We've inherited a mixed environment consisting of Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition (DC), Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition (running Terminal Server), Windows Server 2008 Standard x64 Edition (PDC, Exchange Server) and several types of clients. We will replace the XP clients with Windows 7 clients in a few days. AD
We also added 2 Windows 2008 R2 servers to migrate to in the future and simplify the environment. The Exchange Server will be obsoleted and replaced with Hosted Exchange (Office 365).
We would like to implement single sign-on between the local AD and the Office 365 Hosted Exchange. One of the prerequisites is Federated Trust and having the local domain name equivalent to the external domain name.
Currently, on that mixed environment, the local AD domain is "domain.local". We need to change that to "domain.ch".
I have found some documentation on how to rename a domain, but I lack to find best practices and/or things to consider. So my question: In the above environment, what do I have to consider? Where are the pitfalls, the potential traps we could end up? What could go wrong? What are all the not-so-well-documented steps which come in addition to running "rendom"?
Our problem is that we do not have an environment to test with (bad) and that we are kind of under time pressure (worse).
I would appreciate your feedback.
Thanks
Dan