Upgrading 2008 to 2008r2

[ces973]

Anyone partake in a straight 2008 to R2 upgrade yet? I'm looking to upgrade my 2008 DC next week, and I was just wondering how much hassle I will be getting myself into.

The server is a DC, but not the PDC, running DNS and DHCP. Since it's my only 2008 server, I will probably make it the PDC after the upgrade. I'm guessing I just get a backup of the system state, pop the disk in and run the upgrade?

Will this then upgrade the AD schema, or do I have to do that manually?

[Potato-Peeler]

I know this doesn't answer the question but just so you know r2 is only 64 bit, so anything that was running 32 bit may be a bit odd with it.

[ces973]

I know this doesn't answer the question but just so you know r2 is only 64 bit, so anything that was running 32 bit may be a bit odd with it.

I thought so, but I wasn't sure. All my 2008 servers are x64, so no worries in that department.

[jamesb]

Bear in mind that 2008 R2 is not just an upgrade to 2008 server.

Also remember that its not yet on general release.

Just a couple of things to keep in mind.

As to the upgrade, I'd imagine you'd be best off decommissioning the old server first, cleanly, then running the upgrade, then commissioning the upgraded server. Once that's done it should then sit there and replicate from your other DCs.

At a guess you'll then need to do a domainprep and forestprep if you want to move your domain to 2008 R2 native level (if there is such a thing).

[saundersmatt]

I've begun the process of migrating our 2008 servers to r2. As pointed out above, You're required to run a forestprep and domain prep on the root domain controllers before you begin, the adprep tool is in the support folder on the R2 dvd.
Haven't had any problems with doing it as an upgrade as yet, and i've done the DC's.

Matt

[ces973]

Bear in mind that 2008 R2 is not just an upgrade to 2008 server.

Also remember that its not yet on general release.

Just a couple of things to keep in mind.

As to the upgrade, I'd imagine you'd be best off decommissioning the old server first, cleanly, then running the upgrade, then commissioning the upgraded server. Once that's done it should then sit there and replicate from your other DCs.

At a guess you'll then need to do a domainprep and forestprep if you want to move your domain to 2008 R2 native level (if there is such a thing).

Thanks. I had forgot R2 wasn't released yet. It's been on our Software Assurance site, and our software reseller has licenses available for purchase up on their website. Shouldn't be too much, if any difference between that and the public release, I would think.

I cant move my domain to a 2008/R2 native level because I still have 2003 DC's. I do have a 2008 DC as well, so I wouldn't think I would have run the domainprep and forestprep again. Would like some more info on that, though. I also don't want to remove the server from production, and start again clean, if at all possible.

I've begun the process of migrating our 2008 servers to r2. As pointed out above, You're required to run a forestprep and domain prep on the root domain controllers before you begin, the adprep tool is in the support folder on the R2 dvd.
Haven't had any problems with doing it as an upgrade as yet, and i've done the DC's.

Matt

Are you required to run the domain/forest prep if you already have a 2008 DC in production, or are you just adding a 2008 R2 server to a 2003 domain? I know I will have to do the adprep process again to update the schema.

Also, my 2008 DC is not my Primary DC, I'm wondering if I should move all the FSMO roles over to it, make it the PDC, and then upgrade, or do it in reverse order.

[Michael]

Anyone partake in a straight 2008 to R2 upgrade yet?

I would advise against it. Quite a number of members on here have experienced problems. I'd wait until early next year when a lot of problems should of been ironed out.

[markberry]

We upgraded our 2003 DCs to 2008. Then backup up specific roles; CA, DHCP, NPS etc. and did a clean install of 2008 64 bit. Restored the roles and ensured they were working correctly.

We then did an inplace upgrade to 2008r2. Backup up roles again and performed a clean install of 2008r2 and restored the roles again.

A bit long winded but it was the easiest way we could see to do the upgrade and with a clean install of 2008r2.

Forest prep and domain prep need to done before upgrading to 2008 and 2008r2.

[IanT]

I've upgraded one server from 2008 too 2008 R2 - All went well.

I came across a problem when upgrading a test server from 2008 (with Exchange 2007) too 2008 R2 - Didnt like it, Im sure I read that you cant put Exchange 2007 on 2008 R2 box. (someone please correct me)

[wagnerk]

We've already upgrade and running a 2k8 R2 domain and forest, we did have a couple of issues, but nothing we couldn't sort out, like DHCP (we tried a few things but in the end created a Virtual 2k3 server for it) and filtering (it took a couple of days for AD replication to upgrade the Sophos box).

...I came across a problem when upgrading a test server from 2008 (with Exchange 2007) too 2008 R2 - Didnt like it, Im sure I read that you cant put Exchange 2007 on 2008 R2 box. (someone please correct me)

You can install Exchange 2007 on Windows 2008 R2, however you need to install/use SP2 for Exchange 2007.

-ken

[DrCheese]

You can install Exchange 2007 on Windows 2008 R2, however you need to install/use SP2 for Exchange 2007.

No you can't...
You Had Me At EHLO... : Exchange Server 2007 SP2 and Windows Server 2008 R2

The most the exchange team will support with 2007 is having 2008 R2 DC's on site.

[IanT]

I've just run a test and the install fails..........but if u run Exchange Server 2007 setup in compatibility mode under..............Windows XP SP2\SP3 it runs........I've just found out.

[ces973]

I've just run a test and the install fails..........but if u run Exchange Server 2007 setup in compatibility mode under..............Windows XP SP2\SP3 it runs........I've just found out.

I think I saw something on the TechNet forums about this. I think 2008R2's version number is 6.1xxx and the Exchange setup is looking for 6.0xxxx and lower. I think there's an XML file that can be changed to allow the install to work properly.

[john]

I would advise against it. Quite a number of members on here have experienced problems. I'd wait until early next year when a lot of problems should of been ironed out.

The issues I had were tbh ancient devices trying to access it direct via AD and using NT4 style access and security levels, either switching them to native LDAP or bring the security level back down to NT4 level cured all my issues and now all is working very well. My Sun SAN is working well with it, and hasn't missed a beat on the score of talking to AD now.

Although I found out today that I think I am one of the only ones in our LEA to be using 2008 R2 DCs