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P2V SBS 2003

T

twwabw

Gawd
Joined
Apr 21, 2001
Messages
716
Final goal is to P2V existing SBS 2003 server into a VM, then ultimately migrate to a fresh new install of SBS 2011. I see this as having a lot of potential for client migrations- ability to VM their existing install and test it for the process. Once the VM is running, isolate it and test the upgrade migration to the new hardware, while leaving their existing SBS running at their site. Once you see what issues you could/may have, then correct them on the actual running SBS; then either directly migrate to the new 2011 hardware; or move P2V , then migrate to new on physical hardware.

Has anyone done this? Searched and found many who say it "could" and "should" work, but can't find anyone who has actually done it.
 
The issue you will run into is that you don't get much "testing" time with SBS migrations, while SBS 08 helps with the core shutdown issue (extends the time for two SBS servers to be on the same network) you will run into the issue that SBS 03 only allows 7 days ( i think) of two SBS servers on the network before you get the SBCore shutdown every 2 hours.

Also, SBS must be the root of the domain, so in that 7 days you have to test, migrate exchange, migrate data, move FSMO roles and get the old server off the network.

MS has articles on how to migrate SBS server to new hardware and upgrads and such. My questions is why do you want to move it to virtual? is the new SBS server going to be virtual or new hardware?
 
Reason is 3 scenarios:

1- test migration in a lab environment, first by virtualizing my own office's SBS03, and moving that into a virtualized envirornment, then test the migration from that virtual copy onto a new physical server w/2011. Allows me to test the process without crippling our existing SBS, which migration does. If it fails, or has issues, I have not touched the actual physical server

2- same scenario for clients that need migrating to 2011, w/new hardware. Virtualize their existing setup; bring it to the office and test the migration process onto the new hardware. No issues? Then wipe the new box, head to their office and do the real deal. Issues? Hopefully can isolate and remedy them on the virtual box first, try again; and then once fixed do the actual migration on site, implementing changes on the SBS03 box before migration. Once again, leaves their existing SBS03 intact and functional before rollout.

3- Have a client that has newer server, w/SBS03. Want to upgrade this hardware to 2011. If we could virtualize their existing setup, we could then migrate V2P onto 2011.
 
Tim I've used ESXi to ease server migrations from old SBS to newer...haven't done it to SBS2011, but have done to SBS08.

Actually for a recent project that I started that my colleague finished up (I was out for a while with major back issue..and will continue to be somewhat part time)...we brought one of our old HP Proliants to the client...and use that to shuffle the guests. This project...their existing SBS03 got too cramped on their old Proliant. Low disk space, getting too busy for the old single core Xeon, etc. So last December they got a new PowerEdge T610. But couldn't do a techsoup purchase for another 6 months (to get SBS08). So I installed ESXi on the Dell...and did a P2V...sucking the old SBS03 from the Proliant. Let it run til about a month ago. Brought one of our spare servers up there..ESXi on it..and did a V2V from the Dell to our HP. After a few days of making sure it ran fine on that, wiped the new Dell server...and installed SBS08 into it baremetal...and began the migration.
 
k1pp3r said:
The issue you will run into is that you don't get much "testing" time with SBS migrations, while SBS 08 helps with the core shutdown issue (extends the time for two SBS servers to be on the same network) you will run into the issue that SBS 03 only allows 7 days ( i think) of two SBS servers on the network before you get the SBCore shutdown every 2 hours.
Click to expand...

There are ways to squash that "sbscrexe.exe" to allow yourself all the time needed.

And plenty of reasons to move SBS to vitual
*migrations
*consolidation of serverS to a single physical server
*Access to the hardware level for remote support
*Disaster/recovery
 
Hey Brian... sorry about the back.... ugh. Didn't know that. You'll need an inflatable cushion for the Harley! :D What did you use to P2V the SBS box onto ESXi? The stanadalone converter? You did it Hot then? No issues?
 
twwabw said:
Final goal is to P2V existing SBS 2003 server into a VM, then ultimately migrate to a fresh new install of SBS 2011. I see this as having a lot of potential for client migrations- ability to VM their existing install and test it for the process. Once the VM is running, isolate it and test the upgrade migration to the new hardware, while leaving their existing SBS running at their site. Once you see what issues you could/may have, then correct them on the actual running SBS; then either directly migrate to the new 2011 hardware; or move P2V , then migrate to new on physical hardware.

Has anyone done this? Searched and found many who say it "could" and "should" work, but can't find anyone who has actually done it.
Click to expand...

Been there done it many times.

Vmware's P2V standalone tool (free) is our primary method of virtualizing SBS. Once you've got the server virtualized the most glaring "issue" you'll run into is the VM will not have any network cards installed. The first time you boot the VM, it will take a LONG time to get to the login prompt and it may take awhile to log in to the server.

Once your logged in, the first step is to install the vmware tools and reconfigure the virtual nic(s) with the same settings as the physical machine and reboot. If everything goes well, the new VM should boot up within normal timeframes.

Sidenote

Usually we will P2V the client's server a couple different ways. Once we've captured the images, we'll bring them into our office and perform the rest of the tasks and run the server a couple days to verify there are no issues with the conversion. Once we determine we are good to go, we'll go onsite after hours or on the weekend for the "real migration".

Our second method of virtualizing involves installing Acronis on the client's server and performing a full image. Acronis can convert the resulting image file into formats compatible with Vmware and HyperV.
 
I'm in the process of moving from SBS 2k3 to SBS 2011 and as part I did the P2V of the SBS along with a few other servers all onto one ESXi box.

SBS 2k3 P2v notes: enable Shadow copies on the OS drive in case the next step has problems, chkdsk /f the drives, then shutdown all services which you can and P2V the mess. I moved what data I could off to reduce downtime ad Vmware does basically a file by file copy. 2k3 w/ ~ 200 GB worth of stuff took about 2-2.5 hours if I recall.

I've created a sandbox on the VM server (60 GB RAM) and played with the beta SBS 7 and did a partial migration. Odds are when the final SBS 2011 is released I'll do an entire test migration. Messy with the Veeam backup software and the sandbox, need to edit out the MAC addresses of the test units as ESXi will get confused and route packets all over the place.

Not sure if once things are virtualized the Swing migration holds any real value if one accepts some downtime.

Once the SBS 2k3 is over in virtual land delete all the shadow devices. I found someones script to remove all the HP crap as the physical was a HP box.

If you using ISA on the SBS 2k3 ESXi might be a little messy, you need to quit using ISA for SBS 2011 anyways, be a good time to remove that stuff.

Sharepoint for me is coming from a standalone box, WSS 3.0 which I intend on moving onto SBS 2011 Sharepoint Foundation 2010- that looks messy as hell. Anyone with tips let me know! :D
 
Thanks for all the info guys- this should be a pretty quiet week so I think I may pull our own SBS03 onto ESXi this week and try it. I may also pull into into Hyper-V as well, see which works best.

When you use the VM standalone, aside from the usual pre-migrate cleanup "stuff", did you shut down any services? Assuming you shut down the Exchange store?
 
I had a buddy of mine email a link to this article for performing with his clients, and I wanted to chime in as another source of confirmation that this works great! Marty hit the nail on the head with the process:

Perform a full backup (we like Acronis, however we've also used ShadowProtect to create the image and use their built-in function to take it into a VMDK to significantly shorten the process)
Install the P2V converter. You may need to reboot afterwards but I've had luck not having to.
Stop all services (namely, SQL, Exchange, etc). If you're STILL using ISA, shame on you and remove it now!
Uninstall any vendor-specific driver packages and application. IE Dell has OpenManage, HP has their System Management and Insight packages, etc
Start the P2V conversion. Once complete, power down the server.
Start the VM. SBS will freak out because it can't detect a network adapter so the boot time may be longer than usual.
Install the VMware tools. Before you reboot after completion, assign the new VMware adapter the same IP address as your old, physical NIC. Once complete reboot.

After the reboot it should come up with no problems. At that point you can follow the Technet article on migrating:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg563801.aspx

It's really a piece of beauty, because they built the installer in SBS 2011 (it was there in SBS 2008 but took a little bit more work to get going) to be more "ready" for a migration.
 
I've had to call into MS to get a activation code on the 2k3 Servers I've P2V'd (SBS/Standard). Pesky OEM licensing...
 
Well... finally had some time over the weekend to try it. Problem is activation. First boot is fine- asks if I want to, I say no. Go in, install VM tools; change nic settings, reboot. Immediately prompted for activation, but appears all services have started- I can ping it, DNS is working etc.

My concern is what will occur next if I activate it and it fails? OS is legit- installed from our MAPS license orginally, but what worries me is when I ran MagicJelly Bean (too lazy to dig out old media from MAPS) it tells me it's OEM, which it is not. In any case, what will occur if I proceed to the next step (activate) and it fails? Will it still let me log on, but just warn about legit and give me 30 days or something? 30 days is fine- just need to migrate it.
 
Do you have the option to activate via phone? I've done that before. You just end up on the phone with some MS Activation Center, read them what you see on the screen, they ask you how many machines you have Server installed on (say 1), and then they read you an answer key and that's it. They don't ask for proof of purchase or anything, and I've done this with retail, TechNet, OEM, etc. keys - doesn't seem to matter.
 
twwabw said:
Well... finally had some time over the weekend to try it. Problem is activation. First boot is fine- asks if I want to, I say no. Go in, install VM tools; change nic settings, reboot. Immediately prompted for activation, but appears all services have started- I can ping it, DNS is working etc.

My concern is what will occur next if I activate it and it fails? OS is legit- installed from our MAPS license orginally, but what worries me is when I ran MagicJelly Bean (too lazy to dig out old media from MAPS) it tells me it's OEM, which it is not. In any case, what will occur if I proceed to the next step (activate) and it fails? Will it still let me log on, but just warn about legit and give me 30 days or something? 30 days is fine- just need to migrate it.
Click to expand...

Sorry Tim.....I rarely wander out of the Network/Security forum.

The Harley actually feels good on the back, comfy position. I got out on New Years Day for a couple of rides. :)

Yup I just use the P2V Convert tool from VMWare. Yes the activation comes up at least 1/2 the time due to new hardware being detected (past the magic number)..but it flies right though, I just hammer in the code. I think on one server I called MS to get a new key...was no problem.
 
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