Windows Small Business Server 2008 Migration

Friday, August 22 2008

#1 Dale Unroe on 9.24.2008 at 9:16 AM

Thanks Joe for putting together your notes and publishing them. I found them useful to review as I'm prepping just before taking the SBS 2008 Beta test.

#2 John R. Pattison on 9.24.2008 at 9:19 AM

Thanks! But feel free to call me John, not Joe. :-)

#3 Maypo on 10.03.2008 at 9:00 AM

Hi John,

How would the above steps be different if you were installing SBS 2008 into an existing small network with two domain controllers (2000 & 2003) but with no SBS 2003 server?

Thanks!

#4 John R. Pattison on 10.03.2008 at 9:46 AM

That's a great question. I'm not really sure of the answer. In SBS2003, there was a great MS Knowledgebase article that walked you through what you needed to do to migrate from Windows Server 2000/2003 to SBS2003. The core of the procedure was that SBS2003 had to hold all of the FSMO roles for the domain. The same holds true in SBS2008; it has to hold all of the FSMO roles. I would expect to see a knowledgebase article that explains how to migrate from Windows Server 2000/2003 to SBS2008. However, I do not believe it is a guided process like the SBS2003->SBS2008 process is.

#5 Stan Stramel on 10.03.2008 at 3:38 PM

Great article. We are looking at migrating a client from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 or EBS 2008. We cannot find documentation on the Exchange storage size. With SBS 2003 it was 75GB. Do you know what that liimit is? Where can we read an article on those type of features? Also, regular Exchange 2008 requires x64 Server. Will SBS/EBS2008 require that type of hardware?

Thanks!

#6 John R. Pattison on 10.06.2008 at 9:19 AM

Thanks!

The database limit for Exchange Server 2007 Standard Edition (what is bundled into SBS2008) is 16TB.

(source: http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/evaluation/editions.mspx)

In answer to your second question, because Exchange Server 2007 requires 64-bit, the PRIMARY server in SBS2008 has to be a 64-bit operating system. If you get SBS2008 Premium Edition, then your secondary server can still be running on 32-bit.

#7 Alex on 11.19.2008 at 9:41 PM

What happens when you migrate the shared folders? Can the users access files at this time while the server is migrating the data from the shared folders?

#8 John R. Pattison on 11.19.2008 at 9:44 PM

Hi Alex. You would probably want to move the shared folders off hours. Nothing magical here. The shared folders will have a new UNC path (\\newserver\sharename intead of \\oldserver\sharename), so you would need to change any shortcuts etc. unless you are mapping a shared drive letter in a login script.

#9 Larry Stavinoha on 12.11.2008 at 9:33 AM

Now I need an article on backing out the migration. I have a feeling that I am going to run into unknown problems and am going to want to back out and research the problems.

#10 John R. Pattison on 12.11.2008 at 9:39 AM

Larry,

The migration wizard doesn't really do anything magical. The main thing it's doing is transferring all of the FSMO roles over to the new server. So if you don't have much experience with managing FSMO roles in Active Directory, you might want to make sure to have a good resource available who could help you with any problems you might have. But the basics of rolling back would be to give the old server back all of the FSMO roles, otherwise it will start turning itself off after the grace period expires. And of course, if you've migrated mail then you'd have to move all of your Exchange mailboxes back over. Moving backward is bound to be messy, though, so I would say try to avoid it at all costs. Make sure your new hardware is in good shape before moving forward. Also, I would suggest practicing the migration scenarios. I believe that Microsoft has a number of HyperV / Virtual PC images (VHD's) that you can download to simulate the migrations, and they may be available online as hand-on labs (where you connect into the virtual machines).

Good luck!

#11 Tim on 12.11.2008 at 12:09 PM

is it possible to migrate server 2000 to SBS server 2008 and if so where can i get info to do it

#12 John R. Pattison on 12.11.2008 at 12:43 PM

Tim,

I haven't run across anything about that migration. I'm almost positive that the question was asked before, and the answer was that the built-in migration tools do NOT handle moving from SBS2000 to SBS2008. So that means that you're back to the approach of manually migrating over the FSMO roles, as well as any Exchange Server mailboxes.

#13 Tim on 12.11.2008 at 12:45 PM

John,

Thanks that is what i thought i appreciate your time.

Tim

#14 Ron on 1.02.2009 at 3:56 PM

John,

Microsoft never has said what would happen if the source server was not demoted by 21 days. Have you seen or heard of anyone keeping the source server online for another month? Not uninstalling Exchange and not demoting the server.

Ron

#15 John R. Pattison on 1.02.2009 at 4:02 PM

When that time period expires, the server will start randomly initiating shutdowns. It's pretty scary when it first happens to you. This timeout happens whenever the SBS 2003 server does not hold ALL of the Active Directory FSMO roles.

The timeout period is usually shorter -- 7 days if I'm remembering correctly. I've run into this first-hand when installing an SBS 2003 server into an existing domain (and forgetting to transfer all of the FSMO roles over to the new server). When you first upgrade to SBS 2008, a patch extends that timeout to the 21 day value.

Unfortunately, there is no way to extend the timeout period longer.

#16 Ron on 1.02.2009 at 4:54 PM

John,

Let's say it has been at least 2 months since the 21 day period was up and it seems the Exchange on the 2008 server is not functioning unless the Exchange on the 2003 server is functioning. Would uninstalling Exchange on 2003 completely kill Exchange on 2008 or fix the issue?

Ron

#17 Scott on 1.07.2009 at 10:19 AM

How about when you don't do a migration but a fresh install on a new server...the users did not have a server just a usb drive with their data. After everything was done all seems to work fine except the server randomly denies access to folders that are shared with all the proper permissions in place.

#18 John R. Pattison on 1.07.2009 at 10:22 AM

Ron - It sounds like the old server must still have all of the primary Active Directory roles (the FSMO roles), or it would definitely be shutting itself down. I definitely think something didn't go right in the migration. It sounds to me like the migration didn't really run, and that the old SBS server is still doing most of the work.

#19 John R. Pattison on 1.07.2009 at 10:24 AM

Scott,

All I can really suggest is making sure that you have the users' computers properly joined to the new SBS server's domain. Make sure you followed all of the steps to join a computer to the SBS network.

One other thought... make sure that you're letting SBS handle DHCP on your network. This ensures that users' computers will be pointing the DNS to the SBS server, which is necessary for Active Directory authentication to function properly.

#20 Todd S on 1.10.2009 at 10:52 PM

Great Info!!

So what if your client only has one server? I understand you have to migrate from Box to Box. So I see I will need to have some sort of box there as a destination box. The problem I see is that I will need to somehow get the newly migrated server 2008 on the Source server that is 2003. How would you proceed?

#21 Stephane on 1.11.2009 at 5:40 AM

Hi all,

Thanks a lot for this article. I have the following task to do : add a sbs 2008 to a server 2003 domain (they don't use Exchange yet). This is the first time I'm doing this, so I'm pretty afraid I will screw something up.

I cannot format the 2003 server, because there are software on it that they need and that cannot be reinstalled. Is this going to be a problem ? You mention that we have to have sbs premium so that another server stays on 32 bit? Have I understood well ?

#22 John R. Pattison on 1.11.2009 at 8:01 AM

Todd S,

Strange situation -- needing to use the same hardware that was running SBS2003 for SBS2008. Most people's hardware would be pretty outdated by the time they need to upgrade an operating system. Additionally, I'm surprised that this would be cost effective. Buying an OEM license for SBS2008 (along with new hardware) is usually much cheaper than getting it through retail or volume licensing.

However, if you really need to accomplish this, I think you will need to use some kind of approach that employs a virtual computer (using Virtual Server / Virtual PC / etc on another physical box). So either (a) migrate to a virtual computer running SBS2003, then upgrade to your new physical installation of SBS2008; or (b) migrate your physical SBS2003 to a virutal computer running SBS2008, then migrate over to your new physical SBS2008 box. You'd want to research this approach a bit though. For option (a), I found this article about migrating SBS2003 to new hardware:

technet.microsoft.com/.../cc747454.aspx

Good luck!

John R. Pattison

#23 John R. Pattison on 1.11.2009 at 8:06 AM

Hi Stephane,

You can't have an SBS2003 computer and an SBS2008 computer running in the same domain simultaneously due to licensing restrictions. If you try, then whichever computer is not holding all of the FSMO roles will routinely turn itself off.

Regarding SBS Premium, what it gives you a license to run a second server on either 32-bit or 63-bit Windows Server 2008. This would not help you with leaving your SBS2003 box running.

About the only solution I can think of is to leave your SBS2003 box running in the old domain, and then set up a whole new domain with your SBS2008 box and migrate all of your clients over to it (in other words, don't do a server migration). If you have the same user accounts set up in both domains, people should still be able to authenticate to the old server. You will have to make sure you switch DHCP and DNS over to the new server though. Fortunately, since they're not using Exchange, that simplifies things a lot, in that you won't have to worry about migrating that configuration and data. There are likely other issues you will have to think through with this approach, but essentially there is no reason you can't have two separate domains running simultaneously.

Best of luck,

John R. Pattison

#24 Stephane on 1.11.2009 at 11:11 AM

Thanks John for the time you spent answering.

Now I don't have SBS, juste Windows 2003. So you can have a W2k Server with Windows 2003, but you can't have Windows 2003 with SBS 2008 ?

I thought I could stop essentiel services on the 2003 (dhcp, dns as you mention...) and put whatever is mandatory on the 2008.

#25 John R. Pattison on 1.11.2009 at 3:31 PM

Stephane,

I understand now. There's no problem with running SBS2008 simultaneously with Windows Server 2003. You don't even need to get the Premium Edition of SBS2008. You just have to make sure that the SBS2008 server has all of the FSMO roles etc, just like you said.

#26 Fred on 1.24.2009 at 1:51 AM

Here's one for you, what about migrating an SBS 08 server to another SBS 08 server? We setup an SBS server last month and have major hardware related issues, so we are replacing that box with another brand and model to aleviate the problems. I was planning on doing the join and take-over scenario versus the migration scenario. What are your feelings on this?

#27 John R. Pattison on 1.24.2009 at 8:37 AM

Fred,

In SBS2003, it was simply a matter of joining the new SBS server to the domain, and then transferring all of the FSMO roles over within (if I remember correctly) 14 days. I assume the same will apply in SBS2008. Microsoft had a knowledgebase article detailing all of the steps in SBS2003, so I would be amazed if they haven't brought out the same for SBS2008.

Of course, you won't be able to still leave your old SBS08 server running, as it will shut itself down when it's not holding the FSMO roles. But it sounds like that's your intention anyway.

Best of luck,

John R. Pattison

#28 Robert on 1.27.2009 at 11:45 AM

John

I saw the comment above about going from 2000 to 2008SBS. Not sure if the person meant standard or SBS but I have a client that has 2000 standard server with no exchange on it. They only want to keep the domain name the same. Can the migration tool work on a 2000 standard server? The only thing I have to actually move is data. I've been looking and not found a direct answer. I'm waiting on my software still so dont have it to try.

#29 John R. Pattison on 1.28.2009 at 2:46 PM

Robert,

I don't think that the migration tool will do it for you in this case, but there must be a knowledgebase article on joining SBS2008 to an existing domain. I know that this was possible with SBS2003, as I did it several times. However, it was always necessary to wipe out any OEM preinstalled version of SBS2008 and install it from scratch, then join it to the domain and move over all of the primary roles. Here is the article for how to do it in SBS2003; didn't see one (quickly looking) for SBS2008, but the approach would be similar: support.microsoft.com/.../884453

#30 SyscomDT on 3.05.2009 at 10:55 AM

I am in the same boat. Surely Microsoft wants their Server 2000 customers to move to SBS 2008. Has anyone found info on this? I was thinking about finding a dprecated copy of sbs2003 and moving from server 2000 to that. Then migrating using the assistant to the SBS2008 software.

Thanks for any and all help,

-Scott

#31 Mitchell Earl on 3.05.2009 at 5:20 PM

I am in the process of a 2000 to 2008 migration. I setup a laptop on 2003 r2. After running my adpreps, i have setup the laptop as both an active directory and global catalog. The laptop now has everything I would think it needs for 2008. I am currently stuck in the answer file, as it says the sbs2008 can't login to the domain even though it can ping the 2003 ip and machine name. Not sure where to go from here.

#32 Chris on 3.06.2009 at 8:13 AM

John, thanks for the great article. I have SBS2003 and a new server waiting for me to put SBS2008 on it and migrate the 2003 data.

The new server is currently running Windows Server 2008 and 1 virtual machine with Hyper V.

I would like to install the SBS2008 as a virtual machine and then migrate from SBS2003. The main reason for doing so is that I can quickly take snapshots of the machine for easy backups and move it to new hardware more rapidly should the need arise.

What are your thoughts on this?

Chris

#33 John R. Pattison on 3.06.2009 at 9:07 AM

Chris,

I love that idea! Most people don't do that simply from the aspect of licensings, but it's absolutely the best way to go. Like you said, it's absolutely great for migration, disaster recovery, etc.

Don't forget that SBS2008 requires 64-bit. Hyper-V, of course, supports 64-bit guests as long as it's running under the 64-bit version of Windows Server 2008.

Best of luck.

John R. Pattison

#34 John R. Pattison on 3.06.2009 at 9:10 AM

Mitchell,

The only thing I can think of offhand is to make sure that the DNS server on your new SBS2008 box is set to your 2003 box. Just to verify, you mentioned that you set up that laptop with "2003" -- do you mean Windows Server 2003 or Small Business Server 2003?

John R. Pattison

#35 John R. Pattison on 3.06.2009 at 9:14 AM

Scott,

I think your suggestion of migrating VIA SBS2003 would work. The other thing you could do is skip using the built-in SBS2008 migration tools and just do the migration yourself. You would need to start with a fresh installation of SBS2008 (without Exchange installed yet), join your SBS2008 box to your 2000 network, make it a domain controller, move all of the FSMO roles over to the new SBS2008 box, migrate your data + login scripts + etc, decomission your 2000 box, upgrade Active Directory to 2008 level, and then install Exchange Server. I may not have included all of the steps there (just thinking about this off the top of my head), but that would be the general approach. I haven't run across a specific MSKB article about this; please let me know if you find a good writeup.

Thanks,

John R. Pattison

#36 John R. Pattison on 3.06.2009 at 9:20 AM

One more note on these more complex migrations, such as 2000 to SBS2008... make sure you have someone who really is an expert in Active Directory on hand to do things like this. If you don't know what I mean by "transfer all of the FSMO roles" then you really need to find someone to partner with and bring in for migrations such as this -- preferrably an MCSE or MCITP on Windows Server. Active Directory can be very complicated, so if you're beyond the scope of Microsoft's simple migration scenarios, bring in an expert (if you're not one). :-)

Best of luck,

John R. Pattison

#37 Dennes Meeusen on 3.09.2009 at 11:03 AM

Hi John

Thanks for the notes.

One question.. Suppose you want to migrate and keep the old sbs 2003 server name on the new sbs 2008 server, do you have any experience with that on sbs 2008?

#38 John R. Pattison on 3.09.2009 at 11:18 AM

Hi Dennes,

I don't know of any way to do that during the migration, since for a short period of time both the SBS2003 and SBS2008 servers are running (as things get transferred over, etc). I suppose that after the SBS2003 server is commissions, that you could change the server name of the SBS2008 server, but I'm not really sure of what the ramifications of that would be in Active Directory. Personally, I wouldn't do it.

Best of luck,

John R. Pattison

#39 Ed on 4.05.2009 at 10:56 PM

John,

Thanks for the information.

Can we use the Migration mode to move from a Windows 2008 domain to SBS 2008?

I have a client that is a great candidate for SBS 2008 but was oversold Windows 2008 and Exchange by another company.

My plan is to install 2008 SBS as a virtual machine on another server, run the migration and then decommission the old Exchange and DC. I know that I can do this manually but would love to not have to move the clients to a new domain.

Do you know if this is possible? The client is willing to purchase the new SBS licensing.

#40 Sean on 4.05.2009 at 11:57 PM

Thanks for all the info John, you must be getting tired of this discussion.

I need to migrate from Server 2003 to SBS2008. I thought your instructions were appropriate. Then you seem to indicate your instructions were for migration for SBS2003 to SBS2008.

Would you mind clarifying? Thanks, Sean

#41 John R. Pattison on 4.06.2009 at 8:33 AM

Sean-

I wrote these specific instructions for the process of migrating from SBS2003 to SBS2008. I'm not positive what changes for going from Server 2003 to SBS2008. I would assume that the automated migration tools can still handle the Active Directory aspect of things. If you're running Exchange on the current infrastructure, I'm not sure that the migration tools will migrate over those mailboxes, but that's easy to handle yourself.

Best of luck,

John

#42 John R. Pattison on 4.06.2009 at 8:36 AM

Ed,

I don't believe that the automated migration tools will handle a Server 2008 to SBS2008 migration, but the process isn't that bad to do yourself. Essentially, you need to start with a fresh installation of SBS2008 (NOT an OEM installation), join it to your 2008 domain, transfer ALL of the FSMO roles over to it (and make it a GC in DNS), join it to the Exchange org, and then migrate all of your mailboxes over to it.

Best wishes,

John

#43 Ken on 4.07.2009 at 11:53 AM

Has anyone found a way to upgrade a w2k8 server to sbs2k8? I have a w2k8 server with all 5 FSMO roles in an AD domain and would like to upgrade the server to SBS2K8. There is no Exchange in the Domain. I've done the W2K3 to SBS2K3 without problem, but can't find a tool to do the same to SBS2K8. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

#44 John R. Pattison on 4.07.2009 at 12:59 PM

The migration should simply involve:

- start with a fresh installation of SBS2008 (NOT an OEM installation)

- run dcpromo to join it to your 2008 domain

- transfer ALL of the FSMO roles over to it (and make it a GC in DNS)

After that, you should be able to install Exchange Server using the SBS2008 setup tools.

Best wishes,

John

#45 Ken on 4.07.2009 at 1:07 PM

John,

I will give that a try. I moved the PDC so that I wouldn't be forced into moving all the data and taking the users down, but with no upgrade path and installing w2k8 on the soon to be sbs2k8, It looks like I pushed myself into a corner. I am going to take the current PDC W2K8 to a vmware image and then try what you suggest. Do you think that is a waste? The current W2K3 server has far too many apps and data to deal with so I don't really want to push the PDC back to it.

Much appreciated, Ken

#46 John R. Pattison on 4.07.2009 at 1:10 PM

Ken,

Sounds like a reasonable approach!

John

#47 Ken on 4.07.2009 at 1:31 PM

Thanks for the fast response. I will post how it turns out.

#48 Tomas on 4.08.2009 at 5:16 AM

Hi!

First of all, great article. I'm just about to preforming a migration from a 2003 SBS to a 2008 SBS. It has started pretty good, both of the servers is up and running. It's now I have big problems. When I tried to run the Migration Wizard I just get: Windows 2008 Server Migration Wizard has stop working. I don't know how to get around this...

Best regards, Tomas

#49 Anthony on 4.14.2009 at 7:45 AM

Hi, is it essential that you change the private IP address range to 192.168.0.0/24 etc. I have a 10.10.80.0/24 range and the installation doesn’t seem to be picking up the answer file. Would the ip range be my problem? Thanks in advance

#50 Michael on 4.16.2009 at 12:24 PM

Hello,

Why does SBS2008 requires a separate router/firewall device at the edge of the network? What will happen if I do not install a separate router?

Thanks in advance!

#51 ICT on 5.01.2009 at 12:27 PM

What do you have to do keep the old server running?

Demote it or rename the domain?

#52 John R. Pattison on 5.03.2009 at 12:24 PM

ICT,

To leave the old server running, you HAVE TO wipe it and either (1) reload a DIFFERENT operating system (it can't still be running SBS2003, because SBS2003 has to hold all of the FSMO roles on it), or (2) wipe it, reload SBS2003, and give it a different domain name during the setup process.

John

#53 clint on 5.05.2009 at 7:17 AM

hi john

we presently use one server with sbs2003 premium. this hosts our line of business applications, incl crm.

we now purchsed sbs08 premium and a new server.

we do not want to format the old server - this would mean reinstallation of l.o.b. applications - not something we want to do.

can we install sbs 08 on the new server, move AD and exchange across and continue to use the old server without cleaning it in any way?

#54 John R. Pattison on 5.05.2009 at 8:40 AM

Clint,

Unfortunately, this is not an option. SBS2003 will shut down itself after (I believe it is) 30 days if it does not hold all of the FSMO roles.

You could put Windows Server 2008 on your new server instead (would have to buy a separate license), but then you'd have to stay on Exchange 2003 (unless you purchase a separate Exchange 2008 license for the new server). Alternatively, you could create a new domain for the new server, but then you'd have to change user passwords in two places, etc (not ideal).

The reality is that if you do an upgrade from SBS2003 to SBS2008, you can't keep using the SBS2003 server without wiping it and reloading a DIFFERENT operating system (e.g. Windows Server 2003/2008).

Best of luck,

John

#55 John R. Pattison on 5.05.2009 at 8:43 AM

Anthony,

I don't believe the problem is your IP address range. I think I remember seeing that 10.0... is fine to use as an internal IP address range in SBS2008.

John

#56 John R. Pattison on 5.05.2009 at 8:45 AM

Michael,

Regarding requiring a separate router. There is now a whitepaper available on using ISA Server with SBS2008. However, in its out-of-the-box configuration, SBS2008 can't be used as the router on your network. Of course, just like with previous versions of SBS, you can configure the Routing manually, but usually that breaks wizards and causes a mess. My advice is to just use a cheap router as the first hop on the Internet. If you need something more advanced, how about something like a Watchguard firewall. And if you really need more advanced than that, then look up that whitepaper on using ISA Server with SBS 2008.

Best of luck,

John R. Pattison

#57 Larry Cortez on 5.29.2009 at 9:57 AM

John,

Also many thanks for your notes and responses above. I am near a SBS2003 to SBS2008 Std migration. My SBS2003 box hardware is still pretty relevant and using the Solutions Pathway license migration, I can actually beat any of the OEM offerings I have found.

That said, my thought is to use the following steps:

1. Install SBS2008 on a VHD hosted on a box running MS Hyper-V Server.

2. Migrate from the SBS2003 to the SBS2008 VHD using your notes, etc. above.

3. Wiping the SBS2003 box and installing MS Hyper-V Server.

4. Move the SBS2008 VHD to that box.

Please let me know if you think that will work. Once concern I have about moving the SBS2008 VHD around (both under my scenario above and in as disaster recovery scenario) is that the Exchange database seems tied to the box its installed one. Does the VHD become the "box" for these purposes?

Thanks in advance for your response!

Larry

#58 John R. Pattison on 5.29.2009 at 10:41 AM

Larry,

As far as I'm aware, your approach should work out great. Hyper-V creates a layer of abstraction that eliminates any machine-specific factors (drivers, etc). So as far as your virtual SBS2008 system is concerned, it won't know that it has moved from one physical server to another, because it will still just see all of the same virtual devices that Hyper-V Server exposes to it.

The only added complexity here is that external USB disks that are to be used for backup will first have to be configured as "passthrough discs" in Hyper-V (easy to do). Additionally, you wouldn't be able to use any non-storage USB devices on your server (unlikely that you would need to).

Best wishes,

John

#59 Paul on 6.17.2009 at 8:13 AM

John Great site!!

I am about to do a SBS 2003 To SBS 2008 migration all is clear to me except the Server Name and IP.

I thought destination server needs to be as the source server? Otherwise I will have a problems with the client machines connecting to the old server name.

Hope you can import on this

Thank's

Paul

#60 John R. Pattison on 6.17.2009 at 9:11 AM

Hi Paul,

I'm glad you're enjoying the site!

Since the old server and the new server will be on the network at the same time, they need to have unique IP addresses and names.

After you complete the migration, there are ways that you can add the old server name as a sort of ALIAS to the new server name. That way when you go to \\oldserver\someshare it actually translates to \\newserver\someshare. The essence of the process is to add an entry to DNS for the old server name pointing to the new server's IP addres. The process is covered in detail in David Overton's SBS migration book (my review is at http://tinyurl.com/sbsbook or you can order the book at http://tinyurl.com/buySBSbook). I really recommend giving David's book a quick read before doing a 2003 to 2008 migration. It has lots of screenshots of the process and will get you familiar with everything before you actually "pull the trigger".

Best wishes,

John R. Pattison

#61 Paul on 6.18.2009 at 1:19 AM

John thank's a lot for you input your review of David Overton's book is also very persuading so I may do just that. Keep up with this informative site.

#62 Mike on 7.21.2009 at 4:40 PM

John,

I appreciate your efforts here!. I have a client that is currently running sbs2003, and would like to "upgrade" to sbs2008 using the same hardware. I've verified the hardware is 64bit compatible. They aren't using Exchange. Is there any reason I couldn't backup the Act database and other critical data and just do a clean install of sbs2008 on the same server and restore the data?

#63 John R. Pattison on 7.22.2009 at 4:10 PM

Mike,

The only problem I can think of here is that you would have to re-join your workstations to the new domain, as well as recreating all users, security settings, etc.

Best wishes,

John R. Pattison

#64 Phil on 7.30.2009 at 10:49 AM

Getting ready for sbs2003 -> sbs2008 migration.

Have re-configured from 2 NIC -> 1 NIC.

Ran the Best Practice Analyser, and it said we should upgrade ISA 2000 to 2004. Is this necessary/desirable?

TIA

Phil.

#65 John R. Pattison on 7.30.2009 at 10:56 AM

Phil,

The best practice is to move off of ISA 2000 onto a separate router device. Remember that you're going to be decomissioning your old server, so it can no longer act as the router. ISA Server no longer comes with SBS2008, so your new SBS2008 server can't be the router without installing a separately-licensed copy of ISA Server or other router software, and it wouldn't be integrated into the management consoles like it was in SBS2003.

For these reasons, it's usually just easier and cleaner to get an inexpensive router (can be as simple as a Linksys/Netgear router, or something a step up like a Watchguard or Sonicwall device).

Best wishes,

John R. Pattison

#66 Phil on 7.30.2009 at 11:20 AM

OK. Thanks.

The migration guide said that you needed to switch to a single NIC set-up. I assumed this was just a requirement of the migration process. I hadn't realised SBS no longer supports this set-up at all.

We do have an ISA server license available that we could use. Alternatively we also have EBS2008 (from the Action Pack). Would we be better off using this?

#67 John R. Pattison on 7.30.2009 at 11:26 AM

Phil,

Tough to say without knowing more of the details, but it sounds like you have a good handle on the options.

EBS2008 does come with Forefront Threat Management Gateway, so that would solve the need of a firewall. However, EBS2008 requires three separate systems.

If your routing needs are simple, I would stick with SBS2008 with just a simple physical router.

Best wishes,

John

#68 Phil on 7.30.2009 at 11:27 AM

The modem router we have is a Netgear WAG354G.

#69 Phil on 7.30.2009 at 11:43 AM

OK. Thanks.

I think we'll run with the simple set-up as you suggest.

#70 Jason S on 8.03.2009 at 10:11 PM

Really comprehensive and all the feedback is also very beneficial - cheers to everyone.

Overview:

W2K3 SBS running AD (20 users), Exchange (1 mailbox = 1GB), DNS, DHCP with Netgear Ready NAS 1100 (used for backups)

New server to be installed with W2K8 SBS and all above functionality. I plan on using the NAS for backup-to-disk and then have a new LTO-3 drive for disk (NAS)-to-tape – can I use the built in backup tools to set this up?

I have a change to perform the prep work and created the answer file out of hours, as a precautionary measure. When would you advise performing the Windows 2008 SBS server install and subsequent migrations, during business hours? The environment is very small which obviously helps; however I do not want to disrupt users. The file share is 50 GB and I was going to use a robocopy script to copy this at lunch time or out of hours. To get around the client’s request of maintaining the original server name I was going to use an alias – as previously suggested.

Any input/advice welcome.

#71 Kay Persaud on 8.15.2009 at 8:03 AM

John,

My migration Sbs 2003 to Sbs 2008 is at the mailboxes step for more than 24 hours and show as "running" Is is waiting for me to complete the steps manually as stated on your info below or will it finish some day?

•Migrate Exchange Server mailboxes/settings (document in the wizard walks you through the steps, using the Exchange native tools - not an SBS wizard)

Thanks for any info!

Kay Persaud

#72 John R. Pattison on 8.15.2009 at 9:56 AM

Jason S - For moving the files, after hours would definitely make sense. For moving the Exchange Server mailboxes, it is usually not very disruptive to do that during business hours.

Kay - I haven't run into any problems like this moving the mailboxes. It has happened relatively quickly for me during my migrations (depending on the size of the mailboxes). How big is the mailbox store? The move process is pretty resiliant, in that if it does run into a problem you can usually safely bail out of it and just kick it off again later. If the mailboxes are large, I usually just do a few at a time.

Best wishes,

John

#73 Kay Persaud on 8.15.2009 at 7:28 PM

John,

Since this is my 1st try at the migration I wasn't sure if by clicking on the wizard will move the mailboxes. I guess the wizard points to the direction how to move the mailboxes. I follow the instructions and migrate the boxes with not problem. Questions, will the "running" change when all the steps are completed?

Thanks,

Kay Persaud

#74 SBS2008 on 8.18.2009 at 6:04 PM

Hi

Thank you for a great article, is there a way to do migration after sbs 2008 is installed ; problem is I have installed SBS 2K8 STD for a client ;

We just want to migrate user accounts and mailboxes from sbs 2003 ;

would be grateful for your advise

SBS

#75 John R. Pattison on 8.18.2009 at 6:25 PM

Sorry, but I can't think of any way to migrate user accounts and mailbox after you have SBS2008 up and running.

#76 John R. Pattison on 8.18.2009 at 6:26 PM

Kay,

Yes, "Running" should change to "Complete" or something along those lines when the mailboxes are done moving over.

John

#77 Kay Persaud on 8.18.2009 at 9:48 PM

I have finish the sbs 2008 migration and it seems fine, except no users in the SBS Console; however users are migrated because they do show up in AD MyBusiness.

Thanks,

Kay Persaud

#78 Mat on 8.24.2009 at 3:16 PM

Hi John:

Any suggestions on how to transfer all roles from an SBS 2008 server to a windows 2003 server DC? My client has to join the new corporate domain, and we are looking to transfer everything to the second server, rebuild the first server on the new domain and then transfer the data back. Any ideas would be very helpful and really appreciated! :)

thanks in advance,

Mat

#79 Dino on 10.09.2009 at 10:53 PM

I am trying to migrate a SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 that came preinstalled. I invested some time on it and I don't want to format and reintall SBS 2008 in migration mode. Is there a way to do this migration without installing in migration mode?

#80 Benoit on 10.30.2009 at 12:56 PM

Hi,

Just a tip if you have :

Windows 2008 Server Migration Wizard has stop working error.

It's because you remove the device with the awser file (usb key or cd) and migrationWizard can't acces to sbsanswerfile.xml file...

(lost 3 hours on this...)

#81 Gary on 11.03.2009 at 3:56 AM

Hi,

Great info! Thanks for the time spent on replies too. Could you give me an idea of roughly how long the migration would take? We have a 40GB store approx. And is it possible to keep mail flowing by doing this during office hours while both are live?

Many Thanks for your time.

G

#82 John V on 11.05.2009 at 1:48 PM

Here is a comprehensive migration from SBS2003 to SBS2008 that allows a reversal, and doesn't change the name of the SBS: www.swingmigration.com

#83 Ali on 11.17.2009 at 12:53 PM

Hi every one,

I am about to migrate from sbs 03 to sbs 08. i have orderd pre-installed sbs 2008 operating systems from dell. Now i dont know how would I migrate from old to new. do I still need to wipe the new sbs 08 and start installing it again for migration?

Any help will be apreciated..

thanks,

#84 Richard on 11.24.2009 at 3:32 PM

Hi ,

I have just migrated from 2003 to SBS2008 and followed all the migration steps but i have a small problem with the internet access.

I think at some point ive taken away some responsibility from the old server which has left the whole network including the SBS2008 server without internet access.

I can't seem to pinpoint what exactly is wrong with the server, have i missed something in the migration to do with DNS settings?

@Ali

You will need to begin a fresh installation of SBS2008 using a migration answer file to do the migration.

#85 Matt on 12.13.2009 at 9:51 AM

Has anyone seen the fax wizard stop working message? I've reported to microsoft but current know issues. I've uninstalled fax services but still no luck. services appear to be running in the background ok.

Just cannot use wizard?

I've run all the migration wizard steps (fax failed)

The wizard had email greyed out and sharepoint greyed out but I found the registry keys sorted sharepoint but not email. Any ideas?

#86 Alfred Buatti on 1.09.2010 at 3:46 AM

Happy New Year to all.

Thanks for the info!.

Today I tried to migrate from Windows 2000 SBS to Windows 2008 SBS (64 bit) and had major problems.

I did run adprep /forestprep and adprep /domainprep on the Windows 2000 SBS source server. I then joined the Windows 2008 SBS to the Windows 2000 SBS domain as a member server. After this I tried to DCPROMO /ADV the Windows 2008 SBS server and it looked like it was working and got "The replication operation failed to allocate memory". I am stuck now. Any ideas? Thanks and Regards

#87 Real on 1.12.2010 at 12:05 AM

Happy new year as well. my problem is similar to #86 though in my case it is a Windows 2000 server also going to 2008 sbs x64. (like #86)After this I tried to DCPROMO /ADV the Windows 2008 SBS server and it looked like it was working and got "The replication operation failed to allocate memory"---stuck on this one someone on another forum mentioned trying to migrate to a 2003 server. i just restored the 2000 server from my backup taken right before that incident. does anyone have a way procedure,link,ms reference or even a book detailing this process. i mean ms should have a way to do this even as a one way trip, i would gladly reload the old server after i have transfered roles etc. but its in production environ so im forced to work after hours on this one any help shoot me an email (realjavad@~@verizon.net) remove the ~@ thanks in advance

#88 Stuck on 2.11.2010 at 5:10 AM

Does this work from a Windows 2000 Standard Server to SBS2008?

Thanks

#89 Glen Knight on 2.17.2010 at 1:27 AM

I can confirm that the Migration tools DO NOT work from Windows 2000 to SBS2008.

I have a blog post here on Windows 2003 with Exchange 2003 to SBS2008: demazter.wordpress.com/.../migrate-windows

I and am currently working through the 2000 to SBS2008 but it's proving a little "rocky" to say the least. As soon as I have worked out the steps I will post them here and on my blogsite.

I suppose an "easy" option if it were available would be to perform an in-place upgrade of your 2000 server to 2003 but there are of course reasons why this may not be a possibility.

#90 Glen Knight on 2.17.2010 at 10:34 AM

Well I have now had 13 failed Virtual Migrations and I have tried everything I can think of.

The only suggestion I can make is that you perform an inplace upgrade from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003 and then follow my guide

The other option if you don't want to do an inplace upgrade would be to do the following:

> Install a temporary server in a Virtual Machine (this could either be a Windows 2003 or Windows 2008)

> Make this new server a domain controller by running DCPROMO

> Transfer the FSMO roles to the new server

> DCPROMO the Windows 2000 server so it is no longer a domain controller

Then follow my Migration guide.

Migration guide: demazter.wordpress.com/.../migrate-windows

#91 Glen Knight on 2.19.2010 at 2:14 AM

If your interested in what I went through and are still unsure of whether to attempt the 2000-SBS2008 migration and are considering following some of the other blogs out there that suggest it works have a quick read of: demazter.wordpress.com/.../migrate-windows

#92 Chris on 3.08.2010 at 11:51 AM

I'm currently at the end of a SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 migration and am ready to uninstall Exchange 2003 before demoting the 2003 box. When running the Windows Small Business Server 2003 setup from add/remove programs I'm told after checking the components that "Windows Small Business Server 2003 cannot be installed on a domain controller that is not assigned the operations master roles".

I can't check the box to accept this and move forward to the components section to uninstall Exchange and finish the demotion.

With the FSMO roles on the new SBS 2008 box, surely this is some kind of mix up? I'm apprehensive about temporarily transferring the roles to run in the uninstallation.

Any thoughts/advice much appreciated!

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• About John

  John R. Pattison is a Principal Consultant at Info et Cetera, based out of Worcester, Massachusetts. John focuses on developing custom line-of-business systems and leveraging cutting-edge technology as an enabler for smaller companies to achieve their business objectives and effectively compete against larger businesses in their market space. John is an MCPD, MCSD, MCDBA, and MCAD, and holds a BS from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Management Information Systems.

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