A few very tough questions..

I recently took over an SBS 2008 installation from a group that had no
business installing it in the first place. There were a ton of event viewer
errors, Exchange, SBS Console, you name it, they screwed it up. There are 25
users and they never installed antivirus on either the Exchange mailboxes or
the client computers. Enough of that.. Here are the few remaining issues.

1. They never ran a best practices tool. When I did Exchange showed a "first
administrator group" of an old Exchange 2003 SBS install on another computer
that crashed. I don't know how or why it's there but the server doesn't
exist and there is no Exchange 2003 anywhere. How do I get rid of that
group? There are no E2003 server tools or anything I can see.

2. The SBS console crashes whenever I attempt to run a report. It goes for
about 5 minutes and then the console crashes. Is there a way to delete the
old reports (well over 2 GB database) and start all over?

3. They never used WUS, configured it, or looked at it. When I click on
computers, there are none, nowhere! What did they do? (or didn't do) What
should I do?

This is a preliminary list. I'm wondering if I should just reinstall the
entire OS, copy the Exchange pst files and data to an external drive and
reformat. I'm close.

TIA

Bobby

Hi:

With 25 users, this is a canidate for a swing migration to new or same hardware.
You would want to invest in a very good backup, or a some new hard drives
so you could go back if the swing failed (almost never happens), but you
would not have to touch the domain, the workstations, the server name or
have any significant down time.

A swing moves the AD, the Exchange store, and the data files, preserving
the AD, the domain, the server name, and the shares and permissions. Almost
automagicly.

Send a message, or call and ask for their opinion. May save you a lot of
hassle and the client a lot if time and or $.

www.sbs-migration.com

-
Larry
Please post the resolution to your
issue so others may benefit
-
Get Your SBS Health Check at
www.sbsbpa.com


> I recently took over an SBS 2008 installation from a group that had no
> business installing it in the first place. There were a ton of event
> viewer errors, Exchange, SBS Console, you name it, they screwed it up.
> There are 25 users and they never installed antivirus on either the
> Exchange mailboxes or the client computers. Enough of that.. Here are
> the few remaining issues.
>
> 1. They never ran a best practices tool. When I did Exchange showed a
> "first administrator group" of an old Exchange 2003 SBS install on
> another computer that crashed. I don't know how or why it's there but
> the server doesn't exist and there is no Exchange 2003 anywhere. How
> do I get rid of that group? There are no E2003 server tools or
> anything I can see.
>
> 2. The SBS console crashes whenever I attempt to run a report. It goes
> for about 5 minutes and then the console crashes. Is there a way to
> delete the old reports (well over 2 GB database) and start all over?
>
> 3. They never used WUS, configured it, or looked at it. When I click
> on computers, there are none, nowhere! What did they do? (or didn't
> do) What should I do?
>
> This is a preliminary list. I'm wondering if I should just reinstall
> the entire OS, copy the Exchange pst files and data to an external
> drive and reformat. I'm close.
>
> TIA
>
> Bobby
>

In article <F723EC83-1AF9-49E3-B483->,
says...
>
> I recently took over an SBS 2008 installation from a group that had no
> business installing it in the first place. There were a ton of event viewer
> errors, Exchange, SBS Console, you name it, they screwed it up. There are 25
> users and they never installed antivirus on either the Exchange mailboxes or
> the client computers. Enough of that.. Here are the few remaining issues.
>
> 1. They never ran a best practices tool. When I did Exchange showed a "first
> administrator group" of an old Exchange 2003 SBS install on another computer
> that crashed. I don't know how or why it's there but the server doesn't
> exist and there is no Exchange 2003 anywhere. How do I get rid of that
> group? There are no E2003 server tools or anything I can see.
>
> 2. The SBS console crashes whenever I attempt to run a report. It goes for
> about 5 minutes and then the console crashes. Is there a way to delete the
> old reports (well over 2 GB database) and start all over?
>
> 3. They never used WUS, configured it, or looked at it. When I click on
> computers, there are none, nowhere! What did they do? (or didn't do) What
> should I do?
>
> This is a preliminary list. I'm wondering if I should just reinstall the
> entire OS, copy the Exchange pst files and data to an external drive and
> reformat. I'm close.

I took over a SBS 03 installation that was about the same, totally
installed improperly, no wizards had been used, manual edits of DNS,
DHCP, even the GP's had been screwed up, it was also a .net internal
domain name...

They had 8 users - I setup a new Dell server off-site, SBS 08, created
all the accounts, settings, etc... called it company.local, and tested
with a spare workstation...

Once I had the new server onsite I disabled DHCP, then used a ROBOCOPY
to move the data from the single, unprotected, no security, share where
they kept everything across to the new server.

While they had SBS 03, all profiles were local, not even the My
Documents was on the server....

I spent 8 hours onsite today, got everything working, email, printers,
updates to all the workstations, the only broken thing is that their
public DNS name doesn't match - they used BD.COMPANY.NET instead of
REMOTE.COMPANY.NET and they can't remember the account/login for network
solutions (at this time) - so they can't connect remotely because the
server cert says it's invalid.

One good thing - all functions are a lot faster on the 08 server with
proper internal DNS/DHCP/AD.

--
You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little
voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that.
Trust yourself.
(remove 999 for proper email address)

I probably wouldn't want to do that. If I reformatted then I would change
the domain name, server IP and some other things. I like to have a .local
domain and not an FQDN on the server. I just bought a terabyte drive for
backup in case. I have not problem taking them down for a day or two over
the weekend, but is there any decent way to recover these last few things.?

"Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP]" <> wrote in message
news: m...
> Hi:
>
> With 25 users, this is a canidate for a swing migration to new or same
> hardware. You would want to invest in a very good backup, or a some new
> hard drives so you could go back if the swing failed (almost never
> happens), but you would not have to touch the domain, the workstations,
> the server name or have any significant down time.
>
> A swing moves the AD, the Exchange store, and the data files, preserving
> the AD, the domain, the server name, and the shares and permissions.
> Almost automagicly.
>
> Send a message, or call and ask for their opinion. May save you a lot of
> hassle and the client a lot if time and or $.
>
> www.sbs-migration.com
>
> -
> Larry
> Please post the resolution to your
> issue so others may benefit
> -
> Get Your SBS Health Check at
> www.sbsbpa.com
>
>
>> I recently took over an SBS 2008 installation from a group that had no
>> business installing it in the first place. There were a ton of event
>> viewer errors, Exchange, SBS Console, you name it, they screwed it up.
>> There are 25 users and they never installed antivirus on either the
>> Exchange mailboxes or the client computers. Enough of that.. Here are
>> the few remaining issues.
>>
>> 1. They never ran a best practices tool. When I did Exchange showed a
>> "first administrator group" of an old Exchange 2003 SBS install on
>> another computer that crashed. I don't know how or why it's there but
>> the server doesn't exist and there is no Exchange 2003 anywhere. How
>> do I get rid of that group? There are no E2003 server tools or
>> anything I can see.
>>
>> 2. The SBS console crashes whenever I attempt to run a report. It goes
>> for about 5 minutes and then the console crashes. Is there a way to
>> delete the old reports (well over 2 GB database) and start all over?
>>
>> 3. They never used WUS, configured it, or looked at it. When I click
>> on computers, there are none, nowhere! What did they do? (or didn't
>> do) What should I do?
>>
>> This is a preliminary list. I'm wondering if I should just reinstall
>> the entire OS, copy the Exchange pst files and data to an external
>> drive and reformat. I'm close.
>>
>> TIA
>>
>> Bobby
>>
>
>

Ok, under those conditions you are on the right track. If the domain name,
the server name and so on are not worth saving, then ditch it. And certainly
a FQDN is a bad/rookie mistake.

-
Larry
Please post the resolution to your
issue so others may benefit
-
Get Your SBS Health Check at
www.sbsbpa.com


> I probably wouldn't want to do that. If I reformatted then I would
> change the domain name, server IP and some other things. I like to
> have a .local domain and not an FQDN on the server. I just bought a
> terabyte drive for backup in case. I have not problem taking them down
> for a day or two over the weekend, but is there any decent way to
> recover these last few things.?
>
> "Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP]" <> wrote in
> message news: m...
>
>> Hi:
>>
>> With 25 users, this is a canidate for a swing migration to new or
>> same hardware. You would want to invest in a very good backup, or a
>> some new hard drives so you could go back if the swing failed (almost
>> never happens), but you would not have to touch the domain, the
>> workstations, the server name or have any significant down time.
>>
>> A swing moves the AD, the Exchange store, and the data files,
>> preserving the AD, the domain, the server name, and the shares and
>> permissions. Almost automagicly.
>>
>> Send a message, or call and ask for their opinion. May save you a
>> lot of hassle and the client a lot if time and or $.
>>
>> www.sbs-migration.com
>>
>> -
>> Larry
>> Please post the resolution to your
>> issue so others may benefit
>> -
>> Get Your SBS Health Check at
>> www.sbsbpa.com
>>> I recently took over an SBS 2008 installation from a group that had
>>> no business installing it in the first place. There were a ton of
>>> event viewer errors, Exchange, SBS Console, you name it, they
>>> screwed it up. There are 25 users and they never installed antivirus
>>> on either the Exchange mailboxes or the client computers. Enough of
>>> that.. Here are the few remaining issues.
>>>
>>> 1. They never ran a best practices tool. When I did Exchange showed
>>> a "first administrator group" of an old Exchange 2003 SBS install on
>>> another computer that crashed. I don't know how or why it's there
>>> but the server doesn't exist and there is no Exchange 2003 anywhere.
>>> How do I get rid of that group? There are no E2003 server tools or
>>> anything I can see.
>>>
>>> 2. The SBS console crashes whenever I attempt to run a report. It
>>> goes for about 5 minutes and then the console crashes. Is there a
>>> way to delete the old reports (well over 2 GB database) and start
>>> all over?
>>>
>>> 3. They never used WUS, configured it, or looked at it. When I click
>>> on computers, there are none, nowhere! What did they do? (or didn't
>>> do) What should I do?
>>>
>>> This is a preliminary list. I'm wondering if I should just reinstall
>>> the entire OS, copy the Exchange pst files and data to an external
>>> drive and reformat. I'm close.
>>>
>>> TIA
>>>
>>> Bobby
>>>

I know. But it's just so close. No log errors any longer, spent all weekend
fixing shiit, I just hate to give up on this. Is the fact that the domain is
a .com account a deal breaker? Routing group, can't I clean this up, power
management, a GPO. ? ugh. Those ba*stards! Believe me, I'm not getting paid
enough. So close yet so far...

"Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP]" <> wrote in message
news: m...
>
> Ok, under those conditions you are on the right track. If the domain
> name, the server name and so on are not worth saving, then ditch it. And
> certainly a FQDN is a bad/rookie mistake.
>
> -
> Larry
> Please post the resolution to your
> issue so others may benefit
> -
> Get Your SBS Health Check at
> www.sbsbpa.com
>
>
>> I probably wouldn't want to do that. If I reformatted then I would
>> change the domain name, server IP and some other things. I like to
>> have a .local domain and not an FQDN on the server. I just bought a
>> terabyte drive for backup in case. I have not problem taking them down
>> for a day or two over the weekend, but is there any decent way to
>> recover these last few things.?
>>
>> "Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP]" <> wrote in
>> message news: m...
>>
>>> Hi:
>>>
>>> With 25 users, this is a canidate for a swing migration to new or
>>> same hardware. You would want to invest in a very good backup, or a
>>> some new hard drives so you could go back if the swing failed (almost
>>> never happens), but you would not have to touch the domain, the
>>> workstations, the server name or have any significant down time.
>>>
>>> A swing moves the AD, the Exchange store, and the data files,
>>> preserving the AD, the domain, the server name, and the shares and
>>> permissions. Almost automagicly.
>>>
>>> Send a message, or call and ask for their opinion. May save you a
>>> lot of hassle and the client a lot if time and or $.
>>>
>>> www.sbs-migration.com
>>>
>>> -
>>> Larry
>>> Please post the resolution to your
>>> issue so others may benefit
>>> -
>>> Get Your SBS Health Check at
>>> www.sbsbpa.com
>>>> I recently took over an SBS 2008 installation from a group that had
>>>> no business installing it in the first place. There were a ton of
>>>> event viewer errors, Exchange, SBS Console, you name it, they
>>>> screwed it up. There are 25 users and they never installed antivirus
>>>> on either the Exchange mailboxes or the client computers. Enough of
>>>> that.. Here are the few remaining issues.
>>>>
>>>> 1. They never ran a best practices tool. When I did Exchange showed
>>>> a "first administrator group" of an old Exchange 2003 SBS install on
>>>> another computer that crashed. I don't know how or why it's there
>>>> but the server doesn't exist and there is no Exchange 2003 anywhere.
>>>> How do I get rid of that group? There are no E2003 server tools or
>>>> anything I can see.
>>>>
>>>> 2. The SBS console crashes whenever I attempt to run a report. It
>>>> goes for about 5 minutes and then the console crashes. Is there a
>>>> way to delete the old reports (well over 2 GB database) and start
>>>> all over?
>>>>
>>>> 3. They never used WUS, configured it, or looked at it. When I click
>>>> on computers, there are none, nowhere! What did they do? (or didn't
>>>> do) What should I do?
>>>>
>>>> This is a preliminary list. I'm wondering if I should just reinstall
>>>> the entire OS, copy the Exchange pst files and data to an external
>>>> drive and reformat. I'm close.
>>>>
>>>> TIA
>>>>
>>>> Bobby
>>>>
>
>

bobby <> wrote:
> I know. But it's just so close. No log errors any longer, spent all
> weekend fixing shiit, I just hate to give up on this. Is the fact
> that the domain is a .com account a deal breaker? Routing group,
> can't I clean this up, power management, a GPO. ? ugh. Those
> ba*stards! Believe me, I'm not getting paid enough. So close yet so
> far...

Well, there may be more wrong than right and a clean install may be the way
to go, but note that the myrealddomain.com is not a dealbreaker (and note
that FQDN does not = public host/domain - server.internal.local is a
fully-qualified domain name too). Heck, if you wanted a lot of headaches you
could use microsoft.com for your AD namespace if you wish. Split brain DNS
(disjointed namespace) is not always an accident. If the main problem is
wizards you can fix that by running them - and add host records for publicly
hosted resources such as www to their forward lookup zone (with the correct
public IP).


>
> "Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP]" <> wrote in
> message news: m...
>>
>> Ok, under those conditions you are on the right track. If the domain
>> name, the server name and so on are not worth saving, then ditch it.
>> And certainly a FQDN is a bad/rookie mistake.
>>
>> -
>> Larry
>> Please post the resolution to your
>> issue so others may benefit
>> -
>> Get Your SBS Health Check at
>> www.sbsbpa.com
>>
>>
>>> I probably wouldn't want to do that. If I reformatted then I would
>>> change the domain name, server IP and some other things. I like to
>>> have a .local domain and not an FQDN on the server. I just bought a
>>> terabyte drive for backup in case. I have not problem taking them
>>> down for a day or two over the weekend, but is there any decent way
>>> to recover these last few things.?
>>>
>>> "Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP]" <> wrote in
>>> message news: m...
>>>
>>>> Hi:
>>>>
>>>> With 25 users, this is a canidate for a swing migration to new or
>>>> same hardware. You would want to invest in a very good backup, or a
>>>> some new hard drives so you could go back if the swing failed
>>>> (almost never happens), but you would not have to touch the
>>>> domain, the workstations, the server name or have any significant
>>>> down time. A swing moves the AD, the Exchange store, and the data
>>>> files,
>>>> preserving the AD, the domain, the server name, and the shares and
>>>> permissions. Almost automagicly.
>>>>
>>>> Send a message, or call and ask for their opinion. May save you a
>>>> lot of hassle and the client a lot if time and or $.
>>>>
>>>> www.sbs-migration.com
>>>>
>>>> -
>>>> Larry
>>>> Please post the resolution to your
>>>> issue so others may benefit
>>>> -
>>>> Get Your SBS Health Check at
>>>> www.sbsbpa.com
>>>>> I recently took over an SBS 2008 installation from a group that
>>>>> had no business installing it in the first place. There were a
>>>>> ton of event viewer errors, Exchange, SBS Console, you name it,
>>>>> they screwed it up. There are 25 users and they never installed
>>>>> antivirus on either the Exchange mailboxes or the client
>>>>> computers. Enough of that.. Here are the few remaining issues.
>>>>>
>>>>> 1. They never ran a best practices tool. When I did Exchange
>>>>> showed a "first administrator group" of an old Exchange 2003 SBS
>>>>> install on another computer that crashed. I don't know how or why
>>>>> it's there but the server doesn't exist and there is no Exchange
>>>>> 2003 anywhere. How do I get rid of that group? There are no E2003
>>>>> server tools or anything I can see.
>>>>>
>>>>> 2. The SBS console crashes whenever I attempt to run a report. It
>>>>> goes for about 5 minutes and then the console crashes. Is there a
>>>>> way to delete the old reports (well over 2 GB database) and start
>>>>> all over?
>>>>>
>>>>> 3. They never used WUS, configured it, or looked at it. When I
>>>>> click on computers, there are none, nowhere! What did they do?
>>>>> (or didn't do) What should I do?
>>>>>
>>>>> This is a preliminary list. I'm wondering if I should just
>>>>> reinstall the entire OS, copy the Exchange pst files and data to
>>>>> an external drive and reformat. I'm close.
>>>>>
>>>>> TIA
>>>>>
>>>>> Bobby

In article <#>,
...latyah oo.com says...
> Well, there may be more wrong than right and a clean install may be the way
> to go, but note that the myrealddomain.com is not a dealbreaker (and note
> that FQDN does not = public host/domain - server.internal.local is a
> fully-qualified domain name too). Heck, if you wanted a lot of headaches you
> could use microsoft.com for your AD namespace if you wish. Split brain DNS
> (disjointed namespace) is not always an accident. If the main problem is
> wizards you can fix that by running them - and add host records for publicly
> hosted resources such as www to their forward lookup zone (with the correct
> public IP).
>

I've seen the DNS service on a .com/.net internal domain basically try
and replicate with a public DNS server at the real .com/.net domain on
the internet - 600 attempts per minute....

Anytime I find a .com/.net setup I encourage the customer to blow it
away and build it right.

--
You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little
voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that.
Trust yourself.
(remove 999 for proper email address)

It's the Exchange thing and the fact they didn't run the SBS wizards at the
outset. The server is slow, they put in a cheap firewall, it's just a mess.
It might be more work initially, but then I'm done. After that, send me the
morning report and I'll reboot when the updates hit. I'm pretty much there,
just need a little push.

Bj

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
< hoo.com> wrote in message
news:#...

> Well, there may be more wrong than right and a clean install may be the
> way to go, but note that the myrealddomain.com is not a dealbreaker (and
> note that FQDN does not = public host/domain - server.internal.local is a
> fully-qualified domain name too). Heck, if you wanted a lot of headaches
> you could use microsoft.com for your AD namespace if you wish. Split brain
> DNS (disjointed namespace) is not always an accident. If the main problem
> is wizards you can fix that by running them - and add host records for
> publicly hosted resources such as www to their forward lookup zone (with
> the correct public IP).
>

Thanks. I'm almost there. Rats, gonna be a long weekend coming up.

"Leythos" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> I've seen the DNS service on a .com/.net internal domain basically try
> and replicate with a public DNS server at the real .com/.net domain on
> the internet - 600 attempts per minute....
>
> Anytime I find a .com/.net setup I encourage the customer to blow it
> away and build it right.