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Migrating to a new domain with hyper-V 2008 - 12

Answered Migrating to a new domain with hyper-V 2008 - 12

  • Friday, March 15, 2013 5:40 PM
     
     
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    OK Here is my situation.

    I have a domain 2008/2003 "FUBARED" domain named "corp.companyname"

    There are three domain controllers, 1 is 2003 (syslog Server) 2 is Physical 2008 server and 3 is 2008 virtual server.

    I need to dump the entire thing and start over with a 2012 mixed domain.

    Programmers set up this network so I will not go into all the issues and problems associated; however, I will say that I have a new physical 2012 DC up and running with the domain name of "companyname.local"

    I am going to move all servers (virtual and physical) to the new domain.  The Virtual host is 2008 and the VM's are 2000 to 2012. 

    *IMPORTANT*  I am going to take the virtual host from "corp.companyname" to "companyname.local"

    So the nic mac addresses will stay the same, the VM's will still be on the same virtual box, but on a different domain.

    I am going to shut down the VM's then Export.  THEN join the host to the new domain.  Then restart the virtual machines and join them to the new domain.

    Do I have to import the VM's or can I just start them and change the domain?

    I can deal with the sharing issues - I just need to make sure the virtual servers are accessible to the network.

    I understand that workstations and other network objects need to be joined to the new domain.  I'm just wondering if anyone has changed their Forrest/domain name in a production environment before.  If so, What issues did you run into?

     

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  • Saturday, March 16, 2013 4:21 PM
     
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    If you want to import directly, you need to use 2012 as the Hyper-V host.  2008 R2 required export/import.  So, since you are licensed for 2012 on at least one physical host (your 2012 DC), I would recommend that you remove the DC role from that server, install the Hyper-V role on that server, then build a 2012 DC as a VM on it.  Then you can start importing your VMs directly from the other environment into your new Hyper-V 2012 environment.  (I would recommend removing them from the old domain before importing them, just so you don't have to deal with security issues of two domains).  Once all the VMs are moved from the 2008 Hyper-V host, flatten it and rebuild it with 2012 and put Hyper-V on it, too, joining it to the new domain.

    Yes, you could stop all the VMs and move the 2008 host over to the new domain and restart them, but you will end up with all sorts of security issues on the VM files.  It's much cleaner (and you end up with a better overall system in the end) the way I described above.

    .:|:.:|:. tim

     
  • Tuesday, April 02, 2013 3:26 PM
     
     
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    OK Here is the deal.I created a new domain and moved the physical Hyper-V box to the new domain.

    After starting the virtual machines I joined them to the new domain and restarted.  There were no issues with security or virtual networks.  No issues with vhd's or anything else. 

    I gambled and DID NOT export the VM's prior to the move.  Sometimes you just get lucky.

    Though I would have liked to migrate the 2008 host to 2012, I did not have the time.  Going forward I will migrate, but now - at least - I have a stable domain and everything LDAP and AD is working as expected.

    Note to anyone trying this...  Make sure you can migrate the individual profiles from the old domain to the new one.  Otherwise your users will be REALLY pissed.

    I have instructions for that if anyone is interested.  However, I think I am the only person in the world that would attempt what I just did.

    Thanks for the advice... DinoWuff "The Bastard SysAdmin"