<div>
You can make the 2000 server in the remote office as an additional DC for your network. That is fine. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/238369" rel="ugc nofollow">http://support.microsoft.com/kb/238369</a>&nbsp;explains this. Look for the fourth solution in the article.
</div>


<div>
Ok, would I then change the DNS settings in each remote office to point to the local 2000 servers?<br />
<br />
Are there no 'issues' with the main DC being 2003?
</div>


<div>
You can use the 2000 server edition if you haven't raised your forest functional level to 2003. You can only use 2003 editions if your Forest Functional level isn't 2003.
</div>


<div>
Sorry forgot to attach.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.petri.co.il/understanding_function_levels_in_windows_2003_ad.htm" rel="ugc">http://www.petri.co.il/understanding_function_levels_in_windows_2003_ad.htm</a>
</div>


<div>
Yes. You can even run DNS and DHCP on the 2000 DC that you are about to create. Then create a new DHCP scope for the remote network with the local DNS. You can configure forwarders on the local 2000 DNS to point to the headoffice DNS.<br />
<br />
Even if you don't do this, things will work. But, if your link between the offices break, then everything will stop. So, it will be better to have a local DC, DNS, DHCP on the 2000 server.
</div>


<div>
Rajith_Enchiparambil<br />
<br />
You can't install a 2000 Server on a 2003 Forest Functional Level. 
</div>


<div>
Its because the Dc at the main office is probably the only global catalog server.<br />
When this machine goes down all lookups for network resouces in AD goes down.<br />
Also dns lookups will fail - my suggestion would be to make the other files servers DC's and then make them GC's.<br />
Also make sure that you set up active diectory sites and services so that local clients use the local domain controller instead of crossing the wan
</div>


<div>
Yes Darius. <br />
<br />
We can't install 2000 DC in a 2003 Forest functional level. But, Davenporturt hasn't said that he has 2003 forest functional level.<br />
<br />
That will be a good question for Davenporturt !!!
</div>


<div>
I have confirmed that the functional level is in fact 2000 so I can make the servers in each remote location secondary DCs. &nbsp;Right now, I have the routers in the respective offices doing DHCP, using the main DC as the DNS server. &nbsp;I guess once the local servers are backup DCs I can change the DNS to point to the 2000 server in each location so that if the link does go down, i wont lose connectivity to the local resources. &nbsp;Do I have to make each of the servers at the remote locations Global Catalog servers as well?
</div>


<div>
Davenportuk, please close the question if you have found the solution.
</div>


<div>
Does using the Accept Solution button close the question? &nbsp; Sorry, new to the forum.
</div>


<div>
<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
All,<br />
<br />
I have a customer that has three different locations, all of which connected by a point-to-point. &nbsp;The main office houses the DC, which is running Windows 2003. &nbsp;Each satelite office has an Windows 2000 server but they are only doing file sharing. &nbsp;The other day, the connection to the main office went down and no one was able to access any network resources, even though in the remote locations, the resources are local.<br />
<br />
My question is, can I make the 2000 boxes be a secondary DC for the main one to avoid this happening in the future?
</div>
</div>


All,

I have a customer that has three different locations, all of which connected by a point-to-point.  The main office houses the DC, which is running Windows 2003.  Each satelite office has an Windows 2000 server but they are only doing file sharing.  The other day, the connection to the main office went down and no one was able to access any network resources, even though in the remote locations, the resources are local.

My question is, can I make the 2000 boxes be a secondary DC for the main one to avoid this happening in the future?

Secondary DC

The Microsoft Server topic includes all of the legacy versions of the operating system, including the Windows NT 3.1, NT 3.5, NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 and Windows Home Server versions.

Microsoft Server OS

Active Directory (AD) is a Microsoft brand for identity-related capabilities. In the on-premises world, Windows Server AD provides a set of identity capabilities and services, and is hugely popular (88% of Fortune 1000 and 95% of enterprises use AD). This topic includes all things Active Directory including DNS, Group Policy, DFS, troubleshooting, ADFS, and all other topics under the Microsoft AD and identity umbrella.

Active Directory

Windows Server 2003 was based on Windows XP and was released in four editions: Web, Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter. It also had derivative versions for clusters, storage and Microsoft’s Small Business Server. Important upgrades included integrating Internet Information Services (IIS), improvements to Active Directory (AD) and Group Policy (GP), and the migration to Automated System Recovery (ASR).