OK. I am sorry if you happened to come across this blog which had no real conclusion. I ended up caving in and buying the migration kit from Jeff Middleton. I followed the instructions step by step and managed to complete my project with very few hiccups at all. It worked as advertised and is completely worth the money.
Hopefully your project progresses along as easily as mine did.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Manual Hardware Migration
Life is full of many twists and turns. Its funny, I operate in a strange way. I was completely set on doing a swing migration, I even had an approved purchase order! But then I decided I would just go ahead with a manual transfer.
Here's why:
1. I have to transfer less than 10 computer workstations overall
2. The only critical transfer components include two network drives, exchange server, and some printers. (and some local profiles but who's counting)
3. Our old server is slightly fritzy so a fresh install will prevent any bad settings from being transferred
4. I get paid by the hour to do stuff cheaply
So if you find yourself in the same boat as me, I suggest you go ahead with a manual reinstall. Especially if your users are flexible and don't mind having to reset their desktop backgrounds. Even if they do mind a little bit, you can save 200+ dollars, so who cares!? If you aren't in the same boat as I am, go ahead and get the swing kit. Everybody mentions it so it must be good. I'm just lucky because I don't have to be consistent.
Basically the manual transfer boils down to about 4-5 steps... with several substeps of course!
1) Install a fresh copy of SBS 2003 on your new hardware
2) Update and prep
3) Transfer network drives, email profiles, user profiles, and printers
4) Transfer user computers to new domain
5) Test and troubleshoot user problems
I bet you're wondering how each of these steps breaks down. Funny, cause I was just wondering the same thing. Honestly you can only find bits and pieces of each step scattered across the web. Hopefully I can bring some, if not most of these steps together in this blog so you can benefit from my suffering.
I'll go ahead and post separate posts for each of the steps so the organization is a bit better.
Thanks for reading!
Here's why:
1. I have to transfer less than 10 computer workstations overall
2. The only critical transfer components include two network drives, exchange server, and some printers. (and some local profiles but who's counting)
3. Our old server is slightly fritzy so a fresh install will prevent any bad settings from being transferred
4. I get paid by the hour to do stuff cheaply
So if you find yourself in the same boat as me, I suggest you go ahead with a manual reinstall. Especially if your users are flexible and don't mind having to reset their desktop backgrounds. Even if they do mind a little bit, you can save 200+ dollars, so who cares!? If you aren't in the same boat as I am, go ahead and get the swing kit. Everybody mentions it so it must be good. I'm just lucky because I don't have to be consistent.
Basically the manual transfer boils down to about 4-5 steps... with several substeps of course!
1) Install a fresh copy of SBS 2003 on your new hardware
2) Update and prep
3) Transfer network drives, email profiles, user profiles, and printers
4) Transfer user computers to new domain
5) Test and troubleshoot user problems
I bet you're wondering how each of these steps breaks down. Funny, cause I was just wondering the same thing. Honestly you can only find bits and pieces of each step scattered across the web. Hopefully I can bring some, if not most of these steps together in this blog so you can benefit from my suffering.
I'll go ahead and post separate posts for each of the steps so the organization is a bit better.
Thanks for reading!
Monday, August 3, 2009
More Migration Options
I woke up again this morning to find that I still am an engineer-intern tasked with a job that normally takes $1500 cash to complete. Talk about a steal!
Anyways, I started my additional research after our little network crisis. I was determined to make sure any move I made next was either completely neutral or guaranteed to be successful.
I ran a few searches on Google and found several resources which are very helpful for this sort of thing. One in particular stood out as being very useful. Unfortunately they want your money, but there are ways around the system.
Experts Exchange
This site is great. I fully recommend them, but if you don't feel like forking over the money for solutions you can become an expert for free. Then you can work as an expert to eventually earn your subscription. Being an expert allows you to look at solutions as well, so you can tell if the question has been answered properly.
Searching around on the experts exchange yielded several methods for completing the migration:
1. Follow the whitepaper
2. Perform manual "fresh" install
3. Swing Migration by Jeff Middleton
4. Hardware Independent System Restore
5. Hire an IT contractor
I will briefly review a few of these options here and the rest I will leave for other posts.
1. Follow the whitepaper.
This option is only for those with strong constitutions. You should be a seasoned veteran of administration before attempting this process. There are too many variables subject to change and too many places where a lack of clarity in explanations will ultimately lead to a complete failure, and/or possible disaster.
Even with the additional help afforded by some posts on the experts exchange or elsewhere, you will still find that you are better off avoiding that method. I remember reading suggestions like this and thinking that it was all a bunch of hype. After reading some more, I realized that others had felt that way too but now were faced with reality. They had found that it is indeed best to avoid the hassle of the whitepaper.
2. A fresh manual install is a good solution for a small business with <10 computers. I'll have more details on this later, if I decide its the way to go.
3. Swing Migration
This I have been reading a lot about. Nearly every search result I get I find that someone has recommended Jeff Middleton's documentation on the swing migration technique. I am not exaggerating. I have searched all the way to page ten of Google for any negative feedback regarding this method and have found none. Any issues are resolved by his email support which is said to be highly responsive.
After going through what I went through I am naturally skeptical. So I have waited on this idea for a while.
What it boils down to:
$200 for a large piece of documentation detailing the swing migration procedure. 90 days of email support, and unlimited use of the documentation by one person.
Its not a bad deal, easily one of the most hailed methods I have found. Of course I am not completely convinced that half of the positive feedback I have found hasn't been planted. The whole thing sounds too good to be true... But so far this is the only solution that seems viable.
It is my plan to submit this method tomorrow and hopefully get some funding approved for the kit. I will have a blog entry that details what happens along this course of action in the future.
4. Hardware Independent System Restore
This method is mentioned in a few expert-exchange posts. To some this is the ideal migration method because it provides a quick and painless way to upgrade your server hardware.
It works by essentially creating a system restore file containing a ghosted image of your current server hard drive. Normally when a previous windows installation is loaded onto a new piece of hardware, the installation will fail to function. The reason has something to do with hardware profiles, and licensing protection. This type of restore is typically accomplished with some kind of restore suite specifically designed to work around hardware changes. Apart from being powerful backup solutions, the software is intended to function as a migration tool.
The only issue with this is the large cost. Since most companies who produce this migration software now understand IT professionals use it to perform profitable server migrations, most have disabled the HIR (hardware independent restore) function in their trial ware. Before this happened you could download a thirty day trial version of the software and get the job done before anyone was the wiser, not anymore...
There are a few software suite's which have the HIR technology:
-StorageCraft
-Acronis
-LiveState aka Backup Exec System Recovery Server Edition
None of these options are cheap... It used to be that you could download trial versions of these software suites and use them to perform your system migration before the trial expired. Now, StorageCraft does not provide the trial software with HIR. Symantec's software is not known for being successful. Acronis seems to be the only promising option. But it is noted by most the HIR method is not as guaranteed as a swing migration. The prices for the full suites are as follows (note! these prices were retrieved from their respective websites on the date of publish of this blog, I am not responsible for any changes made to the software or prices that are unaccounted for in this or any other post):
1,279.51 for Symantec
589.00 for Acronis
3,500 for StorageCraft IT Edition
note: the price listed for StorageCraft is for an unlimited license. A single license for an IT professional would cost $495
Obviously these are pretty expensive. Compared to the price of a swing kit. Compared to the price of going it alone, perhaps they would be worth it...
5. Hire an IT Contractor
This option is really more of a bargaining chip for me. I work in the California Bay Area. I Googled several IT contractors to request quotes from them. After a few replies I had heard all I needed.
Most IT companies will put the estimated work time at 10 hours to perform the migration. Their standard rate for service is usually somewhere in the range of 150-200 dollars per hour. One contractor quoted me for 1500 flat.
Most of the companies offer support, and most are not purely interested in your single job. They want to find a way to become a part of your company, whether it be by supporting your company's IT department for a monthly fee, or by revamping your entire technical structure. This is a sort of up-selling and you should keep an eye out for it when you request quotes. I am not implying this type of business is negative, just that it exists.
One last thing about IT contractors. With them you are pretty much guaranteed the job will be completed to your satisfaction. It is by far the easiest method yet it is also one of the most expensive.
So there you have it, the most popular migration methods laid out in one page... I can affirm right now I will probably be going with the swing migration method having tried the whitepaper and knowing that the manual migration will be a huge pain in the ass. I wish there was some special key word that I could say to convince anyone reading this that I am not paid by Jeff Middleton... honestly maybe I should be paid for this hahah. Anyways, I hope this helps people!
Anyways, I started my additional research after our little network crisis. I was determined to make sure any move I made next was either completely neutral or guaranteed to be successful.
I ran a few searches on Google and found several resources which are very helpful for this sort of thing. One in particular stood out as being very useful. Unfortunately they want your money, but there are ways around the system.
Experts Exchange
This site is great. I fully recommend them, but if you don't feel like forking over the money for solutions you can become an expert for free. Then you can work as an expert to eventually earn your subscription. Being an expert allows you to look at solutions as well, so you can tell if the question has been answered properly.
Searching around on the experts exchange yielded several methods for completing the migration:
1. Follow the whitepaper
2. Perform manual "fresh" install
3. Swing Migration by Jeff Middleton
4. Hardware Independent System Restore
5. Hire an IT contractor
I will briefly review a few of these options here and the rest I will leave for other posts.
1. Follow the whitepaper.
This option is only for those with strong constitutions. You should be a seasoned veteran of administration before attempting this process. There are too many variables subject to change and too many places where a lack of clarity in explanations will ultimately lead to a complete failure, and/or possible disaster.
Even with the additional help afforded by some posts on the experts exchange or elsewhere, you will still find that you are better off avoiding that method. I remember reading suggestions like this and thinking that it was all a bunch of hype. After reading some more, I realized that others had felt that way too but now were faced with reality. They had found that it is indeed best to avoid the hassle of the whitepaper.
2. A fresh manual install is a good solution for a small business with <10 computers. I'll have more details on this later, if I decide its the way to go.
3. Swing Migration
This I have been reading a lot about. Nearly every search result I get I find that someone has recommended Jeff Middleton's documentation on the swing migration technique. I am not exaggerating. I have searched all the way to page ten of Google for any negative feedback regarding this method and have found none. Any issues are resolved by his email support which is said to be highly responsive.
After going through what I went through I am naturally skeptical. So I have waited on this idea for a while.
What it boils down to:
$200 for a large piece of documentation detailing the swing migration procedure. 90 days of email support, and unlimited use of the documentation by one person.
Its not a bad deal, easily one of the most hailed methods I have found. Of course I am not completely convinced that half of the positive feedback I have found hasn't been planted. The whole thing sounds too good to be true... But so far this is the only solution that seems viable.
It is my plan to submit this method tomorrow and hopefully get some funding approved for the kit. I will have a blog entry that details what happens along this course of action in the future.
4. Hardware Independent System Restore
This method is mentioned in a few expert-exchange posts. To some this is the ideal migration method because it provides a quick and painless way to upgrade your server hardware.
It works by essentially creating a system restore file containing a ghosted image of your current server hard drive. Normally when a previous windows installation is loaded onto a new piece of hardware, the installation will fail to function. The reason has something to do with hardware profiles, and licensing protection. This type of restore is typically accomplished with some kind of restore suite specifically designed to work around hardware changes. Apart from being powerful backup solutions, the software is intended to function as a migration tool.
The only issue with this is the large cost. Since most companies who produce this migration software now understand IT professionals use it to perform profitable server migrations, most have disabled the HIR (hardware independent restore) function in their trial ware. Before this happened you could download a thirty day trial version of the software and get the job done before anyone was the wiser, not anymore...
There are a few software suite's which have the HIR technology:
-StorageCraft
-Acronis
-LiveState aka Backup Exec System Recovery Server Edition
None of these options are cheap... It used to be that you could download trial versions of these software suites and use them to perform your system migration before the trial expired. Now, StorageCraft does not provide the trial software with HIR. Symantec's software is not known for being successful. Acronis seems to be the only promising option. But it is noted by most the HIR method is not as guaranteed as a swing migration. The prices for the full suites are as follows (note! these prices were retrieved from their respective websites on the date of publish of this blog, I am not responsible for any changes made to the software or prices that are unaccounted for in this or any other post):
1,279.51 for Symantec
589.00 for Acronis
3,500 for StorageCraft IT Edition
note: the price listed for StorageCraft is for an unlimited license. A single license for an IT professional would cost $495
Obviously these are pretty expensive. Compared to the price of a swing kit. Compared to the price of going it alone, perhaps they would be worth it...
5. Hire an IT Contractor
This option is really more of a bargaining chip for me. I work in the California Bay Area. I Googled several IT contractors to request quotes from them. After a few replies I had heard all I needed.
Most IT companies will put the estimated work time at 10 hours to perform the migration. Their standard rate for service is usually somewhere in the range of 150-200 dollars per hour. One contractor quoted me for 1500 flat.
Most of the companies offer support, and most are not purely interested in your single job. They want to find a way to become a part of your company, whether it be by supporting your company's IT department for a monthly fee, or by revamping your entire technical structure. This is a sort of up-selling and you should keep an eye out for it when you request quotes. I am not implying this type of business is negative, just that it exists.
One last thing about IT contractors. With them you are pretty much guaranteed the job will be completed to your satisfaction. It is by far the easiest method yet it is also one of the most expensive.
So there you have it, the most popular migration methods laid out in one page... I can affirm right now I will probably be going with the swing migration method having tried the whitepaper and knowing that the manual migration will be a huge pain in the ass. I wish there was some special key word that I could say to convince anyone reading this that I am not paid by Jeff Middleton... honestly maybe I should be paid for this hahah. Anyways, I hope this helps people!
The Microsoft Whitepaper
After perusing the Technet I found a large collection of information regarding the SBS 2003 server software. After some more research I eventually found a whitepaper written by Microsoft detailing the exact procedure I have been looking for! The very title of the document is "Migrating Windows Small Business Server 2003 to New Hardware"
WOOT! Exactly what I was looking for. After a quick glance over the paper it appears as though this is all I will need to complete the project. Each step is laid out, every single mouse click is accounted for and it all seems too good to be true. Sadly this is all too true.
Without another moment's hesitation I read through the entire guide and begin prep work. After a day I have completed all of the prep, and reviewed the document. The following day is spent working on beginning the transfer, backing up the computers, and installing a fresh copy of SBS 2003 on the new Dell.
By the end of the day I have DCPROMO'd the new server to a DC and even managed to replicate the AD without any hitches.
Day two begins as usual. Thankfully the network is still up and running and nothing has begun to blow up. I begin to transfer the FSMO roles and everything seems to be running along smoothly. I begin to work on the exchange transfer when I hit a bump. I cannot migrate the public folders using the procedure listed in the whitepaper. Not a huge issue because my company does not use the folders... still, the fact remains that the whitepaper appears to be incomplete on this subject.
The following day hell strikes. As everyone tries to boot up and log in, my new server is offline because it is attached to a circuit which is switched off at night. The server is not rebooted in time to handle the login requests. Our pathetic network hardware also decides to take a dump and fail after years of spotty service.
All of these problems combine to form a day of pure stress for myself and the other IT guy responsible for ensuring our company can actually run. After messing around with the servers and the network hardware, I conclude that the problem is network hardware related and we buy a new switch.
All of our connectivity is solved temporarily and everything goes back to normal. I back out of our server transfer and go back to researching methods.
In conclusion, the whitepaper does not cover all the bases. It is a free resource so it makes sense that the documentation leaves some places where a $250 phone call might be required. After failing this method I decided to search again for migration techniques. Among my wanderings I stumble across a blog describing the difficulties of the whitepaper, something I would have liked to see before I attempted to land a kickflip 360 to a tailslide down an 8 stair. What did we learn? Things that are too good to be true, often are...
WOOT! Exactly what I was looking for. After a quick glance over the paper it appears as though this is all I will need to complete the project. Each step is laid out, every single mouse click is accounted for and it all seems too good to be true. Sadly this is all too true.
Without another moment's hesitation I read through the entire guide and begin prep work. After a day I have completed all of the prep, and reviewed the document. The following day is spent working on beginning the transfer, backing up the computers, and installing a fresh copy of SBS 2003 on the new Dell.
By the end of the day I have DCPROMO'd the new server to a DC and even managed to replicate the AD without any hitches.
Day two begins as usual. Thankfully the network is still up and running and nothing has begun to blow up. I begin to transfer the FSMO roles and everything seems to be running along smoothly. I begin to work on the exchange transfer when I hit a bump. I cannot migrate the public folders using the procedure listed in the whitepaper. Not a huge issue because my company does not use the folders... still, the fact remains that the whitepaper appears to be incomplete on this subject.
The following day hell strikes. As everyone tries to boot up and log in, my new server is offline because it is attached to a circuit which is switched off at night. The server is not rebooted in time to handle the login requests. Our pathetic network hardware also decides to take a dump and fail after years of spotty service.
All of these problems combine to form a day of pure stress for myself and the other IT guy responsible for ensuring our company can actually run. After messing around with the servers and the network hardware, I conclude that the problem is network hardware related and we buy a new switch.
All of our connectivity is solved temporarily and everything goes back to normal. I back out of our server transfer and go back to researching methods.
In conclusion, the whitepaper does not cover all the bases. It is a free resource so it makes sense that the documentation leaves some places where a $250 phone call might be required. After failing this method I decided to search again for migration techniques. Among my wanderings I stumble across a blog describing the difficulties of the whitepaper, something I would have liked to see before I attempted to land a kickflip 360 to a tailslide down an 8 stair. What did we learn? Things that are too good to be true, often are...
Introduction to the SBS 2003 Migration Process
Hey everybody. Welcome, and rest easy for a while. If you have found this blog its probably because you have been searching and searching for the right answer to your SBS 2003 Hardware Migration quest.
Essentially this blog will review as many techniques or solutions as I can find on Google, and attempt to go in depth on each of them. Understand, I will not be attempting every single one, because that would be ridiculous, even for a blog. The idea for this blog is mostly for me to keep track of my own thoughts, and to allow any interested people to examine their own options from a more omniscient standpoint.
Once again, this blog is about migrating a SBS 2003 SP2 from old hardware to new hardware.
You have probably been looking for any and all solutions for this age old process. As you have probably noticed, there are several solutions out there, with no unanimous agreement on the best solution.
Do not fear, many have endured our struggle, it seems like some have even survived. But if you feel helpless, feel a bit better knowing that there is some other person out there suffering with you. The year is 2009 and times are rapidly changing with SBS 2003 is nearing its final days.
Despite this, your company has a strict no change policy and is squeezing every last drop of value out of their software. So we have been tasked with upgrading our server hardware. Long gone are the days when interns simply made copies or brewed coffee.
Since we are not in charge of any sort of company clout, a decent piece of server hardware has been prepurchased, and we are instructed to implement it in the network, with minimal downtime, preferably during production hours, and with minimal, if any, cost. A tall order for an inexperienced intern.
Here's a description of some of the hardware I have to deal with:
OLD:
Custom built P3 tower with 80GB HD raid 1 and 1GB of RAM
NEW:
Dell Power Edge 1800
Current software:
SBS 2003 Sp2 with Exchange 5.5
The network here consists of 9 computers running mostly windows XP SP2. One computer is running Windows 2k.
So now we have all the stuff laid out. Lets make magic happen!
Essentially this blog will review as many techniques or solutions as I can find on Google, and attempt to go in depth on each of them. Understand, I will not be attempting every single one, because that would be ridiculous, even for a blog. The idea for this blog is mostly for me to keep track of my own thoughts, and to allow any interested people to examine their own options from a more omniscient standpoint.
Once again, this blog is about migrating a SBS 2003 SP2 from old hardware to new hardware.
You have probably been looking for any and all solutions for this age old process. As you have probably noticed, there are several solutions out there, with no unanimous agreement on the best solution.
Do not fear, many have endured our struggle, it seems like some have even survived. But if you feel helpless, feel a bit better knowing that there is some other person out there suffering with you. The year is 2009 and times are rapidly changing with SBS 2003 is nearing its final days.
Despite this, your company has a strict no change policy and is squeezing every last drop of value out of their software. So we have been tasked with upgrading our server hardware. Long gone are the days when interns simply made copies or brewed coffee.
Since we are not in charge of any sort of company clout, a decent piece of server hardware has been prepurchased, and we are instructed to implement it in the network, with minimal downtime, preferably during production hours, and with minimal, if any, cost. A tall order for an inexperienced intern.
Here's a description of some of the hardware I have to deal with:
OLD:
Custom built P3 tower with 80GB HD raid 1 and 1GB of RAM
NEW:
Dell Power Edge 1800
Current software:
SBS 2003 Sp2 with Exchange 5.5
The network here consists of 9 computers running mostly windows XP SP2. One computer is running Windows 2k.
So now we have all the stuff laid out. Lets make magic happen!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)