Due to building working work over the summer, I have no choice but to switch our whole server 2008 network off for 5 weeks during the summer.
Can anyone see any issues that are likely to arise from this?
Thanks
If everything is off then I can't see any problems. When you bring the servers back up, bring up the PDCE first and then the others; check event logs as you go.
Problems can arise when one domain controller is off for a long time (although I think it's more than 5 weeks; 60 days comes to mind) and it won't then synch properly with the other DCs (items which have been deleted on the working server are still present on the server which has been off and they magically come back to life etc)
As someone else said:
Servers are like old people. . .
You tuck them up in bed when you go home for the night.
Sometimes they wake up in the morning, sometimes they dont.
.... and then there will be all those new MS updates and anti virus sigs to go through
The only problem I can see is them not coming back on again, its definately the most likely time for them to die! Make sure you have very good backups and a good recovery plan - If their off for 5 weeks I'm guessing its going to be pretty near the start of term before you can switch them back on again?
Steve
I'm pretty sure that the Tombstone Lifetime is 120 days on server 2003 SP1 and above so you should be ok there and I would anticipate that being your biggest issue. Is there no option to keep one DC running somewhere?
The problem I see is if builders are in then they will cut through all your nice fibers
The builders are due to have the new server room completed by the start of next term, but I get a funny feeling that this isn't going to happen, in which case I am going to have to set up a very temporary server room for a while...
The whole thing is being 'Project managed' by a guy from county. I'm not sure he realises that the school is not going to function very well with no IT network.
The contractors are moving all the data cables and fibre as well, so there is plenty of scope for that to go badly too.
Speaking of destoying fibre, I used to work for an ISP, and one of our data centre staff took down the whole national network during some routine maintenance by tripping over onto a couple of fibre cables. Fortunately the whole episode was captured on the security cameras for posterity (and general amusement).
Anyway, back to the task in hand, I have got good backups, and the servers are pretty new, so I am hopeful that all should be ok.
@mwnci:
How many servers are we talking about and is it the electricity supply that is being upgraded in the server area?
I would suggest that if you can, move the servers to a place were you can connect to electricity over the 5 week period and just plug them into a temporary switch (connected to your internet service) which will allow you to keep your updates and everything else intact.
Not a mind blowing solution but a commonsense approach.
I personally would not like my servers down for that amount of time and the staff certainly would not thank me for it.
Remember to be careful if you deciede to leave them all running in a temporary location, if it does not have Air-con then you may come back to find a bigger mess...
My whole network is switched off for any holiday over 1 week. Sometimes DHCP can throw a fir, but usually its ok.
Well, we are only talking a couple of domain controllers and a member server. Internal walls are being knocked down and the power supply will be unavailable in that area throughout the hols. Any temporary location will not be air conditioned, so it is a bit of a dilemma.
@Bossman - Are you referring to windows updates? I suppose my main concern is the integrity of the 2008 domain and associated features (DNS, DHCP, WSUS).
This depends if you are a secondary / primary. But for use it wouldn't be possible as we have the 2 exam results weeks.
Do you host you own email server? If so all emails would be returned to sender.
Just ensure all the staff are aware before the start of term, as no doubt someone will want to come in and use something.
I think with extended schools agenda and what not - we wouldn't be able to operate without access for that period of time. As has been said above, we would struggle to get our exam information sent through, whole time support staff in the office and the ICT support team would be sitting twiddling their thumbs for a while. So I take it you are a primary?
As has been said - if possible I would look to relocate on a temporary basis to another location within the school. As long as the room is a fair size and secure i.e. alarmed I think you could get away without the use of aircon for that length of time.
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