Upgrade Windows 2003 DC to 2008 R2

[Misan]

Hi guys, I'm hoping someone could provide me with some assistance with the following scenario.

I currently have a single DC, single domain running Windows 2003 Standard (32-bit) which I am planning to migrate to Windows 2008 Standard R2 (64-bit)
After doing some research it would appear that an in-place upgrade might be my best bet, however this would mean I wouldn't be able to upgrade using the 64-bit version of Server 2008 due to architecture differences.

The other option is to simply rebuild the DC with a fresh copy of 2008 Server R2 (64-bit) however I would like to know what kind of impact this would have on my Exchange 2003 server and workstations If i was to use the same NETBIOS name for the DC and the same domain name with respect to SID's etc.

The DC also has IIS 6 installed with PHP 5.2, MySQL and Activestate Perl. It is also acting as a WINS server. All data on my RAID 5 array has been backed up completely and I have taken a System State backup. It serves files for six Windows 7 workstations and a couple of Linux boxes.

Given the options, It would be nice to go 64-bit as this would certainly give me more expansion in terms of addressable RAM for future upgrades.

Thanks for any help in advance!

 

[Misan]

I guys, thanks for the replies. I should mention that this is not a business scenario, and is a server I run for home use, therefore introducing new hardware isn't feasible.

Given the complications of rebuilding my DC with the same NETBIOS name, would it seem more sensible to simply stick with a 32-bit version of 2008 Server so that an in-place upgrade is possible?

Cheers

 

[Misan]

Thanks for all the replies guys - I've decided to build a secondary DC running Windows 2003 with a spare machine and join it to the existing domain. I will then transfer the FSMO roles from the primary DC across. Once all the replication has completed, I'll dcpromo the primary DC and then shutdown the server and wipe and install Server 2008 R2.

At that point I can then run ADPREP on the secondary DC and raise the domain functional level before running dcpromo on the 2008 R2 box (which will use the same domain name as previously) and finally transfer the FSMO roles back across. I can then dcpromo the secondary DC and shutdown the box.

My only concern is both the DNS and WINS roles, would it be worth exporting the DNS zones first on the primary DC before wiping it and likewise for WINS?

Edit: I've sorted the DNS backup with dnscmd, and I've used the standard database backup tool in the WINS mmc to backup the WINS database. (Yes, I have a system state backup, but dislike its lack of granualirity)

Thanks