[sdw2003] NT to W2K3 AD migration questions

[Doug Sampson]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: sdw2003-bounces at mattware.com
> [mailto:sdw2003-bounces at mattware.com]On Behalf Of James Eitzen
> Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 06:46 PM
> To: San Diego Windows 2003 User Group
> Subject: Re: [sdw2003] NT to W2K3 AD migration questions
> 
> How many users to you currently have in AD?

Actually I have about 35 Windows users and a smattering of Mac users. Not
big. Not even medium.

> Are you deploying new hardware at all?

Yes, 2 new servers- one for DC and the other for the Exch 2003 box.

> And the kicker! Have you considered 2008 domain functionality?

No. Why is this important at this point? I have no need to run Exch 2008 on
x64 hardware for our organization.
 
> Depending on the size and complexity of your currently 
> deployment, it may be
> work considering building a new domain. I had to do one of 
> these recently
> and I am soooo glad I went with building a new domain.

Part of me wants to do this so that I can perform migrations in stages but
the complexity of managing the migration between the NT domain and the AD
domain (two-way trust, file shares, printer shares, user profile migrations,
etc) looks to be heavy compared to the in-site upgrade.

> This also gives you a chance to whack anything wacky. This of 
> course assumes
> you have nuaunces you want to get rid of, the worse is going 
> through all the
> work of a upgrade and crap follows from the old config.

So far, there isn't anything "wacky" within our infrastructure.

My biggest concern is minimizing downtime and potential issues during the
in-place upgrade. If I can be assured of a relatively smooth in-place
upgrade, then I would most likely want to take that path.

~Doug