Migrating Windows 2003 to 2012 (VM)
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So one of my responsibilities when I get started in my new position is to migrate a server 2003 domain to 2008 R2 or 2012 and migrate a file server in vSphere, whatever I decide. From what I've read it seems like an easy transition. I was wondering if you guys recommend me purchasing a book (a book recommendation would be great if at all possible) or do you think I should just read over the technical documentation they have on their website? What did you guys do to learn outside of playing with it?
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Played with it. I didn't do a whole lot outside of that. The basics are very easy and very simple
Out of curiosity what does upgrading from 2003 to 2012 R2 (don't stop at 2008R2) have to do with vSphere?
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@wirestyle22 https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh801901(v=ws.11).aspx
Don't go 2008R2, Go 2012
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@coliver I didn't list it (sorry) but I think their file sever may be 2003 as well. I have to migrate.
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If you only have one server, I guess you could stay on VMWare, but if you have two, you should seriously consider getting rid of VMWare and use either Hyper-V or XS.
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@wirestyle22 said in Learning VMware vSphere:
@coliver I didn't list it (sorry) but I think their file sever may be 2003 as well. I have to migrate.
Still... neither of these things have anything to do with vSphere....
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@Dashrender said in Learning VMware vSphere:
If you only have one server, I guess you could stay on VMWare, but if you have two, you should seriously consider getting rid of VMWare and use either Hyper-V or XS.
They only have one. When I do a hardware refresh though I will migrate everything over to Hyper-V.
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@wirestyle22 said in Learning VMware vSphere:
@coliver I didn't list it (sorry) but I think their file sever may be 2003 as well. I have to migrate.
The hardest part of migrating file servers is normally getting drive mappings pointing to the new server. If you're using GPO Preferences (I think that's where mappings are, otherwise just plain GPO) this is super easy!
Install Win2012R2 server, create folder, share it, copy data (probably robocopy to make copying permissions easier) change GPO, done.
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@coliver I don't know anything about virtualization. Sorry. I just know they use vSphere and it allows you configure VM's. I assume I'd create a new VM with the new OS and migrate everything over? I don't know if there is a specific process with vmware.
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Nope VM or Hyper-V or XS or bare metal don't change the process of migrating
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Updating the Domain controller is simple. Stand up a new Server 2012R2 VM, install the AD DS services on it and force replication. Transfer the FSMO roles to the 2012R2 Domain Controller and then demote the 2003 server. If the 2003 server was doing DHCP and DNS as well then that is also fairly easy to transfer over.
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@coliver said in Learning VMware vSphere:
Updating the Domain controller is simple. Stand up a new Server 2012R2 VM, install the AD DS services on it and force replication. Transfer the FSMO roles to the 2012R2 Domain Controller and then demote the 2003 server. If the 2003 server was doing DHCP and DNS as well then that is also fairly easy to transfer over.
Do you actually migrate the DHCP data base over when you do this? or do you let it sort it self out?
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DNS is cake, when you install Win2012 R2 server, make sure you install the DNS role. Then when you install the AD DS role and DCPromo it, it will use DNS automatically, nothing for you to configure.
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@coliver said in Learning VMware vSphere:
Updating the Domain controller is simple. Stand up a new Server 2012R2 VM, install the AD DS services on it and force replication. Transfer the FSMO roles to the 2012R2 Domain Controller and then demote the 2003 server. If the 2003 server was doing DHCP and DNS as well then that is also fairly easy to transfer over.
I've actually (surprisingly) done a domain migration before but it wasn't virtualized. Here and there I get good experience.
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The file server is also pretty simple. Stand up a new 2012R2 server, Robocopy, (with the permissions switch) all the data to it and recreate the shares. If you really want to future proof your build setup a DFS domain and share everything out as \\domain\share. This way you can easily migrate servers in the future without users having to re-map drives and re-learn directories.
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@wirestyle22 said in Learning VMware vSphere:
@coliver said in Learning VMware vSphere:
Updating the Domain controller is simple. Stand up a new Server 2012R2 VM, install the AD DS services on it and force replication. Transfer the FSMO roles to the 2012R2 Domain Controller and then demote the 2003 server. If the 2003 server was doing DHCP and DNS as well then that is also fairly easy to transfer over.
I've actually (surprisingly) done a domain migration before but it wasn't virtualized. Here and there I get good experience.
virtualization in this (and most) case doesn't change the process one bit. Just think of the two VMs as bare metal, and do what you did last time (more or less).
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@wirestyle22 said in Learning VMware vSphere:
@coliver said in Learning VMware vSphere:
Updating the Domain controller is simple. Stand up a new Server 2012R2 VM, install the AD DS services on it and force replication. Transfer the FSMO roles to the 2012R2 Domain Controller and then demote the 2003 server. If the 2003 server was doing DHCP and DNS as well then that is also fairly easy to transfer over.
I've actually (surprisingly) done a domain migration before but it wasn't virtualized. Here and there I get good experience.
Again, virtualization has nothing to do with this. You're up in the stack another level. To you, and the Windows Servers, you are installing them on hardware.
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@Dashrender said in Learning VMware vSphere:
@wirestyle22 said in Learning VMware vSphere:
@coliver said in Learning VMware vSphere:
Updating the Domain controller is simple. Stand up a new Server 2012R2 VM, install the AD DS services on it and force replication. Transfer the FSMO roles to the 2012R2 Domain Controller and then demote the 2003 server. If the 2003 server was doing DHCP and DNS as well then that is also fairly easy to transfer over.
I've actually (surprisingly) done a domain migration before but it wasn't virtualized. Here and there I get good experience.
virtualization in this (and most) case doesn't change the process one bit. Just think of the two VMs as bare metal, and do what you did last time (more or less).
Duly noted kind sir. Thanks for the info guys. Do you have any education recommendations? I try to dig in as much as possible from different angles.
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The only education I recommend is a home lab and time.
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The best education I can suggest is get a PC, install VMWare (in this case to replication your future project) and install two windows server on it. The free version will do you fine. You should be able to download, install VMWare in under 1 hour, then about 1 hour each for the two windows machines. So in less than half a day you'd have a test box.
