We have a Novell 6 network of about 150 schools that each have one or more servers. We have an Exchange 2003 Active Directory that contains email accounts for all users so all users already have Active directory accounts. We will EVENTUALLY be migrating all the school servers to Windows 2003 servers (or Vista servers, by the time the district gets around to it). Have any of you folks done Novell to Active directory migrations? What are the major gotchas? Since the base Active directory is already in place, managed by the Microsoft dept., a lot of the design decisions are already made. Note: There are a few MS folks at the central admin site, but most of the LAN Engineers who handle the schools are Novell folks, with a bit of MS experience.
Currently we have 2 central Novell servers that hold the main copies of the edirectory partions. The high schools have a read write replica so that even if the t1 goes down, they can still login. If the t1 to a middle school or elementary goes down, the users cannot authenticate so no login is possible. This was done for replication traffic considerations. Fortunately the t1s are pretty stable. There will be at least on server in each of 150 schools, 2 or more at the high schools (say about 15 -20 high schools). What would be the be the best way to set up A.D replication in this scenrio?
Points I have questions about:
What is the best third party utility to migrate objects other than users and files (MS tools handle that)? (I'm currently looking at Quests NDS Migrator, pricey though)
Can objects ( such as printers, groups )be LDAP exported from eDirectory than perhaps LDAP or ADSI imported into a specific OU in active directory? Is there a better way to migrate objects other than users and files?
What is the best way to automate the computer account creation in active directory?
We are not quite to the planning stage, but when they get there I want to be knowledgable enough to be able to to offer my services (thereby making myself even more valuable to them). I already can do edirectory account manipulation through ldap exports -> perl script text file manipulation -> ldap imports. I plan to study ADSI scripting. Are there any other subjects that I should bone up on to help automate the transition? I'd like to do as much as possible through scripting so as not to pay Quest Migrator $10 a head for 15,000 users
