Determine the Domain Upgrade Order

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Before you begin the in-place domain upgrade process, determine the order in which you plan to upgrade your Windows NT 4.0 domains. Because account domains generally contain more objects than resource domains, upgrade your account domains before upgrading your resource domains. This allows your organization to take advantage of Windows Server 2003 security and administration features early in the upgrade process.

The order in which you upgrade account domains in your organization can affect the efficiency of your in-place domain upgrade process. Use the following guidelines to determine the order in which to upgrade multiple account domains:

  • Upgrade domains that will become targets for restructuring first. After upgrading these domains, you can restructure remaining domain objects into the restructuring target. Target domains must be set at the Windows 2000 native domain functional level before restructuring objects into them.

  • Upgrade domains over which you have direct control and to which you have easy access. This allows convenient access to these domains in the event that you must roll back your deployment if the upgrade does not go as planned.

For more information about restructuring Windows NT domains, see "Restructuring Windows NT 4.0 Domains to an Active Directory Forest" in this book.