replacing windows 2000 server with new machine

[johnnsuk]

I need to replace a windows 2000 server with a brand new machine- then take the original off the network.

Does anyone know the best route I should take to achieve this ?


thanks

 

[NickFerrar]

It depends on what services the server is providing. If it's just a file server then it's simple, if it's a domain controller or hosting DNS/WINS etc it's trickier. I'm assuming you want the replacement server to have the same name as the outgoing one (eventually)?

 

[johnnsuk]

Yes it's a domain controller, dns server,wins server -it will require the same name - eventually.

 

[Antony13]

In my mind, the easiest way to do this is to get your hands on a spare server if you can. I'm assuming you only have one domain controller in your domain otherwise this is a lot easier. This method actually requires very little outage as most of the work can be done beforehand.

Build the spare server as another domain controller in the same domain. As long as your DNS zones are all AD integrated, then this will replicate your AD database and DNS zones to this new domain controller. If not, you will need to set up a secondary zone for each DNS namespace on this new server. Next, install WINS and set the two databases to replicate with each other.

Next, build your new server with Windows 2000, but don't promote it to a DC yet.

Now, when you are ready for outage, firstly, take a full backup of the domain controller. Then, simply promote all the DNS zones that were not AD integrated from secondary to primary on your spare server, stop the WINS service on your old server and then remove the replication between the WINS servers. Now demote the DC to a member server and then shut the machine down. This should clean up any references in the DNS and WINS tables on your spare server with that server name, but I would check them just to make sure.

Now, rename the new Windows 2000 server to have the same name as your old server did and then promote it to be a domain controller in the same domain. Again, your AD database and any AD integrated DNS zones will be replicated automatically to the new server. For any standard zones, recreate secondary copies on the new server and promote them to primary. Now install WINS on the new server and again replicate the databases between the two servers. Your new server now has the same name as the old one and all the relevant information.

Finally, clean up by removing any WINS replication and stopping the WINS service on the spare server and then demote the machine back to a member server.

Obviously, if you already have a second domain controller, you can bypass a few steps just by using it as a WINS server temporarily. You could also do the whole lot without any outage if you tinker with the DHCP settings if this is an issue as well, but the beauty is, you can quite easily use a desktop as a spare server while you're doing this since it's not going to be receiving any requests from clients, it's just holding the databases.

Cheers, Antony