in-line upgrade of Windows 2000 File Server

[DotNetNewbie]

Hi there,

As the subject suggests I have a W2k File server that from a hardware perspective is fine, however the OS is now dated and we are running into compatibility issues.

We are looking to upgrade it to either Windows 2003 or even 2008. Are there any considerations (besides hardware compatibility)?

Many thanks in advance.

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[goombawaho]

Define "in-line" upgrade. Do you mean an in-place upgrade where no programs are lost, just the O.S. is updated?

http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=98829&seqNum=5

 

[DotNetNewbie]

Hi,

I do mean in-place upgrade where the OS is upgraded.

Many thanks.

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[itsp1965]

Odds are if you're running a server with Windows 2000, it may be just a tad too old to support a 64-bit OS like Windows 2008. Although you can probably upgrade to Windows 2003, I am not a big fan of in-place upgrades because it leaves a lot of crap still on your system. Besides 2003 is out of support come next year, therefore maybe you should strongly consider moving to a brand new server running Windows 2008 instead.

 

[DotNetNewbie]

itsp1965 - thanks for your answer. Typically our aim is to replace it next year, however due to budget restrictions I cannot do it this year - hence the short-term solution of the in-place upgrade to 2003 to get us around the issue we are currently facing.

thx.

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[goombawaho]

That sounds like a supreme waste of effort and money - spend dollars today on a software issue KNOWING that you are going to replace the hardware next year.

Can't you show management the difference in price between software upgrade price for Server 2003 and a server hardware upgrade?

Can you even get your hands on a Server 2003 license?

 

[DotNetNewbie]

Sadly it is not as simple as that.

We have a compatibility issue due to this server being W2K, I have no budget to replace the server until next year however I have a spare Windows 2003 server licence.

There is no waste of money, albeit it will take an amount of time to do the upgrade, I do not see it being a waste of anything - just a short term solution.

This conversation has kind of drifted away from my original question mind so lets bring it back to the question that was asked!

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[goombawaho]

Good that you have the license, so that costs nothing. But, your time and effort + downtime are "costs".

You can't tell management, "I'll gladly pay you next year for a hamburger (server) this year". No horse trading??

This conversation has kind of drifted away from my original question mind so lets bring it back to the question that was asked!

Yes taskmaster.
There are plenty of guides out there on how to do it. The risk with an in-place upgrade is that something goes wrong and you have to sweep up the pieces.

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/ar...ading-windows-nt-2000-windows-2003-part1.html

 

[DotNetNewbie]

I get paid to work so the work I carry out in that time is in essence already paid for, if the company wants to pay me to do an in-place upgrade and then replace it the following year that's up to them, though I do agree with you, ideally I would like to do it properly the first time, sadly with budget restrictions I simply cannot.

I guess there is always an element of risk in any upgrade/installation, all I am trying to do is mitigate that risk by ascertaining what the risks are and if its overall worth taking that risk.

Regards

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[goombawaho]

No overtime pay to be added for weekend/night work?

I'm not sure we can point out every failure mode that could happen during the upgrade. The best advice is to check hardware compatibility with Server 2003 and then get an image backup of your server with something like Ghost, etc. Store it on a safe hard drive.

Also have a data backup that was successful from the night before you attempt the upgrade. With those in hand, you can certainly roll things back.

Do a CHKDSK of your disk(s)/array before you do the image backup.

 

[DotNetNewbie]

Sadly overtime and weekend work is classed as "part of the job" albeit I will get time back for working the weekend or evenings.

Our current plan is as follows:

1. Check compatibility
2. Ensure a full backup is performed
3. update the boot INI file
4. Remove 1 of the mirrored OS disks
5. Perform in-place upgrade

If any errors occur we believe we can simply insert the mirrored OS disk and boot as normal from the original disk. This is something I have done in the past - although of course it is still a scary moment while you wait for it to boot.

I will let you know how we get on.

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[goombawaho]

If it's hardware RAID1, that should be fine. I'd still get an image of the OS disks though. There are free imaging tools if you look and don't have a paid product.

 

[DotNetNewbie]

Yeah I always Raid1 my OS disks and then have a separate data drive. But to be safe we can image the disk - belt and braces

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