I have a production domain, let's call it PROD.
There is just one PDC(PROD_DC) in the domain and is running some old legacy
system. Recently I found that the PDC's hardware seems to have some problem
and may breakdown at any time. I need to migrate the system to another
server. The primary concern is the user information in the DC so I would like
to build a BDC to replicate the user information. Then obsolate the old DC
and rename the DC to the original computer name.

Since I cannot make any changes to the production environment, I have to
build another NT server in a separate network. As it cannot touch the
production server at installation, I have to built the server as a PDC with
the same domain name PROD. I name the server NPROD_DC.

Here is the problem. Is it possible to make the NPROD_DC a BDC of the
production domain PROD?? Their domain name is now the same but I know that
the SID for the domain is different. Is there anyway I can make production
domain to recognize the NPROD_DC so that I can replicate the user information
to the NPROD_DC? Say, may be change the SID of the new domain? Thank you.

ps. I tried this approach because the KMS in my company describes of this
method. The author claimed that he did built a server using this approach.
However, it's a pity that the document didn't go deep into the steps that I
cannot figure out how he do it. Of course the author have quit the company so
I have to figure it out myself.

Any would be appreciated! thanks~~~

You are correct, you cannot move an NT 4.0 DC to another
domain without reinstallation or the use of a third party applicaton
e.g., newsids and u-promote come to mind.

You won't be able to create a BDC without a PDC around to connect
to in order to replicate the SAM and security files. Once you choose
PDC you have a brand new domain with the same name as your
existing. You may be able to run rdisk /s on the existing PDC then
install a new PDC and use the rdisk to replace the new SAM.


"Steven T" <Steven T@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:
>I have a production domain, let's call it PROD.
> There is just one PDC(PROD_DC) in the domain and is running some old
> legacy
> system. Recently I found that the PDC's hardware seems to have some
> problem
> and may breakdown at any time. I need to migrate the system to another
> server. The primary concern is the user information in the DC so I would
> like
> to build a BDC to replicate the user information. Then obsolate the old DC
> and rename the DC to the original computer name.
>
> Since I cannot make any changes to the production environment, I have to
> build another NT server in a separate network. As it cannot touch the
> production server at installation, I have to built the server as a PDC
> with
> the same domain name PROD. I name the server NPROD_DC.
>
> Here is the problem. Is it possible to make the NPROD_DC a BDC of the
> production domain PROD?? Their domain name is now the same but I know that
> the SID for the domain is different. Is there anyway I can make production
> domain to recognize the NPROD_DC so that I can replicate the user
> information
> to the NPROD_DC? Say, may be change the SID of the new domain? Thank you.
>
> ps. I tried this approach because the KMS in my company describes of this
> method. The author claimed that he did built a server using this approach.
> However, it's a pity that the document didn't go deep into the steps that
> I
> cannot figure out how he do it. Of course the author have quit the company
> so
> I have to figure it out myself.
>
> Any would be appreciated! thanks~~~

Yup. It turns out that I make use of newsid.exe and have the new DC
successfully joined to the existing domain as a BDC. I then replicated the
user information to the new machine and all seems fine. Of cause these were
done in the testing environment using virtual server. If there isn't any
problem, I think I would take it as the solution and implement it in
production enivroment.

I have an added question. In NT, does it matter to change the computer name
of the PDC and the Domain? It looks casual and and be changed at any time.
Thank you.

"Michael Giorgio - MS MVP" wrote:

> You are correct, you cannot move an NT 4.0 DC to another
> domain without reinstallation or the use of a third party applicaton
> e.g., newsids and u-promote come to mind.
>
> You won't be able to create a BDC without a PDC around to connect
> to in order to replicate the SAM and security files. Once you choose
> PDC you have a brand new domain with the same name as your
> existing. You may be able to run rdisk /s on the existing PDC then
> install a new PDC and use the rdisk to replace the new SAM.
>
>
> "Steven T" <Steven T@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:
> >I have a production domain, let's call it PROD.
> > There is just one PDC(PROD_DC) in the domain and is running some old
> > legacy
> > system. Recently I found that the PDC's hardware seems to have some
> > problem
> > and may breakdown at any time. I need to migrate the system to another
> > server. The primary concern is the user information in the DC so I would
> > like
> > to build a BDC to replicate the user information. Then obsolate the old DC
> > and rename the DC to the original computer name.
> >
> > Since I cannot make any changes to the production environment, I have to
> > build another NT server in a separate network. As it cannot touch the
> > production server at installation, I have to built the server as a PDC
> > with
> > the same domain name PROD. I name the server NPROD_DC.
> >
> > Here is the problem. Is it possible to make the NPROD_DC a BDC of the
> > production domain PROD?? Their domain name is now the same but I know that
> > the SID for the domain is different. Is there anyway I can make production
> > domain to recognize the NPROD_DC so that I can replicate the user
> > information
> > to the NPROD_DC? Say, may be change the SID of the new domain? Thank you.
> >
> > ps. I tried this approach because the KMS in my company describes of this
> > method. The author claimed that he did built a server using this approach.
> > However, it's a pity that the document didn't go deep into the steps that
> > I
> > cannot figure out how he do it. Of course the author have quit the company
> > so
> > I have to figure it out myself.
> >
> > Any would be appreciated! thanks~~~
>
>
>

Both can be done but there may be some catches. Have
a look:
Renaming a Domain: Process and Side Effects
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q178009/




"Steven T" <StevenT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:
> Yup. It turns out that I make use of newsid.exe and have the new DC
> successfully joined to the existing domain as a BDC. I then replicated the
> user information to the new machine and all seems fine. Of cause these
> were
> done in the testing environment using virtual server. If there isn't any
> problem, I think I would take it as the solution and implement it in
> production enivroment.
>
> I have an added question. In NT, does it matter to change the computer
> name
> of the PDC and the Domain? It looks casual and and be changed at any time.
> Thank you.
>