Looking for Input---Upgrading from S. Business to Domain 1

[kelfuego]

Hello all,

I'm looking for some advise based on past experiences. I am currently working for an organization that is experiencing huge growing pains. Currently we have several site based networkings running a mixture of topologies. One of which involves the use of Small Business server 2000.

At this time we are developing a WAN over 9 physical locations and plan to integrate existing servers into our domain tree.

Unfortunately (having not worked with Small Business Server) I have heard that SBS doesn't like to play very well with other servers---unless it gets to be the boss.

What experiences have you all had with this, and if I chose to do so would the migration process from SBS to say 2003 server be a nightmare or a piece of cake.

Thank you in advance for your input.



Kelly Johnson MCP
Central City Concern

 

[markdmac]

If you wanted to upgrade from SBS to Win2K3, you would need to uninstall a lot of the SBS Software, for instance the version of Exchange from SBS can not continue to run.

Contrary to popular belief, SBS does play well with other servers, but it has restrictions. First, SBS MUST be the first server. Second, SBS does nto support trusts. You can have additional Domain Controllers without a problem. Your SBS 2000 has a limitation of only allowing up to 50 users. SBS 2003 extends this limit up to 75.

Depending on your circumstances, you might find it best to set up a new network and use ADMT to copy your SBS users to that new domain. You can use ExMerge to export mailboxes and then import them on the new Exchange Server.

I hope you find this post helpful. Please let me know if it was.

Regards,

Mark

 

[kelfuego]

Yes I do find this to be helpful. However you have confirmed one of my biggest concerns. Because of the nature of our core business we intend to introduce a much larger server system which will be the PDC. In doing so, our concern has been that SBS might not like the idea of not being in charge.

In anticipation of this we have been working under the assumption that we will have to rework the SBS system and convert it to either a 2000 adv server, or 2003 server. But before doing so we are looking for outside input on the viability of using SBS in the new domain so that we inhibit the work flow of our staff as little as possible.


Kelly Johnson MCP
Central City Concern

 

[markdmac]

You need to get out of the thinking of a PDC. In Windows 2000 and 2003 all domain controllers are peers.

SBS would not have a problem with you adding additional servers and having them run some of the services that SBS currently runs like DHCP. Likewise you could have additional DNS servers and point your clients to that server instead of SBS, let the AD Integrated DNS do the replication from the other server to SBS for you.

How many users do you currently have and how many do you plan to support in the near future. That could/will be a governing factor for you.

I hope you find this post helpful. Please let me know if it was.

Regards,

Mark

 

[Jpoandl]

Kelly,

It sounds like you might be better off building a new server infrastructure. With you company growing and with the need to integrate remote servers into your infrastructure, you may consider migrating to a new Windows 2003 server(s). (It sounds like you may have acquired another company or group of companies?)

In any case, your company is growing and that might mean a new business re-org and file sharing restructure.

It may not be very hard to migrate the data to a new server. The nice things about this approach is that you can redesign how company information is shared. Utilize home directories, logon scripts, protected network shares (accounting repository, managers repsositoty, all users data, etc), domain policies (password resets and what not).

The trick to implementing a data migration is to perform a good investigation of your current systems. Do we have enough disk space, is NTFS security setup properly, is all of this data needed/can we delete some or archive some, are there applications running on the server, etc...

Usually server migrations are pretty straight forward if the planning work is performed up front.

-hope this helps..

Joseph L. Poandl
MCSE 2003

If your company is in need of experts to examine technical problems/solutions, please check out

http://www.NJCOMPUTERNETWORKS.com

(Sales@njcomputernetworks.com)

 

[dkediger]

You can acquire from Microsoft A "Transition Pack" that will remove the SBS limits from your server and also convert your SBS licenses to the equivalent standalone product licenses.

The last part is key, as the SBS licenses for Exchange/SQL, etc. are only good if they are operating on an SBS server.

Go to

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/techinfo/overview/generalfaq.mspx

and scroll down to Transition Pack Licensing

 

[Aslan111]

FYI, I just researched the Transition Pack and it is no longer available for SBS 2000. You would have to upgrade to SBS 2003 Premium (for Exch. and SQL) and then purchase a Transition Pack for SBS 2003.

What I'd like to find out is if anyone has had any experience doing a migration such as this. I also am currently involved in such a migration where a small business is going gangbusters and the infrastructure needs to be redeveloped to support multiple branches with a forest.

We are going to be adding 2 new servers in the immediate future and one of them will be serving the role of the first domain controller. Without getting in to a discussion on the whether to "upgrade and transition" or to simply migrate based on cost, does anyone have a thought on the following:

Install a new domain controller as well as an application server on Win 2K3.
Install Exchange and SQL 2000 on the app. server.
Migrate the databases and mailboxes to the app. server.
Migrate the AD catalogs and database to the new domain controller.
Demote and remove the 2000 SBS server from the domain and reinstall it with Win 2K3 for repurposing.

Given the prep work to ensure no data loss or security info, does this appear to be a sound scenario?

Thank you!
Aslan111