Adding a 2008R2 Child Domain to a 2003R2 forest

I have a 2003R2 forest with two root servers in the root domain, A, and
no other servers in that domain. Under that I have two child domains B,
and C. I want to add a third child domain, D to this which will have
two 2008R2 DCs that are not DNS servers. My plan is to move all the DCs
to 2008R2 over the next several months but we have a requirement for
another child domain and this seems like a good time to start moving to
2008R2 for the DCs. All DCs are 2003R2 servers and the domain is 2003
Functional level. I've read various sources including these and have
some questions.

http://forums.techarena.in/active-directory/1298956.htm
http://forums.techarena.in/active-directory/1298956.htm


1. If I am adding a 2008R2 child domain do I still need to run the
adprep /forestprep and adprep /domainprep against my current DCs in the
forest root? Is the purpose of these to bring 2003R2 Schema up to the
same level as 2008R2?

2. Once that is done I assume I can then add servers, run dcpromo and
create the new domain as a child of A?

3. Any suggestions, comments about the process or what I need to do are
appreciated.

Thank you.

Hello Grunt,

1. yes, the schema master exists once in a forest on the root domain and
MUST be upgraded with adprep /forestprep and in each domain that should have
Windows server 2008 R2 DCs you must run adprep /domainprep

2. yes, it should work after preparing the root domain

3. before starting make sure to have a tested backup of the root domain and
each child domain DCs, so if something goes wrong(worst case scenario) you
can do a forest recovery according to:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...ry(WS.10).aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/instan/arch...rest-root.aspx

Also before starting run the support tools dcdiag /v, netdiag and repadmin
/showrepl to check for errors on the DCs and solve them. Additional controll
each DCs event viewer for errors.

Also DNSLint should be run (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321045):
dnslint /ad /s "DC ip address"

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm


> I have a 2003R2 forest with two root servers in the root domain, A,
> and no other servers in that domain. Under that I have two child
> domains B, and C. I want to add a third child domain, D to this which
> will have two 2008R2 DCs that are not DNS servers. My plan is to move
> all the DCs to 2008R2 over the next several months but we have a
> requirement for another child domain and this seems like a good time
> to start moving to 2008R2 for the DCs. All DCs are 2003R2 servers and
> the domain is 2003 Functional level. I've read various sources
> including these and have some questions.
>
> http://forums.techarena.in/active-directory/1298956.htm
> http://forums.techarena.in/active-directory/1298956.htm
>
> 1. If I am adding a 2008R2 child domain do I still need to run the
> adprep /forestprep and adprep /domainprep against my current DCs in
> the forest root? Is the purpose of these to bring 2003R2 Schema up to
> the same level as 2008R2?
>
> 2. Once that is done I assume I can then add servers, run dcpromo and
> create the new domain as a child of A?
>
> 3. Any suggestions, comments about the process or what I need to do
> are appreciated.
>
> Thank you.
>

Thank you. I'll read these links and lay out my game plan.


On 5/1/2010 4:59 AM, Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS] wrote:
> Hello Grunt,
>
> 1. yes, the schema master exists once in a forest on the root domain and
> MUST be upgraded with adprep /forestprep and in each domain that should
> have Windows server 2008 R2 DCs you must run adprep /domainprep
>
> 2. yes, it should work after preparing the root domain
>
> 3. before starting make sure to have a tested backup of the root domain
> and each child domain DCs, so if something goes wrong(worst case
> scenario) you can do a forest recovery according to:
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...ry(WS.10).aspx
>
>
> http://blogs.technet.com/instan/arch...rest-root.aspx
>
>
> Also before starting run the support tools dcdiag /v, netdiag and
> repadmin /showrepl to check for errors on the DCs and solve them.
> Additional controll each DCs event viewer for errors.
>
> Also DNSLint should be run (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321045):
> dnslint /ad /s "DC ip address"
>
> Best regards
>
> Meinolf Weber
> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
> confers no rights.
> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>
>> I have a 2003R2 forest with two root servers in the root domain, A,
>> and no other servers in that domain. Under that I have two child
>> domains B, and C. I want to add a third child domain, D to this which
>> will have two 2008R2 DCs that are not DNS servers. My plan is to move
>> all the DCs to 2008R2 over the next several months but we have a
>> requirement for another child domain and this seems like a good time
>> to start moving to 2008R2 for the DCs. All DCs are 2003R2 servers and
>> the domain is 2003 Functional level. I've read various sources
>> including these and have some questions.
>>
>> http://forums.techarena.in/active-directory/1298956.htm
>> http://forums.techarena.in/active-directory/1298956.htm
>>
>> 1. If I am adding a 2008R2 child domain do I still need to run the
>> adprep /forestprep and adprep /domainprep against my current DCs in
>> the forest root? Is the purpose of these to bring 2003R2 Schema up to
>> the same level as 2008R2?
>>
>> 2. Once that is done I assume I can then add servers, run dcpromo and
>> create the new domain as a child of A?
>>
>> 3. Any suggestions, comments about the process or what I need to do
>> are appreciated.
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>
>

Check out an artcile I have on upgrading your forest at
http://www.pbbergs.com/windows/articles.htm
Select Upgrade Your Forest to 2008

--
Paul Bergson
MVP - Directory Services
MCITP - Enterprise Administrator
MCTS, MCT, MCSE, MCSA, MCP, Security +, BS CSci
2008, Vista, 2003, 2000 (Early Achiever), NT4
Microsoft's Thrive IT Pro of the Month - June 2009

http://www.pbbergs.com

Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewGroups. This
posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confers no rights.
"Grunt" <> wrote in message
news:...
>I have a 2003R2 forest with two root servers in the root domain, A, and no
>other servers in that domain. Under that I have two child domains B, and
>C. I want to add a third child domain, D to this which will have two
>2008R2 DCs that are not DNS servers. My plan is to move all the DCs to
>2008R2 over the next several months but we have a requirement for another
>child domain and this seems like a good time to start moving to 2008R2 for
>the DCs. All DCs are 2003R2 servers and the domain is 2003 Functional
>level. I've read various sources including these and have some questions.
>
> http://forums.techarena.in/active-directory/1298956.htm
> http://forums.techarena.in/active-directory/1298956.htm
>
>
> 1. If I am adding a 2008R2 child domain do I still need to run the adprep
> /forestprep and adprep /domainprep against my current DCs in the forest
> root? Is the purpose of these to bring 2003R2 Schema up to the same level
> as 2008R2?
>
> 2. Once that is done I assume I can then add servers, run dcpromo and
> create the new domain as a child of A?
>
> 3. Any suggestions, comments about the process or what I need to do are
> appreciated.
>
> Thank you.
>
>
>