>From your description I thought it was a mess. Calling it backwards is being >polite. :-)
Yes, the new server is powerful enough. I was afraid based on the other machines it had like 4 or 8 gig for memory. That's was one beefy box to run SBS 2011 Essentials. They must have had ideas for that box. If you decide to go the swing migration path and by a kit, help is usually close by with either a call to Jeff or a question to the forum group. It's not hard to do, it just takes time and patience. And hope like heck you don't run into any issues. As for the PSTs, what is the current size of the Exchange 2003 database? With Exchange 2003 SP2 you could raise the database limit to 75 GB. With a few users in the 20-25 GB size, what does everyone else have? Are you sure the other Exchange boxes aren't being used? Ouch! As for the issues of exporting the PSTs those large ones will take time to both export and then import. For the most part my experience has been good but there have been issues exporting large PSTs. Mostly from the computer breaking or having issues. What versions of Outlook are they using? Newer versions will be better than Outlook 2003. And I'm sure they need everything that is stored in them also. >From this extra information I'm more inclined to start fresh. Visiting each of >the workstations will be a pain but it also gives you a chance to gauge each >system's performance and make recommendations. I'll bet each one could use >some serious cleaning. Another thought, depending on how much time you want to use towards discovery, would be to use the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit to pull an inventory of the desktops. This could give you a rough idea of what is on each workstation. Another idea would be to keep the "best" older leftover server and use it as another DC and extra storage or backup. But from the descriptions, maybe not. Do you have a boat. It sounds like you have a choice if you need a new anchor. Art -----Original Message----- From: James R. Costa, MCP [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, November 6, 2012 2:20 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Strange SBS2011 migration path, looking for some input A mess, indeed. Thanks for your input Art. I must have been thinking of SBS2011 Standard when I wrote about not using newer Exchange... was kinda braindead yesterday. You would think Essentials was installed to replace a DC... but it was just added to the mess. While it's a great idea to virtualize those old servers, it's pretty pointless in this case. They shouldn't be there in the first place. There were a total of 6 DCs in the 8 servers for about 23 users, Exchange installed on 3 boxes, only really running on the one VM though. Basically anything they are doing can be combined on one server. Their whole system is pretty backwards right now. I'm thinking SBS 2011 Standard with appropriate user CALs is still the right choice for them. The box it would be installed on is a Dell Poweredge R710, 2x 6-core Xeon w/ HT, 32GB RAM, 6x 2TB/7.2k in RAID5. SO it definitely has the horsepower and capacity they need. All of the other servers are running Win2K/Win2K3 on effectively junk hardware... OLD Compaq ML530 Pentium III Xeon (160lbs.), Pentium Dual-Core whitebox, etc. There is one older-gen Intel whitebox server that could be used for a swing migration. Although I'm still up in the air about which path to take. I could do a swing to that other box, although I have never done one before, and at the same time, I'm inclined to start fresh and visit every workstation to disjoin/rejoin to make sure everything is configured properly. I will check on the public folders. Exporting their mail to PST will be interesting too, as some of the users have mailboxes that are 20-25GB in size. Would you foresee any issues in exporting mailboxes of that size? Thanks again for your input!! James >>> What a mess. SBS 2011 Essentials will not support Exchange. That's why he has it installed on another box. It looks like Essentials was installed to replace an old DC and try to update the network. But that's in the past now. I would plan to install a new version of SBS 2011 Premium based on the number of servers. You get the rights for 2 physical boxes (and SQL) and can virtualize some of the other servers on the second box. What are the specs for the latest box you plan on installing SBS 2011 Standard on? What are the other 7 servers doing and can they be combined and virtualized? You will need SBS 2011 Standard and the appropriate number of CALs. None of the CALs they have now are valid for SBS 2011. David is right in that you can do a "swing migration". You will need another server for this. Will one of the others work temporarily? Is the rest of the network, AD, users, etc. OK or do they look iffy also? If so I would be inclined to start from scratch and build it so you know exactly what you have. I know it's a pain but you could export the PST files. That should cover most of their Exchange data. Unless they are using Public Folders. If the client is growing, this might be a good time to start over with a good base and review existing policies and build it to match the client's needs and expectations. Art ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
