2000 server replacement in degraded domain environment.

Hi all,

I am so fortunate enough on my new position as Head Network Admin to inherit a degraded and quite unstable Windows 2000 network on my new job. I have ordered new IBM X Series servers to replace servers that are at capacity and old. I have an upgrade plan but I want to run my plan by people here to make sure im not missing anything;

I want to go to 2003 server but the DC I have now is at capacity. The boot drive (factory 4GB) is to full to do an in place upgrade and I don?t think the box is stable enough anyway. So, I have a new DC that im going to install 2000 SP4 on, add to the domain, add to AD, and transfer the 5 FSMO roles from my old DC to this new DC. Then I feel I can do the in place upgrade to 2003 on the new DC and eventually to a DCPROMO and demote the old DC out. Here is what ive done/know so far;

I confirmed that my current DC is the GC.

I am going to use the NTDSUTIL.EXE command to transfer the roles one by one to my new DC.

Once I confirm my new DC is the GC and the FSMO roles are ok, I can demote my old DC?

All AD data will be on my new DC, and I will have DNS all set and DHCP ready to go for clients. I will shut down my old DC and test client access to make sure all is ok on the domain level and that clients are loggin on and getting valid IP?s. .

I will also have a backup DC in place to replicate AD before I take my old DC offline and test the new DC.


Any suggestions?? Im working with what I got and I have done this before, it?s just been years since I dealt with a 2000 server so im being really careful?.

Ric