Setting up a new DC and demoting the old un to BDC

[speckytecky]

We currently have a lone vanilla Dell Poweredge 600SC Windows 2000 server which backs up to an external tape. The system is closing on 5 years old now.

 

My SLT have given me the go ahead to buy a new Windows 2003 server to bring onto line as the PDC allowing an upgrade of the old server's OS to Windows Server 2003 and demotion of that tin to a BDC role.

 

I have been doing this job now as long as the original server. I'm pretty much Edugeek / self taught and I'm currently distance learning an MCSA.

 

A couple of quotes I have had include bringing on the new server and demoting the old - one at circa £300 a day but another being £125 for the first hour then close on £90 an hour till the job is done. I'm now wondering if the set up etc. is something I should be able to achieve without bought in technical services?

 

Anyone got experience on this they could share / point me in the direction of please?

[Ric_]

There is no such thing as a BDC in the world of Active Directory.

 

All you will need to do is install Windows onto your shiny new server and run 'dcpromo' (or use the wizardy thing to assign the domain controller role). This should be sufficient but you can always check that the FSMO roles have re-distributed themselves evenly across the servers.

 

TBH, if you are competent, you should have no problems doing this.

[FN-GM]

Take a look at this post: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/showthread.php?p=157790#post157790

[srochford]

A couple of quotes I have had include bringing on the new server and demoting the old - one at circa £300 a day but another being £125 for the first hour then close on £90 an hour till the job is done. I'm now wondering if the set up etc. is something I should be able to achieve without bought in technical services?

 

I'm definitely in the wrong business if people can get away with charging that sort of money for about 15 minutes work (and I've no doubt that there consultants who would make that 15 minutes last all day!)

 

Others have pointed you to the instructions - you should find it very straightforward and it's pretty much impossible to get wrong :-) The key thing I would do is get in another domain controller; if anything ever happens to your DC you are in a bad situation until you can restore it. With 2 DCs then you're unlikely to have both fail at the same time.

[jcollings]

If you already have a Windows 2000 server DC and your new one is 2003 you'll also need to run adprep tool so your domain is ready for a 2003 server.

[speckytecky]

Thanks for the replies to date folks - as usual with this Forum - extremely informative and helpful. The BDC abbreviation is perhaps something I conjured up Backup Domain Controller - my intention being that once the new server is in charge the Win 2K machine will be upgraded to Server 2003 and take on the role as a back up DC.

 

That then leads me to a further question on licences - we currently have 45 original client licences to which a further 12 Windows 2003 CAL's backwardly compatabile have been added as we have added machines to the network. I'm thinking that we would need to upgrade the original 45 to Server 2003 and that one complete set will cover the fact that we will have effectively 2 servers?

[Ric_]

It sounds like your original CALs will be Server 2000 CALs so yes, you will need to purchase new ones to access your Server 2003 boxes.

 

As has been mentioned, do the adprep and the dcpromo so that the new box runs alongside the existing one. You should then be able to do an inplace upgrade easy enough. If you want to start from scratch on the Server 2000 machine, remember to demote it to a member server first - dcpromo again for this - otherwise all sorts of 'fun' will be had!