SBS 2003 to 2008 migration failed restore question..

Ugghhh. I don't envy you. Restoring an SBS is not fun especially if all you're using is NT Backup. You're going to have to do a Directory Services restore and then all file data. If you're going to try another 2003 to 2008 migration then you'll need to restore the full 2003 SBS server. If it's just for 6 users why are you trying to do a migration? For a 6 user domain I would just do a clean install of SBS 2008 and migrate settings manually.

MO
SBS2003-Backup-AND-Restore.doc

Thanks for your post

ok if i just choose to do the directory service restore here are my questions. When you say file data do you mean the windows directory as well?

next..
i am new to this so excuse my ignorance. How would i go about a manual installation? How could i keep the domain and is it still possible to move over the active directory and exchange data easily? Will this require me recreating everything and moving the user data into new profiles on each computer? And if i choose to do the manual installation would that eliminate the need for me having to do a restore all together?

Thanks so much for your help. I have to tackle this tomorrow morning.

At this point I would just turn your old SBS 2003 off, reload the SBS 2008 server using the same domain name. If all your mailboxes are access through Outlook in cached mode I would do a full export from the client machine of their OST to a PST. User data and any other common data can then be recovered from the BAK files that NT Backup created in your last backup. Obviously this method is very manual, but it's only for 6 users so it probably wouldn't be as painfull as trying to restore the old SBS 2003 and going through the migration process again.

MO

Of course you would also disjoin your client workstations from the old domain and rejoin them to the new domain. Most likely would have to manually copy user profile data over to the new profile as well.

MO

ok sounds good. Last questions. The SBS 2003 box is still working fine with exchange etc so i have 21 days before it shuts down right? Is there a way to confirm how many days i have left?
 
 - So once setup exchange for each user i can just import their pst file right into outlook. right?
 - during the manually installation is there anything i should be aware of that is different in sbs 2008?

  I will go ahead with the fresh install tomorrow.
Thanks!

SBS 2008 install is a lot different than SBS 2003, but a lot of the same things apply and the install process is logical. Make sure you have your SBS 2008 server connected to a switch of some sort. It requires connectivity. Make sure there are no DHCP servers running on the network. Follow the install wizard and you'll be fine.

I'm confused about your "SBS 2003 box is still working fine..." comment. I assumed that because you were talking about restoring that box it must mean that it is no longer bootable. If it works I would run an exmerge off of it to export all the mailboxes to PST's. NOTE: If any of the mailboxes are bigger than 2GB I would not rely on the exmerge. A lot of times the PST's will corrupt when they are over 2GB's. In this case manually export from Outlook.

Let me know if you get stuck along the way.

MO

Yea the SBS 2003 box is still working. The migration failed because there were some wacky errors like exchange 2007 not installing even through sbs 2003 was in native mode. I was under the impression that you can only do one migration then the old sbs server needs to be restored to the previous settings before another attempt.  Sorry ot ask so many questions.. but i fthere sbs 2003 server is working still is there an easier way to do this?