* NT to Active Directory migration: Aelita says it came be painless
Windows Server 2003 is shipping, which means a new version of Active Directory is on its way to the data center. But what are the people who still administer NT4 domains going to do? Aelita is one company that could help.
Active Directory was the major bete noire Microsoft indicted in explaining the slow migration from NT4 to Windows 2000. It wasn’t far wrong. Many NT4 managers and administrators threw up their hands when faced with changing the way they manage identity, authentication and authorization on their networks. The foresighted among them contracted third parties (software or personnel, or both) to do the migration for them.
Three of the companies that made their mark in providing migration services to Windows 2000 are no longer with us. Mission Critical, Entevo and FastLane were all acquired within a few months of the actual launch of Windows 2000 and assimilated by (respectively) NetIQ, BindView and Quest. One company, though, is still independent – Aelita.
Not only did Aelita remain independent it still has the same CEO that it had in 1999. Not many companies in our industry can make that claim (not even Microsoft, for heaven’s sake).
I quoted CEO Ratmir Timashev in this newsletter back in 1999 (https://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/dir/1206dir2.html) when he spoke about choosing the best way to upgrade an NT4 domain to Active Directory. He said: “Most organizations will realize greater benefits from Active Directory if they take this opportunity to plan and create a new directory structure tailored to their organization. With an in-place upgrade you not only inherit the outdated NT domain structure but also obsolete directory data.”
Network managers ignored that advice at their own peril. Those who ignored it usually wound up with directory structures that were unwieldy, insecure and unmanageable. Lots of people simply rolled back to NT4 and vowed never to upgrade.
Well, it’s time to shake off that bad experience and start planning to move to Windows Server 2003. While I expect that lots of Windows 2000 sites will have difficulties with a migration to Win 2K3’s Active Directory, those still maintaining NT4 sites will almost all be hopelessly lost and confused. While Microsoft wants you all to move to Win 2K3, especially the NT4 sites, most of the installation and upgrade utilities and materials are predicated on a move from Win 2000. Fortunately, Aelita is still small and independent enough to quickly step in and fill this void.
Aelita’s Domain Migration Wizard (DMW) Version 6 (6!, my how time flies.) is the first (and so far the only) NT-to-Active Directory migration product designed specifically for both Windows Server 2003 and 2000. As an added benefit, DMW gives you the option of upgrading the server operating system or the Exchange engine in any order, overcoming a security vulnerability that occurs when an NT4 domain is first upgraded to Exchange and only later to Active Directory.
Be sure to check Aelita’s Web seminars (https://www.aelita.com/news/web_seminars.htm), which fully explore the security vulnerabilities as well as the migration strategies for Active Directory and Exchange environments. While you’re there, read “10 things you need to know before deploying Active Directory,” then download the trial version of DMW and see for yourself how much easier your migration could be.
