Migrate Active Directory Input needed

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pixel_ninja

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Hi Guys,

We have a old server running server 03 standard 84x, and have just bought a new server running server 08 64x.

I would like to migrate the AD to the new machine. I've done some googling and found this:

The quick answer is to use dcpromo to add the 2008 server as a domain controller in the same domain that the 2003 server is in. Once the 2008 server is a DC, you can run dcpromo on the 2003 server to remove it as a domain controller. This will allow you to keep your Active Directory intact, but move the services to another server.

Also, as a general rule, it's highly recommended to have 2 servers be domain controllers (and global catalog servers) for your domain. That way your Active Directory stays up in the event of a failure (or reboot!)
Click to expand...

I am not sure that the original poster was moving from a 84x to 64x structure as what I am attempting. Will this be possible?

Bonus points: What exact code would I have to use when DCPROMO'ing?
 
is your Server 2003 AD a standalone or a SBS? If it's standalone then it's pretty cake to migrate the AD
 
What you'd ideally be doing then is what's called a Transitioning Migration

# Transitioning: Migrating this way means adding Windows Server 2008 Domain Controllers to your existing Active Directory environment. After successfully moving the Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) roles you can simply demote the previous Domain Controllers, remove them from the domain and throw them out of the window.
Click to expand...

Make sure you back up the server thoroughly before starting the migration and patching process. Dependant on your Update levels you may need to install extra updates to enhance your current server 2003 and smoothen the transition.

http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/sand...-active-directory-to-windows-server-2008.aspx
Is pretty much a step by step of joining and migrating it :)
 
Tip for migrating: Once the migration is done keep the old server off for a week to be sure everything went smooth,if yes then dcpromo it out and format at your leisure

As for dcpromo,it's point and click,very simple
 
Thanks For the help Psywolf!

I have just installed 08 on the new server, and read through the link a couple times :D

I think I am at this point:

Prepare your Active Directory environment

Before you can begin to introduce the first Windows Server 2008 Domain Controller into your existing Active Directory environment, you first have to prepare the Active Directory.

Microsoft provides a tool called adprep.exe to facilitate this preparation. You need to run the following commands on the following servers in your Active Directory environment:
Command Domain Controller
adprep.exe /forestprep Schema Master
adprep.exe /domainprep Infrastructure Master
adprep.exe /domainprep /gpprep Infrastructure Master

so Essencially I will run these commands, once completed, check the event viewer for errors.

At this point the new server has only been named and not connected to the domain yet. is this correct? as it goes on to say that I should allow for sufficient time for replication to all DC's?
 
I want to still use the old server as a mail server and various other things like winpop server, Telephone log recorders etc. so I would like it to still remain part of the setup.

The old server controls DHCP. can I change this?

I think you guna have to give me your postal address for some beers haha
 
jprheeder said:
Thanks For the help Psywolf!

I have just installed 08 on the new server, and read through the link a couple times :D

I think I am at this point:

Prepare your Active Directory environment

Before you can begin to introduce the first Windows Server 2008 Domain Controller into your existing Active Directory environment, you first have to prepare the Active Directory.

Microsoft provides a tool called adprep.exe to facilitate this preparation. You need to run the following commands on the following servers in your Active Directory environment:
Command Domain Controller
adprep.exe /forestprep Schema Master
adprep.exe /domainprep Infrastructure Master
adprep.exe /domainprep /gpprep Infrastructure Master

so Essencially I will run these commands, once completed, check the event viewer for errors.

At this point the new server has only been named and not connected to the domain yet. is this correct? as it goes on to say that I should allow for sufficient time for replication to all DC's?
Click to expand...

You'll be doing the ADPreps on the old server to prepare it for copying and migration
Join the new server to the domain
Promote it's schema and FSMO roles
demote old server
 
Hmm, it doesnt seem to like this command:

adprep.exe /forestprep doesnt seem to be a recognised app. server 2003 SP2

The main reason for the upgrade is because our accounting applications crawl on the old server when more than 5 people use pastel/caseware/accfin via remote desktop etc. so What if I keep the old one as the main DC add the 08 server as a DC and then let the new server focus solely on serving RDP to the staff?
 
Thats of course a different way to handle it which certainly would be more helpful in alleviating that issue. When multiple users are running those apps can you see high usage in the task manager? CPU/Memory or Drive IO are a big consideration for server usage

As for adprep - it's located in the i386 directory of the Windows Server 2003 install media. Just doing start->run-> cmd -> adprep won't work ;)
 
well the cpu usage on the old machine is fairly high but I think the bottleneck is with the RAM. unfortunately the OS is a 84bit one so we are limited to 4GB, anyway after installing symantec endpoint on this old server it has died haha. maxes out ram then it proceeds to crawl. So we have had to upgrade to a new 64bit os to allow for more ram (currently got 8GB but we can always add more as needed) considering the licenses dont carry over it has been quite an expensive task.

Thanks so much for your help Psywolf you've really been a great help. if this forum gave mana I would definitely add some for you.
 
Yeah wtb rep system ,_,
With the new server I would STRONGLY consider virtualizing the server,migrations wouldn't require a reload which is my favourite benefit of virtualizing it :)
 
Mental-Tree said:
^Mind explaining the process for that? Just for interest sake.
Click to expand...

Purely for educational example

Install Citrix Xen on the server and configure it
Install the Xen server client on a PC
Connect it to the Xen server ( similar to remote desktop )
Pop your install disks in the server
Create a Virtual Machine using the Xen server client ( specify amount of CPUs,HDD space to allocate to the virtual machine )
Start the new VM and install the OS

Now you have a basic virtual server,from there you can play with backups/snapshots. Once your Virtual server is fully configured you can back up this VM and replicate for testing/backup as you like
 
Simple virtualization ( Primary server and then snapshots/backups ) etc are very simple with a medium degree of difficulty for somebody starting to poke at it. Another way to enter the terrain of Virtualization is experimenting with Virtualbox and once you are comfortable with Virtual storage/networking you can move it up to a more enterprisey option

Not that virtualbox isn't useable for small business use,it's just a higher overhead than a pure hypervisor
 
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