Mastering Active Directory

Deprecation of Windows Server 2003 domain and forest functional levels

Windows Server 2003 is no longer supported by Microsoft. When I talk to customers, I still see organizations (even banks, retailers, and pharmaceuticals) using Server 2003 on their production networks. There are enough reasons to upgrade from Server 2003 and I am not going to explain them here. The same holds true even for AD DS. Sometimes, it is not easy to upgrade from one version to another, especially under a limited budget. But it's always important to evaluate the risks an enterprise will have without an upgrade. We need to be mindful of protecting the right stuff and investing in the correct areas of operation.

If you haven't yet upgraded from AD DS 2003 either, ...