Window Server 2003 DC Migration

I am currently running two Windows Standard Server 2003 domain controllers
(DC1 and DC2). I have purchased two new servers with hardware level RAID and
would like to migrate the old domain controllers onto the new servers I have
purchased. I would like to keep the original IP addresses I have hard coded
along with the orginal names (DC1 - 10.1.3.1 and DC2 - 10.1.3.2) on the new
servers.

I was thinking of demoting DC2 (non FSMO server) and giving it a new name
and IP. I was then going to bring up one of the new severs giving it the DC2
name along with the IP address of 10.1.3.2. Run dcpromo on DC2 and transfer
FSMO roles onto that box from DC1. Let replication settle for a day or so and
then run the same process on DC1 with the other new server I purchased.

Will this work without interupting of service. We have lots of services tied
to IP's and names and it would be a lot of work to go through and find all
the things we have pointing to these two DC's if I gave them new names and
IP's.

Any articles or KB's would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone changed domain
controller servers and kept the same name and IP???

Your help is always greatly appreciated.

-Shawn

Hello Shawn,

If you do it the way you described, it should be fine. But make sure before
starting that you have a backup of all needed Data. Also run before starting
the diagnostic tools, "dcdiag /v", "netdiag v/" and "repadmin /showrepl"
to check for errors and also after every step with demoting and promoting.
Do not forget to install DNS on the new servers and also to make them Global
catalog server.

You didn't mention the services, so we can not give any info to this point.
Ofcourse during the demotion/promotion you will have a downtime for the services.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
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> I am currently running two Windows Standard Server 2003 domain
> controllers (DC1 and DC2). I have purchased two new servers with
> hardware level RAID and would like to migrate the old domain
> controllers onto the new servers I have purchased. I would like to
> keep the original IP addresses I have hard coded along with the
> orginal names (DC1 - 10.1.3.1 and DC2 - 10.1.3.2) on the new servers.
>
> I was thinking of demoting DC2 (non FSMO server) and giving it a new
> name and IP. I was then going to bring up one of the new severs giving
> it the DC2 name along with the IP address of 10.1.3.2. Run dcpromo on
> DC2 and transfer FSMO roles onto that box from DC1. Let replication
> settle for a day or so and then run the same process on DC1 with the
> other new server I purchased.
>
> Will this work without interupting of service. We have lots of
> services tied to IP's and names and it would be a lot of work to go
> through and find all the things we have pointing to these two DC's if
> I gave them new names and IP's.
>
> Any articles or KB's would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone changed
> domain controller servers and kept the same name and IP???
>
> Your help is always greatly appreciated.
>
> -Shawn
>

Hello Shawn,

Thank you for using newsgroup.

According to the description, I agree with what Meinolf said. You may
perform the DC migration as the way that you described. However, we need to
note that the demotion and promotion process maybe cause potential downtime
of the services. Please verify that there is at least one DC works during
the migration. Moreover, I would like to suggest that you perform the
migration in the spare time(not during the rush hour when all the clients
are in use of the services). Also, it is better for us to backup all the
data including the domain data and the application data before we perform
the migration.

Based on the experience, I have list some general steps to perform the
migration, just for your reference.

Suggestion:
============

1. Please ensure that the new domain controller that you want to promote
was enabled with Global Catalog, all the 5 FSMO roles has been transferred
from the old domain controller to the new one in the domain.

Please refer to:

Enable or disable a global catalog
http://technet2.microsoft.com/window...c-ef32-4b8e-b4
c4-e73910575f611033.mspx?mfr=true

How to view and transfer FSMO roles in the graphical user interface
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255690

2. Please ensure that all the server roles (ex. DNS, DHCP, Print server,
SMTP) have been transferred to the new domain controller.

3. After that, you may run "dcpromo" on the old domain controller to demote
it to be a member server first, and then you may disjoin the old domain
controller from the current domain if possible.

Please refer to:

Demote a domain controller
http://technet2.microsoft.com/window...0-552f-4b94-9e
ce-f550388976571033.mspx?mfr=true

4. Rename the old DC and ensure that the computer account of the old domain
controller has been renamed correctly. You may check the "Domain
Controller" and "Computers" containers in "Active Directory Users and
Computers" console on the new domain controller.

5. Please ensure that all the source records (ex. A record and SRV record)
of the old domain controller have been removed in the DNS console.

6. Please ensure that the dynamic updates have been enabled both on the
Forward Lookup Zone and Reverse Lookup Zone in the DNS console of the new
domain controller.

Please refer to:

How to configure DNS dynamic updates in Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816592

7. After you ensure that everything is working, please repeat the above
steps for the other DC.

Hope it helps.

David Shen
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Hello Shawn,

How are things going? I've not heard back from you in a few days and wanted
to check on the status of the issue. Please let me know how the
troubleshooting steps turned out.

David Shen
Microsoft Online Partner Support