[Samba] Upgrading Samba AD without upgrading any DC

[Stephen Brandli]

HI,

Really appreciate you guys!

Three questions:

First, I am installing new DCs using Bookworm's stable install.  The current DCs are running Bullseye (again using i's latest).  I don't think upgrading a DC directly will be easy if I have to do it.  (They run in containers on a Buster host.)  Is it feasible/advisable to upgrade by installing a couple of new DCs, joining them to the domain, and then retiring the older servers?  Or, would it be best that I install a DC on a Bullseye server that can be upgraded, join the domain, and then upgrade that?

Second, if things go wrong, can a backup of a Bullseye DC be installed on a new Bookworm DC?  What type of backup would you recommend?

And third, if the answer to the second question is "yes," is there value in doing the upgrade by installing the older backup onto a newer server and going from there rather than either of the two approaches in my first question?

I would appreciate any pointers to documentation that you would suggest I read.  I did read the suggestions on upgrading a DC directly but am trying to avoid that approach if feasible.

Thanks for your help with this.

                Steve