Migrating to 2003 Server from SBS-NT4

[MattTheTech]

I have a network with one server. It is running SBS NT4 (Small Business Server) and is acting as the domain controller, file server, and exchange server for the network.

I am wanting to migrate everything to Windows Server 2003 standard (with a new machine, not an upgrade).
I plan to do this in two steps :

1) add the 2003 box to the network, making it the domain controller, and responsible for file sharing, leaving the SBS box as just a member of the domain, continuing to take care of the exchange server.

2) a few months later - move the exchange server to the 2003 box (with the new version of exchange of course)

My questions are this: Should I be able to do step 1 without any serious problems ? I have never tried this before, and am not sure if it is even possible (due to my limited knowledge of domains). I imagine i will be setting up an active directory on the 2003 box which will then take care of all the permissions, and the file sharing, but will it be a problem eventually getting the SBS box to start looking to the domain server (instead of itself) for user accounts etc.. for the exchange ? I know nothing about exchange yet, and will research that when the time comes, I just didn't know if there are any serious flaws to this plan 🙂

Any comments would be appreciated! (sorry for the long post hehe)

 

[azev]

I never did any migration to win2k3 yet, but in win2k, the best thing for you to do is to install winnt40 in your new computer as a bdc, then upgrade it to win2k. Google around, there are lots of guides on migrating from winnt to win2k.

 

[MattTheTech]

Then eventually turn the new computer into the PDC, when the old one is done away with ?

Would the BDC pretty much make a copy of everything important ? including the user accounts and scripts etc.. ?