Re: Migrate SBS 20 Backup Server and Back
From: Jeff Middleton [SBS-MVP] (jeff_at_cfisolutions.com)
Date: 02/23/04
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Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 09:36:40 -0600
I've sat down to my computer about 4 different times since you put this
reply back in, and so far, I've not really come to a solid conclusion what
recommendation to give you beyond my original one. You have the benefit of a
follow-up post by Matthew that details the process a bit more. This process
is one that I first started describing about 3 yrs ago as the one I did
migrations of SBS 2000, and SBS 4.5 to SBS 2000 moves so you will find
plenty of Middleton google on details out there.
I keep returning to the viewpoint...the opinion...that this process is not
one I would ever recommend that someone do when forecasting this is the only
occasion you will do it. That's my definition of what's the difference
between being a site owner, and being a reseller/consultant. The vast
majority of what is involved in here is fairly useless to the owner/operator
of an SBS, it's highly raised technical conditions, it's unforgiving, and
it's not exceptionally well supported by MS. MS has provided what they
consider to be the best documented/supported way they want to endorse. Among
the IT pros that I've spoken to or read comments from, the opinion of how MS
documented this is not highly praised, not because it lacks details, rather
because it's complex. That's the problem, there's a lot going on here.
It's not my place to judge people's interest in exploration or technical
intrigue, nor to judge their ability to do such an upgrade. Rather, I only
consider it my value to comment as someone who does this for a living, and
have about 20 yrs experience in IT work, 6yrs with SBS, and 4 yrs with the
specific migration plan being described. You probably won't find an earlier
post than mine on how to go about doing this in this NG. With those
credentials of experience, I'm just stating that I don't consider this
process to be one that anyone should pursue just for the sake of doing it
one time. My philosophy of IT process is based upon not wasting time in
exploring how to do really complicated things just one time unless I'm paid
to do that by someone who believes it really worth that to them. In that
view, if you are your own boss, or if you boss is fully aware that you have
gotten this sort of advice from an experienced IT person, and yet the boss
is okay to let you fly with it, I can state for fact that it works.
As a final comment, I look at the situation you have described you are
addressing and I find it very tempting based upon the details of the last
post you made to suggest that you not do this migration as SBS 2000 to SBS
2000, rather, there's better value in going to SBS 2003 as part of this
goal. In addition, I would be strongly inclined to look at the option to
bring in a new server for the SBS 2003 host and do a migration to that new
server with the SBS 2003, then demote/uninstall the SBS-specific services
from the existing box and leave it as a dedicated file server. This is
directly influenced by the implication that you will be moving up to the
40-50 user seat size within the next 18 mos. If you go to SBS 2003, you gain
75 seat capacity, plus you are on a platform you could stick with for
potentially 4 yrs or more. With as many seats as you are going to, it would
be useful to split the backbone support infrastructure among 2 servers, not
just one. You could leave all the current file/print services on the current
server and not even address changing UNC paths for it. Yet, by moving a new
server into the SBS role, you can take all of the background services and
applications and get them on a dedicated box. Since I didn't really have a
mandate to recommend an upgrade investment here, I'm just putting this out
as an aspect of future-proofing that I would consider up front.
I hope this helps you determine what to do. :)
"Ken Sadler" <ksadler@dstincorporated.com_NO_SPAM_> wrote in message
news:Xns9494EDD764B16ksadlerdstincorporat@207.46.248.16...
> Jeff,
>
> Thanks for the reply...I agree it may be a bigger project than I
> want to take on right now. Maybe it would be better to elaboarate
> on my goals. For more background; when I inherited the server a
> few months back, it was running essentially as a standard DC.
> Exchange and SQL were installed only because the boss wants to use
> CRM. As a result, we began to host our own email and SQL is used
> for CRM only (virtually no load). So none of the extra SBS
> benefits are being used right now. My goals are:
>
> 1: Increase C: to 12GB, let D: take the rest (24GB) for apps and
> keep spindles 1 and 2 mirrored. Spindles 3-6 will turn to RAID-5
> (108GB by my calculations) creating the following partitions; 10GB
> - SWAP/TEMP, 16GB - Exchange, 5GB - SysLogs and housekeeping, 20
> GB - Reserve slop space for apps and the remainder for user data
> (57GB).
>
> 2: Get the server up and running with both NICs active and ISA.
>
> 3: Get the native client/user management features of SBS up and
> running and implement SUS.
>
> Although we only have about 20 users now, we anticipate getting
> close to the "magic 50" in 12-18 months so I anticipate about 50%
> increase in required user storage/mailboxes...and after writing
> this I'm wondering if I would be better off scaling the partitions
> back and going with RAID-0+1.
>
> It just seemed to me like all of this would be easier with a
> domain rebuild. I really don't mind setting up the server again,
> my biggest concern is that I don't lose data and minimize impact
> on operations (hence the weekend work). Eventually, we will
> upgrade everything to 2k3 (waiting on CRM 1.2 to arrive so I can
> budget in upgrade CALs).
>
> So with these goals in mind, what would be the recommended course
> of action? And can you recommend a referece book that is geared to
> ppl who are have experience but are lacking in the intricasies of
> SBS?
>
> Cheers,
> Ken
>
>
> "Jeff Middleton [SBS-MVP]" <jeff@cfisolutions.com> wrote in
> news:uFTgKp09DHA.2064@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl:
>
> > Hi Ken,
> >
> > My initial advice is that the process you describe is fine to
> > the level of detail you described, but the level of complexity
> > in reality is the sort of thing I don't ever recommend to
> > someone to try if you only plan to do it this once. This is
> > open heart surgery and you shouldn't try to be the surgeon and
> > patient for just one time at the same time. For someone who is
> > very good at this, you are describing probably a 8-12 hr
> > process, depending upon factors not really covered in your
> > outline. I've heard folks say this took them 3 days. If you
> > aren't really good at this, you may find yourself midstream on
> > the rocks.
> >
> > The exmerge step isn't required if you aren't trying to
> > actually do any cleanup to the mailboxes like purging them in
> > this process. What will happen is that the exmerge process will
> > break all the single instance storage of emails between users.
> > That means that an email from Bob sent to Ted will no longer be
> > stored as one email, with a reference to both accounts, it will
> > be two emails. It may not be a crisis, but exploding this stuff
> > just to punch it right back in makes little sense unless you
> > are parsing things out. For instance, I plan to clean my own
> > Exchange out soon with Exmerge in my mailbox because I have a
> > huge volume of spam I intend to clear, but I've been evolving
> > Outlook rules to whitelist and clean up things. Once I move
> > things to safe location, I will dump about 80% of my mailbox
> > contents.
> >
> > If you reinstall the SBS with the very same name, you can
> > simply restore the Exchange directly.
> >
> > The swapping of the DC roles and such will involve more than
> > just casual playing in places you don't normally touch.
> >
> > Me, personally, I don't see that your partition sizes are a
> > crisis. In fact, I would be inclined to put them back almost
> > the same....maybe 10 or 12 G on the first partition, but that's
> > about it.
> >
> > "Ken Sadler" <ksadler@dstincorporated.com_NO_SPAM_> wrote in
> > message
> > news:Xns9493C57087C63ksadlerdstincorporat@207.46.248.16...
> >> Ok, here's scenario...we've got a PowerEdge
> >> 2500 that is running SBS/Exch2k/SQL/CRM (or should I say
> >> CRM is installed, because it really isn't "running"
> >> ...but that's another story) and provides services for
> >> about 20 users. Disk setup is:
> >> 2/36GB (mirrored) C-8GB/D-28GB
> >> 1/36GB E-User Data/Exchange (yes, I know that's very
> >> bad...but I am waiting on more drives and I do daily
> >> backups)
> >>
> >> I ordered 3 more 36GB drives so I can add it to the 3rd
> >> drive and configure it RAID5. So I says to myself..."This
> >> would be a great opportunity to reconfig the server with a
> >> better partition scheme, enable some of the nifty
> >> functions SBS has, and wipe away 2 years of
> >> install/uninstall software, etc."
> >>
> >> I am not an SBS person by trade, so this is a real
> >> learning experience for me, but I have been looking
> >> through the groups pretty heavily and I think I've got my
> >> plan:
> >>
> >> .5 - Backups
> >> 1 - Install vanilla 2k server on old wks box
> >> 2 - Join domain and dcpromo backup server
> >> 3 - EXMERGE mailboxes
> >> 4 - Copy User Data/Shared Data/.PST files to backup server
> >> 5 - dcpromo SBS box out and disconnect
> >> 6 - Seize FSMO roles with backup server and remove all
> >> traces of SBS box from AD
> >> 7 - Install/Config exchange and import mailboxes back
> >> 8 - Repeat steps 1-7 with reconfiged SBS box
> >>
> >> Does that about cover everything? Any hidden gotchas?
> >>
> >> 2 questions I have are:
> >>
> >> 1 - The domain is currently named "domain.com" and I would
> >> like to rename it "domain.local" When is the best time to
> >> do that, after siezing FSMO roles, before installing
> >> exchange?
> >>
> >> 2 - The backup server is a PII/450 with 384MB/ECC and 96GB
> >> of harddrive space over 2 IDE drives. I plan on doing the
> >> transfer work over the weekend so as to minimize any load
> >> on the server (it will basically just need to sit there
> >> and accept email)...shouldn't it be able to handle the
> >> load?
> >>
> >> Any advice or recommendations are welcome.
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> Ken
> >
> >
> >
>
- Next message: Matt B: "Pop3 Connector (Where do teh emails go?)"
- Previous message: Kevin3NF: "Re: Access Database to SQL"
- In reply to: Ken Sadler: "Re: Migrate SBS 20 Backup Server and Back"
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