[Samba] Migrating to samba from windows NT domain

[James Watkins]

On Saturday 25 November 2006 10:18, Pere Rodríguez wrote:

> Unfortunately I have running various services in PDC and BDC servers
> that I must remain after the migrations, so I can't stop PDC and BDC
> servers permanently  after the migration to Samba.
>
> Can I deactivate PDC and BDC services in Windows NT servers?

According to this document:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/proddocs/concept/xcp01.mspx?mfr=true

(scroll down to the section "Removing a Computer from a Domain")
it is not possible to remove a BDC from a domain without reinstalling the OS.

However, there are commercial products which claim to be able to 'demote' a 
BDC to a standalone server, allowing the administrator to rejoin it to the 
same, or presumably another domain as a member server.
Note: I have never used any of these products and cannot comment on how well 
they work, if at all.

I think you may have a lot of work on your hands here since samba is not able 
to join a domain as a BDC when the PDC is on NT so it's not a simple 
demote-promote exercise.  You may need to create a whole new samba-based 
domain.  I'm not an expert at this so I can't offer you much practical advice 
but if you decide to go ahead with it, I wish you the very best of luck.

Cheers,
James.