Server Replication

[Denda]

OK - Got a question. We want to rebuild an existing w2k server to w3k. We want a complete rebuild of this system, not an upgrade. Trying to figure out the best way to do it since this is a system that is used 24/7 with not much more downtime than a bounce every once in a while. The current w2k environment is also the sites DNS & DHCP server.

Thought about the following:

1) build another w2k server and copy and paste files and folders manually as well as setup the DNS and DHCP configuration.

2) enable FRS, have the server's do the work and when the time comes to rebuild the old server, we can just bring down the main server and bring up the offline server.

3) build another w2k server and restore backup

What have the rest of you done in this type of situation?

 

[ITPangaeaArchitect]

are we talking DCs here? If so, can't be doing none of that down for awhile stuff without causing issues

if you have a server with enough disk space, copy the data over there...no sense in needlessly building another server unless you have a purpose for it

if this is a DC, you'll need to dcpromo it down to avoid having to do metadata cleanup, etc.

you could use DFS (FRS repl) to get the data over...but robocopy may be a better choice in this situation...

personally...and have done many times....i would:

copy data to another server with sufficient disk space
dcpromo down machine
reload with win2k3
jump on schema master and run adprep commands
dcpromo win2k3 box into domain if necessary
reinstall dhcp and rebuild scopes
reinstall DNS (if this is DC, zone will already be there)

-Brandon Wilson
MCSE00/03, MCSA:Messaging, MCSA03, A+
almost got a paragraph there

 

[Denda]

Thanks ADgod - at this site there is only 1 windows server, the other is a Novell file server. So it looks as though our plan 1 is the best route. thanks for your advice.

 

[BigBHaller]

Another option that works fairly well in a bind, is to create a software RAID 1 using Disk Management (must change to Dynamic Disks first), then break the mirror and use the 2nd drive as your drive for the new server.