Installation Question 1

[wishiknewmore]

Our PDC recently crashed. The power supply went out and took the mother board with it. Consequently, the power supply, motherboard, processor, and RAM all had to be replaced. The system was running Windows NT-4.0 Server.

Evidently, NT doesn't like the motherboard that is installed because it won't boot. The data on the drive is accessable via slaving on another PC, so I'm assuming the OS is also in good condition.

To remedy the situation, we've ordered, but not yet received, Windows Server 2008. A huge jump to be sure. My question is: Will Server 2008 install as an upgrade to Windows Server NT, or will I need to do a clean install?

If I need a clean install, what all am I looking at to get it back and running on the LAN? I assume, reenter all users, re-introduce each workstation to the domain, and reset all security and sharing permissions. Did I miss anything?

 

[58sniper]

reset up all DHCP, DNS, IIS and related services. All your AV, backup, etc.

Everything.

You're looking at a clean install.

Pat Richard
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Contributing author Microsoft Exchange Server 2007: The Complete Reference

 

[wishiknewmore]

Thanks for the info. Sounds like I'm going to be busy.

How about upgrading from Server 2000. Would that be the same situation goint to Server 2008?

The reason I ask is, I have a copy of 2000 that I could use to start the process now and be that much ahead whenever 2008 arrives.

 

[58sniper]

I think you need to do a fair amount of reading first. NT and Windows 200x are completely different. Nothing is the same or even similar. I certainly don't usually recommend migrating as part of a disaster recovery. It generally takes a lot of planning and preparation.

Pat Richard
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Contributing author Microsoft Exchange Server 2007: The Complete Reference

 

[baddos]

I don't beleive you can do an offline upgrade, but hey I've never tried it. hehe

 

[kmcferrin]

Your best bet is to try to recover your NT4 domain. If not, you'll be building everything from scratch. If you do build from scratch you could start with Windows 2000 and make an Active Directory domain, but I think you need to do a lot more research first.

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator

 

[wishiknewmore]

First of all, thanks for all the advice. NT-4 is not recoverable on this server as it does not recognize the motherboard (or vice versa). the repair place gave up on that aspect. Since then we've bought Server 2008 and I'm in the process of installing it now.

Here's what we had before the crash. A simple domain server that acted as login/password authenticater for people logging into the system. It also had a few shared folders on a second partition. No applications, nothing fancy. A total of about 25 workstations and one SQL server are on the domain.

Some aspects of our work are at a complete standstill until I get this box up and running. Thankfully, the SQL server still recognizes the existing logins and passwords.

I really don't have the time to figure out what to read up on to get to where I need to be. Everything seems to assume we want to go a lot deeper than necessary. We're a small company, and the cost of the server repair and software have been a fairly big hit.

So far, I've installed something called AD lightweight directory service. It doesn't seem to get me to where I need to go.

Can someone please tell me in simple English what must I do to set it up as a minimal domain controller?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[baddos]

Is the SQL server a BDC?

 

[wishiknewmore]

No, the SQL server isn't a BDC.

 

[58sniper]

So you only had the one DC? Yikes.

Pat Richard
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Contributing author Microsoft Exchange Server 2007: The Complete Reference

 

[pagy]

You don't want AD lighweight services, you need to install active directory domain services, some links below for you to read;

http://www.petri.co.il/windows-server-2008.htm

http://www.netometer.com/video/tutorials/ad-services-install/index.php

Paul
MCSE 2003
MCTS:Active Directory
MCTS:Network Infrastructure
MCTS:Applications Infrastructure

If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?
Scott Adams

 

[pagy]

In a nutshell you give the server some IP information, such as IP address, default gateway and set the DNS address to it's own IP address (do not use 127.0.0.1) you then use server manager to install the active directory domain services binary files and then run dcpromo to create your domain.

Paul
MCSE 2003
MCTS:Active Directory
MCTS:Network Infrastructure
MCTS:Applications Infrastructure

If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?
Scott Adams

 

[wishiknewmore]

I stumbled onto the active directory domain services and that seems to do what I'm after.

Yes, a BDC would have been nice, but was seen as a needless expense for a struggling company. They're thinking a little differently now.

I'll check out the links.

As you can probably tell, I've picked up everything I know by jumping in and doing it. Fortunately, I'll retire in less than a year and I won't have to worry about all this stuff. LOL

Much appreciated, one and all.

 

[netometer]

Hi,
If you are using IDE disks for the NT 4.0 server, there is a good chance that you can boot the server using VMWare (I think it uses a legacy chipset for the virtual machines). To save time, attach the NT4.0 drives to a machine and create new Virtual machine using existing hard drives.
Of course, you can copy the content of the NT 4.0 hard drives to a virtual disk (use the mount utility) later and have the PDC as a pure virtual machine until the migration is over.

If you are able to revive the NT 4.0 PDC, then probably you should consider migrating to Windows Server 2003 as an intermediate step. Here is a Step-by-Step video:

http://www.netometer.com/video/tutorials/nt4upgrade

If you don’t have VMWare you can download one month fully functional trial from their web site. Having a (virtual) BDC shutdown during the process is a wise idea.

You can see in the video how to move DNS, WINS, DHCP services and the corresponding databases, as well as the FSMO roles. The same approach should be used when you switch to Windows Server 2008.

The nice part of this approach is that it is safe and transparent to the users.

Regards


Dean

http://www.netometer.com

Online Screencasts and Video-Tutorials

 

[wishiknewmore]

Thanks, but the system has already been changed over to Server 2008. I was able to retrieve the data from the drive and that's the important part.

Server 2008 Is causeing no end of problems for me, but that's a different thread.

Thanks again,

R.

 

[netometer]

D you mean that you have a vanilla installation of Windows Server 2008 and you are experiencing problems?



Dean

http://www.netometer.com

Online Screencasts and Video-Tutorials