Windows 2003 Server - migration onto new hardware

feenster99 · 22 Jan 2007 at 20:03

Hi all,
Well, next week, I have to migrate 2 Windows servers to new hardware. One is a 2003 SBS server, the other is a 2000 SBS server. Both are being moved to new servers running 2003 SBS R2.

What is the best way to go about migrating data and settings to ensure things run smoothly?

Cheers,
Matt

bigdunc · 22 Jan 2007 at 20:14

I have heard of swing migration but have never used it.

Google is your friend!

LeeG · 22 Jan 2007 at 20:25

Hey Matt,

Done a migration onto new hardware with SBS2000 before. Few things to do:

If you have a large enough external hard drive, copy all shared folders and user shared folders.

You need to extract the data from Exchange using exmerge. I'm sure it is on the OS CD. You need to change the user rights for all the mailboxes you are extracting to enable you to access them. Create a folder on the external hard drive and exmerge all mailbox items to this folder.

Install the new OS, configure the SBS parts.

You now need to add all groups and users to the new system.

To import the mailboxes, you need to log onto the server from a PC and send an email to all users on the system (the reason for this is that the mailbox for a user is not created until an item is sent, received or you log on). Re-run exmerge, but this time you will be importing the mailbox items. (You will need to change the user rights to gain access again, but remember to set them back afterwards.)

Copy all the shared folders and user shared folders to the correct directories.

You may also have to reconnect the desktop PC's to the server again as it will be a new domain. There may be a way to do this using policies but I'm not sure.

If you can, keep the other server handy incase you run out of time or you come accross any problems as you can easily reconnect it.

Good luck,

Lee.

feenster99 · 22 Jan 2007 at 21:14

Great first post there LeeG, thanks for that. I'm not particularly keen on setting up a new domain, as there could be lots of computers to re-configure, but your way seems simple enough. I'll give it a try on a dummy server :-)

I've had a look at the Swing method too, but it looks to be some bloke selling notes on how to do it a particular way. Anyone else care to contribute on how they would handle this?

Cheers,
Matt

feenster99 · 23 Jan 2007 at 21:07

Humm, so has anyone used the Swing Migration techniques before? Looking at the site, it promises quite a lot (minimised downtime being a highlight!).

Just wondering whether it is worth investing in. I'm quite surprised MS haven't got some comprehensive tools/systems themselves that they sell on.

Matt