Checklist: NIS migration to Active Directory using the Server for NIS Migration wizard

Step Reference
Read more about Network Information Service (NIS) migration. Understanding NIS data migration
Back up your Windows 2000 domain controllers, or use a test domain controller. Windows 2000 Server documentation
Log on as a member of the Domain Admins group. Windows 2000 Server documentation
Identify the NIS domain to migrate and how it will be migrated, keeping in mind the following:
  • You can migrate only one NIS domain at a time, but you can merge the NIS domain with a previously migrated NIS domain.
  • If you do not merge the domain, you can preserve the existing domain name or create a new name for the migrated domain.
  • You should migrate an NIS domain to only one Windows 2000 domain.
 NIS administrator
Make sure that NIS map source files of the maps to be migrated are available to the computer running the NIS Domain Migration wizard. (NIS map source files are the plain text files from which the NIS map databases are compiled.) You can make the files available to the Windows 2000 computer by using Network File System (NFS), or by copying them to the Windows 2000 computer through File Transfer Protocol (FTP). All standard and nonstandard map source files should be in the same directory.
Determine which standard NIS maps to migrate, and the directory paths to the map source files, keeping in mind the following:
  • You can migrate maps in steps, that is, migrate one map first, then another, and so on.
  • You should migrate the passwd map before migrating other maps (such as group or shadow maps) that rely on it.
  • You must migrate the networks map before migrating netmasks.
 NIS administrator
Managing standard and nonstandard maps
Determine any nonstandard NIS maps to migrate, their formats, and the directory paths to their map source files. All standard and nonstandard map source files should be in the same directory. NIS administrator
Examine NIS map source files for multiple entries having the same primary key (for example, more than one user with the same user identifier (UID) in the passwd file) and eliminate the duplicate primary keys. NIS administrator
Determine Active Directory containers to which you will migrate the NIS domain.
Decide on the strategy to migrate using one of the following two alternatives. If there are conflicts between the existing map entry and the entry being migrated during the migration process, you can either:
  1. Overwrite the existing entry with data from the entry being migrated; or
  2. Preserve data from the existing entry and ignore the entry being migrated.
 Best practices
The Migration wizard can be configured to go through and log all migration steps without actually migrating the data to Active Directory. Determine whether you want to run the wizard first without migrating to examine all events that will take place during migration (recommended), or migrate all data the first time the wizard is run.
Migrate NIS maps to Active Directory on a computer running Windows 2000 Server and Active Directory.
 To migrate NIS domains
Review the log files after migration for errors or conflicts. Resolve log conflicts and migrate the resolved entries again. Resolving migration conflicts
Configure any UNIX NIS subordinate (slave) servers to use Server for NIS as the master NIS server. Configuring UNIX NIS server to use Server for NIS as the master server
Configure any UNIX NIS client computers to use Server for NIS as the master NIS server. Configuring UNIX clients to use Server for NIS as the master server
Set the passwords of new Windows user accounts (created as a result of the NIS migration) to a known, temporary value, inform the users of the temporary password and instruct them to change their Windows password as soon as possible.