In-place upgrade 2003ADC running DNS/DHCP to 2008ADC

No if you have already done the prep and have 2008 DCs then you can do an inplace upgrade.  I prefer new installations but it should work (as long as you are not going from x32 to x64).  If you were going from 32 bit to 64 bit you can't do an in-place upgrade
Thanks
Mike

Thanks MIke. I normally do like to do new DC's as well but I'm strapped for physcal hardware and VM space as well. Hence the need to do an in-place. I was concerned about DHCP mostly as I haven't seen DHCP in 2008 yet. I'm not really sure a backup would be all that helpful prior to the upgrade because once it's done...it's done!

Dave

Why not demote the server prior doing an inplace upgrade this will make sure you don't corrupt the AD database which has happened to me doing a 2003 to 2008 inplace upgrade of a DC. Demote the server first since you have other DCs on the same domain.

Darius...I want this box to become a DC and doing a demotion then promotion is more time consuming. Do you really feel that an in-place upgrade will be a bad thing if the server is healthy?

in this case if it is healthy and your other DCs are healthy I think in in-place should be ok.  You can always flatten it and rebuild in the future if you need to.

Hold mike if you have other DCs on the network I wouldn't do an inplace upgrade you can corrupt AD just if you did an image of a DC. Trust me if you have more then one DC I wouldn't do an inplace upgrade of a DC.

Now doing an inplace upgrade of a DC is supported and which I have done numerous times from 2000 to 2003. Also, I have done 2003 to 2008 but I have ran into funky issues after doing them when there are multiple domain controllers. When there is one domain controller then I don't see t he funky AD issues afterwards.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732825(WS.10).aspx

I'd definitely go with a flat install first for sure.  I'm not talking about taking an image/snapshot

No, I know what I was saying was that I had the same symptons like when someone imaged a DC then restored the DC on the network when there are multiple DCs on the domain.

Guys,

So, if this 2003ADC has DNS and DHCP running on it I should DEMOTE it to a member server STILL running DNS/DHCP then do the OS upgrade to 2008 and then DCPROMO it back to a DC?

I'm trying to keep DHCP running ok here.

Thanks,
Dave

Yes, that is the way I recommend in a multiple domain controller environment just because of my past experiences. You can proceed with doing an inplace upgrade with the Active Directory Service still running without a demotion if you want it is a supported solution but I always recommend doing a inplace upgrade of a non Domain Controller.