Migrating to 2000 from NT 4.0

[Wasim]

I am working on migrating my network to 2000.

Maybe someone can give some pointers..

My current Scenario:

I have an NT enviornment.
One PDC running DNS, (primary zone) WINS and DHCP
7 BDC's all running DNS (secondary zone) and WINS
Some of the BDC's also have DHCP running.

We have login scripts in place that give mappings to drives and network printers.
We have system policies that are configured with Office 2000, that work with locking down Windows 2000 and Office 2000
We have 3 Remote sites that have BDC's in each site (out of the 7) mentioned above. which are running the DNS, WINS, DHCP also Exchange


In our enviornment we have SQL, and Exchange 5.5

All of our NT servers are either NT4.0 or Advanced 4.0 and all have SP 6a on them.

My Upgrade Process proposal:

I am trying to figure out how to exactly begin my upgrade process. I have some good understanding (i think) of
how to upgrade, but i am not quite sure if it is correct. Maybe anyone can add to the following or at least tell me if i am on the right path.

remove dns from the pdc and put it on a different bdc ( i still am not sure if my pdc is running dhcp, dns and wins that is ok to promote the pdc to a 2k dc. ) i keep thinking maybe i need to separate one of the 3 services and put it on a different server.
change the dhcp properties on the pdc and the bdc's to point to the new DNS server.
determine the last server that needs to be upgraded out of all the pdc and bdc's
change replication so that the last server is now the export directory for the login scripts with NT 4.0 domain controllers
change replication for all the import servers to point to the new export server
synchronize and confirm all servers are synchronized
remove the bdc off line.
once off line promote the bdc to a pdc and keep it off line.
synchronize and confirm login scripts, replication, and policies are working
upgrade the new pdc to 2k
once upgraded and dns service
before rebooting point the dns server to itself (a little confused about this since there are some big differences in dns with nt 4.0 and dns with 2000. Do i need to make any changes or are there requirments with dns in an nt 4 enviornment that should be done prior to upgrading... eg. forward and reverse lookup stuff, srv records)
reboot
set up replication from sysvol on 2k to import directory for nt bdc's via task manager using lbridge or robocopy or xcopy etc...
confirm everything is working as far as policies, login scripts, browsing, find, adding users, replicating to nt 4.0 etc...
authorize the dhcp server and reconfigure (IF necessary) the settings
Make DNS integrate with DHCP to accept dynamic updates.

Then slowly, one by one, upgrade the other BDC's until all the servers are converted.


Does this sound right...
am i missing key steps..???

thanks for any help.

[Jason Peterson]

Wasim,

You may want to consider in putting a root-level domain prior to your upgrade.
The root level domain should not contain any user or computer accounts. This
will maintain the integrity of your AD. Since the First Server in the First Domain in the Forest is critical and contains FSMOs that are unique and not easily transferred, it is a good idea to creat the Root and have your existing domain become the the child. This will allow you to change the structure of your domain without make any changes to the root. And the root will be easily replicated for Disaster Recovery purposes.


------------
Wasim at 8/13/2002 11:22:23 AM


I am working on migrating my network to 2000.

Maybe someone can give some pointers..

My current Scenario:

I have an NT enviornment.
One PDC running DNS, (primary zone) WINS and DHCP
7 BDC's all running DNS (secondary zone) and WINS
Some of the BDC's also have DHCP running.

We have login scripts in place that give mappings to drives and network printers.
We have system policies that are configured with Office 2000, that work with locking down Windows 2000 and Office 2000
We have 3 Remote sites that have BDC's in each site (out of the 7) mentioned above. which are running the DNS, WINS, DHCP also Exchange


In our enviornment we have SQL, and Exchange 5.5

All of our NT servers are either NT4.0 or Advanced 4.0 and all have SP 6a on them.

My Upgrade Process proposal:

I am trying to figure out how to exactly begin my upgrade process. I have some good understanding (i think) of
how to upgrade, but i am not quite sure if it is correct. Maybe anyone can add to the following or at least tell me if i am on the right path.

remove dns from the pdc and put it on a different bdc ( i still am not sure if my pdc is running dhcp, dns and wins that is ok to promote the pdc to a 2k dc. ) i keep thinking maybe i need to separate one of the 3 services and put it on a different server.
change the dhcp properties on the pdc and the bdc's to point to the new DNS server.
determine the last server that needs to be upgraded out of all the pdc and bdc's
change replication so that the last server is now the export directory for the login scripts with NT 4.0 domain controllers
change replication for all the import servers to point to the new export server
synchronize and confirm all servers are synchronized
remove the bdc off line.
once off line promote the bdc to a pdc and keep it off line.
synchronize and confirm login scripts, replication, and policies are working
upgrade the new pdc to 2k
once upgraded and dns service
before rebooting point the dns server to itself (a little confused about this since there are some big differences in dns with nt 4.0 and dns with 2000. Do i need to make any changes or are there requirments with dns in an nt 4 enviornment that should be done prior to upgrading... eg. forward and reverse lookup stuff, srv records)
reboot
set up replication from sysvol on 2k to import directory for nt bdc's via task manager using lbridge or robocopy or xcopy etc...
confirm everything is working as far as policies, login scripts, browsing, find, adding users, replicating to nt 4.0 etc...
authorize the dhcp server and reconfigure (IF necessary) the settings
Make DNS integrate with DHCP to accept dynamic updates.

Then slowly, one by one, upgrade the other BDC's until all the servers are converted.


Does this sound right...
am i missing key steps..???

thanks for any help.

[Rizwan Akhtar]

You should work on your AD design first, define how many OU you will need to build. DO NOT just promote or migrate your NT servers in AD. Build you plan on paper first, then define which forest module you would like to build and then how many Ous you will need under this and then policies GPOs for this. Based on what you have mentioned, you should go with single forest module.

Use ADM tool to migrate your NT servers to Active Directory.
Use this link to get more information on AD: http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/planning/activedirectory/manadsteps.asp and also http://isg.ee.ethz.ch/tools/realmen/index.en.html

You are always welcome to email me your plan and will let you know, if you are missing anything. I just finished migration 700 stores in 3 countries in AD and believe me what a ride!!!!!! Learned a lot and still learning.

Rizwan
Mb260@htomail.com


------------
Wasim at 8/13/2002 11:22:23 AM


I am working on migrating my network to 2000.

Maybe someone can give some pointers..

My current Scenario:

I have an NT enviornment.
One PDC running DNS, (primary zone) WINS and DHCP
7 BDC's all running DNS (secondary zone) and WINS
Some of the BDC's also have DHCP running.

We have login scripts in place that give mappings to drives and network printers.
We have system policies that are configured with Office 2000, that work with locking down Windows 2000 and Office 2000
We have 3 Remote sites that have BDC's in each site (out of the 7) mentioned above. which are running the DNS, WINS, DHCP also Exchange


In our enviornment we have SQL, and Exchange 5.5

All of our NT servers are either NT4.0 or Advanced 4.0 and all have SP 6a on them.

My Upgrade Process proposal:

I am trying to figure out how to exactly begin my upgrade process. I have some good understanding (i think) of
how to upgrade, but i am not quite sure if it is correct. Maybe anyone can add to the following or at least tell me if i am on the right path.

remove dns from the pdc and put it on a different bdc ( i still am not sure if my pdc is running dhcp, dns and wins that is ok to promote the pdc to a 2k dc. ) i keep thinking maybe i need to separate one of the 3 services and put it on a different server.
change the dhcp properties on the pdc and the bdc's to point to the new DNS server.
determine the last server that needs to be upgraded out of all the pdc and bdc's
change replication so that the last server is now the export directory for the login scripts with NT 4.0 domain controllers
change replication for all the import servers to point to the new export server
synchronize and confirm all servers are synchronized
remove the bdc off line.
once off line promote the bdc to a pdc and keep it off line.
synchronize and confirm login scripts, replication, and policies are working
upgrade the new pdc to 2k
once upgraded and dns service
before rebooting point the dns server to itself (a little confused about this since there are some big differences in dns with nt 4.0 and dns with 2000. Do i need to make any changes or are there requirments with dns in an nt 4 enviornment that should be done prior to upgrading... eg. forward and reverse lookup stuff, srv records)
reboot
set up replication from sysvol on 2k to import directory for nt bdc's via task manager using lbridge or robocopy or xcopy etc...
confirm everything is working as far as policies, login scripts, browsing, find, adding users, replicating to nt 4.0 etc...
authorize the dhcp server and reconfigure (IF necessary) the settings
Make DNS integrate with DHCP to accept dynamic updates.

Then slowly, one by one, upgrade the other BDC's until all the servers are converted.


Does this sound right...
am i missing key steps..???

thanks for any help.