Possible SIMS Issues

[NewBoy]

Please bear with me as I think this topic should really span across MIS and Server 2012

 

We currently have a school with 2 physical servers

 

1. DC01 (Domain Controller) - Server 2012 R2

2. SIMS Server Running SOLUS 3, SIMS & Nova-T - Server 2012 R2 & SQL Express (Member Server Only)

 

for to many reasons to list the DC is being flattened and re-built and the FQDN will change from .local to .internal (this is for MacBook reasons),

The IP and name of the DC will remain the same and other than connecting the SIMS Server to the new FQDN it will remain untouched.

 

I have had a look at the SIMS connect.ini which shows the server name i.e. SIMSSVR (not the FQDN) and the SQL Instance name i.e. SIMS2012

the SIMS database will remain the same as well.

 

Now my questions are as follows;

 

1. Is there anyway of backing up the SOLUS 3 configuration as I presume after joining the new domain it will create a new profile and lose its settings.
   
2. Do I need to make an SQL Backup before hand (I probably will anyway TBH as well as the Doc Storage)
   
3. As the SIMS Connect.ini does not list a FQDN should it work on the server once re-joined to the new domain
   
4. Is there anything else that I should bear in mind and plan for.
   
5. Does Nova-T need setting up again or is it all part of SIMS.net SQL database now
   
6. And finally I was told SQL Express links to AD (Never heard of that before)
   

 

Thank you for all you help and if this thread is in the wrong place please feel free to move it.

[Banjo]

I'm guessing your a primary school from the fact you use SQL Express, that also uses Nova-T for TT? IF you are a secondary school, you really need to upgrade to the full version of SQL ASAP.

 

As long as there aren't any strange group polices being pulled from the DC then you can just drop it off and re-join the new domain. Sims will carry on working as before including Nova T. Worth doing a backup though just in case from within System Manager and also a copy of the DOCSTORAGE folder.

 

Solus 3 and the process of updating SIMS depends on how the school has been set up. Do you have an agent on every workstation or do you have just the one on the SIMS server and use simsload to update the clients?

 

If your flattening the workstations along with the new DC then you have the option to roll out the agents again, or stick with Pulsar/simload to update them.

[NewBoy]

Thanks for that Banjo the SIMS Server has no policies whatsoever applied to it and they have an agent on each client for Solus 3 I am creating a VM environment tonight so that I can give it a go and see if there are any pitfalls that I need to be aware of.