Any advice about installing SP2/R2

[techyphil]

Right, we currently have 3 DC's all running W2k3 and a few member servers that are more upto date with R2 installed. They simply provide shares and ghosting.

I want to install SP2 on all of the servers but am worried that it will have big issues that I might not be aware of. I think the worst things could be services or applications not working but I will not find out untill users start using the system.

Also R2 has alot of handy features including file screening that I want to use. R2 is installed on the server holding home folders for staff... can I simply start using it or does there have to be something on the DC's not running R2?

Im a bit confused tbh.. please help.

Thank You

[techyphil]

Im reading through the installation guide but its pretty worrying :S

I have to update the schema. But I thought there wouldnt be any need to as its only additional componenets. Not like exchange whereby it ties itself right in with AD.

Eek

[techyphil]

To upgrade from Windows Server 2003 with a service pack by using the product discs

1. Log on to the computer as an administrator.

2. Insert Disc 2 into your CD-ROM drive. If the disc does not automatically open, type D:r2auto.exe at the command line. D is the drive letter associated with your CD-ROM drive.

3. Follow the instructions on your screen, and enter the product key that comes with the two product discs.


Ok, well Windows 2003 was preinstalled before I started working here. But I do have a more recent copy of Windows Server 2003 R2 with a new key.

Would I use a tool to get the existing key from the server and use that with it?

Thanks

[techyphil]

Ok, cant seem to find a download for R2. So I can only assume that its an entire package that purchased as 1 thing.

Therefore I'd need a new licence?

Anybody else updated their servers to sp2 yet or installed R2 seperatly?

Thanks

[elsiegee40]

I've just put SP2 on the server, downloaded it using Microsoft Update, no key needed. (You can get it through WSUS too)

We're putting R2 on at Easter. As I understand it, it comes with its own product key.

[DSapseid]

As far as i can remember R2 does have its own key.

[sahmeepee]

All my servers are up to SP2 - the only thing to check as far as I can remember is disk space - Windows will do its usual thing of backing up everything from system32 to your uncle's tax records before it even considers applying a SP

[Michael]

I've installed SP2 on many 2003 Servers without any issues. I believe it doesn't change anything significant, unlike SP2 for Windows XP.

Before you start upgrading anything, perform a full backup of your system drive (including the System State - the very important bit!)

Once completing a backup, I would always recommend installing SP2 on all 2003 Servers and then installing R2, starting with your Domain Controllers first. R2 does require a different serial number to install successfully.

Upgrading the Schema is very easy, just follow the R2 documentation. It's a step by step process that takes minutes to complete. Once you've updated the Schema and proceed to install R2, you'll be unable to uninstall SP2 but don't let this worry you. This is why we backed up in the first place!

Hope this helps!

[byron67]

I just had to rebuild 6 servers and update to R2 and do other patch updates. I haven't run in to any problems on any of the servers so I think you'll be OK.

That said, make sure that you know BEFORE you do this, which server is your Operational Master/Primary server and so forth in case you run in to any problems at all. I've never been clear on whether you should update the primary server in a tree first or if it even matters. And...have a good backup!

If you are nervous about doing this, trying doing 1 server a day.

[pete]

If you're installing on a print server, check that your printer drivers are up to date. We had issues with a shared kyocera colour laser being seen as offline, despite the printer being fine and being able to telnet to port 9100 and send data from the print server. Updating the driver fixed the issue.

[azrael78]

We have had R2 running here for at least the last 6 months.
No errors or issues that we found with R2 specifically.

Only thing to note is if you use DFS Replication - the staging area is created at the root of the share.

So if you share out \\server1\profiles - and want to DFS replicate this - it will place a folder called 'DFSRPrivate' directly in the \\server1\profiles share.

This might not sound like an issue, but if you also use file screens or quotas, you may end up quota'ing the DFS staging area which wouldn't be good for DFS Replication.

(I know about this, because I did it... oops!)

I'm currently debating installing 2003 SP2 or not, out of time during this half-term break but at Easter we may have time.

Anyone hit any issues with SP2?
I've heard that on certain hardware it has an issue or 2, but I've not been able to verify this.

Az

[techyphil]

Thank you everyone,

I've ordered some licenses from ramesys to install R2. I've installed SP2 on an R2 server running SP1 and all is working fine.

I will be sure to check which is the primary domain controller anyway and also keep an eye out for driver issues reguarding printers.

R2 file screens seem to work a treat though. Only the email notification doesnt work and this is apparently a known problem what only Sp2 could fix. However SP2 has been installed and still is not working.

Other then that, its brillient .No more fishing for mp3's, wma's, vbs's etc.

[techyphil]

Just to update you all on what problems ive encountered.

I wanted to update to SP2 because of the security updates, but also r2 as it can do file screening. Since installing SP2 and enabling FSRM I have had difficulty accessing Symantec's Backup Exec. The first night it did not update because the username and password to start the services wasnt correct.

I've since reset the password on the account and managed to restart the services for it to work.

It then failed again because the system volume folder? I've googled it and they said I had to create a file in the system volume folder on the c: drive and created a file with an xml extension. But now I can't create reports about the folders using FSRM.


Let me know if youve had problems.

[Michael]

Can't you uninstall and re-install Symantec's Backup Exec?