Afternoon all

 

We are looking at changing our old XP server over to a new HP proreliant gen 8 micro one as we dont need a huge server and really need something quiter plus all that no updates lark on the old one. The question is we only have a tiny amount of stuff on the old server, nearly only word docs and was wondering what kind of time frame it would be to set up the new one and move all the old stuff over to the new one? Our IT crowd who we have been with for a while and have always treated us right with costs and such reckon that it will take a day and a half to sort!! Now im no techie but that really does seem like a very long time!!...any thoughts much appreciated.

 

Cheers

 

Kit

If its running XP its not a server :P Servers run 2003/2008/2012/SBS/Linux/Unix.

 

However, if it really is just a few file shares probably 1/2 a day to set up all the shared drives, users etc depends on how many there are (simplest could be <1h tbh assuming all the Windows install/updates is done off site).

 

If they are buying it and installing Windows then you need to allow 1/2 a day for installing and setting up Windows. Most of that's going to be installing 100s of updates assuming they don't have a slip stream'd disc.

Personally, I'd agree with the day and a half. with IT timeframe quotes most give the actual time plus a bit for when things almost certainly go wrong.

So I'd say start to finish a day with the half as "just in case" time.

I'd quote the same time tbh, especially as exporting to 2012 from 2003 (assuming 2012 is what your having) is a bit of a mare...

Personally, I'd agree with the day and a half. with IT timeframe quotes most give the actual time plus a bit for when things almost certainly go wrong.

So I'd say start to finish a day with the half as "just in case" time.

I'd quote the same time tbh, especially as exporting to 2012 from 2003 (assuming 2012 is what your having) is a bit of a mare...

 

I think when he says XP he means its an XP box with a few file shares (committing the sin of assuming what the end user says is the whole truth and nothing but the truth), a day and a half IS too long to migrate that setup...

Cheers for the replies folks

 

I dont touch the server so dont know how to get onto to it...how do i find out what its running?

 

Kit

If its got a monitor/kb/mouse attached just wake it up and the login screen will tell you what its running.

Theres no monitor, the IT guy normal does a short cut on the keyboard to get to the log on screen.

If its running XP its not a server :p Servers run 2003/2008/2012/SBS/Linux/Unix.

 

However, if it really is just a few file shares probably 1/2 a day to set up all the shared drives, users etc depends on how many there are (simplest could be <1h tbh assuming all the Windows install/updates is done off site).

 

If they are buying it and installing Windows then you need to allow 1/2 a day for installing and setting up Windows. Most of that's going to be installing 100s of updates assuming they don't have a slip stream'd disc.

 

How can it not be a Server if it is running XP? If it is "serving" a purpose being on all the time then I would class that as a server.

Found this from the old email invoice from 2007

 

Dell PowerEdge 840 Server ( inc backup unit, 1 2547.00 €2,547.00

Backup Tapes, cleaning tape, UPS)

Server Software (SBS2003 Premium, Outlook 2003, 1 940.00 €940.00

CAL x 5 & Backup Software)

Dell Latitude D520 Desktop inc MS Office 1 1290.00 €1,290.00

Dell Optiplex 745, inc MS Office 1 1020.00 €1,020.00

HP Officejet Pro L7580 Printer 1 349.00 €349.00

Discount on SBS Project -1 250.00 -€250.00

 

Kit

In that case a day and a half could well be fine.

 

Do you know if you are going to be using SBS 2011 on the new server? This is now a discontinued product, but they may have stock piled some copies of it. It could be they are going to migrate you to 2012.

 

An SBS migration is a bit more involved especially if you are using Exchange. It could well also be acting as your DHCP server, DNS server, Email server and will be a domain controller (whether your PCs are domain members or not we don't know).

 

Of course its also possible that its not doing these things, and you were oversold the product in the first place, but without a survey that's just conjecture. 

 

Simply put, a day and a half is fine...

How can it not be a Server if it is running XP? If it is "serving" a purpose being on all the time then I would class that as a server.

 

1) Note the :p It was partially tongue in cheek.

2) Its a desktop class operating system, not a server class operating system. If it were set up acting as a 'server', I'd class it as a 'bodge'.

Edited 14 May, 201412 yr by DanHarper

Oh FYI Kit, 2003 is still receiving updates:

 

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2013/09/25/information-about-sbs-2003-product-support-lifecycle.aspx

 

If you are not using Exchange then you have another year of relative safety.

So though its ok for now-ish as we use exchange i'll still have to replace it soon? Suppose i have had it since 2007!!

If your using exchange for email then the migration to a new box will take time, you cannot simply migrate from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010/2013. Both Exchange 2010 and 2013 require a lot of configuration to get working properly unlike Exchange 2003 which was dead easy. I would say a day and a half is perhaps underestimating the work involved.

So though its ok for now-ish as we use exchange i'll still have to replace it soon? Suppose i have had it since 2007!!

 

Do you know what they are planning to migrate you too?

 

A migration to SBS 2011 takes time but isn't that hard.

 

However, if there are complications it goes south quickly. I did around 10 last year before SBS was canned and not one went absolutely by the book... but we don't really play by the MS playbook in the first place so a lot of our 2003 installs were not exactly bog standard...

 

Can't say I've found newer versions of Exchange to be any more difficult to configure compared to 2003.

We have been in a similar Situation couple of years back we migrated from a single SBS2003 HP ML350 G4 Box to two Gen 8's One is a PDC running Server 2008 R2 & exchange and the other a BDC running SQL2012. Its not straight forward and we had a consultant come in to help while I did all the donkey work. I'd edge on the side of caution plan for a week (5 days) and it will probably take two if everything goes ok.

Jaysus guys your scaring the bejaysus outa me now!!! This is what we are migrating to

 

 

• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials

 

K:)

Well that doesn't have Exchange...

 

Are they putting your mail on 'The Cloud'?

We have been in a similar Situation couple of years back we migrated from a single SBS2003 HP ML350 G4 Box to two Gen 8's One is a PDC running Server 2008 R2 & exchange and the other a BDC running SQL2012. Its not straight forward and we had a consultant come in to help while I did all the donkey work. I'd edge on the side of caution plan for a week (5 days) and it will probably take two if everything goes ok.

 

Your setup is quite a bit more involved than kits though going by the information here.

 

kits setup is a maximum of 5 users assuming no additional licences have been purchased and they are playing it by the rules.

This is what they are going to install

 

 

 

 

HP Server

 

• HP ProLiant Server Gen8
• Server
• ultra micro tower
• 1-way
• 1 x Celeron G1610T / 2.3 GHz
• RAM 4 GB
• HDD 1 TB
• DVD-Writer
• Matrox G200
• GigE
• Monitor : none.

 

 

 

1

 

 

 

Windows Server Essentials

• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials
• Licence and media
• 1 server (1-2 CPU), up to 25 users
• OEM
• 64-bit
• English

 

 

 

Sale Installation Work

 

Migration & Install 

1-1.5

 

 

Total Sale & installation

 

€2,290.00

 

 

Im getting all confused and a wee bit worried now!!!

 

K

It makes no mention of where your email is going! I'd be asking them that.

 

I'd be asking about some form of RAID (Raid1 mirroring on 2 discs as a minimum). The server has the ability.

 

Are they going to be able to use your existing backup drive or are they going to a different solution?

 

 

 

(sorry replying between answering calls etc).

Edited 14 May, 201412 yr by DanHarper

No prob Dan thanks for your replies to my dim questions!!

 

I think it will be mirrored as the one we have already is but i will clarify that. Ive sent an email to them to ask about Exchange and emails so will post when i hear back.

 

Cheers

 

Kit

The server is expensive for what it is (IMHO), it's pretty low end.A

 

 £300 laptop has more CPU power, the same RAM and 500GB hard disk.

 

I can put you in contact with a Dell Account chap if it's interesting to you, if nothing else you'll be able to get a comparative price.

Edited 14 May, 201412 yr by cheezemonkhai

Your setup is quite a bit more involved than kits though going by the information here.

 

kits setup is a maximum of 5 users assuming no additional licences have been purchased and they are playing it by the rules.

 

The number of users doesn't add to the complexity only the migration time but that's minimal, its changing from sbs to full blown server that causes the headaches. Microsoft kind of left its sbs uses behind when they ditched the product. Oh and that's very low end spec Server you have there with no redundancy as far as I can tell. Depends on how much you value your data but I'd want a few disaster recovery options. For example raid 5 will give you hot swap drives so it if one dies you can remove and replace without any downtime. A tape backup will give you some data security and if you can stretch to it some cloud backup wont hurt. We use barracuda for this function its ace you get a box that backs up your server and streams to the cloud giving you a physical and cloud backup. Best bit it has no performance overhead meaning your server is free to just serve. One thing to note your sbs2003 would have come with exchange and free outlook cals. Microsoft don't give this away anymore so you will need to licence these individually.

We had a tape back up on the old server but the tape jammed in it and it was way too expensive to have it taken apart and try and remove the tape so we started using 500gb external hard drives. Have to say i just dont know enough about this kind of stuff!! :(