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David Overton's Blog » Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008

[updated 29/9/12 with new link]

Given the recent comments about AD validation I thought I would share this excellent document on verifying your AD before you begin a migration (or at any other time)

Active Directory Health Check - Active Directory

This document outlines a basic procedure for validating the health of your domain and is a good practice for iterative maintenance and an excellent pre-check before doing any potentially dangerous domain operations

I would add a couple of extra tests to the list in this document, which would be placed after the 1st DCDIAG test, also perform:

DCDIAG /test:DNS /DNSALL /e /v

DCDIAG /test:DcPromo /e /v

DCDIAG /test:RegisterInDNS

If you system passes these tests then it is a good indication of health.

 

ttfn

David

Posted Mon, Jan 19 2009 11:30 PM by David Overton
Filed under: , , , , , , ,

Comments

David Overton's Blog wrote SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 migration thoughts and issues
on Mon, Jan 19 2009 11:33 PM

I've been part of a lively debate on the Yahoo UK SBS Group about how to migrate from SBS 2003 to

Jeff Guillet wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Tue, Jan 20 2009 4:55 PM

Good additions, David.  There are some changes to the last two commands for Windows Server 2008:

dcdiag /test:DcPromo /DnsDomain:domain.company.com /Operation /e /v

dcdiag /test:RegisterInDNS /DnsDomain:domain.company.com /<Operation> /e /v

/<Operation > may be /NewForest, /NewTree, /ChildDomain or /ReplicaDC

Dale Unroe wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Wed, Feb 4 2009 7:49 PM

Jett - since the step is prepartory only and our source is SBS 2003 why is Server 2008 command syntax needed at all?

David Overton's Blog wrote SBS 2008 Migrations from SBS 2003 – Keys to Success from the Official SBS Blog
on Thu, Feb 26 2009 2:11 AM

I started to write about this at SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 migration thoughts and issues and Active Directory

Fred Macondray Jr. wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Thu, Apr 23 2009 11:29 PM

The command DCDIAG /test:DcPromo /e /v requires a dnsdomain and an operation at the end.    I'm not sure what command to use for a migration AD test.

Thanks,

Fred

[email protected]

Barry Robbins wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Tue, Aug 11 2009 2:54 PM

DCDIAG /test:ChildDomain is failing when ran on my SBS 2003. Is this to be expected if there is no child domain in place?

David Overton wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Wed, Sep 2 2009 11:29 PM

@Barry,

What is failing? Althought the command is DCDIAG /childdomain - no "/test:"

thanks

David

JP wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Mon, Dec 14 2009 7:52 PM

The link to the document at the top of the page is not working on December 14th.  I would love to read it

Paul wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Wed, Feb 3 2010 12:51 AM

I am trying to run the dcdiag/test: dcpromo test and wondered which operation should be used in the testing that is relevant to SBS 2003 Premium?

/NewForest

/NewTree

/ChildDomain

/ReplicaDC

Thanks in advance.

Paul wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Fri, Feb 5 2010 11:54 AM

Hi Just wondering if anyone knows the answer to my question above.

Thanks.

Ryan Hanisco wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Fri, Mar 18 2011 8:12 PM

Hi Everyone,

I noticed that I was getting a few hits a day from people looking for the AD Health Check, so I've decided to resurrect the post on the new Wordpress site.

techsterity.wordpress.com/.../ad-health-check-server-2003

johnrockfellerz wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Fri, Jun 3 2011 10:15 AM

ADAudit Plus is a valuable security tool that will help you be compliant with all the IT regulatory acts. With this tool, you can monitor user activity such as logon, file access, etc. A configurable alert system warns you of potential threats.

www.manageengine.com/.../active-directory-audit

Anonymous wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Thu, Jun 23 2011 2:08 PM

check the AD health using this procedure

www.windowstricks.in/.../health-check-active-directory.html

Help with IT support wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Fri, Oct 7 2011 7:01 PM

Hey, thanks for the help, guys! I can always rely on you IT support people to help me out with these kinds of things!

Also, I had the same question as Paul, could you help us with that? Thanks!

Ryan Hanisco wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Sat, Sep 29 2012 10:29 AM

So I get a few links a day from this page but I have managed to break the link again.  At this point (2012) a bit outdated, but for those who are interested:

ryanhanisco.com/ad-health-check-server-2003

David Overton wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Sat, Sep 29 2012 10:38 AM

Ryan,

thanks.  I have updated the link.

David

Anonymous wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Mon, Oct 8 2012 6:48 PM
pdtechguru wrote re: Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008
on Tue, Nov 27 2012 5:49 PM

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