Small Business Susan

One of the best ways to ensure you have happy migrations is to ensure you have happy Active Directories.

Download details: Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 32-bit Support Tools:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=96a35011-fd83-419d-939b-9a772ea2df90&DisplayLang=en#filelist
One of the tools to download and run on the SBS 2003 before you start the migration is dcdiag which is included in that download.

Move yourself to the support subdirectory and run the tool and make sure you have a happy camper

C:\WINDOWS\system32>cd\program files

C:\Program Files>cd support tools

C:\Program Files\Support Tools>dcdiag

Domain Controller Diagnosis

Performing initial setup:
   Done gathering initial info.

Doing initial required tests

   Testing server: Default-First-Site-Name\DOMAIN
      Starting test: Connectivity
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test Connectivity

Doing primary tests

   Testing server: Default-First-Site-Name\DOMAIN
      Starting test: Replications
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test Replications
      Starting test: NCSecDesc
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test NCSecDesc
      Starting test: NetLogons
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test NetLogons
      Starting test: Advertising
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test Advertising
      Starting test: KnowsOfRoleHolders
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test KnowsOfRoleHolders
      Starting test: RidManager
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test RidManager
      Starting test: MachineAccount
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test MachineAccount
      Starting test: Services
            IsmServ Service is stopped on [DOMAIN]
         ……………………. DOMAIN failed test Services
      Starting test: ObjectsReplicated
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test ObjectsReplicated
      Starting test: frssysvol
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test frssysvol
      Starting test: frsevent
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test frsevent
      Starting test: kccevent
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test kccevent
      Starting test: systemlog
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test systemlog
      Starting test: VerifyReferences
         ……………………. DOMAIN passed test VerifyReferences

   Running partition tests on : ForestDnsZones
      Starting test: CrossRefValidation
         ……………………. ForestDnsZones passed test CrossRefValidation

      Starting test: CheckSDRefDom
         ……………………. ForestDnsZones passed test CheckSDRefDom

   Running partition tests on : DomainDnsZones
      Starting test: CrossRefValidation
         ……………………. DomainDnsZones passed test CrossRefValidation

      Starting test: CheckSDRefDom
         ……………………. DomainDnsZones passed test CheckSDRefDom

   Running partition tests on : Schema
      Starting test: CrossRefValidation
         ……………………. Schema passed test CrossRefValidation
      Starting test: CheckSDRefDom
         ……………………. Schema passed test CheckSDRefDom

   Running partition tests on : Configuration
      Starting test: CrossRefValidation
         ……………………. Configuration passed test CrossRefValidation
      Starting test: CheckSDRefDom
         ……………………. Configuration passed test CheckSDRefDom

   Running partition tests on : DOMAINNAME
      Starting test: CrossRefValidation
         ……………………. DOMAINNAME passed test CrossRefValidation
      Starting test: CheckSDRefDom
         ……………………. DOMAINNAME passed test CheckSDRefDom

   Running enterprise tests on : DOMAINNAME.lan
      Starting test: Intersite
         ……………………. DOMAINNAME.lan passed test Intersite
      Starting test: FsmoCheck
         ……………………. DOMAINNAME.lan passed test FsmoCheck

C:\Program Files\Support Tools>

Mind you some things like that IsmServ (what the heck is that?) can be ignored (thank you Philip – http://blog.mpecsinc.ca/2008/07/sbs-dcdiag-produces-ismserv-error.html )

Then take a look at the Directory Service, the DNS Server and the File Replication Server logs.

Make sure they are happy event logs.  No journal wrap, no red warnings.  Nice and happy blue information marks.

Mind you, you can have some old DNS event log errors, but they can be as a result of rebooting the box (and SBS tripping over it’s toes) and if you see that it’s now happy as a clam again, you can give the server a clean bill of health before starting the process.

Bottom line check out your AD first before you start the migration process.