When you have to backtrack and downgrade a DC

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CryptiniteDemon

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Okay, so I have this book from Microsoft that's basically a guide to get from
NT 4.0 to Server 2003.

Of particular interest is the section where they talk about going back to an
NT DC if there's and installation error or something. Now basically the
procedure is:

Keep a BDC off line just in case.
When something goes wrong, take all 2003 DCs off the network
Promote the BDC to a PDC.

And I would imagine this works fine if no computer had ever logged on to the
new domain. But say you got everything up and running just fine on 2003 and
a few days later decided you needed to go back to NT for some reason.

This is the scenario I'm trying to simulate. And whenever I do this
simulation, I can indeed put the domain back to the NT machine, but any
computer that's 2000 or newer that has logged onto the new domain will not
log back into the NT version. (specifically because it adopts the DNS naming
structure of my new domain name). NT machines, of course, do revert back to
the old domain with no problems that I can see.

So is there any particular way to get one of these machines that's logged in
to the 2003 domain to revert back to the NT domain without having to manually
rejoin the domain on each computer?
 
Re: When you have to backtrack and downgrade a DC

> And I would imagine this works fine if no computer had ever logged on to
> the
> new domain. But say you got everything up and running just fine on 2003
> and
> a few days later decided you needed to go back to NT for some reason.


The only reason you would need to "go back" is if you had an application
that needed NT 4.0. If you keep the domain in Win 2k mixed mode it will
support a NT 4.0 BDC or member server that you can run the application on.
See:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322692/en-us
If the application MUST run on a NT 4.0 PDC, you would have that application
now so this domain would not be a candidate for upgrade. In this scenario
you would create a separate AD domain and create a trust between the AD
domain and the NT 4.0 domain. Of course in either case you should be
actively working to replace the application that only runs on an un
supported platform..


hth
DDS


"CryptiniteDemon" <CryptiniteDemon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:AC9C82DF-16B1-40B9-A41A-FE22F3FD3DEE@microsoft.com...
> Okay, so I have this book from Microsoft that's basically a guide to get
> from
> NT 4.0 to Server 2003.
>
> Of particular interest is the section where they talk about going back to
> an
> NT DC if there's and installation error or something. Now basically the
> procedure is:
>
> Keep a BDC off line just in case.
> When something goes wrong, take all 2003 DCs off the network
> Promote the BDC to a PDC.
>
> And I would imagine this works fine if no computer had ever logged on to
> the
> new domain. But say you got everything up and running just fine on 2003
> and
> a few days later decided you needed to go back to NT for some reason.
>
> This is the scenario I'm trying to simulate. And whenever I do this
> simulation, I can indeed put the domain back to the NT machine, but any
> computer that's 2000 or newer that has logged onto the new domain will not
> log back into the NT version. (specifically because it adopts the DNS
> naming
> structure of my new domain name). NT machines, of course, do revert back
> to
> the old domain with no problems that I can see.
>
> So is there any particular way to get one of these machines that's logged
> in
> to the 2003 domain to revert back to the NT domain without having to
> manually
> rejoin the domain on each computer?
 
Re: When you have to backtrack and downgrade a DC

It's just a hypothetical. I don't plan on having to go back, buuuuuut if
somehow let's just say I have to go back to NT after these PCs log in. Is
there any way to get them back to the original domain without manual
reconfiguring them all?

My boss thinks it could happen and he wants me to figure out if it's
possible or not.

"Danny Sanders" wrote:

> > And I would imagine this works fine if no computer had ever logged on to
> > the
> > new domain. But say you got everything up and running just fine on 2003
> > and
> > a few days later decided you needed to go back to NT for some reason.
>
>
> The only reason you would need to "go back" is if you had an application
> that needed NT 4.0. If you keep the domain in Win 2k mixed mode it will
> support a NT 4.0 BDC or member server that you can run the application on.
> See:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322692/en-us
> If the application MUST run on a NT 4.0 PDC, you would have that application
> now so this domain would not be a candidate for upgrade. In this scenario
> you would create a separate AD domain and create a trust between the AD
> domain and the NT 4.0 domain. Of course in either case you should be
> actively working to replace the application that only runs on an un
> supported platform..
>
>
> hth
> DDS
>
>
> "CryptiniteDemon" <CryptiniteDemon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> message news:AC9C82DF-16B1-40B9-A41A-FE22F3FD3DEE@microsoft.com...
> > Okay, so I have this book from Microsoft that's basically a guide to get
> > from
> > NT 4.0 to Server 2003.
> >
> > Of particular interest is the section where they talk about going back to
> > an
> > NT DC if there's and installation error or something. Now basically the
> > procedure is:
> >
> > Keep a BDC off line just in case.
> > When something goes wrong, take all 2003 DCs off the network
> > Promote the BDC to a PDC.
> >
> > And I would imagine this works fine if no computer had ever logged on to
> > the
> > new domain. But say you got everything up and running just fine on 2003
> > and
> > a few days later decided you needed to go back to NT for some reason.
> >
> > This is the scenario I'm trying to simulate. And whenever I do this
> > simulation, I can indeed put the domain back to the NT machine, but any
> > computer that's 2000 or newer that has logged onto the new domain will not
> > log back into the NT version. (specifically because it adopts the DNS
> > naming
> > structure of my new domain name). NT machines, of course, do revert back
> > to
> > the old domain with no problems that I can see.
> >
> > So is there any particular way to get one of these machines that's logged
> > in
> > to the 2003 domain to revert back to the NT domain without having to
> > manually
> > rejoin the domain on each computer?
>
>
>
 
Re: When you have to backtrack and downgrade a DC

The point is if you architect it right there IS no valid reason to go
backwards. If you have to go back to NT 4.0 you did something wrong.

To answer your hypothetical situation you would have to touch each machine
to remove it from the AD domain and re-join it to the NT 4.0 domain. But
only someone that didn't plan properly would be in this situation.


Hypothetically a whole TON of things can go wrong. In order to prevent them
you plan. If you have a legacy NT 4.0 application on your NT 4.0 domain that
can not run on Win 2k3, you plan for that by either putting it on a member
server in the AD domain or leaving it in the NT 4.0 domain and create
trusts. Using this plan would prevent you from having to go back to NT 4.0,
and eliminate the possibility of having to move your users back to the NT
4.0 domain after they have logged onto the AD domain.


hth
DDS


"CryptiniteDemon" <CryptiniteDemon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:1AA0C363-8F24-4E9A-9266-6C764BAC91BB@microsoft.com...
> It's just a hypothetical. I don't plan on having to go back, buuuuuut if
> somehow let's just say I have to go back to NT after these PCs log in. Is
> there any way to get them back to the original domain without manual
> reconfiguring them all?
>
> My boss thinks it could happen and he wants me to figure out if it's
> possible or not.
>
> "Danny Sanders" wrote:
>
>> > And I would imagine this works fine if no computer had ever logged on
>> > to
>> > the
>> > new domain. But say you got everything up and running just fine on
>> > 2003
>> > and
>> > a few days later decided you needed to go back to NT for some reason.
>>
>>
>> The only reason you would need to "go back" is if you had an application
>> that needed NT 4.0. If you keep the domain in Win 2k mixed mode it will
>> support a NT 4.0 BDC or member server that you can run the application
>> on.
>> See:
>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322692/en-us
>> If the application MUST run on a NT 4.0 PDC, you would have that
>> application
>> now so this domain would not be a candidate for upgrade. In this scenario
>> you would create a separate AD domain and create a trust between the AD
>> domain and the NT 4.0 domain. Of course in either case you should be
>> actively working to replace the application that only runs on an un
>> supported platform..
>>
>>
>> hth
>> DDS
>>
>>
>> "CryptiniteDemon" <CryptiniteDemon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>> message news:AC9C82DF-16B1-40B9-A41A-FE22F3FD3DEE@microsoft.com...
>> > Okay, so I have this book from Microsoft that's basically a guide to
>> > get
>> > from
>> > NT 4.0 to Server 2003.
>> >
>> > Of particular interest is the section where they talk about going back
>> > to
>> > an
>> > NT DC if there's and installation error or something. Now basically
>> > the
>> > procedure is:
>> >
>> > Keep a BDC off line just in case.
>> > When something goes wrong, take all 2003 DCs off the network
>> > Promote the BDC to a PDC.
>> >
>> > And I would imagine this works fine if no computer had ever logged on
>> > to
>> > the
>> > new domain. But say you got everything up and running just fine on
>> > 2003
>> > and
>> > a few days later decided you needed to go back to NT for some reason.
>> >
>> > This is the scenario I'm trying to simulate. And whenever I do this
>> > simulation, I can indeed put the domain back to the NT machine, but any
>> > computer that's 2000 or newer that has logged onto the new domain will
>> > not
>> > log back into the NT version. (specifically because it adopts the DNS
>> > naming
>> > structure of my new domain name). NT machines, of course, do revert
>> > back
>> > to
>> > the old domain with no problems that I can see.
>> >
>> > So is there any particular way to get one of these machines that's
>> > logged
>> > in
>> > to the 2003 domain to revert back to the NT domain without having to
>> > manually
>> > rejoin the domain on each computer?
>>
>>
>>
 
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