RE: [ActiveDir] Do you have a development (DEV) forest?

[Myrick, Todd (NIH/CIT)]

What are the goals of the Development forest?   You can accomplish a lot with VMware, and a few host.   You are correct.  Maintaining a development forest is a pain in the but.  Best off to try to create a Development forest using VMware images, and IP's that are not public so you can test as much as you can.   One strategy is to do the following so you can roll out new systems in a staging method pretty quickly.   Simulate as much of the environment in VMware. To test out a theory that your architecture designs work, Deploy boxes on a central Network and a few spoke networks and verify that the Firewall configs and routers are not going to cause problems, Determine the roll of the servers in production, and have the appropriate backup solution, IDR, and application specific backup. During upgrades, I would do 2 full backups then I would break the OS mirror, Transaction Logs, and replace all the drives for the data with new drives, then restore the data. Run a restore of the data.  Then upgrade the OS, And Application.  If either breaks, you can reinstall the broken mirrors, and add the data drives back in.  It is expensive, but it is quick and safe.   Q1.  Only add the systems you need to test with.  No need for redundancy. Q2.  They don't, it is part of ADOG. Q3.  SLA don't work, abandon that concept.  (This is the minimal amount of work I will do.... If someone wants to hand me a SLA or requires it, It makes me feel I need to do business with someone else.)  Case in point.  I LOVE YOU.   SLA's didn't add any value here. Q5.  Well, they customize COTS applications, and seem all the web services together.] Q6.  Current. Q7.  Dev is more organized by project.  So they have "programming" on their side to manage the project.  I find that my efforst are somewhat better because, I am free to think of several possibilities.   Todd Myrick   -----Original Message----- From: StickmanRunner87 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 2:18 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [ActiveDir] Do you have a development (DEV) forest?   Hello! BACKGROUND Recently, our Active Directory Team was asked by executive management to implement a development forest that very much mimics our production forest in many ways.  However, many of us struggle with this request because we're afraid a development forest will incur more work and cost than benefit.    QUESTIONS Do you have a development (DEV) forest?  If yes, 1.      How does DEV's size compare to PROD in terms of users, computers, domain controllers, domains, sites, gpo's? 2.      Do DEV admins support PROD too? 3.      How does DEV's SLA compare to PROD? 4.      How has DEV added-value to your company?  Any stories to share? 5.      How current is DEV compared to PROD?  Identical, one schema version behind, etc.? 6.      How does DEV's change control practices compare to PROD? If no, 1.      Is there a specific reason why you don't have a DEV forest? 2.      Did you have a DEV forest previously and tear it down? 3.      Are you considering a DEV forest at the present time? I appreciate any feedback you can share with me.  If you would prefer to discuss in a telephone call, I'm willing to "phone a friend." Sincerely,  Stick  Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search