Backup and Restore on different Hardware Equipment

[phytos]

i have 2 servers, the one is running Windows 2000 Server and SQL and the other run on NT 4.0 and its our web server, web mail, proxy server. We are planning to replace the servers.
My question - is if i do a full backups of the 2 servers and on the new ones i install the Windows 2000 server and NT 4.0 on the other and do a restore of the backups will the servers be up and running or do i have to reconfigure everything from scratch.

Thanks

 

[gwichman]

Nope.

Restoring a server to different hardware is not an easy task. Usually the new server has entirely different hardware and therefore entirely different drivers, swap files sizes, etc. you may even be moving from an SMP to an MP system which means the kernel itself will be slightly different (requires a change).

The best way to do it IMO is to install from scratch, install your apps from scratch, then restore only the application data and any config files you may want. If you need stuff like users and whatnot you can usually restore those objects as needed as well.

 

[oppie007]

Try reading this Microsoft article: How to Move a Windows 2000 Installation to Different Hardware

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;249694&

It says, in part: "Windows Backup (Ntbackup.exe) can merge differences in hardware configuration information between a source computer and a destination computer and maintain critical registry entries that are unique to the destination computer." It gives a step by step procedure and there are some unobvious steps.

Instead of NTbackup, I might use Norton Ghost and Microsoft's Sysprep tool. Here is a good resource about this:

http://service4.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost.nsf/docid/1999070716282425

You might also read this:
"Helping Windows Survive a Motherboard Upgrade" on AnandTech:

http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=113