Reinstalling a SBS 2008 DHCP server

satanicguardian · 15 Nov 2012 at 10:42

Hey guys, a few of you in this thread may know my current IT situation as I'm always screaming for advice!

Basically my company is half way migrated to full cloud computing, we host our emails on office 365, our files on sharepoint and there are future plans for our IT infrastructure to be ran purely on windows InTune.

At present though, with the steep learning curve sharepoint presents for some of our less "able" users however, I want to delay intune for a few months. The problem that remains though, is that the server is on it's very last legs; it has so many corrupted files and services, it's insanely slow, it is actually MISSING exchange due to someone uninstalling it, the whole thing is basically a slow, horrible mess.

I want to fully reinstall it, I have the SBS 2008 disc and key, I'll admit though, I have never reinstalled a server before, I assume it is a very similar process to reinstalling a normal desktop OS but I guess there are extra steps that need to be performed when the installation completes.

At present I believe our server is running the DHCP service, the router is disabled so the server assigns all the IP addresses internally. Can someone give me some advice as to how I can set all of this up again on a fresh server?

I know how to create accounts etc on the SBS console and join the domain on the workstations; is there anything else I need to look out for? I intend to do it on a Saturday out of office hours to avoid disruption but I want to make sure once I reinstall it I can get the internet back online correctly on every machine.

Thanks in advanced

Jamie

5tephen · 15 Nov 2012 at 18:19

That could be messy - particularly with the user profiles on the client machines already joined to an old domain. You'll need to back up all the little settings e.g. desktop, documents (if not redirected to server), favourites, outlook auto-complete entry from %appdata%\roaming (get so many complaints when that gets overlooked!), any outlook archives if at all, firefox/chrome profiles. Of course if you miss something, the old user's directory will always be there to work with anyhow.

Set everybody onto a static IP address within the same range as what the newly-installed SBS will be on, and set them to use the router for DNS and default gateway. If you have central shared folders, or a LoB application of some kind e.g. Sage, you'll have to find some workaround for that.

You can install SBS and bring it online while keeping everybody operational, if you have the above in place. However when you bring everyone back onto automatic IP's it's going to want to be the default location for Exchange mail for your domain, same with Sharepoint, and it will be a bit messy. So. I think it's an opportunity to go with a nice clean Server 2012 Standard install, it will give you a lot less grief. Configure it to do Active Directory/DNS, DHCP, file and print sharing, maybe SQL if you need it. Then install an Active Directory Link to your hosted Exchange platform, to sync user's domain password with their hosted one.
For ~£450 as a one-off investment, Server 2012 will be a great long-term investment and give you a lot less headaches both during the install and on-going management down the line, especially since you've already migrated much of your infrastructure away.

tribz · 15 Nov 2012 at 19:52

Just out of interest, how many users do you have?

Xez · 15 Nov 2012 at 20:09

Without knowing how many users you have and what the server's role actually is it's hard to say as to what needs to be done exactly.

As it's an SBS I can't imagine you'd have many devices with static IP's that are outside of the DHCP scope. If the DHCP configuration isn't complex you can simple export it to a few files and then import it onto the freshly built server. I don't see any problem letting the routing do DHCP for what should be a short period of time.

If the e-mails are in the cloud and the server is simply a file server have you considered replacing it? If the warranty has expired and it's only serving data it would probably be more cost effective and less stress to buy a new server with Server 2012 license and migrate everything across.

If you're having to ask how to do it and you've never done it before I would certainly do a few tests in a virtual environment first. I can't imagine your boss would be happy if you completely knackered the live system.

Before anything make sure you have a fully complete backup! It would also be worth converting it to a virtual machine that way if it did go wrong you could build a server and simply mount it in Hyper-V.

blastman · 16 Nov 2012 at 09:07

Xez said:
If you're having to ask how to do it and you've never done it before I would certainly do a few tests in a virtual environment first. I can't imagine your boss would be happy if you completely knackered the live system.

Before anything make sure you have a fully complete backup! It would also be worth converting it to a virtual machine that way if it did go wrong you could build a server and simply mount it in Hyper-V.

this, this and this...

do a windows backup to create a system restore-able image. then if you do mess it up and can simply use the repair my computer option in the boot menu to restore it to normal.

Can't stress the importance of testing first, build a vm so you know what the screens look like. write down everything! you'll work something out and then forget it later on...

good luck!

satanicguardian · 28 Nov 2012 at 11:08

sorry for my late replies, have been insanely busy

and Hmm, all the server really is used for now is a domain for the pc's to log on to and currently supplying the internet access as a DHCP server, global address list isn't used at all, the exchange server internally has be screwed up by someone else.

As of today, ALL of our folders and documents are hosted on sharepoint online server, as are our emails and domain.

I have about 20 users locally and a few remote, will the process still be so complex if I literally just want a server to allow users to log on a use it as a domain so I can control user permissions for installing software, access to certain websites etc.

Basically I just want the domain to allow me still control user access as I am not ready to deploy windows intune yet.

SO CONFUSED!

leigh_boy · 29 Nov 2012 at 09:03

It sounds like you dont have enough experiance to resolve this and if you have never setup a server before i wouldnt try it on a live system. I would just setup dhcp on the router. obviusly setting the dns settings to point to the server. and then just leave it till you have swapped over to cloud.
in the mean time i would suggest you down load vmware player or something like that and create a dummy server and see how far you can get with it so that you can then prepair your self if you do need to redo the server from scratch.

satanicguardian · 29 Nov 2012 at 09:15

Hmm I could do a VM ware server I guess, problem is the current server couldn't host a VM and none of the PCs in this place are capable of being a server

satanicguardian · 29 Nov 2012 at 09:25

Yeah I think I'll have a poke at VMware server, and leigh I don't have enough experience, but that's how I learn

trial and error ftw!

satanicguardian · 29 Nov 2012 at 09:36

One more point, I'm new to VMware too XD can anyone give me hand virtualizing SBS? I have the original discs for sbs etc, can I install it directly into a VM? im so confused!

#Chri5# · 29 Nov 2012 at 09:42

I'd be going with the advice posted at the start of the thread and ditch SBS 2008 - install "vanilla" version of Windows Server (2008 R2 or 2012) if you just need AD / DNS / DHCP.

leigh_boy · 29 Nov 2012 at 10:48

ye its faily straight forward, get vmware player ( free) create a vm, insirt disk and install as if it was a real hardware.