Active Directory Proposal

Will Mason

Riordan Active Directory Proposal

POS-427

Instructor: Joe Fisher

This document will outline a proposal for the conversion of Riordan Manufacturing’s network from Windows NT based user management to Windows 2003 Active directory. It will detail the current state of the network, initial conversion process, the creation and determination of privileges, and the approximate time line for full transfer. The conversion will bring with it better management of users, increased security, and better stability of the network environment.

The current network consists of 4 locations; 3 located in the United States and 1 in China. The networks have both Cat 5 and Cat 3 wiring. Since the Cat 3 wiring is at only one location, the conversion to Cat 5 isn’t necessary for this conversion. The servers managing the windows side of the network range from up to date Blade servers to Compaq Proliant’s running 450 Mhz to 800 Mhz. While the conversion will make good use of the Blade Servers, the company will no longer need the proliants.

The conversion process will start with the updating of all Blade Servers. They currently have only 1 GB of ram. To increase the servers’ efficiency and speed it is recommended that the servers be upgraded to 3 GB. Secondly, all computers not running Windows 2000 or higher will be replaced.

Initially two of the blade servers at Headquarters will be taken down. On the first server Windows Server 2000 will be installed and Windows Server 2003 will be on the second. Windows has great conversion tools for both 2000 and 2003, but in the real world its harder to make the conversion from NT to 2003. Problems with the permission sets, the difference in memory management, and privileges become very complicated with such a jump. The plan will be to convert the NT to 2000 then from 2000 to 2003. While this may take longer to implement, it will reduce the amount of hiccups.

Once the configuration is imported to 2003 begins the planning for deployment and network support. The first part of this will be verifying file and drive permission. We will have to make new user groups. NT had groups, but the level of detail one can specify