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unreal400

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Add new 2008 domain conroller into 2003 environment with a exchange living on first controller.

Here is the issue
I have my First domain controller that   is  on  windows 2003 R2  x64(is also my only Exchange 2007 install).     I have  a secondary  domain controller  that  is windows 2003  x86  that I also has the GC on.

I want to add in a new (physical) domain controller 2008 to be my "primary" domain controller.   I also plan to decommision my current secondary domain controller and create a  2  new 2008 domain controller inside my vmware clusters.

I'm not sure what the best recommendation is for what to do about the original first domain controller  running  exchange.   I still want it to be my exchange server but don't need it to be a DC anymore.     I assume if I demote it  my  exchange will get destroyed with it somehow.   Will having that machine as a 2003 domain controller cause me issues  with 2008 AD at all?  

Any suggestions on my best course of action?


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LauraEHunterMVP
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unreal400

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Ya I was thinking    and let me know if there are any flaws in this:

1)Add the new 2008 AD server   as par tof the current domain dc promo  get the settings to transfer off the old controllers ,  set up GC and DNS
2)Add in the secondary VM    AD controllers
3)Create a  Exchange server in a Virtual machine.   My  data is on a Netapp so should be able to transfer the databases easily.  (Not so sure about the settings migration)
4)power down the current  exchange/AD   test everything works
5)Power it back up  old exchange  Demote  it so its out of the list of domain controllers  then remove it from the domain and then just power it down and be running off the new servers.

Is there anything specific I need to do when I add the new 2008 domain controller to make sure all functionality is on it and off the First domain controller in my system besides the GC, DNS?
Aside from what you've already detailed, ensure that your client computers have been updated with the appropriate preferred/alternate DNS servers, since one assumes that they're currently pointing to the IP address of your current DC/Exchange box.

Aside from that, the steps you've outlined seem to be valid - also recommend tha tyou run a dcdiag /v and repadmin /replsum from each DC to confirm that they're not throwing any errors.