I'm working with a site that needs an internal DNS domain rename. It currently has a DNS name of domain.abc.com and NT name of ABC. I'm trying to get to a DNS name of abctrading.com and NT name of ABCTRADING. Split DNS would be used.

The site originally ran from a single Windows 2000 domain controller hosting AD, file, print, DHCP and DNS services. There was no Exchange system in the environment. The 50 client PCs are all Windows XP with a handful of users using roaming profiles. All users are in a single OU and there are no group policy/GPOs.

I'm a Linux engineer, but have been trying to guide another group of consultants to reach a more suitable setup. With the help of this group, we were able to move the single Windows 2000 system to a set of Windows 2008 R2 servers separated into domain controller and file/print systems (virtualized). We are also trying to add an Exchange 2010 system to this mix. The Windows 2000 server was demoted and is no longer in the picture.

This is the tricky part, as client wants the domain renamed and the consultants aren't quite sure how to get through it without another 32-40 hours of testing/implementation. THey say that there's considerable risk to do the rename without a completely isolated test environment. However, this rename has to be done before installing Exchange. So we're stuck at this point.

I'd like to know what's involved in renaming the domain at this point. We're on Windows Server 2008. The AD is healthy now. Coming from a Linux background, it seems as though there should be a reasonable path to this. Also, since the original domain appears to be a child/subdomain, would that be a problem here.

I'd appreciate any guidance.