Adprep.exe

[Edgar Zapata]

Hi experts!
I have 2 DL380 G2 that are DCs in a Windows 2000 domain called let's say 1ST.com
I have installed Windows Server 2003 in a new ML370 G4. This server must be a DC.
Now, I want to make it a DC in its own domain, let's say 2ND.1ST.com
I want it to be a secondary domain within 1ST.com domain.

When I try to dcpromo this 2K3 server, AD wizard says "the source AD schema version is not compatible with W2K3's AD version"
I understand I must run ADPREP in the W2K Schema Operations master.
What I am concerned about is the changes in the W2K domain schema. I have 2 DCs plus one Exchange 2000 Server in production there.

Does anybody know what I can expect from running the following commands at the W2K domain?
adprep /forestprep
adprep /domainprep

any clue/hint will be highly appreciated.
thank you much.
regards.

[Tim McGrath]

Edgar,

I know this is a late reply, but I am doing the same thing on my network and had the same concerns. The only difference is we still have a legacy Exchange 5.5 server. If you went through with this I would really appreciate any insight on this. Thanks

Tim

[Ivan Ferreira]

This is simply a recomendation.

Under any circunstances, you should always have a "disk image" of all your domain controllers and exchange servers.

If you have problems after running the adprep, simply reconstruct the servers from the image.

[Edgar Zapata]

finally got it.
I can't detail the steps I took, though.
I only run dcpromo and selected the options I wanted.
I didn't have to run adprep at all.

Now I've got my W2K3 server that's the only DC in 2ND.1ST.com and I still have a 2000 domain called MAIN.1ST.com
It allowed me to establish trusts between both domains too. Which it gave me some problems at first too.

thank you and regards.

[Tim McGrath]

Ivan,

I do have up to date images of all my dc and my exchange server. The w2k3 domain is a test domain currently. What I am doing is setting up a test domain with exchange 2003 and trying to migrate some test mailboxes off our production exchange 5.5 server. Not going so well!! So my next move was to demote the dc and join it to the domain which our exchange server is in to see if that would work. Thanks for the advice it is always appreciated.