Hi All, I am hoping that someone could perhaps provide some insight on this topic as I apparently can't seem to google the best answer.
I have recently acquired an AD domain that is running on a 2003 domain controller. I have been tasked with upgrading our existing domain structure with 2012 R2 domain controllers for our main office and remote offices.
The domain name is company.mynetwork.com, and it is the default first site name. We have multiple offices throughout the US with their own domain controllers (i.e. FL.mynetwork.com, NY.mynetwork.com, DC.mynetwork.com, etc.).
Our main office, and default first site has one domain controller (mynetdc1) running Server 2003 R2. It is also our only DNS server for the main office. It also has an additional domain controller called mynetmaster3 which is running Server 2003.
Both mynetdc1 & mynetmaster3 NTDS settings show them as global catalogs under AD Sites & Services. Both servers are also in the AD Domain Controllers OU, along with all of the other satellite office domain controllers.
Additionally, our main office is running Exchange 2010 with the latest service pack. My questions are:
- Can we demote and retire mynetmaster3, then replace mynetdc1 with a newly promoted 2012 R2 global catalog domain controller without harming anything in the domain tree and interrupting connectivity to the other offices (this of course goes without saying after a 4 hour maintenance window to get the task completed has passed)?
- Should we upgrade the satellite offices first after raising the functional level for mynetdc1, or should we do the opposite (upgrade main office, then satellite offices)?
- Exchange 2010 is heavily dependent on AD, what effect will this entire project have on our email server? What steps should we take beforehand to ensure email continuity?
- Finally, is there any shame for a Net Admin to suggest that we hire an implementation specialist for this task? :)
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!