First published on TechNet on Apr 28, 2013
**Be sure to read the entire series on the AD Upgrade**
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you’ve been managing an Active Directory infrastructure for the last 5-10 years, you might have noticed that the pace of change has rapidly increased. After surviving the migrations from Windows NT to Windows 2000 and then Windows 2003, we settled into a nice lull for about 5 years. Suddenly Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 released in about a four year time frame. Now the rumors around the web are hinting at another new version of Windows.
As a lover of technology, all this new stuff is exciting. As a support professional who has to help customers implement all this change, I can understand that you may feel overwhelmed. Can you imagine trying to manage and upgrade an AD infrastructure that has domain controllers running a mix of one/more/all of the following: Server 2003, Server 2008, Server 2008 R2 and Server 2012?
Now is the time to start planning and build your roadmap for moving forward. Don’t worry, because we’re here to help. AskPFEPlat has already given you a great look at Windows Server 2012. Greg’s even given you some practical information on deploying the first Windows Server 2012 Domain Controller.
What we’re going to deliver to you now (and in some soon-to-follow blogs), is everything you need to know about the upgrade process in general as well as some great specifics. I know that there is already good information on TechNet and elsewhere on the internet. What we have to offer is comprehensive and practical information based on our experiences helping hundreds of customers through this process.
Let’s start by talking about a framework to manage the process. At the end of the day, it is simple:
Start by assessing where you are today with your Active Directory infrastructure. Specifically:
Now think about where you’re going, and what you have to do to get there. Use your assessment data to drive the plans. Specifically:
Ideally, you test every proposed change. Practically, you need to determine what you must test and what you can test, and how you will test. In some cases you will test in a lab, in other cases you may test in production (with a pilot or limited deployment, for example).
Now that you’ve done your homework, phase your deployment into stages. Some of the milestones you will set, include:
I know this is a lot to take in, and we’re not sharing technical details here. However, once you have the framework for the upgrade process, you just have to fill in the blanks. Stay tuned for future blogs that will cover these phases in much more detail.
Doug “I’ll drag you along the AD upgrade, Kicking and Screaming” Symalla
You must be a registered user to add a comment. If you've already registered, sign in. Otherwise, register and sign in.