New Server

[squeeky]

We have just got a new windows 2008 server and are waiting for capita to install sims on it. However the old server is a domain server for the admin building aswell. Whats the best way to migrate all the users and data over to the new server without touching any clients ? Does this also mean they will need the same hostname ?

 

This is what i planned to do

 

Join new server as member server or secondary DC

Copy shares across (not 100% sure how to do this)

Make the server hold the Global Catalogue

Setup DNS Correctly

 

Remove the old server from the network

Change the hostname on the server (can this be done ?)

 

Any advice appreciated.

[SYNACK]

Yes the best bet is to join the new server as a secondary AD server after doing an ADPREP on the old machine to allow for 2008 servers. You then need to wait for all the AD stuff to replicate and also move the FSMO roles from the old server to the new one.

 

After moving all files/shares and services such as DHCP to the new server you should be able to demote the old one if you want to using dcpromo and remove it from the network if you want to.

 

I am assuming that all of your mapped drives etc are done via a script which can be changed to reflect the new server name otherwise it makes things a little more complicated as you can't change the name of the new server once it is a DC.

[Brpilot99]

I am assuming that all of your mapped drives etc are done via a script which can be changed to reflect the new server name otherwise it makes things a little more complicated as you can't change the name of the new server once it is a DC.

 

I did this last year and changed the new server/DC name after having got rid of the old one ... This was server 2003 though ..

[SYNACK]

I did this last year and changed the new server/DC name after having got rid of the old one ... This was server 2003 though ..

 

I could be wrong, perhaps its just after you have added certain services (CertSrv). If you can then it makes it much easier from the file shareing point of view if things are not mapped by script.

[jc1875]

Yo may find that removing AD (and if it uses SQL) that the server gets a new lease of life and you would be able to live with it still hosting your file shares.

IIRC there is a file and share migration utility in 2008 server but you'll still need to change your drive mappings etc.

 

DCPROMO will take care of the DNS server for you.

 

IIRC you can rename your AD controller ok - its the domain names that are a pain. I'd be inclined to give it a new name (school-dc01) if you can live with it. once the migration is complete rename the old box (school-files01) if need be, you can setup a DNS entry for the old DC to point to the new one.

[SYNACK]

I would suggest an OS reinstall on the old box if you want to keep using it to its potential, this will get it going as fast as it can by cleaning it out fully.

 

You can also migrate the files (and importantly the file permissions) by backing up the files using ntbackup and restoreing them to the new location, using robocopy with the right arguments to keep the file premissions or probably the easiest by using the migration toolkit meantioned above.