[Samba] Need advice on upgrading from 4.3.11 to 4.8.3

[Paul Littlefield]

On 15/07/2018 21:27, Taner Tas via samba wrote:
> We have a Samba AD DC service running on Ubuntu 16.0.4 with Samba 4.3.11.
> We are planning to upgrade it to a recent version, probably 4.8.3.

Yes, Penny is spot on.

I have recently performed a similar task in a production environment.

1. Test the whole procedure at home with VMs, where I took a copy of the current VM, then created a new 4.8.x VM and followed through the join and demote, then tested logging on, RSAT and various Domain related tasks... lots of interesting things cropped up which I dealt with and redid it all AGAIN :)

2. Out of office hours, BACKUP the current VM just before you do it.

3. Create new VM with stable 4.8.x, join, check replication and TRANSFER roles.

4. Make sure you can logon clients, print, browse internet, etc. Check that any Windows Servers have the correct DNS and using RSAT tools check that both DCs are replicating, etc.

5. Create another same new VM with 4.8.x and join to Domain. Check replication to all 3.

6. POWER OFF the old VM and then do some more testing without it ON.

7. If you ready, start up the old VM and then demote it... check all has gone using RSAT tools (I had to manually remove _loads_ in DNS manually).

8. POWER OFF THE OLD VM, TURN OFF AUTOSTART (or check you have a backup then DELETE it from your VM environment)

9. More checks and then BACKUP both new DCs then come in early on Monday morning to be sure :)

Penny, does all that sound OK?

Paul