SBS 2003 to SBS 2011 Standard Migration

Hope there is no host entry of the old server ?
Where their profiles re-created after migration ?
Is their Current mailbox database pointing to the new CAS server ?

- Rancy

Did you perform the full series of steps for the migration, including waiting for as long as necessary for the migration to complete? The steps are outlined at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg563803.aspx and they may seem optional, but the necessary migration can take days.

I hope you have a very good backup of the old server and can revert back to it if necessary, as it may be necessary.

The RpcClientAccessServer should be published on the new Mailbox Database .

- Rancy

The step by step guide for the entire process is located at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg563801.aspx. My previous link was for the Exchange mailboxes and settings in particular.

The installation disks for this software (and much more) can be obtained with a subscription to Microsoft TechNet. See http://technet.microsoft.com for details.

I did follow those steps, very slowly, making sure I did not miss anything. It did not take very long but I thought it was because we only have 8 mailboxes. I can see all of the mailboxes on the new server. What is it that makes the client machines try to connect to the new server. I can see that they are clearly trying to connect to the old server.

During my last installation things went smoothly - on my second attempt - when I left both servers running and logged into each workstation to connect. The settings migrated on their own afer a few minutes. I left both servers running for a few days before taking one offline.

You may be able to change the server settings in Outlook as well under account settings. Go to control panel, mail, email accounts, click on the account name and click Change account.

The key piece of information to look for in how long the folder migration takes is found in the following quote from the steps:

To verify that all public folders have been moved to the Destination Server
1.In the Source Server, open Exchange System Manager, expand First Administrative Group, expand Servers, expand ServerName, expand First Storage Group, and then expand Public Folder Store(ServerName).

2.Click the Public Folder Instances node. After all of the public folder replicas have been moved, the Public Folder Instances node will be empty.

Depending on the replication interval that you set and the amount of information that must be replicated, this process can take several hours or several days to complete.


Did you make sure this folder showed empty before continuing? I made that mistake the first time through - it went quickly but it wasn't really done.

Were the machines hardcoded with a DC\GC at any point of time ?

Make sure the registry isnt there ?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319206

Run the following command in Command prompt and tell me what it shows for "RpcClientAccessServer"
Get-MailboxDatabase "Mailbox Database Name" |fl

Hope CAS role is installed and All Microsoft Services are running on the SBS server ??

- Rancy

No I did not do that, and to make matters worse the source server won't boot any more. it is getting stuck during the post. Not sure what to do now.

TQFDOTUS: If I can get the server running again will the replication restart?

Rancy- do i run the command on the server or the client?

Well, there is a chance it may do that if you can get it running again, as long as you haven't taken the final steps of taking it offline permanently - the step where it tells you to power it off and not turn it on again until you format it.

What stage of the POST are you getting stuck at? Did you have problems prior to the migration with the old server? Has it been physically moved for the first time in a long time? Sometimes a cable or card can lose connection in older machines. I can probably help you with this as well.

Command needs to be run on the server :)

- Rancy

tqfdotus - Yes, the RAID 1 array needed to be rebuilt about a month ago prompting us to get a new server. It is just saying error loading OS. I am going to call dell now.

I did not do the final step because it seemed to FINAL.

The final step is quite final indeed. Do you have a recent backup of the machine? There is always a possibility of restoring to a fresh set of hard drives - or even a single hard drive for this purpose - just to complete the migration. It may not be the best method, as things change and any backup goes out of date quite quickly, but it may at least allow a client to connect to both the old and new servers to get their settings straight.

You may be able to power off, disconnect the power cord, remove the face plate (for most Dell servers) and disconnect each hard drive, one at a time, and put them right back in the same slot. Simply breaking and making that connection can sometimes solve intermittent contact issues that cause hardware to fail. It has worked for me on too many occasions to discount the possibility, and may be worth a shot while you are on hold anyway.

TQFDOTUS: The Old server is DOA, but I just reread the steps that I did and I am sure that I did do those steps now. I have check marks next to those steps. The old server is still the first admintrative group is there a way to change that with the old server being offline.

As far as the old server. I worked with Dell and finally got the drives back online, but the NTkernal file is corrupted

So about the backup - is there a backup of the old server you could restore from?

I am not familiar with the method to remove the old server from your new server.

Did you try any of your client computers recently? Have you tried to manually change the server settings in the account properties on one of the workstations to reflect the name of the new server?

I am pretty sure there is a good backup, but the company can not find the disks after they moved. I am now trying to dig some up, but what is the process I get the server back. At that point where do I start?

The OS disks are what I am refering to.

Start with a new set of hard drives if you can, just to preserve the information that is still located on the existing drives. I strongly urge you not to overwrite or try to format the existing RAID array or hard drives but to preserve them in case you need them. They may be far more important to the company than you realize.

While you may not be able to get the server to boot, you still have data there that may in fact be very valuable to somebody at the company level - important emails, for instance. Data recovery labs can easily (although not so inexpensively) recover all of your missing information for you.

If  you sign up for Microsoft TechNet subscription you will have access to download the installation discs for the software you need immediately. They have every operating system you can imagine (from Microsoft, that is) and everything you need is right online. You can recreate the disc set and install a base OS and then restore the backup files. You can use your existing server or a different computer - even a decent workstation can do the job for this purpose.

Then when you turn on the server and connect to it, things should at least start to flow again and the email will be running tomorrow so business can continue.

It has to be the same version correct? I only see SBS 2003 R2, This was not the R2 release.

I found a disk that is working and I am installing it on a workstation. Never done a restore before. Thanks for the Tip of using a workstation the server won't even read the CD ROM. That thing is toast. Their e-mails are cached on their local drives. If for some reason the restore doesn't work could I achive what is cached on the local and start with a new Exchange Post office?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc875809.aspx

The only thing I forgot to mention is that of course it will take a while to detect hardware on different equipment once you do the restore. This is the link to the steps for a full restore. Good luck!

If you are using PST files (Cached Exchange Mode) on the workstations, you should be able to pull that email back into Exchange even with a fresh install.

Wow this surely is a long post and guys tqfdotus && Rancy, this is no hijack, don't scream seeing me help here :)

@lsctech You mentioned that you got ONLY 8 mailboxes, if i had been in your place, i would get them up and running FIRST.

If i read it correctly, you said that they are still trying to connect to your old server. So, there are two steps to achieve a solution here -

1) take 30 minutes of your time, and reconfigure each OL profile to point to your new CAS Server - and end of story
2) Make a CNAME record in your DNS pointing to A Record of your CAS Server (this means that create a CNAME Record that holds SBS2003.domain.com point it to SBS2011.domain.com)

One of the above is achievable in less than the time you'll need to rebuild a box.

Let me know if it doesn't work out.

Regards,
Exchange_Geek

Exchange_Geek
Hey, thanks for the tips - we are all just here to help @lsctech get through the tough spot we have all been in more than once. I know the feeling to be looking at the faces of everyone on a Monday morning and not having any good news all day.

I swear i agree to what you wrote 100%, it's when you're boss is searching for you and you simply do not want to face him :)

Regards,
Exchange_Geek

Thanks for thinking outside the box. I tried it but is didn't seem to work.

Wait I just reread your post. I didn't reconfigure the outlook profile.

no it didn't seem to work.

I just don't know exchange well enough.

You've configured those Ol to point to your new server? Is it?

Can we have a screenshot please? Cause this is the exact location where the entire mess would start so we need to be sure of it.

Regards,
Exchange_Geek

I am copying the backup file to the workstation that I am using for the replacement server.

I had given you the steps for Outlook account settings back in this step:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/27834910/SBS-2003-to-SBS-2011-Standard-Migration.html?anchorAnswerId=38311983#a38311983 

Go to control panel, mail, email accounts, click on the account name and click Change account. Make sure the server name is the new server and not the old one. This is done from each workstation, not from the server.

I think this is what I would like to do can you give me some tips on how to do it? WOuld I have to start  from scratch or could I just rebuild the exchange?

"If you are using PST files (Cached Exchange Mode) on the workstations, you should be able to pull that email back into Exchange even with a fresh install. "

The problem with trying to do that on the fresh installation you are doing is the timer that Microsoft gave you to allow two SBS servers to run on the same network will need to be reset by starting the migration process all over again - remember that step from last time? You then only have 21 days to use both servers. So you would still have to either migrate the email and public folders to the new server or migrate the other files back to this server and then start from scratch if you wanted to move to the new server.

The problem with doing it on the new server is that you would need to get the client workstations to communicate with the new server, and if you could do that, you would already have your problem solved.

It would be a great idea to make a backup copy of each PST file now though, just to be safe.

Do you have access to the shared folders on the new server, and does it handle authentication and other functions ok? So the only thing missing is Exchange?

I am calling it a night, thank you all for trying to help. I will get back at it again tomorrow.

We'll be back too :)

Regards,
Exchange_Geek

We all do what we can.

I tried two server restores last night and both end in an endless reboot. Much like my life the last few days. I guess my options are:
1. Rebuild the old server again but do not restore it. If I do this I suspect I will have issues because active directory will have totally different SIDs. Could I even restore the mailbox DB with a completely different active directory.
2. Create new server run dcpromo and demote it to a regular server, then add it into the old domain then try to restore Exchange. After demotion would exchange still work.
3. Rebuild Exchange on the new server get it working and pull in the mail from cached accounts on the desktop. One user that has been working remotly would have significant data loss. If need be this is exceptable.
4. Rebuild everything from scatch. This one scares me.

I welcome your thoughts.

One quick thought I had from a story I heard over a year ago. Are you still logging into the new server using the temporary / secondary administrator account you used to create it with? I have heard of a scenario that reminds me of all we have been through here where the answer was to restart the new server and log in as "Administrator" instead of the account used to do the migration.

Could I even restore the mailbox DB with a completely different active directory - make sure the "Exchange Org \ Server \ Database Name" would be same :)

 After demotion would exchange still work - Could work but also break cant say :(

Rebuild Exchange on the new server get it working and pull in the mail from cached accounts on the desktop. One user that has been working remotly would have significant data loss. If need be this is exceptable - If users last login had the data in OST then it might have all data and least data loss.

4. Rebuild everything from scatch. This one scares me - Scares everyone but if last resort and nothing is working ... cant do much.

Let us know if you have any other queries or concerns :)

- Rancy

As always, if at all possile back up every hard drive before overwriting - so that if the information that you deem "acceptable loss" is not as acceptable to the end user or the company, you can have a professional lab recover it one way or the other. I really like the use of different physical hard drives in times like this. Although they cost more, you still have them to use after, and it really does save a lot of hassle if things go wrong.

God I wish it was that easy! Unfortunatly,  I am using my active directory account, not the temp admin. I guess I have a desision to make.

One last question. I am guessing you have to restore the exchange Db on the same version of Exchange correct?

So I could try to restore the DB to the new exchange server.

Just one more thing to check, and I apologie - this should have come near the top of the list. You have probably already done so but make sure your router has the new server's IP listed for port forwarding. That doesn't happen automatically on all routers during the installation process, even though the software reports that it has configured the router successfully.

Well Thanks for the moral support. I wanted to give you all an update. I finally called Microsoft and paid for a service call. I got an excellent tech that new Exchange like the back of his hand.  It turns out there were two issues. One was caused by the backup software that I had installed. It changed an obscure command that could only be change by command line from false to true. He ran the command: Set-TransportConfig–ShadowRedundancyEnabled $false and the transport service stopped crashing. The RPC client access and the Microsoft exchange form based auth service was not starting automatically, so he changed it automatic delayed. Three of my mail boxes where not transferred, and I am trying to recover them now.  Of course, as luck would have it two of the three mail boxes where the two owners of the company.

Sometimes you have to go to the source for that kind of answer. At least it is running now, and you are working on getting back the missing information. We have all learned something from the experience as well, and this command will now become part of the knowledge base for this system and all of us.