Status Update – Microsoft Migration Project
September 30th, 2011 – by Jack
In 1995 EMU implemented its first campus-wide network using the Novell networking system. At the time it was the most popular networking system in operation, particularly on college campuses. Over time, Microsoft networking systems improved and by 2000 Microsoft became the predominant system used in commercial environments and colleges and universities also began migrating to it. EMU’s decision to move from Novell eDirectory (eDir) to Microsoft Active Directory (AD) networking came in the late 2000’s, primarily because we believed (and continue to believe) that having our core business system converted to a Windows server system (i.e. Jenzabar EX) prior to migrating to Microsoft networking would be advantageous in the long run.
Over a year’s worth of planning preceded our actual migration work. This is a huge project and with countless connections and dependencies, many of which ordinary users will never see or recognize. The main categories of work to be completed for the project are:
| AD Migration Category of Work | Current Status |
| Create the Windows server architecture and domain to host Microsoft AD (our central network system database). The name of our AD is ROYALS. | Completed early 2011 |
| Move users account records from Novell eDir to Microsoft AD. | Completed, June 2011 |
| Move Students’ P-drive and Z-drive files (and classwork files on V) to AD. | Completed, July 2011 |
| Move Faculty/Staff Z-drive files to AD. We completed this in August 2011. | Completed, August 2011 |
| Move Faculty/Staff P-drive and G-drive files to AD. | Completed, September 2011 |
| Replace Novell NetStorage with Cisco ASA Web VPN. | Completed, September 2011 |
| Move Faculty/Staff Media Files (Marketing department, etc) to AD. | Future Activity |
| Retrofit all programs that use EMU EID username and password to use AD instead of eDir. | Many completed, some remain to be completed. |
| Move printers into AD. | Pre-requisite to rollout of Windows 7 computers. |
| Move Lab Computers and Teacher Workstations into AD. | Scheduled for the week prior to start of spring semester. |
| Move EMU-Owned computers (Windows and Macintosh) into AD | Will be done when Windows 7 Computers are rolled out to departments and Macintosh computers are upgraded to OSX 7 (Lion). Needs to be completed by 31 MAY 2012. |
| Modify many “under-the-hood” connections and dependencies from eDir to AD. | Needs to be completed by 31 MAY 2012 when our Novell licenses expire. |
User Impact
In all of our planning efforts we have attempted to minimize disruptions for the users. However, because we must “live in two worlds” (Novell and Microsoft) for nearly a year (June 2011 thru May 2012) at times it is necessary for us to “bridge” these two worlds with special procedures. One of the most visible of these “bridges” is the need for users to enter their password in a second prompt when logging into the network. This is a temporary procedure and will be eliminated when a user’s computer is upgraded to Windows 7. For users of Lab Computers or Teacher Workstations, the second prompt should be eliminated at the beginning of the spring semester when these computers become part of the domain.