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ENVIRONMENT
The U. S. Navy Engineering Field Activity Chesapeake EFA-CHES
is a 420 node network with eleven (11) sites around the Washington DC Metropolitan
area. The field sites are connected the headquarters with high speed lines.
EFA-CHES is a single Windows NT 4.0 Domain with a Primary Domain Controller
(PDC) at the headquarters and a Backup Domain Controller (BDC) at each site.
The servers run Windows NT 4.0 Server, while the workstations mostly run
Windows NT 4.0 Workstation and some Windows 9x.
CHALLENGE
In preparation for the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) single
seat management contract, EFA-CHES wanted to migrate to a Windows 2000
architecture in order to:
- Simplify administration
- Add robustness to the infrastructure
- Increase security
- Provide better storage management
Due to the NMCI requirements, EFA-CHES tasked 3H Technology (3H) to achieve
the following goals as a result of the Windows 2000 migration:
- Migrate several print servers
- Design and implement a naming convention on workstations and print servers
- Maintain the same domain name, a migration to a separate "Native Mode"
Windows 2000 domain was not possible
- The NT 4.0 domain must to be migrated simultaneously while supporting
EFA-CHES users and all services
- Domain controllers must be replaced during normal business hours
- Develop an MS Active Directory (AD) model specific to EFA-CHES.
- Expand the AD scheme to support MS Exchange 2000 Server
- Centralize control of EFA-CHES shared directories
SOLUTION
The migration was broken down into three phases:
- Pre-Migration
- Migration
- Post-Migration
This approach reduced errors by providing clear objectives to accomplish
each step and as a result, prerequisite steps were easily identifiable. The
Pre-Migration phase adjusted all supporting domain service functions that
were required for a "Native Mode" Windows 2000 domain. The Migration phase
upgraded/migrated existing domain controllers. The Post-Migration phase
dealt with the configuration of the AD and scheme, creating policies, and
user data storage. Our migration produced the following results:
- Printer migration incorporated the new naming convention and more centralized
management of the print services.
- Although EFA-CHES had a naming convention it was not an enterprise convention
in scope. It lacked definition from a macro Navy viewpoint and was redefined
to identify systems function, geographical location, and a numbering code.
- One new server ("Zero" server) was added and installed into the NT 4.0
domain as a BDC and then promoted to the PDC role. The old PDC was taken
off line to act as a recovering system in the event of a failure. The new
PDC was then upgraded to Windows 2000 (Created the Active Directory and
the "Mixed Mode" Windows environment). Each domain controller was then swapped
with a replacement Windows 2000 domain controller. Once the domain controller
function duplicated on several servers and tested, the Zero server was re-built.
The domain was placed into "Native Mode". This approach provides a Windows
2000 migration within the NT 4.0 domain without interrupting the services
while employing a more robust domain controller infrastructure.
- The scheme was expanded in preparation for MS Exchange 2000 Server.
- Standard user data directories were created on a Network Appliance: NetFiller.
This approach added a centralized storage repository for ease of administration,
growth expansion, and data recovery.
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Win
2000 Migration