Active Directory and Exchange migrations on the way to Little Rock

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LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. --  Little Rock Air Force Base will soon migrate its computer users to the Air Force Network.

Over a six-week period starting May 3, an Air Force's Active Directory and Exchange project team will begin migrating Little Rock AFB workstations, network users and e-mail into the AFNet.

The goal of ADX is to collapse all individual Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard networks into the AFNet. While this change will be relatively transparent, the migration represents a major change for the Air Force. Until now, bases or major commands have operated their networks independently. This approach led to standardization, and security problems, high operation and maintenance costs, and a lack of enterprise situational awareness.

In short, there was no "single" organization or commander responsible for the network. The ADX project addresses these issues. It will place Air Force cyber operations under the operational control of a single commander. This will yield a significant improvement in the Air Force's ability to fight daily virus activity and malicious intrusion attempts. Additionally, ADX will centralize services like e-mail and data storage, significantly improving network security and standardization. Finally, operational costs will be reduced through the elimination of redundant systems and services.

The most visible change will be in the format of your e-mail address. The migration replaces the old first.last@littlerock.af.mil e-mail address with a standard first.last@us.af.mil address. The new addresses will remain with users for the duration of their career, employment or affiliation with the Air Force regardless of the base or organization assigned. As more bases join the AFNet, Airmen will be able to login to their accounts from any AFNet base without requesting and creating an additional account. This will allow easy access to the network throughout TDY's and PCS moves. Sites such as the Air Force Portal, Air Force Personnel Center and Defense Finance Accounting Service will remain easily accessible regardless of duty location.

As Little Rock AFB approaches its projected start date, a team of Air Force Network Integration Center, 690th Network Support Group and 19th Communications Squadron technicians are already preparing equipment and resources to facilitate the migration of almost 6,100 users.

(Courtesy of the 19th Communications Squadron)