Currently, windows 2003 Small Business server only allows 1 domain controller to exist in a domain. Therefore we have had to create a new domain and migrate exchange and user accounts. However, all we really want to do is relocate the existing domain controller onto a new server. That way we don't have to touch every workstation and reconnect outlook to the new exchange server. Is there a way to restore an existing domain to new server hardware. Ghost images are out becuase we are using raid 5. The limitations of SBS 2003 prevent us from making a "backup" domain contraoller and replicating the settings and then promoting it. It seems that there has to be a way to do this, for instance if a client had a fire, lost the server but we needed to rebuild from an offsite backup. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Tim Tim Kushner tjkushner@kasual.com

Well Done.

One thing to do is definately back it up first. If you don't have a tape backup then use a portable hard drive. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: There is a good chance that you will not be able to access the backup if you use Microsoft's default backup software. Once you migrate, you may lose the ability to read tha backup. I had that happen and spent 2 weeks trying to recover. I finally recovered using "ntbkup" software. Anyway, the workaround would be to backup everything using different backup software such as Veritas Backup Exec, or something. Or just copy the files you want to backup without using backup. Just plan it very carefully or you will regret it! Also, there are ways to migrate a server but I have not done it. Check microsoft for "Server 2003 Migration" "i woke up this morning and all of my stuff was stolen and replaced with exact duplicates."