QuazzieM
asked on
Joining / Merging 2 companies AD's
Hey guys,
Really hoping you guys can help me out here..
Our company has just been bought out by another and I have been asked to look at and prepare a document on how to join the 2 AD domains together.
I believe that both AD forests are at 2003 level and both companies run an internal Exchange 2010 server.
I've never had to deal with something like this so I am looking forward to the challenge. From my brief readings it seems that there are a few ways to go about this and are based on what outcome you want to achieve.
If someone has had to do a similar thing, could you be so kind in giving me some info on the pro/con of the different methods and any link to materiels you used for the process
Thanks
Really hoping you guys can help me out here..
Our company has just been bought out by another and I have been asked to look at and prepare a document on how to join the 2 AD domains together.
I believe that both AD forests are at 2003 level and both companies run an internal Exchange 2010 server.
I've never had to deal with something like this so I am looking forward to the challenge. From my brief readings it seems that there are a few ways to go about this and are based on what outcome you want to achieve.
If someone has had to do a similar thing, could you be so kind in giving me some info on the pro/con of the different methods and any link to materiels you used for the process
Thanks
ASKER
That's the million dollar question ATM. I've gone back to my new CIO and requested some clarification as to what the really want to achieve from the process.
I asked if they simply want each site to be able authenticate against each other. So that users from each forest have the ability to log into either sites Terminal servers or if they want to consume our forest into there's. I cant see them wanting to create another new domain forest as they are lot bigger then us.
From what I can tell, doing a 2 way forest trust should allow for users from both sites to authenticate and access things like terminal servers and I believe this is what they'll want, as I believe we'll still operate as single entity, but they'll just need access to our systems (once I join the two Telstra MPLS networks)
My only real concern for this is the exchange side of things.
I asked if they simply want each site to be able authenticate against each other. So that users from each forest have the ability to log into either sites Terminal servers or if they want to consume our forest into there's. I cant see them wanting to create another new domain forest as they are lot bigger then us.
From what I can tell, doing a 2 way forest trust should allow for users from both sites to authenticate and access things like terminal servers and I believe this is what they'll want, as I believe we'll still operate as single entity, but they'll just need access to our systems (once I join the two Telstra MPLS networks)
My only real concern for this is the exchange side of things.
How big are the two companies?
ASKER
We have about 500 AD users and about 400 Exchange mailboxes and over 1200 PC's
Them I have nfi.. I would presume a lot more.
From what I can tell, they simply just need to be able to authenticate against our domain, so that they can log into our Terminal servers and what not from their location.
I don't think they will want to consume the company as they've bought out multiple companies and they still operate under there original names once this new conglomerate buys them out.
Them I have nfi.. I would presume a lot more.
From what I can tell, they simply just need to be able to authenticate against our domain, so that they can log into our Terminal servers and what not from their location.
I don't think they will want to consume the company as they've bought out multiple companies and they still operate under there original names once this new conglomerate buys them out.
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ASKER
OK so the CIO finally got back to me.
It seems that they want a simple solution, which is the ability for AD user accounts from either domain to be able to log in and access Terminal servers and what not.
It seems that they want a simple solution, which is the ability for AD user accounts from either domain to be able to log in and access Terminal servers and what not.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askds/archive/2010/06/19/admt-3-2-released.aspx
also be aware that the new ADMT is coming out in Q1 2014, the ds team just blogged about it on Fri
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askds/archive/2013/12/13/an-update-for-admt-and-a-few-other-things-too.aspx
Having said that there are also third party migration tools like Quest that are a bit more mature. Quest is not cheap but you should at least look at it.
Setup a lab and start testing migrations.
Do they want you all to migrate into their infrastructure or build a new infrastructure and migrate the two into that?
Thanks
Mike