Server HDD

Is the server using RAID or just 1 8 gig scsi hdd?

take a look at norton ghost, that should do what you are after :-)
u can "ghost" everyhting off the current 8gig hdd onto the new 36 gig and it will be exactly as was you will have to go through these steps

1)get a copy of norton ghost
2) install 2nd hdd on say scsi ID 1
3) use ghost
4) after shost make sure u take out old hdd and reset new hdd to scsi ID 0

The only problem with using Ghost would be that the hardware in the new server will almost certainly be different from the hardware in the old server. That means that the drivers will be different, so you will have to watch for that. But it might still turn out to be easier than other ways simply because you can get active directory over in one piece without messing around with a migration wizard or anything.

Could you possibly give a more detailed list of the hardware in the new server, and the old server?

With a server stability is crucial, and as such it might be wise to install windows server 2003 fresh on the new disk.

You can then simply copy all the data from the old disk to the new one either over the network or by adding the old disk to the new system.

If you can't get hold of something like ghost, and you want to get the new server up as fast as possible, you can always copy all the data from the old drive to the new one.
Then install windows server 2k3 over itself in the new system. Boot from CD and install to the original installation directory (C:\WINNT or c:\Windows). The installtion process will make the disk bootable. The advantage of this method over imaging the drive is that windows will install all the hardware again, but all your settings will remain. You may have to play with IP addresses of network cards, but that should be about it.

The server that is there at the moment is a compaq ML350 and we are putting a compaq ML350 albeit a newer version as the old one is around 4 years old.

The server at the mo has three SCSI HDD. The c drive is an 8GB and the other 2 are recently added 18GB. What we did a while ago was to save the c drive as it was getting full. So i installed 2 18GB HDD and put all company and non server files on these but it seems that even without the company files on there, the performance is extremely poor each client PC has a nightmare when trying to open word docs etc.

What i want to do is use one the 18GB for the new server and the second 18gb for the company docs. The problem i have is that there is Sage, SQL databases and a few other bespoke apps running on the c drive along with all the usual stuff. I suppose im going for the safe and cheap option by not reinstalling everything as i dont know what can of worms im going to open if i go for a new one although reinstalling a new server 2003 will ensure that we get a clean fresh install with loads better performance. But i suppose im scared that the data wont restore from backup tapes etc and will leave me in hot water.
But if i just mirror the disk, i may be inheriting a performance issue that exists at the moment.

Theres not raid or hot swappable disks, just the usual server setup with a SCSI controller and Tape Backup etc

Any help on improving performance on this server with opening word docs etc would be appreciated

Thanks

Paul

Where are the word documents actually stored currently? How fast is your network? Also, how many users/computers are connected to this network?

Sounds like a fresh install might be the best answer if you're currently having perfomance problems. At least if you do a fresh install on that 36GB disk and you fail to copy the data over correctly, you'll still have the old server and can try again and again untill it works! :o)

the word docs are on the new 18gb scsi hdd. the network is the standard 10/100 and there are around 20 users on the network but the performance on the word docs can be when just a couple of word docs are open. excel docs dont have this problem.

Yes i think yo umay be right about that, ill put the 18gb scsi hdd in a new server and work with the old one in tandem until i get the new one working properly. This way i have a backup.

What version of Word are the users....erm.. using? :o)

If other files seem to be accessed quickly, and it's only the word files that have the problem, than maybe it's a problem with word itself? (The way it stores temporary files and makes backups in the background perhaps?).

Also, try running this utility on the old server while it's being used:
http://www.sysinternals.com/files/NTFILMON.ZIP
Read about it here: http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/filemon.shtml

It's a tiny standalone program that shows you what files are being accessed on a disk in real-time (it can be very usefull!). If you open it and click the 'volumes' button at the top you can select which volumes you want it to look at. You can then look at what's happening on the disk(s) when different types of files are opened, you might be able to spot what's causing the performance drop.

Hope this helps you out! :o)

are your active directory logs and structure on the little drive?

also... with regards to word docs...if you have antivirus software, with  enabled, the server and client machines get tied up when office progs check the files...

client requests document - server reads it in, virus check on reading from disk
server sends it to client who caches it to  hdd,  scans it, and serves it to word
word fires up the antivirus API and then the file is scanned again.....

sometimes, word has not heardthe response from the first request, and sends a repeat request.... then when that comes back, you have already opened it, and are then presented with the 'xxx maxchine has got that file open, do you wish to open it as read only?'

For CA av software, I set it to scan incoming files only, and that seemed to cure it, for symantecI'd try disabling the office antivirus API in the symantec AV  miscallaneous option page, but make sure do* and all the other office 3 letter extensions are under the includes section for real time scanning

Yes everything including active directory apart from co files are stored on the small drive. ive searched for things to delete but there isnt much left.

Thanks for the advice on word, that sounds like my problem, funnily enough it did present the open in read only syndrome the other day. I think it could be the AV that is causing it. CA is installed on the server but there is a mix of different AV on the client pcs.

good guess - CA is good IMO but tell it to scan incoming files only (i.e. if a file is outgoing to ignore it) - if there is a virus, it should have been caught when incoming...

you could move sysvol to a separate drive using the Active Directory Installation Wizard - microsoft recommends keeping log and data files on separate drives - just make sure you backup before doing it - and regularly afterwards...

Are there any other files that i can either move or delete, as ive had a message today saying that disk space is below what it should be, it seems quite strange as i freed up about 600mb only 2 weeks ago and its not as if this company are massive or receiving thousands of emails or completing large transactions

what does the pagefile.sys do and can i delete it?