Windows Server 2012 - migration to new hardware

ShivP

ShivP

ShivP

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Soldato
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Hi all,

I have a windows server PC and around 6-7 PCs running off this, and it is becoming a little slow. Therefore I am looking to move the OS to an SSD from a RAID set of 2x 1TB drives and upgrade CPU, RAM and maybe motherboard to Skylake

Is this just a case of cloning a hard drive from the RAID array to the SSD after making sure there is only around 250GB of data on the current HDD using a program such as Acronis. Is there a utility built into Windows Server that will allow me to do this or will I have to use a third party program?

Thanks
 
Why not go Physical to Virtual? Make it hardware agnostic and then you haven't got the issues associated with changing motherboards etc. If you want to stick with physical take a look at Macrium Reflect as a nice way of cloning that data to new kit.
 
Yea install windows server 2012 and its Hyper V Role (comes with Server since 2008), you are licensed for 2 virtual servers. I recently did this for one of my sites, I bought a well specced server and now run two VMs 1 file/print/dns and the other is the mail server and it runs really really well. I use Veeam to back up the entire images and also file backups to NAS as well as usual shadow copies for day to day restorations.

I went down the fresh build route as we went from 2008sp2 (not r2) to 2012 R2 then transferred AD etc across before decommissioning the old boxes.
 
The only issue is that everything is already set up with around 10 users, partitions etc so I'd prefer just a direct copy to the new drive not a reinstall
 
Shivy011 said:
The only issue is that everything is already set up with around 10 users, partitions etc so I'd prefer just a direct copy to the new drive not a reinstall
Click to expand...
It is possible to run a file server migration tool, Ive not used it myself but you could keep permissions etc that way if you keep the new servers on the same domain as the current before binning it.

FWI, 10 users is pretty easy to manage.
 
You could P2V your current server and run that off new hardware. Wouldn't require any changes. This is a quick and dirty fix until ready to migrate.
 
Windows Server Backup could do it. It'd need a USB device that can be wiped and do a full backup to it. Then you can use the Windows installation media to kick off the restore to the new SSD. I wouldn't do it that way. I would:

1) Make sure you've got a backup.
2) Add 2 SSD's and create a second RAID array as a mirror/RAID1.
3) Use Acronis or Macrium Reflect bootable USB stick to copy the partitions between arrays.
4) Remove the 2 old drives and delete it from the RAID management console if needed.
5) It works very well for migrating servers using a basic BIOS, but might need a bootrec /rebuildbcd if it's UEFI.

Often it's the storage making a server run slowly, so I'd definitely try SSD's first. Sounds more like a PC with server software installed though ;)
 
Indeed that is closer to the case, PC with server software installed
Problem is I don't know a cheap-ish way to build a proper server for a similar price
 
Shivy011 said:
I have a windows server PC and around 6-7 PCs running off this, and it is becoming a little slow. Therefore I am looking to move the OS to an SSD from a RAID set of 2x 1TB drives and upgrade CPU, RAM and maybe motherboard to Skylake
Click to expand...

I think you need to consider the business continuity angle. Build a complete second box and migrate your old server to that. I'm sure OCUK will be glad to spec you up a cost-effective Xeon server. Mirrored OS drives and mirrored data drives.
 
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