your need.)

7) repoint every client machine to in DHCP to use the new Windows 2000/2003 DNS server. (very important for AD authentication.

Now you have your domain upgraded and all clients are working in the Windows 2000/2003 MIXED MODE domain. You were able to accomplish this without worrying about the data so all excel links and what not are still working.

The next phase is to migrate the data on the BDC (old PDC). The nice thing about this method is that you don't have to do everything at once... I would setup a new Windows 2000/2003 server. Xcopy, robocopy, etc the data to the new server, resetup the shares, and remove the BDC from the network and rename the new server as the BDC's name.

-later

Joseph L. Poandl
MCSE 2003

If your company is in need of experts to examine technical problems/solutions, please check out

http://www.NJCOMPUTERNETWORKS.com

(Sales@njcomputernetworks.com)

 

[madrino]

Jpoandl thank you so much for your advice. I still have a couple of questions

Is it possible to pull the NT PDC off line and install the windows 2003 server using same DHCP settings and IP's and same domain name?

Basically I would be pulling the NT machine off the network config the 2oo3 server to use the same IP and DHCP scope for clients and config the 2003 server to use the same domain name and host name. Is this possible or am I just dreaming? I really can't do much with the NT PDC because the server is on its last leg.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks you,

Madrino