Migrating from Workgroup to Domain

[jimruns919]

I started at this company and we have about 70+ users on the network. Right now it is setup as a Workgroup model and I want to move over to a Domain model. I built a server which can handle this job and is running Windows Server 2003. I want this server to run as the Domain Controller as well as perform some file backup duties. It has 4 1TB drives for storage and 1 40GB SCSI drive for OS.

What I am a little nervous about is if I create this as a domain controller, will there be any issues with any users PCs while I am migrating the computers to the domain. Also, will it automatically find all the user profiles and policies or will I have to create them all and then when I move my other 6 servers to the domain it will find what it needs. I am more concerned with initial issues of making a domain controller while the other servers which are being used causing any issues.

 

[Pinhedd]

I started at this company and we have about 70+ users on the network. Right now it is setup as a Workgroup model and I want to move over to a Domain model. I built a server which can handle this job and is running Windows Server 2003. I want this server to run as the Domain Controller as well as perform some file backup duties. It has 4 1TB drives for storage and 1 40GB SCSI drive for OS.

What I am a little nervous about is if I create this as a domain controller, will there be any issues with any users PCs while I am migrating the computers to the domain. Also, will it automatically find all the user profiles and policies or will I have to create them all and then when I move my other 6 servers to the domain it will find what it needs. I am more concerned with initial issues of making a domain controller while the other servers which are being used causing any issues.

Woah, slow down there.

AD-DS is extremely complicated. While I think that migrating your worksplace over to a domain is probably the right thing to do, please realize that there are books hundreds of pages in length dedicated just to AD-DS. I suggest that you get your hands on a comprehensive book for Server 2003 (you really should go with 2008 R2 or 2012 as 2003 will lose support in a little under 2 years) and study it carefully. Then, setup an AD-DS domain in a sandbox to get used to it, use VMs if you wish. On a domain, one wrong move can render all of the PCs on your network unusable. As a workgroup, they will still function.