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Prepare the Windows SBS Environment

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Applies To: Windows Essential Business Server

Complete the following steps on the server running Windows SBS 2003 (Source Server) and the network to ensure that the settings and data migrate successfully.

  1. Back up the server

  2. Install the most recent service packs

  3. Raise the functional level of the Active Directory domain and forest

  4. Verify the health of the Source Server

  5. Verify the health of the network

  6. Optimize Exchange Server and mailboxes

  7. Plan to migrate line-of-business applications

Back up the server

Before you begin the migration process, you should back up the Source Server. This helps protect your data from being lost if an error occurs during migration.

To back up the server

  1. Perform a virus scan of all the drives and files on the server.

  2. Perform a full backup of the server. For more information about backing up the server, see “Backing Up and Restoring Windows Small Business Server 2003” (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=27140).

  3. Verify that the backup ran successfully. To test the integrity of the backup, select random files from your backup, restore them to an alternate location, and then confirm that the backed-up files are the same as the original files.

Install the most recent service packs

It is highly recommended that you install the latest service packs on the Source Server. Before you install a service pack, you should back up your server.

To verify that your server is running Service Pack 1 for Windows Small Business Server 2003

  1. Start the Registry Editor, and then locate the following entry:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SmallBusinessServer\ServicePackNumber

    If the value is 0x00000001, Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows Small Business Server 2003 is installed. Close the Registry Editor.

  2. If SP1 for Windows SBS 2003 is not installed, install it. You can download it from the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=46690).

    Important

    You must install SP1 for Windows SBS 2003 before you install SP2 for the Windows Server® 2003 operating system.

To verify that your server is running Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2003

  1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.

  2. The version of Windows SBS 2003 or Windows SBS 2003 R2 is displayed on the General tab, in the System section.

  3. If Service Pack 2 is not displayed, you must install SP2 for Windows Server 2003 to avoid any problems that may occur during migration. You can download SP2 for Windows Server 2003 from the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=98932).

    Note

    If you experience network-related issues after installing this service pack, see “An update to turn off default SNP features is available for Windows Server 2003-based and Small Business Server 2003-based computers” (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=164656).

    To learn more about the best practices and known issues related to SP2 for Windows Server 2003, see “Best practices and known issues when you install Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 on a Windows Small Business Server 2003-based computer” (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=93765).

To verify that your server is running Service Pack 2 for Exchange Server 2003

  1. Click Start, and then click Server Management.

  2. In the Server Management navigation pane, expand Advanced Management, expand <DomainName> (Exchange), and then expand Administrative Groups.

    Note

    If Administrative Groups is not displayed, right-click <DomainName> (Exchange), and then click Properties. On the General tab, select Display administrative groups, and then click OK. You may need to restart the Server Management console to apply the changes.

  3. Expand Exchange Administrative Group, expand First administrative group, expand Servers, right-click the server name, and then click Properties. The version is listed on the General tab.

  4. If it is not installed, install SP2 for Exchange 2003. You can download SP2 for Exchange 2003 from the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=98933).

To verify that your server is running Service Pack 3 for Windows SharePoint Services 2.0

  1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.

  2. Click Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 2.0, and then click Click here for support information. If the version number is 11.0.8173.0, SP3 for Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 is installed.

  3. If it is not installed, install SP3 for Windows SharePoint Services 2.0. You can download it from the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=101615).

  4. Verify that the CompanyWeb site is updated correctly, by doing the following:

    1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint Central Administration.

    2. On the Central Administration page, click Configure virtual server settings in the Virtual Server Configuration section.

    3. On the Virtual Server List page, verify that the version for the CompanyWeb site is 6.0.2.8165

  5. If the version number of the CompanyWeb site is not correct, use the Stsadm.exe command-line tool to force an upgrade of the content database and the configuration database. To do this, follow these steps:

    1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd in the Open box, and then click OK.

    2. At the command prompt, type the following lines, pressing ENTER after each line:

      cd /d \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\60\Bin

      stsadm –o upgrade –forceupgrade –url https://companyweb

    3. Type exit, and then press ENTER to close the command prompt window.

If you are using Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA Server) 2004, you verify that you are running the Service Pack 3.

To verify that your server is running Service Pack 3 for Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004 Standard Edition

  1. If your server is running the Premium Edition of Windows Small Business Server 2003, click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.

  2. Click Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004, and then click Click here for support information.

  3. If it is not installed, install SP3 for Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004. You can download it from the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=105762).

Raise the functional level of the Active Directory domain and forest

When Windows SBS 2003 is installed on a server, the functional level of the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) domain and forest is set to Microsoft Windows 2000. To finish the migration successfully, you must raise the level of the domain and forest to Windows Server 2003.

Important

If you have domain controllers that are running the Windows NT® 4.0 operating system or earlier, or Windows 2000 Server, you must demote them before you can raise the domain functional level to Windows Server 2003. Also, after you raise the domain functional level to Windows Server 2003, you cannot change it back to Windows 2000 mixed mode or to Windows 2000 native mode.

Important

You must be a member of either the Domain Admins group in the domain for which you want to raise functionality or the Enterprise Admins group in AD DS, or you must be delegated the appropriate authority. As a security best practice, you should use Run as to perform this procedure.

To raise the functional level of the domain

  1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Domains and Trusts.

  2. In the console pane, right-click the domain for which you want to raise the functional level, and then click Raise Domain Functional Level.

    Note

    The current domain functional level is displayed in Current domain functional level, in the Raise Domain Functional Level dialog box.

  3. In Select an available domain functional level, click Windows Server 2003, click Raise, and then click OK in the warning dialog box.

To raise the functional level of the forest

  1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Domains and Trusts.

  2. In the console pane, right-click Active Directory Domains and Trusts, and then click Raise Forest Functional Level.

    Note

    The current forest functional level is displayed in Current forest functional level, in the Raise Forest Functional Level dialog box.

  3. In Select an available forest functional level, click Windows Server 2003, click Raise, and then click OK in the warning dialog box.

If you receive a warning about having a Windows 2000 Server domain controller and you want to continue with the migration, you should demote the server that is running Windows 2000 Server to avoid problems during migration.

To demote a domain controller

  1. On the server that you want to demote, click Start, click Run, type dcpromo, and then click OK.

  2. Click Next twice, Do not select This server is the last domain controller in the domain.

  3. In the Summary dialog box, you are informed that Active Directory will be removed from the computer and that the server will become a member of the domain. Click Next.

  4. Click Finish.

For more information about raising the functional level of the AD DS domain and forest, see “How to raise domain and forest functionality levels in Windows Server 2003” (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=119928).

Verify the health of the Source Server

You can run the Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer to verify that there are no problems on your network, domain, or server that is running Windows SBS 2003 that will prevent you from successfully completing the migration process.

The Best Practices Analyzer collects information from the following sources:

  • Active Directory Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)

  • The registry

  • The Internet Information Services (IIS) metabase

The Best Practices Analyzer checks the following components of Windows SBS 2003:

  • Exchange Server

  • Update Services

  • Network configuration

  • Windows SharePoint Services

  • SQL Server

To use the Best Practices Analyzer to analyze your server

  1. Download and install the Best Practices Analyzer from the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=113752).

  2. Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click SBS Best Practices Analyzer Tool.

    Note

    You should check for updates before you scan the server.

  3. In the navigation pane, click Start a scan.

  4. In the details pane, type the scan label, and then click Start scanning. The scan label is the name of the scan report, for example “SBS BPA Scan 8Sept2009.”

  5. After the scan finishes, click View a report of this Best Practices scan.

After the Best Practices Analyzer collects and analyzes the information, it presents a list of issues, which are sorted by severity. For each issue, the Analyzer describes the issue that it encounters and it suggests solutions. You can view any of the following three reports types:

Report Type Description

List Reports

Displays reports in a one-dimensional list.

Tree Reports

Displays reports in a hierarchical list.

Other Reports

Displays reports such as a Run-Time Log.

To view the description and the solutions for the issue, click the issue in the report. Not all of the issues reported by the Best Practices Analyzer affect the migration, but you should solve as many of the issues as possible to ensure that the migration is successful.

Verify the health of the network

You must prepare for deployment of Windows® Essential Business Server by running the Windows® Essential Business Server Preparation Wizard to determine that your environment meets the technical requirements for Windows EBS. You must also plan for deployment by running the Windows® Essential Business Server Planning Wizard to collect information about the network settings you will use when you install Windows EBS.

For more information about using the Preparation Wizard and the Planning Wizard, see “Preparation and Planning for Windows Essential Business Server” (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=157598).

Optimize Exchange Server and mailboxes

It can take a long time to migrate large Exchange Server mailboxes. It will take less time if you reduce the size of the mailboxes before migration. To help reduce the size of the mailboxes, ask each Microsoft Office Outlook user to do the following:

  • Empty the Deleted Items folder

  • Archive older mail

For additional information about optimizing Exchange Server, see the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=101795).

To empty the Deleted Items folder

  1. In the Microsoft Office Outlook® messaging client, click Tools in the toolbar, and then click Empty “Deleted Items” Folder.

  2. Click Yes on the warning dialog box.

To archive older mail

  1. In Outlook, click File in the toolbar, and then click Archive.

  2. In the Archive dialog box, click the down arrow in the Archive items older than text box.

    Note

    You must tell the users what date to select in the calendar that appears.

  3. If you want to make sure that all of the older mail is included, select the Include items with “do not AutoArchive” checked check box.

  4. Click Archive all folders according to the AutoArchive settings at the top of the dialog box.

  5. Click OK.

    In Windows XP, the older mail is moved to the archive.pst file in C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook folder.

Plan to migrate line-of-business applications

A line-of-business (LOB) application is a critical computer application that is vital to running your business. These include accounting, supply-chain management, and resource-planning applications.

When you plan to migrate your LOB applications, it is important that you consult with the LOB-application provider to determine the appropriate method for migrating the application. You also must locate the media that is used to reinstall the LOB applications on the server that is running Windows EBS. You only need to migrate LOB applications if they are running on the server running Windows SBS 2003.

You can fill in the following table as you collect LOB-application information.

Application or general data folder name Path to data Notes