Preparing Windows NT4 Domains to Migrate to Windows Server 2003 | Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Unleashed (R2 Edition)

Now that you have an understanding of the migration requirements and the path in which you are going to migrate to Windows Server 2003 and Active Directory, the next step is to begin preparing your existing network infrastructure and Windows NT4 domain to be migrated to Windows Server 2003 and Active Directory.

Whether you are implanting a new Windows Server 2003 Active Directory domain or upgrading existing Windows NT4 server operating systems and domains to Windows Server 2003, you must consider several steps regarding hardware and software before you begin your migration. Performing these steps will prevent avoidable problems in areas such as meeting Windows Server 2003 family hardware requirements, ensuring Windows Server 2003 hardware and software compatibility, and planning server hardware configuration to optimize server performance. The following section addresses these specific areas and identifies the tools available to help prepare your server hardware and software for a successful migration to Windows Server 2003.

Hardware and Software Compatibility

Before migrating servers to Windows Server 2003, you must determine whether your Windows NT4 server hardware and Windows NT4 serverbased applications are compatible with the Windows Server 2003 family operating systems. To test each server for compatibility, use the Microsoft Compatibility Check tool available on your Windows Server 2003 installation CD-ROM.

Note

You can also review the Windows Server 2003 family hardware and software compatibility list on the Microsoft Web site. Windows 2003 compatibility information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/hcl.

The Compatibility Check tool can be run from the Windows Server 2003 setup CD-ROM. It does not require you to begin installing or upgrading the server operating system to run the tool.

You can choose from two methods to run the Compatibility Check tool. You can use the autorun feature built into your server system to launch the Windows Server 2003 Setup screen. If your server system does not support the autorun feature, or it has been disabled, you can run the utility from a command prompt or Windows Run option. To run the Compatibility Check tool at the prompt, type d:\i386\winnt32/checkupgradeonly, where d: represents the CD-ROM drive letter.

Each method allows you to launch the Windows Server 2003 Compatibility Check tool. Be sure to run this tool before upgrading or installing Windows Server 2003 and Active Directory. Replace any incompatible hardware and upgrade any software as required to ensure proper functionality when your migration is complete.

Reviewing Hardware and Software Requirements

One of the most important steps before migrating is to ensure that the existing server hardware and server operating systems that you plan to migrate meet the minimum requirements for installing the Windows Server 2003 family products. Ensuring that the server hardware meets these requirements and planning for the addition of server hardware resources such as memory can assist you in ensuring that server performance will be adequate when your migration is complete. The following sections list the minimum requirements and recommended hardware and software requirements for performing an upgrade or clean installation of Windows Server 2003 family products.

Operating System Requirements

Most Windows NT4 network installations contain multiple versions of the NT4 operating system. Each operating system type must meet the minimum requirements for upgrading or migrating to the Windows Server 2003 family.

The server operating system requirements include the following:

Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 5 or higher
Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition with Service Pack 5 or higher
Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 5 or higher

Server Hardware Requirements

Before you install Windows Server 2003, review your existing server hardware to ensure each system meets the minimum requirements for installing the Windows Server 2003 family server operating system. Also, plan your server hardware configurations and upgrades based on server roles. Be sure to plan for adequate hardware resources to ensure optimal performance based on each server role:

For x86-based systems Windows Server 2003 supports Intel's Pentium and Celeron, AMD K6, Athlon, and Duron processors at 133MHz and higher. For best performance, Microsoft recommends a minimum speed of 550MHz. The minimum supported memory for installing Windows Server 2003 is 128MB of RAM. Review each server role and plan memory requirements to ensure best performance. Microsoft recommends 256MB of memory.
For Itanium-based systems A minimum processor speed of 733MHz is recommended, as is a minimum of 1GB of RAM.

Migrating Windows NT4 Volumes, Mirrors, and Stripe Sets

Often when Windows NT4 servers were installed without hardware fault-tolerant equipment, the Windows NT4 Disk Manager was used to create volume sets, mirrored sets, stripe sets, and stripe sets with parity. Because the Windows Server 2003 operating system does not support Windows NT4 Disk Manager configurations, you must modify software-based disk configurations before performing an inplace upgrade to Windows Server 2003. Perform the tasks described in the following sections for each configuration before continuing to upgrade any Windows NT servers.

Mirrored Volumes

If you used Windows NT4 to create a mirrored set, before upgrading to Windows Server 2003, you must break the Windows NT4 mirrored set.

Note

By breaking the mirror, you do not lose any data; however, it is always best practice to back up the server before performing any disk maintenance or reconfiguration processes.

Volume Sets, Striped Sets, and Striped Sets with Parity

If the server you are going to upgrade has been configured using Windows NT4 volume sets, stripe sets, or stripe sets with parity, you must delete the sets and configure new drive configurations with fault tolerance before you can conduct an inplace upgrade.

Caution

Deleting a volume set, stripe set, or stripe set with parity deletes all the data from the volume. Be sure to back up all server data before deleting any type of volume or stripe sets.

Because the inplace migration from Windows NT4 to Windows Server 2003 of a volume set, stripe set, or stripe set with parity requires the server hardware to be reconfigured, it is recommended that you build a brand-new Windows NT4 primary domain controller (PDC) and conduct the inplace upgrade on the new system. By adding a new domain controller on the network that does not have unsupported volume and stripe sets, you can conduct the inplace upgrade on this new system without having to bring the old system offline. When the new system is promoted to become a Windows NT4 primary domain controller, the old server will become a backup domain controller (BDC), and all the information stored on the old system will remain intact.

Installing and Configuring Services for Compatibility with Windows Server 2003

Migrating network services has always been one of the most challenging areas for administrators during any type of migration. When a Windows NT4 domain controller is upgraded in place, all network services are also upgraded to Active Directory, and Windows Server 2003 eliminates the need to install new network services to maintain connectivity during a migration. However, network services such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS), and Domain Name System (DNS) must be considered before you upgrade or migrate to Windows Server 2003 and Active Directory regardless of which migration method you use.

The area to focus on is planning, creating your migration script, and planning for a move or installation of services so that your migration is uninterrupted by failure of server-to-server connectivity as well as client-to-server connectivity. If you are migrating to Windows Server 2003 and Active Directory, network services such as DNS and DHCP must be used to maintain coexistence between domains. Ensure that your migration plan includes migrating these network services and avoids interruptions by migrating vital network services in the first phases of your migration.

Preparing an NT 4.0 SAM Database

The preparation of a Windows NT 4.0 SAM database is a relatively simple, two-step process. To prepare a Windows NT4 SAM database for a migration to Windows Server 2003, perform the following steps:

Remove unused security principles before upgrading a domain or migrating Windows NT4 security principles to Windows Server 2003 and Active Directory. It is a good practice to remove unwanted user, group, and computer accounts from the Window NT4 SAM database. By cleaning up the SAM database, you can then focus your migration on actual accounts.

Address duplicate and similar account names when you are consolidating domains. Review each Windows NT4 domain for similar or duplicate account names, group names, and resources. As you begin migrating Windows NT4 security principles to Windows Server 2003 and Active Directory, understand that these potential conflicts will assist you in configuring the Active Directory Migration Tool to resolve these naming conflicts.

After you remove unwanted Windows NT accounts and review each existing domain, it is a good practice to replicate the clean SAM database to all domain controllers with the Windows NT domain. Use the Server Manager console in your Windows NT Administrator Tools to replicate the domain's primary domain controller and SAM database to all backup domain controllers within the domain.