Re: Help with replacing an existing Windows 2003 / Exchange 2003 Serve
From: BC (bconneely_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 08/30/04
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Date: 30 Aug 2004 04:17:00 -0700
"Eric Fintel" <EricFintel@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:<FAC79772-C7EA-4184-9C68-AD22C7C1450D@microsoft.com>...
> I have a computer with Windows 2003 Server, Active Directory, DNS and
> Exchange 2003 Enterprise edition. I need to replace this computer with a
> newer more powerful machine. I don't know how to go about doing this.
>
> I'm looking for the easist method for accomplishing this task. The only
> constraint that I have is that I do not wish to change the domain name.
>
> I also posted this question on the Windows 2003 migration newsgroup and got
> the folling response:
>
> I recommend that you try these step:
>
> 1. Add the new computer to the Windows 2003 domain
> 2. Run dcpromo to promote it to a DC
> 3. Transfer all the FSMO roles to the new DC
> 4. Install DNS and Exchange on the new DC
> 5. Move the mailboxes to the new Exchange server
> 6. Run dcpromo on the original DC to demote it to a member server. Then
> offline it.
>
> Any thoughts on the above? Do I use the same tool for moving the public
> folders as I do for the mailboxes? Is it possible to "off-line" the private
> and public data stores, move them to the new computer, and bring them online?
> If so, how? Is there a book and/or whitepapers, etc that might help?
>
> Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
> Eric
Exchange Server is such a bizarre product. Compared to any
other current mailserver/groupware server product, it's
sluggish, insecure, ludicrously high maintenance crap that
can make the most elementary of maintenance and upgrade tasks
nightmarishly time consuming, yet it is still the corporate
standard among US corporations. Go figure.... Maybe it's
because BlackBerries work well with it and RIM is too lazy
to support IMAP.
Rant aside, the last time I needed to do a hardware upgrade
on an Exchange server that was part of a city system, I used
disk imaging software to copy up all the partitions, and then
transferred them over to the new server's hard drive. I only
needed to boot off a floppy to make minor change to the boot.ini
file to start up the system, and then I just got all the
correct drivers downloaded and installed for video and such.
If you have NTFS all around, including the boot partition and
it isn't booting up, you might get by with an XP startup disk
as described here:
http://www.techzonez.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5871
You may also need to temporarily use components from the old
server, like the video card and/or SCSI controller to help
ease Win2003 into the new hardware environment.
The reason why you are apparently are having problems finding
whitepapers and such for doing this is because Microsoft
doesn't really support in-place major hardware upgrades, as
absurd as that sounds. They want you to reinstall everything
from scratch on a new PC and then "migrate" data and settings
over. You have a pile of applications installed? Well, you
better have kept the install CD's and/or serial numbers handy.
There is this official Microsoft "guide" that actually uses a
disaster recovery procedure:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;822945
This is an unofficial how-to of sorts for Windows XP:
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/install/other/motherboard/winxp.htm
I've always strongly recommended FAT on the boot partition for
repair & recovery considerations, but I've had good luck lately
with hacks like the NTFS DOS driver from Sysinternals.
If this quickie solution doesn't work, then you just need to set
aside your Labor Day weekend to do things the official dumbass
MCSE way and think kind thoughts of Bill Gates and Company.
Bring a good book to read, plus snacks and drinks. Maybe a
pillow....
-BC
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- In reply to: Eric Fintel: "Help with replacing an existing Windows 2003 / Exchange 2003 Serve"
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