Windows 2003 forest with 2000 AD & NT BDC

[visor]

Please, can somebody tell me whether my following plan is able to work or not?

existing environment:
- NT PDC & BDC in HongKong & Singapore
- no trust between 2 countries cause have different domain structure, groups & users definitation

future environment:
- HK have to maintain 1 windows 2000 server with AD (cause it is a 3rd party software's requirement)
- 2 countries with different domain names (e.g. xxx.hk & xxx.sg) have to trust each other for resources sharing

my plan:
- upgrade HK NT PDC to windows 2003 with HK forest & domain tree
- upgrade HK NT server to windows 2000 with AD in sync with 2003 AD
- upgrade SG NT PDC to windows 2003 with SG forest & domain tree
- trust HK & SG forest for resources sharing

Actually my main concern is that is it possible to co-exist with windows 2003 AD & 2000 AD? Do I have to upgrade NT PDC to 2000 with AD first & then upgrade to 2003 with AD lateron? Or else, I can directly upgrade NT to 2003 with AD?

Many thanks.

 

[markdmac]

Hi Visor,

There is not a problem with 2K and 2K3 existing together. I'd get your 2K3 running first since installing the 2K first would mean that the 2k3 would have to modify the AD Schema and just leaves more room for problems to be encountered.

Check out

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;818623

for information on upgrading your NT4 to Win2K3.

 

[GuyThomas]

Migrations are always more difficult then they first seem. I would read at least three articles, and have three different people give you a view.

There are three basic strategies:

a) An in-place upgrade.
b) Move to a brand new domain.
c) Co-existence keep the old domain and create a new domain

Two factor to watch are the user accounts and can you rollback if their is a glitch in your first attempt.

See more information here

http://computerperformance.co.uk/w2k3/w2k3_migratevupgrade.htm