Hello, I am currently planning how we will deal with the process of moving our servers to Server 2008 R2, since 64x is inevitable. We currently have 13 servers in our Bladecenter, and our Domain Controllers, DNS, DHCP, and print server are all currently running Server 2003 enterprise. Several of our servers are already at 2008 as well. Anyway, since we have new hardware coming in, we feel now is the best time to make the move to 2008 R2. Here are my questions. 1.) Would it be beneficial to upgrade our current domain controllers and other servers running 2003 to 2008, or would it be not much difference to migrate data from 2003 to 2008 R2? 2.) Are there any migration tools that anyone has had good experience with, or any that I should stay away from? Any advice, or insight on my situation will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hello, assuming that you will not change the domain name it will be an upgrade not a migration. and so no tools are required. I always prefer to install new machines as DC in the existing domain instead of doing in-place upgrades of DCs, even if full supported from Microsoft. What you can't upgrade is 32bit to 64 bit OS architecture, this requires a new install. To upgrade the domain please see: http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/archive/2010/02/10/upgrading-an-active-directory-domain-from-windows-server-2003-to-windows-server-2008-or-windows-server-2008-r2.aspx If you use Exchange there are dependencies you have to take care about: http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/archive/2010/05/23/exchange-server-and-it-s-relationship-to-active-directory.aspx So please describe in detail the installed applications/services, maybe there are more you have to take care about. BTW, do you also think about virtualizing some machines? A Blade center is a good option, instead using one blade per server role running Hyper-V or another hypervisor and work with VMs. Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

The domain name will be staying the same. I understand that we can't upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit, which is why I feel now is the best time to make the move to 64 bit since we are getting all brand new hardware. For our data, we will be moving everything from SAN to SAN. Then for our new Servers, we will be doing fresh installs of Server 2008 R2 and implementing them into our existing domain. We will then be re-installing all of our applications, and copying over any application data to these new servers. I am not quite sure if there is an easier way of doing this, I just assume it is the cleanest way of doing it. As far as running exchange, sadly we run lotus notes.

Hi, You may install a brand new Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller and add it to the current domain after upgrading schema. After that they can work with your original Windows Server 2003 Domain Controller or transfer all the FSMO and GC to your new Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller and demote the old Domain Controller. For the detailed information, please read the following Microsoft TechNet article: Upgrade Domain Controllers: Microsoft Support Quick Start for Adding Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controllers to Existing Domains http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/upgrade-domain-controllers-to-windows-server-2008-r2(v=WS.10).aspx Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi, You may install a brand new Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller and add it to the current domain after upgrading schema. After that they can work with your original Windows Server 2003 Domain Controller or transfer all the FSMO and GC to your new Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller and demote the old Domain Controller. For the detailed information, please read the following Microsoft TechNet article: Upgrade Domain Controllers: Microsoft Support Quick Start for Adding Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controllers to Existing Domains http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/upgrade-domain-controllers-to-windows-server-2008-r2(v=WS.10).aspx Regards, Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. Yes this is kind of what I was getting at. I will probably do exactly this and then decommission the old domain controllers. Like I said before, I was just looking to see if there was any benefit of upgrading my 2003 domain controllers and servers if all I will be doing his moving all of the data over to our new servers.

Hi, To check the benefits of upgrading to Windows Server 2008 R2, you may read the following Microsoft TechNet article and MSDN blog: What's New in Windows Server http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd282984(v=WS.10).aspx What’s New in Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nickmac/archive/2011/02/11/what-s-new-in-windows-7-windows-server-2008-r2-sp1.aspx Regards, Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.