Replacing old SIMS server

[mattjones]

Hi All,

I am fairly new to Edu Geek, so hello to you all.

Our SIMS server falls out of its hardware support agreement fairly soon, thus we are looking at purchasing a new server. I have received all quotes, but have a few queries in regards to installing/configuring the new server.

Our current SIMS server is a DC called sims-001 in the sims.internal domain. I would like to put the new server in and have it called sims-001, so therefore no .ini files will need to be changed on any workstation, and no share mappings will need to changed, etc. Our SIMS support team are happy to do the SIMS migration, but I wanted to ensure that the server would be all setup, correctly, by the time they come to do the SIMS migration.

So I think the question is, would this be a possible order to complete the new SIMS server install in?

1. Install Widows 2003 onto the new server
2. Rename sims-001 to sims-002
3. Connect new server to network
4. Name new server as sims-001 and add it to the domain
5. run dcpromo to add it as a DC
6. Transfer FSMO roles to sims-001
7. Use Microsoft File Server Migration Toolkit 1.2 to transfer shares and their permissions from sims-002 to sims-001
8. run dcpromo on sims-002 to remove it as a DC

This will be done during the first week of the summer holiday, so the down time of SIMS isn't an issue.

If I am completely way off with the procedure, please let me know. Any feedback would be great.

Thanks,
Matt

[vikpaw]

to EduGeek Mattjones.

the plan looks good to me, but i haven't been in charge of a network for a long time.

a rename would have been possible if you wanted it, if it isn't explicitly listed by name in the sims.ini, unfortunately it probably is, but you could script edit it if you wanted. i was just wondering on the size of your network, how many sims clients do you have? do you want to build in room for expansion? will you want some kind of learning gateway in the future? have you considered virtualisation?

those are with regard to general plans. more specifically, October 2010 is the deadline to have SIMS put on to SQL 2008, have you planned for this, most people will do this during the summer, so perhaps you want to install Windows Server 2008 R2, and SQL 2008 and carry out your migration at the same time. It might just be easier to do this with both servers up at the same time, and then you can deal with the issue of needing to reconfigure .ini / mappings separately depending on the size of your network.

have a search in this forum for other threads regarding the change to SQL 2008, and also the supported levels for both Windows and SQL, i.e. R2 or not R2, etc....

[steve]

Is sims-001 your only server / DC? If so the way you have proposed should be OK.

If you had more than one server / DC I'd tend to demote sims-001 first, then do all the move round.

I'd tend to look at 2008 (R2 is not supported yet) for the new server and go 64 bit.

[mattjones]

Thanks for the quick replies.

We have 2 curriculum (CC3) servers as well, but we only have 1 SIMS server.

It is essential that the SIMS server is named the same as the current server (SIMS-001), so a rename; following the above procedure would be ok?

We did have the SQL 2008 upgrade done during the Easter holiday, and we have the SIMS learning gateway installed (I have spoken to Capita about re-installing)

In regards to the size of the network, we have currently 300ish workstations and approximately 60ish SIMS clients (admin and classroom)

Is their any other problems that I come up against, or does my plan seem ok?

Thanks for all your help.

[rh91uk]

Seems like you should be all set - and yes, a rename should be absolutley fine.

[mattjones]

Thanks for your help rh19uk.

Would it be a case of just renaming via system properties > computer name? or should I use netdom? Is one way better than the other? - I don't feel overly confident with the renaming, for some reason. I think it is due to the 'horror' stories I have read.

[vikpaw]

i think so long as you rename as early as possible, which you have done, before even joining the domain, it's best. i've played around with a lot of VMs and i tend to clone to create a new one and rename along the way, and you see lots of relics and accounts that say vm-server1\.... , when it's now on vm-server3\.... , especially with things like SQL, so the less you set up prior to the rename the better.
I think your plan looks okay.

[matt40k]

Thanks for your help rh19uk.

Would it be a case of just renaming via system properties > computer name? or should I use netdom? Is one way better than the other? - I don't feel overly confident with the renaming, for some reason. I think it is due to the 'horror' stories I have read.

I've had a few issues with SQL remembering the old server name that's caused issues with DocStorage and other bits. It might not be a problem but if it is, it's easy to fix, just search google for change @@servername, it should come up with a nice guide.

[mattjones]

Great, thank you very much. Have you performed a server rename before? Did you just do it via system properties?

I just did a quick search for @@servername and found a lot of helpful guides, just in case.