lukerussell
asked on
Practices for renaming an SBS2003 server and domain
Hi experts,
I have read through the topics and fully understand that it is not possible to rename an SBS2003 server and domain without fully reinstalling. Unfortunately, that is what we have to do. I have a couple of questions regarding the processes I should go through to do this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
1. Does anyone know of a resource outlining the steps to follow for this proceedure? I REALLY don't want to miss anything! Like backing up mailboxes, copying user names and account settings etc. I guess I'm going to do this all manually (using exmerge on the mailboxes and writing down users and privelidges) but is there a better way to do this???
2. Can I simply do an install of SBS over the top of itself (like with XP)? Will this leave all data files in tact (like users individual folders, so I can just recreate the users and reset permissions)?
3. Has anyone done this smoothly before? Any tips to make my life easier?
Thanks everyone for any help. This is happening tomorrow, so wish me luck!
I have read through the topics and fully understand that it is not possible to rename an SBS2003 server and domain without fully reinstalling. Unfortunately, that is what we have to do. I have a couple of questions regarding the processes I should go through to do this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
1. Does anyone know of a resource outlining the steps to follow for this proceedure? I REALLY don't want to miss anything! Like backing up mailboxes, copying user names and account settings etc. I guess I'm going to do this all manually (using exmerge on the mailboxes and writing down users and privelidges) but is there a better way to do this???
2. Can I simply do an install of SBS over the top of itself (like with XP)? Will this leave all data files in tact (like users individual folders, so I can just recreate the users and reset permissions)?
3. Has anyone done this smoothly before? Any tips to make my life easier?
Thanks everyone for any help. This is happening tomorrow, so wish me luck!
ASKER
Thanks, Jeff...
We don't have the luxury of two servers.
1. I probably wasn't clear enough... I know we will have to back up all mailboxes and restart from scratch. Re-create AD and permissions. I was going to use exmerge to extract mailboxes to pst files and then reimport them into the new server install. I'm sure this has been done countless times before, I was just wondering if there was a resource somewhere detailing the process so I didn't forget anything.
2. So I have to reformat the hard drive??? I wanted to be able to reinstall the OS from scratch, but keep non-windows files on the server (like users data files) Like when you do an XP reinstall over the top of itself - it reinstalls all system files, so you have a new version of XP, but all other folders (like c:\Installs or something) are not touched. 2003SBS doesn't work the same? I don't care if mailboxes and exchange data is lost because I will be backing all that up.
We don't have the luxury of two servers.
1. I probably wasn't clear enough... I know we will have to back up all mailboxes and restart from scratch. Re-create AD and permissions. I was going to use exmerge to extract mailboxes to pst files and then reimport them into the new server install. I'm sure this has been done countless times before, I was just wondering if there was a resource somewhere detailing the process so I didn't forget anything.
2. So I have to reformat the hard drive??? I wanted to be able to reinstall the OS from scratch, but keep non-windows files on the server (like users data files) Like when you do an XP reinstall over the top of itself - it reinstalls all system files, so you have a new version of XP, but all other folders (like c:\Installs or something) are not touched. 2003SBS doesn't work the same? I don't care if mailboxes and exchange data is lost because I will be backing all that up.
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ASKER
Thanks, Jeff!
Unfortunately, I think I left my question a bit late and so had to do this before your answer, but thanks anyway - it was extremely throrugh and I'm sure will help people in the future.
Just one thing, I did actually do an install of 2003 over the top of itself and it worked fine.
The only thing I had to do was rename the exchsvr folder in program files, otherwise the Exchange part of SBS wouldn't install (it won't install if there is already data in the MBDATA folder). Everything else worked fine - all users data in our company folder was left in tact and I just had to take over ownership. Windows did create a new system folder (called windows.0) supposedly because the c:\Windows folder alreay existed, but that hasn't created any problems. The rest I did as you advised above, exmerged the mailboxes and recreated users and all seems to be working fine!
Thanks for taking the time to help out. there were a lot of questions about changing domain names on an SBS server, so hopefully your full description above should help them out in the future...
Unfortunately, I think I left my question a bit late and so had to do this before your answer, but thanks anyway - it was extremely throrugh and I'm sure will help people in the future.
Just one thing, I did actually do an install of 2003 over the top of itself and it worked fine.
The only thing I had to do was rename the exchsvr folder in program files, otherwise the Exchange part of SBS wouldn't install (it won't install if there is already data in the MBDATA folder). Everything else worked fine - all users data in our company folder was left in tact and I just had to take over ownership. Windows did create a new system folder (called windows.0) supposedly because the c:\Windows folder alreay existed, but that hasn't created any problems. The rest I did as you advised above, exmerged the mailboxes and recreated users and all seems to be working fine!
Thanks for taking the time to help out. there were a lot of questions about changing domain names on an SBS server, so hopefully your full description above should help them out in the future...
lukerussell,
I would certainly hope that this works out for you. The fact that it created a new Windows.0 folder would make me think there will be problems later on due to the fact that you have two windows directories, and that there probably MANY registry entries that already exist for the old one.
Also, your renaming of the Exchsvr folder would also be of concern again because of specific references in the registry as well as active directory... both of which use randomly generated ID strings that would not stay consistent with an install such as you have done.
It may all work now... but I would suspect that you will run into problems which you may characterize as "strange or weird" behavior when attempting to install anything else, or just to make configuration changes.
If it were me, I'd reformat and reinstall so that there aren't any extraneous directories such as you have.
Jeff
TechSoEasy
I would certainly hope that this works out for you. The fact that it created a new Windows.0 folder would make me think there will be problems later on due to the fact that you have two windows directories, and that there probably MANY registry entries that already exist for the old one.
Also, your renaming of the Exchsvr folder would also be of concern again because of specific references in the registry as well as active directory... both of which use randomly generated ID strings that would not stay consistent with an install such as you have done.
It may all work now... but I would suspect that you will run into problems which you may characterize as "strange or weird" behavior when attempting to install anything else, or just to make configuration changes.
If it were me, I'd reformat and reinstall so that there aren't any extraneous directories such as you have.
Jeff
TechSoEasy
ASKER
Thanks for the vote of confidence ;-)
Hopefully we'll be all right. Done all service pack updates and so far all is good. I don't know if this is correct, but isn't the registry made up from a number of files in the windows folder? So the new registry will have been entirely rebuilt from the Windows.0 directory, won't it?
I have also since deleted the old exchange folder which I renamed and so far no hiccups. Also gotten rid of the old Windows directory, and we're still up and running. Touch wood, eh!
Hopefully we'll be all right. Done all service pack updates and so far all is good. I don't know if this is correct, but isn't the registry made up from a number of files in the windows folder? So the new registry will have been entirely rebuilt from the Windows.0 directory, won't it?
I have also since deleted the old exchange folder which I renamed and so far no hiccups. Also gotten rid of the old Windows directory, and we're still up and running. Touch wood, eh!
It's true that the registry is made up of those files... and since you've deleted the original Windows directory, you may be okay there... because sometimes it will look to both for info. However, I'm still worried about the Wizards since they may not recognize the right location... although theoretically you can name the Windows directory anything you like... it's just that there may be leftover items... somewhere.
Jeff
TechSoEasy
Jeff
TechSoEasy
ASKER
Thanks Jeff - I'll keep you posted
2. No, because of Exchange and other Windows Server limitations.
3. Yes. But you only have two choices: Either follow the procedure in this document, http://sbsurl.com/migrate, or use the Swing Migration process from www.sbsmigration.com.
The first method will require that you install to new hardware. The SBSMigration method allows you to swing it back to the original machine, using a temporary machine in the interim.
Finally... if you're starting tomorrow... I'd suggest that you don't move so quickly without knowing where you are going... you'll end up with a non-working server if you're not careful.
Jeff
TechSoEasy