Upgrade

Are there any special considerations in migrating/upgrading a Windows Server
2003 domain controller running on a VM server?

Is P2V process a recommended approach if yes Why? if noy why?

Howdie!

Am 03.05.2010 20:57, schrieb Collins:
> Are there any special considerations in migrating/upgrading a Windows Server
> 2003 domain controller running on a VM server?
>
> Is P2V process a recommended approach if yes Why? if noy why?

You're asking a couple of questions here, each of them being a broad
topic that one can't just answer with "yes, no, maybe". You need to
weigh things out yourself here.

I understand you have a Server 2003-DC as a VM. What is it that you want
to do? Migrate it or upgrade it? Was is the end goal -- have a Server
2008-DC? Are there other DC in your environment? Basically, VM-DC behave
pretty much the same as "normal" DCs do. So your approach should go
somewhere along these steps:

(1) Check current AD health and make a backup of the current domain
(2) Setup a new Windows Server 2008 machine (as a VM)
(3) Make sure DNS is AD-integrated and that the new machine is joined to
the domain.
(4) Promote the new machine to a DC
(5) Make sure services run redundant (DNS is installed and
AD-integrated, clients query both DCs...)
(6) unpromote the old DC -- but make sure you always have two DCs per
domain around.

As for that upgrade, I don't see where you'd need P2V. You can use P2V'd
servers in a supported way in production if that's what you want to know.

Cheers,
Florian

On Mon, 03 May 2010 21:44:16 +0200, "Florian Frommherz [MVP]"
<> wrote:

>Howdie!
>
>Am 03.05.2010 20:57, schrieb Collins:
>> Are there any special considerations in migrating/upgrading a Windows Server
>> 2003 domain controller running on a VM server?
>>
>> Is P2V process a recommended approach if yes Why? if noy why?
>
>You're asking a couple of questions here, each of them being a broad
>topic that one can't just answer with "yes, no, maybe". You need to
>weigh things out yourself here.
>
>I understand you have a Server 2003-DC as a VM. What is it that you want
>to do? Migrate it or upgrade it? Was is the end goal -- have a Server
>2008-DC? Are there other DC in your environment? Basically, VM-DC behave
>pretty much the same as "normal" DCs do. So your approach should go
>somewhere along these steps:
>
>(1) Check current AD health and make a backup of the current domain
>(2) Setup a new Windows Server 2008 machine (as a VM)
>(3) Make sure DNS is AD-integrated and that the new machine is joined to
>the domain.
>(4) Promote the new machine to a DC
>(5) Make sure services run redundant (DNS is installed and
>AD-integrated, clients query both DCs...)
>(6) unpromote the old DC -- but make sure you always have two DCs per
>domain around.
>
>As for that upgrade, I don't see where you'd need P2V. You can use P2V'd
>servers in a supported way in production if that's what you want to know.
>
>Cheers,
>Florian


I must agree, Florian. It's rather a quick and simple task to setup a
new VM from scratch for a DC, then promote it, then demote the
physical box. I've found it clean, and error-free, of course providing
there are no DNS or AD issues, etc.

I've used P2V for servers such as print servers, file servers, etc,
but I haven't for DCs, Exchange and SQL, which I would rather setup
from scratch, for obvious reasons. I'm sure P2V works nicely with
these type of servers, but I just like to do it manually due to the
complexity of these type of services.

Other than that, to respond to the following:
> Are there any special considerations in migrating/upgrading a Windows Server
> 2003 domain controller running on a VM server?
This depends on the context of what is meant by 'upgrade.' I don't
recommend any machine to be 'upgraded,' rather I've always installed a
fresh box and migrated data over to the new machine from the old. It
reduces headaches trying to chase a squirrel (just a joke) when an
elusive problem comes up that may never occur if installed fresh.

Ace

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Ace Fekay, MVP, MCT, MCITP EA, MCTS Windows 2008 & Exchange 2007, MCSE & MCSA 2003/2000, MCSA Messaging 2003
Microsoft Certified Trainer
Microsoft MVP - Directory Services

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Hello Collins,

The upgrade process is the same on VM or physical machines. Just the VM solution
has to support the guest OS. Personal i never inplace upgrade DCs, only for
testing, i always install additional servers to implement new OS version
into the domain.

See my blog about:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/archi...r-2008-r2.aspx

P2V works but as Ace already stated but the same applies here for me as above
DCs i don't convert.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
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no rights.
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> Are there any special considerations in migrating/upgrading a Windows
> Server 2003 domain controller running on a VM server?
>
> Is P2V process a recommended approach if yes Why? if noy why?
>

Ace,

Am 04.05.2010 04:47, schrieb Ace Fekay [MVP - Directory Services, MCT]:
> I've used P2V for servers such as print servers, file servers, etc,
> but I haven't for DCs, Exchange and SQL, which I would rather setup
> from scratch, for obvious reasons. I'm sure P2V works nicely with
> these type of servers, but I just like to do it manually due to the
> complexity of these type of services.

I've re-read the whole thread and agree with what you write here. I too
feel a little anxious (is that the right word for it?) about P2V'ing
Exchange, SQL and AD-DCs while they're running. You can mess up too many
things if log files and transactions are going on. You surely want to
shut things down first (if you can), before you move them. That would be
my way to go, too. I've responded positive to this question (yeah, you
can do that) because it is a totally supported way (AFAIK) to go. MSFT
deliver the tools for that in their SCVMM suite and there are
whitepapers out there. It's just something you might want to thoroughly
test out and do.

I personally am not all that "fast forward" in virtualization things but
others may. That's why I wrote "yes, you can". Personally, I feel pretty
much the same way you do -- and I'm glad you added this as a comment here.

Cheers,
Florian

On Tue, 04 May 2010 20:45:34 +0200, "Florian Frommherz [MVP]"
<> wrote:

>Ace,
>
>Am 04.05.2010 04:47, schrieb Ace Fekay [MVP - Directory Services, MCT]:
>> I've used P2V for servers such as print servers, file servers, etc,
>> but I haven't for DCs, Exchange and SQL, which I would rather setup
>> from scratch, for obvious reasons. I'm sure P2V works nicely with
>> these type of servers, but I just like to do it manually due to the
>> complexity of these type of services.
>
>I've re-read the whole thread and agree with what you write here. I too
>feel a little anxious (is that the right word for it?) about P2V'ing
>Exchange, SQL and AD-DCs while they're running. You can mess up too many
>things if log files and transactions are going on. You surely want to
>shut things down first (if you can), before you move them. That would be
>my way to go, too. I've responded positive to this question (yeah, you
>can do that) because it is a totally supported way (AFAIK) to go. MSFT
>deliver the tools for that in their SCVMM suite and there are
>whitepapers out there. It's just something you might want to thoroughly
>test out and do.
>
>I personally am not all that "fast forward" in virtualization things but
>others may. That's why I wrote "yes, you can". Personally, I feel pretty
>much the same way you do -- and I'm glad you added this as a comment here.
>
>Cheers,
>Florian

Thanks, Florian. :-)

Ace