cyberfool
asked on
Upgrading from NT to Win2k - Domain environment - PDC, BDC, DC.
I'm sure I'm the last person on the planet that is still running NT. I need to get away from it.
I have a single domain system. We have 2 sites. The main site has about 18 workstations, a mix of XP Pro & Win 2k wkstations. It also has a Win NT PDC (A), a Win NT BDC (B) & a Win 2k Server (C).
The remote site has 3 workstations running XP Pro & one NT BDC (D), and one Win2k server (E).
I want to stop using NT, however A, the current PDC and D, the remote BDC, do not have the resources to run Win2K server. I plan on retiring these 2 computers when the transition is done. The machine B does have the resources to run Win2kSrv.
Machine A is the fileserver. We have a log-in script that each user runs to map various shares on A to drive letters.
Machine C has a RAID installed. I don't have the NT device drivers to install NT on that device. I have created equivalent shares on machine C and copied the files from machine A to machine C.
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So how do I move forwared? I don't like the idea of installing Win2kSrv over top of a Win NT Srv installation. I'd rather start with a new disk, if possible.
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My thought would be to do a dcpromo on the Win2kSrv, copy a fresh version of the data files stored on A to C. Then shutdown and remove A from the network. Upgrade B to Win2k. Run dcpromo on E, the shutdown machine D.
But my question is, if I do a dcpromo of C, then will it will be running in emulation mode, will it insist on being PDC? If so, will A, the current PDC demote itself to BDC when machine C insists on being PDC?
If I had to, I could just start another domain and move all the workstations over to that domain. Does that make for a cleaner transfer? I'm looking for specific steps to take in the specific sequence.
I have a single domain system. We have 2 sites. The main site has about 18 workstations, a mix of XP Pro & Win 2k wkstations. It also has a Win NT PDC (A), a Win NT BDC (B) & a Win 2k Server (C).
The remote site has 3 workstations running XP Pro & one NT BDC (D), and one Win2k server (E).
I want to stop using NT, however A, the current PDC and D, the remote BDC, do not have the resources to run Win2K server. I plan on retiring these 2 computers when the transition is done. The machine B does have the resources to run Win2kSrv.
Machine A is the fileserver. We have a log-in script that each user runs to map various shares on A to drive letters.
Machine C has a RAID installed. I don't have the NT device drivers to install NT on that device. I have created equivalent shares on machine C and copied the files from machine A to machine C.
~~
So how do I move forwared? I don't like the idea of installing Win2kSrv over top of a Win NT Srv installation. I'd rather start with a new disk, if possible.
~~~
My thought would be to do a dcpromo on the Win2kSrv, copy a fresh version of the data files stored on A to C. Then shutdown and remove A from the network. Upgrade B to Win2k. Run dcpromo on E, the shutdown machine D.
But my question is, if I do a dcpromo of C, then will it will be running in emulation mode, will it insist on being PDC? If so, will A, the current PDC demote itself to BDC when machine C insists on being PDC?
If I had to, I could just start another domain and move all the workstations over to that domain. Does that make for a cleaner transfer? I'm looking for specific steps to take in the specific sequence.
ASKER
Win 2003 server is not an option. We have purchased Win 2k server for the machines and the upgrade cost is not in the budget.
But to get from NT to W2k, I suppose that I would do the following:
1) Shutdown the NT PDC (A)
2) promote the B machine from BDC to PDC.
3) Install Win2k on machine B.
4) dcpromo the machine C
5) dcpromo the remote machine E
6) shutdown remote machine D.
Is this a viable upgrade path?
But to get from NT to W2k, I suppose that I would do the following:
1) Shutdown the NT PDC (A)
2) promote the B machine from BDC to PDC.
3) Install Win2k on machine B.
4) dcpromo the machine C
5) dcpromo the remote machine E
6) shutdown remote machine D.
Is this a viable upgrade path?
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Then I would *strongly* recommend against upgrading to W2k. W2k is discontinued, and apart from security hotfixes, you will get no support for it anymore unless you pay dearly for it. There just is no point in moving to a W2k AD anymore. Move to W2k3, which still allows a direct upgrade path from NT4 (yes, I've upgraded NT4 domains to W2k3 without any problems).
You could create a temporary PDC on a current workstation using Virtual Server or any other flavor or VM supporting NT4 as guest, upgrade this machinto to W2k3, then dcpromo a fresh install of W2k3 on a real server into the upgraded domain, move the roles, and demote and shutdown the temporary client.