JSI Tip 6755. Windows 2000 domain controllers require SP3 or later when using Windows Server 2003 administration tools?

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 325465 contains the following summary:

By default, Active Directory administrative tools in the Windows Server 2003 family sign and encrypt all Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) traffic. Signing LDAP traffic guarantees that the packaged data comes from a known source, has not been tampered with and does not hit the wire in clear text where network trace utilities like Network Monitor can view it. Active Directory administration tools may also negotiate by using the NTLM authentication protocol instead of LDAP signing. Two scenarios that invoke NTLM authentication include the following scenarios:

To use these Windows Server 2003 Active Directory administrative tools when NTLM authentication is negotiated with Microsoft Windows 2000-based domain controllers, administrators must take either of the following actions:

The Windows Server 2003 snap-ins and command-line tools that automatically secure LDAP traffic over the network include:

To maintain a secure network, Microsoft recommends that you sign and encrypt administrative LDAP traffic by deploying the Windows Server 2003 administrative tools exclusively on Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 member computers and Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4) domain controllers.