Migrating from Win NT to Windows 2000

NetWare comes with a utility called the Novell Upgrade Wizardthat let’s you migrate everything from NetWare 3.x. Though the utility saysthat it’s an upgrade, it lets you move all the user preferences and data fromone server to another. So it’s actually more of a migration than an upgrade.That’s why you’ll need to install NetWare 5.x on a different machine forthis process.

Before you begin migration, you’ll need to check if the IPXprotocol is installed on both servers. Also ensure that the network address onboth the servers is the same. You can do this by opening the file autoexec.ncflocated on each server using a text editor. The line will be of the form:

Bind ipx to net=a3

Here, a3 is the network address. You also need to ensure thatyour NetWare 3.x server is updated with the latest patches.

The Novell Upgrade utility is located in the product\upgrdwizdirectory of your NetWare 5.x OS CD. The utility can be installed on a Win 9x orWan NT Workstation client. Once you’ve installed the utility, you’ll need toupdate the NetWare 3.x server with a couple of files. You’ll find these in theProgram Files\ novell\product\nw3x directory of the client on which youinstalled the utility. Copy all these files to the sys: \system directory on theNetWare 3.x server.

Next you need to edit the autoexec.ncf file on the NetWare3.x server and add the following line:

load tsa31x.nlm

Using Domain Migration Administrator

Install the DMA software on the Windows 2000 Server. It’ll

create its own program group in the Start Menu, so you can launch it from there.

When you run it, you have to create a migration project. DMA will store it as an

Access database file. A project is created between a source and a target domain.

The target domain will of course be the Windows 2000 Server you just created.

The source domain will be a Win NT Server. It will show you a list of all the

Win NT domains to choose from on your network. Each source domain you migrate

will form a different project.

DMA runs through the Microsoft Management Console, which is

divided into two panes. The left part shows you all migration projects you

created, while the right side shows you a list of steps to follow for doing the

migration. Click a migration project in the left pane and click on a migration

step in the right pane. The procedure is as simple as that, but it isn’t that

easy when you actually do it.

The next step is to run the Reporting wizard. This will

collect all information about your source domain such as the users, computers,

services, etc, and put it in a database. Next you have to migrate all trust

relationships with the target domain. Once this is done, all the data is stored

into a database by DMA. You’re now ready to migrate the users, groups, and

computers or merge multiple groups into a single group.

All tasks have wizards to guide you through the process.

After the wizard has finished its work, it’ll display all errors that have

occurred. Store them in a log file. You can later view them to see where the

problem occurred.

When you migrate users, you can specify a target container in

the Active Directory where they should be placed. The wizard also prompts you

with various options such as whether to transfer the original password, or

whether to disable the account after migration on the source or target domain.

You can also update the user rights so that their group memberships don’t

change after the migration.

Lastly, you can also undo a migration using DMA if it doesn’t

go well.

Anil Chopra and Sanjay Majumdar