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<blockquote>
(removing both old 2003 AD servers)
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<br />
you can't remove both AD servers without removing the entire domain<br />
promote your 2012 server, transfer fsmo roles, change dns for static systems and any dhcp scopes<br />
if all 3 are playing well with each other, then demote the 2003 server(s) though recommend having 2 for redundancy
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> (removing both old 2003 AD servers)


you can't remove both AD servers without removing the entire domain
promote your 2012 server, transfer fsmo roles, change dns for static systems and any dhcp scopes
if all 3 are playing well with each other, then demote the 2003 server(s) though recommend having 2 for redundancy

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I have a Primary AD and a backup AD server running Windows 2003. &nbsp;I am already familiar with how to upgrade the 2003 domain to 2012 but what I am not clear on is how to proceed with the backup AD server. &nbsp;Should I dcpromo the backup 2003 AD server before doing dcpromo on the primary AD 2003 version and then once everything is done (removing both old 2003 AD servers) and simply add on a new AD backup 2012 server? &nbsp;<br />
<br />
Hopefully, I didn't confuse people here :)<br />
<br />
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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I have a Primary AD and a backup AD server running Windows 2003.  I am already familiar with how to upgrade the 2003 domain to 2012 but what I am not clear on is how to proceed with the backup AD server.  Should I dcpromo the backup 2003 AD server before doing dcpromo on the primary AD 2003 version and then once everything is done (removing both old 2003 AD servers) and simply add on a new AD backup 2012 server?  

Hopefully, I didn't confuse people here :)

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Active Directory 2003 Upgrade to 2012

Windows Server 2003 was based on Windows XP and was released in four editions: Web, Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter. It also had derivative versions for clusters, storage and Microsoft’s Small Business Server. Important upgrades included integrating Internet Information Services (IIS), improvements to Active Directory (AD) and Group Policy (GP), and the migration to Automated System Recovery (ASR).

Windows Server 2003

Windows Server 2012 is the server version of Windows 8 and the successor to Windows Server 2008 R2. Windows Server 2012 is the first version of Windows Server to have no support for Itanium-based computers since Windows NT 4.0. Windows Server 2012, now in its second release (Windows Server 2012 Release 2) includes Foundation, Essentials, Standard and Datacenter, and does not support IA-32 or IA-64 processors.

Windows Server 2012

Active Directory (AD) is a Microsoft brand for identity-related capabilities. In the on-premises world, Windows Server AD provides a set of identity capabilities and services, and is hugely popular (88% of Fortune 1000 and 95% of enterprises use AD). This topic includes all things Active Directory including DNS, Group Policy, DFS, troubleshooting, ADFS, and all other topics under the Microsoft AD and identity umbrella.