Domain Split
Situation
ABC Group contains 3 companies - CompanyA, CompanyB and CompanyC
Single forest exists with CompanyA as the root - CompanyA.com
CompanyB and CompanyC exist as additional domains in the forest, setup as CompanyB.com and CompanyC.com. Each company has its own site
They each receive email on their respective domains.
CompanyA and CompanyB have had virtualisation introduced, there Exchange has been upgraded to 2010 and Windows 2008 DC's exist at each site. CompanyC is still on Exchange 2003 - mail flows internally.
Each site is connected via site to site VPN.
CompanyB and CompanyC have been bought by another Company (Company X). They need to be split up from CompanyA into their own Company forest, they will NOT become part of Company X's forest whatsoever. CompanyB will be the primary site.
So, I need to split this network. My first idea was ADMT which I have used before albeit doing an NT to 2003 migration.
However I have been considering a more severe option.
Ensure that the Admin in Company B is a member of Ent and Schema admins groups for the forest and let this replicate.
Cut off the network access between CompanyA and CompanyB/C
Seize the roles at CompanyB, restart the Exchange services.
Remove all references of Company A from DNS, sites and services and perform a metadata cleanup.
At CompanyC perform the same action, although I would ideally like the roles to go to CompanyB as the new forest root
Remove all remnants of CompanyA
Company A - perform a cleanup
Anyone have any experience with this option? The effect on Exchange? any pitfalls?....
I will be administering all companies after the split
ABC Group contains 3 companies - CompanyA, CompanyB and CompanyC
Single forest exists with CompanyA as the root - CompanyA.com
CompanyB and CompanyC exist as additional domains in the forest, setup as CompanyB.com and CompanyC.com. Each company has its own site
They each receive email on their respective domains.
CompanyA and CompanyB have had virtualisation introduced, there Exchange has been upgraded to 2010 and Windows 2008 DC's exist at each site. CompanyC is still on Exchange 2003 - mail flows internally.
Each site is connected via site to site VPN.
CompanyB and CompanyC have been bought by another Company (Company X). They need to be split up from CompanyA into their own Company forest, they will NOT become part of Company X's forest whatsoever. CompanyB will be the primary site.
So, I need to split this network. My first idea was ADMT which I have used before albeit doing an NT to 2003 migration.
However I have been considering a more severe option.
Ensure that the Admin in Company B is a member of Ent and Schema admins groups for the forest and let this replicate.
Cut off the network access between CompanyA and CompanyB/C
Seize the roles at CompanyB, restart the Exchange services.
Remove all references of Company A from DNS, sites and services and perform a metadata cleanup.
At CompanyC perform the same action, although I would ideally like the roles to go to CompanyB as the new forest root
Remove all remnants of CompanyA
Company A - perform a cleanup
Anyone have any experience with this option? The effect on Exchange? any pitfalls?....
I will be administering all companies after the split
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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It isn't possible to remove the root domain, so it will have to remain forever more, unless you do a cross forest migration to a new Forest.
FSMO roles are not Forest specific, some are domain specific. Therefore you can never remove all FSMO roles from the forest domain.
Simon.
FSMO roles are not Forest specific, some are domain specific. Therefore you can never remove all FSMO roles from the forest domain.
Simon.
ASKER
Thanks for clarifying...one more question
As the current CompanyA domain is in a seperate site on a separate subnet would you adjust to fit the CompanyB domain or setup a VLAN in the CompanyB domain to keep the current settings in place?..
As the current CompanyA domain is in a seperate site on a separate subnet would you adjust to fit the CompanyB domain or setup a VLAN in the CompanyB domain to keep the current settings in place?..
You could just change the IP configuration to bring it in house. That wouldn't be a problem.
Simon.
Simon.
ASKER
Would I ever be able to remove that root or is it a case that it must exist for ever more?
If I follow your method would it be viable to transfer the FSMO roles that don't exist in CompanyB/C and then remove all CompanyA references?....Therefore shifting the forest root...