How to migrate your existing Active Directory to Windows Server 2008

This is a brief How To guide (the first of many) on how to migrate your existing Active Directory to Windows Server 2008.

Please note that I cannot be held responsible for any issues that you encounter when following this guide, my upgrade was done in a lab environment on a single Domain Controller running Exchange 2003.

If you do follow this and do it on a live system please, please, please run a full back up of your domain controllers and verify that the backup was successful. Even though this is a straight forward upgrade if anything goes wrong during the upgrade, you could potentially be left with a domain that NO users can logon to.

Before you start upgrading

verify that your domain controllers meet these requirements:

• The hardware meets or exceeds the requirements for Windows Server 2008.
• All hardware and software is compatible with Windows Server 2008, including antivirus software and drivers.
• You have ample disk space to perform the install.
• The current domain functional level is Windows 2000 Native or Windows Server 2003. You cannot upgrade directly from Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 Mixed or Windows Server 2003 Interim domain functional levels.
• All Windows 2000 Server domain controllers have Service Pack 4 installed.

Test your domain

Active Directory domains are very resilient and can continue to function even when a there are various problems e. Even if your Active Directory seems to be working properly, you might have logon delays, replication failures or Group Policy settings that aren’t being applied. These conditions can cause problems during an upgrade, so it’s crucial to resolve them now.

These tools will help you identify and diagnose any problems:

• Dcdiag.exe. Run this tool to analyse your Active Directory for common problems; it’s included with Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008.
• Repadmin.exe. Use Repadmin.exe to identify Active Directory replication problems; it’s included with Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008.
• Gpotool.exe. Use this tool to verify that Group Policy is consistent among domain controllers, it’s included with the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit tools, available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=27766.
• Event Viewer. Review the Directory Services log file for errors that might indicate problems.

Prepare Your Schema

If you upgraded from Windows 2000 to Windows Server 2003 you will be familiar with the Adprep.exe tool that was located on the Windows Server 2003 CD to prepare your Forest and Domain Schema. To prepare the Schema for Windows Server 2008 you will need to run the adprep tool from the Server 2008 DVD. This is located in the SoucesADprep Folder on the CD.

Run the following Command to prepare your domain for 2008:

Adprep /forestprep
Adprep /domainpre

Adprep /domainprep /gpprep

Adprep /rodcprep

If you get an error during the Adprep /domainprep about the domain not being in native mode you need to raise the level of your domain and then re-run domainprep. To raise the level of your domain go into Active Directory Domains and Trusts. Right click on the domain and select Raise Domain Function Level… 

Once you have finished running the Adprep on you domain controller, join your new Windows Server 2008 Server to your domain make sure that you have a static IP assigned to the server I am using IPv4 as to be honest know nothing about IPv6 just now, so when running dcpromo click yes to the prompt about the Static IP assignment.

Then once that has done you will have a functioning Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Server.

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