Re: Reinstall or restore with different disk config

Thanks Doug,

But I think that technically Windows will see this as a different hardware.
The onboard hardware RAID 1, which requires a driver, looks like a single
hard disk. On the other hand, without enabling the hardware RAID, no driver
is required and the two SATA drives without the hardware look like 2
ordinary drives that Windows 2003 can mirror using its own RAID
functionality. In any case, it looks like I have no choice but to do a full
reinstall--the restore from backup seems incomplete, or the system
recorrupts itself after restarting. Some things that used to work just don't
work anymore, like any request forwarded from outside the subnet through the
non-SBS firewall/router. That includes remote desktop administration of the
server itself. I can get to it via the (non-SBS) VPN, but not via the
Internet. That used to work like a charm. Nothing changed in the
firewall/router. Good thing this SBS box got past the test status, and that
the LAN does not depend on it for Internet access. Too much brittle stuff in
one single point of failure. This single point of failure design is too
risky, even for our very small company (5 users).

As for why ghosting or imaging the drive or system partition, or mirrorring
of the entire configuration on a separate box are not a supported option,
IMHO this is just plain stupid. As a paying customer, I think I have the
right to say that. Isn't this 'unsupported' merely because of a hard wired
hard disk stamping trick for licensing enforcement? It seems to me that
being able to do a clean partitioning between system and data, with the data
files and logs on a separate partition or physical drive, would enable a
full system recovery in a matter of minutes, not hours and/or hundreds of $
of consulting time to "rebuild the server". Although it ghosting/imaging
does no apply in this case (I need to change the basic way the HD are
accessed), it does become a major consideration in deciding whether to keep
throwing time and money at this.

-- C_O

"Douglas Boyd [MSFT]" <dboyd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eiIWOxWUFHA.3052@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hello C_O
>
> Your post doesn't actually say how you plan on making this transition from
> your current configuration, but In theory as long as your hardware is all
> the same you should be able to reinstall the server os and then use your
> tape backup to rebuild the server by restoring the system state and all
> your applications and data. As far as the licensing when you reinstall
the
> server you should be ok. If you are prompted to call in when you are
trying
> to reregister, just call the number and the operator will as you a couple
> of questions and just tell the operator what the circumstances are and
they
> can assist you with registration.
>
> Just as a side note, I would not try to use any imaging programs such as
> Ghosts as they will put your server in an unsupported configuration as far
> as Microsoft is concerned
>
> I hope this helps
>
> Doug Boyd
> dboyd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> This post is provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confers no rights
>


.

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