Upgarding from NT Domain to 2003 AD Domain

[Barneye]

I currently call my NT domain "IRVINE" it is where we are located. The new 2003 AD domain will be "IRVINE.LOCAL". How will my XP clients attached to the domain react? Will I need to rejoin them to the domain? I hope they will update automatically, as the netbios name and SID are not changing.

Has anyone done this before?

 

[rvnguy]

On the MS site there is substantial resources on this subject

Here are a few of the pertinent links

Microsoft File Server Migration Toolkit

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/upgrading/nt4/tooldocs/msfsc.mspx

Migrating from Windows NT Server 4.0 to Windows Server 2003

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/events/windows2003srv/tnt1-74.mspx

Windows Server 2003 Upgrade Assistance Center

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/upgrading/nt4/upgradeassistance/default.mspx

Smoothing the Migration from NT 4.0 to Windows Server 2003

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2004/jan04/01-28ServerMigration.mspx

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[Barneye]

rvnguy,

Thanks for the links, they are very informative and I have read most of them before. But my question is still unanswered. I would hope to find someone who has done this upgrade and can give a real world perspective.


Thanks again!

Barney

 

[rvnguy]

I have performed several, Server2000, Server2003,& SBS2003.

I am not positive what you are asking, the "real world perspective", from my viewpoint is if you don't approach with a thought out plan and do not follow the step wise migration you can really create a mess.

Insure you have made backups just prior to starting this in case.

Are you a single domain with one office & one DC?

If so this is an easy convert, if multi domain & branch offices it requires a bit more planning.

Do the migration, naming etc., insure that the server is healthy, Start clients & join and it is about that simple.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[Barneye]

I have one Domain with A PDC and 4 BDC's. I built a temp PDC and demoted my PDC to a BDC. I will upgrade the temp PDC to 2003 and install AD and DNS.

As soon as I am sure it is working properly as a PDC emulator, I will do a fresh install of 2003 on the other servers and promote them to DC's (One a week) until I am finished. Then I plan to demote the temp to a member server and remove it from the domain. This should keep my domain intact. I am going step by step from the Microsoft recommendations.


I was just wondering how the XP machines will react. I haven't found much info about the client side of the upgrade. I assume my 98 clients won't even notice a change. I am setting up a test domain to find out myself.