0

Currently I have a remote office in the Caribbean that is on its own network, domain, etc. Recently we upgraded our networking/firewall equipment to Cisco Meraki and what a pleasure it has been. With the Cisco Meraki equipment it has the option for the Mesh VPN which we have currently setup and it is working beautifully. Since we are essentially on the same network now i figured it was time to essentially manage AD in one place, so I have decided it would be beneficial to do either of the 2 procedures:

A. Migrate their users and computers to my primary domain in the states and we all operate off one domain.

or

B. I add the caribbean domain as a sub domain in my current AD Forest (Im not sure if this is even possible). I would actually like to go this route and I think it would be simpler and faster to do but once again this is why I am here.

If I go route 2, I need to have the "sub-domain" replicate as well to the backup domain controllers. So I guess my next question is, if I can have a sub-domain in my main AD forest will this replicate to the backup domain controllers?

If I go route 1, how difficult is it, to use the active directory migration tool?

Also, since I only mentioned 2 potential methods here and potentially only one, do any of you have a better method for me that I am overlooking?

All servers are currently on Server 2008 R2 and all PCs/Laptop run Windows 7

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Improve this question
2
  • 2
    You could setup a trust between the two, that would be the easiest option. If you decide to make it one domain, a Read Only Domain Controller would be best on site at the remote location.
    – DanBig
    Oct 2, 2013 at 15:03
  • Do you have a link to any documentation on the trust between the two? This is a bit of foreign ground for me.
    – Mike K
    Oct 2, 2013 at 15:11

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
0

Adding a trust will not reduce your administrative work much. I recommend doing a migration to a single domain. The ADMT works as it says it does.

Improve this answer
5
  • If I do go the route of the trust, will I be able to login to computers using an account from the Caribbean domain back in the states? And will it work vice verse? Will I also be able to control the Caribbean AD from the states?
    – Mike K
    Oct 2, 2013 at 15:43
  • Login to workstations - if you make a two-way trust, then yes, both ways. Control AD - you can do that now via RDP. With a trust, you could do it from one console, but you have to connect to each domain - it doesn't really reduce the amount of administration you need to do, as I said.
    – mfinni
    Oct 2, 2013 at 16:12
  • Ok, thank you very much for the input. I have to figure out what to do right now.
    – Mike K
    Oct 2, 2013 at 16:49
  • I am getting this issue when trying to create the trust. the name you specified is not a valid windows domain name
    – Mike K
    Oct 2, 2013 at 17:41
  • That's a new question. Close this one out by selecting an answer, and post your new issue as a new question. That's how this site works. Ask a discrete question, get a good answer.
    – mfinni
    Oct 2, 2013 at 18:48

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .