My new SBS server is not capable of having more than 512 MB so I'm stuck. However, I still have my old server. It is alive and well and acting as my main SQL server and as a second domain controller. And it can handle a full 1.5GB of RAM. So, why don't I just go ahead and move my SBS 2003 installation over to the bigger, better server? Why? Because moving all that stuff is a major pain! I've been through it before and it ain't pretty.

Then I attended a Microsoft TS2 (Technical Seminar for Technical Specialists) seminar. One of the demos they showed us was using the ADMT (Active Directory Migration Tool) to migrate from Small Business Server 4.5 (the last NT version) or SBS 2000 to SBS 2003. I asked whether it worked from SBS 2003 to SBS 2003. The somewhat confused presenter responded 'of course!' This gave me the idea that perhaps I could migrate from my old RAM challenged server to my old RAM plentiful server without killing myself.

The process seemed simple enough, especially in the demo. Set up the new SBS server, hook it up with the old server, then run a couple of wizards. Not too bad. However he kept mentioning 'read the white paper first'. So, I printed off the 'Windows Small Business Server 2003 Migrating from Small Business Server 2003 or Windows 2000 Server to Windows Small Business Server 2003'.

It is a good idea to read this document. There is also one for migrating from SBS 4.5 or Windows NT 4.0.

The first few tips from the white paper are needed as you install SBS on your new (destination) server. First, you must specify the same Administrator account password on the new server as you used on the old (source) server. Then you must name your new server a different name from your old server. If your old server is called SBS2000, you can call the new one something creative like SBS2003. Next you will need to give your new server's Active Directory domain a name that is different than the old domain name. My old domain is named LentzComputer.local. The white paper suggested I use something unique like LentzComputer2.local. I decided on LentzComputer.loc. Interestingly, the SBS setup program popped up a warning suggesting I use .local. Apparently it thinks .loc is a regular Internet suffix. You must also specify a different NETBIOS domain name. My old domain is LCS03. I named the new one simply LCS.

Lastly you must configure networking on the new server. The two servers must be able to 'talk' with each other. The default IP address for SBS 2000 and 2003 is 192.168.16.2. This is the address of my old server so I set the IP address of the new one to 192.168.16.4. SBS gave me a warning about not using the default IP. I ignored it. Lastly I ran the Configure E-mail and Internet Connection Wizard to set up all the appropriate network configurations. There are a few other house keeping steps listed in the white paper like moving public folders and having your users clean up their mailboxes before you move them. I’ll let you read about that there.

Up to this point, my new server has been on a different network physically. Now I’m ready, almost, to connect them together. First though, I need to disable the DHCP server. There should only be one DHCP server on any given subnet. The DHCP service on Windows 2000 and above senses whether another server exists and will shut itself down if it detects one.  The white paper recommends shutting down the DHCP service on the original (source) server so you can leave it running on the new (destination) server once the migration is done. However, since this is just a test, I left it running on the old and shut it down on the new.

Now I’m, almost, ready to begin the migration. But first I need to install the ADMT on the new server. It is found on the first SBS installation CD in the \i386\ADMT folder. Double-click ADMIGRATION.MSI and follow the prompts to install.

Thought we were done configuring the servers? Not quite. Now we need to set up the DNS on each server to forward requests to each other. Explicit instructions are in the white paper so I’ll omit them here.

Now we’re ready to start the migration tool. The white paper lists a long command line you must enter from a command prompt. However I found a ‘slight’ error in it. They say to run “migration.msc”. The correct name, at least on my system, is “migrator.msc”. This opens up the Active Directory Migration Tool MMC console. Yea!

Next, highlight ‘Active Directory Migration Tool’ in the tree pane on the left and click on the Action menu. You will be presented with a list of things you can do. It is recommended that one proceed from top to bottom on this list and not skip around. I selected the ‘User Account Migration Wizard’ first. It asked me whether I wanted to perform a Test Migration or go for the real thing. Let’s test first. Once we figure it all out, we can come back and do it for real. This will apply to the rest of the migration tools. Follow the instructions entering the source and destination domains, etc. as appropriate. Then select your users. Do NOT select the Administrator account. You will be asked for the target OU (Organizational Unit). SBS 2003 by default puts your users in the MyBusiness\Users\SBSUsers OU. There are a number of other selections you can make. Please refer to the white paper for specifics. I finally ran my test and all accounts appeared to migrate successfully. At this point you can work your way down the list. Remember, read the white paper to describe each step.

Of course so far, this has been my test migration. I’ll let you know how my ‘real’ one goes once I get the nerve to actually do it. Oh yeah, did I mention? Read the White Paper!