A few very tough questions..
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From: bobby on 6 Dec 2009 18:11 I recently took over an SBS 2008 installation from a group that had no business installing it in the first place. There were a ton of event viewer errors, Exchange, SBS Console, you name it, they screwed it up. There are 25 users and they never installed antivirus on either the Exchange mailboxes or the client computers. Enough of that.. Here are the few remaining issues. 1. They never ran a best practices tool. When I did Exchange showed a "first administrator group" of an old Exchange 2003 SBS install on another computer that crashed. I don't know how or why it's there but the server doesn't exist and there is no Exchange 2003 anywhere. How do I get rid of that group? There are no E2003 server tools or anything I can see. 2. The SBS console crashes whenever I attempt to run a report. It goes for about 5 minutes and then the console crashes. Is there a way to delete the old reports (well over 2 GB database) and start all over? 3. They never used WUS, configured it, or looked at it. When I click on computers, there are none, nowhere! What did they do? (or didn't do) What should I do? This is a preliminary list. I'm wondering if I should just reinstall the entire OS, copy the Exchange pst files and data to an external drive and reformat. I'm close. TIA Bobby
From: Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP] on 6 Dec 2009 18:30 Hi: With 25 users, this is a canidate for a swing migration to new or same hardware. You would want to invest in a very good backup, or a some new hard drives so you could go back if the swing failed (almost never happens), but you would not have to touch the domain, the workstations, the server name or have any significant down time. A swing moves the AD, the Exchange store, and the data files, preserving the AD, the domain, the server name, and the shares and permissions. Almost automagicly. Send a message, or call and ask for their opinion. May save you a lot of hassle and the client a lot if time and or $. www.sbs-migration.com - Larry Please post the resolution to your issue so others may benefit - Get Your SBS Health Check at www.sbsbpa.com > I recently took over an SBS 2008 installation from a group that had no > business installing it in the first place. There were a ton of event > viewer errors, Exchange, SBS Console, you name it, they screwed it up. > There are 25 users and they never installed antivirus on either the > Exchange mailboxes or the client computers. Enough of that.. Here are > the few remaining issues. > > 1. They never ran a best practices tool. When I did Exchange showed a > "first administrator group" of an old Exchange 2003 SBS install on > another computer that crashed. I don't know how or why it's there but > the server doesn't exist and there is no Exchange 2003 anywhere. How > do I get rid of that group? There are no E2003 server tools or > anything I can see. > > 2. The SBS console crashes whenever I attempt to run a report. It goes > for about 5 minutes and then the console crashes. Is there a way to > delete the old reports (well over 2 GB database) and start all over? > > 3. They never used WUS, configured it, or looked at it. When I click > on computers, there are none, nowhere! What did they do? (or didn't > do) What should I do? > > This is a preliminary list. I'm wondering if I should just reinstall > the entire OS, copy the Exchange pst files and data to an external > drive and reformat. I'm close. > > TIA > > Bobby >
From: Leythos on 6 Dec 2009 18:34 In article <F723EC83-1AF9-49E3-B483-91E31B520FC1(a)microsoft.com>, bjanow(a)msn.com says... > > I recently took over an SBS 2008 installation from a group that had no > business installing it in the first place. There were a ton of event viewer > errors, Exchange, SBS Console, you name it, they screwed it up. There are 25 > users and they never installed antivirus on either the Exchange mailboxes or > the client computers. Enough of that.. Here are the few remaining issues. > > 1. They never ran a best practices tool. When I did Exchange showed a "first > administrator group" of an old Exchange 2003 SBS install on another computer > that crashed. I don't know how or why it's there but the server doesn't > exist and there is no Exchange 2003 anywhere. How do I get rid of that > group? There are no E2003 server tools or anything I can see. > > 2. The SBS console crashes whenever I attempt to run a report. It goes for > about 5 minutes and then the console crashes. Is there a way to delete the > old reports (well over 2 GB database) and start all over? > > 3. They never used WUS, configured it, or looked at it. When I click on > computers, there are none, nowhere! What did they do? (or didn't do) What > should I do? > > This is a preliminary list. I'm wondering if I should just reinstall the > entire OS, copy the Exchange pst files and data to an external drive and > reformat. I'm close. I took over a SBS 03 installation that was about the same, totally installed improperly, no wizards had been used, manual edits of DNS, DHCP, even the GP's had been screwed up, it was also a .net internal domain name... They had 8 users - I setup a new Dell server off-site, SBS 08, created all the accounts, settings, etc... called it company.local, and tested with a spare workstation... Once I had the new server onsite I disabled DHCP, then used a ROBOCOPY to move the data from the single, unprotected, no security, share where they kept everything across to the new server. While they had SBS 03, all profiles were local, not even the My Documents was on the server.... I spent 8 hours onsite today, got everything working, email, printers, updates to all the workstations, the only broken thing is that their public DNS name doesn't match - they used BD.COMPANY.NET instead of REMOTE.COMPANY.NET and they can't remember the account/login for network solutions (at this time) - so they can't connect remotely because the server cert says it's invalid. One good thing - all functions are a lot faster on the 08 server with proper internal DNS/DHCP/AD. -- You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that. Trust yourself. spam999free(a)rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
From: bobby on 6 Dec 2009 18:36 I probably wouldn't want to do that. If I reformatted then I would change the domain name, server IP and some other things. I like to have a .local domain and not an FQDN on the server. I just bought a terabyte drive for backup in case. I have not problem taking them down for a day or two over the weekend, but is there any decent way to recover these last few things.? "Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP]" <lstruckmeyer(a)mis-wizards.com> wrote in message news:4e6835156b528cc44b94bd8888b(a)news.microsoft.com... > Hi: > > With 25 users, this is a canidate for a swing migration to new or same > hardware. You would want to invest in a very good backup, or a some new > hard drives so you could go back if the swing failed (almost never > happens), but you would not have to touch the domain, the workstations, > the server name or have any significant down time. > > A swing moves the AD, the Exchange store, and the data files, preserving > the AD, the domain, the server name, and the shares and permissions. > Almost automagicly. > > Send a message, or call and ask for their opinion. May save you a lot of > hassle and the client a lot if time and or $. > > www.sbs-migration.com > > - > Larry > Please post the resolution to your > issue so others may benefit > - > Get Your SBS Health Check at > www.sbsbpa.com > > >> I recently took over an SBS 2008 installation from a group that had no >> business installing it in the first place. There were a ton of event >> viewer errors, Exchange, SBS Console, you name it, they screwed it up. >> There are 25 users and they never installed antivirus on either the >> Exchange mailboxes or the client computers. Enough of that.. Here are >> the few remaining issues. >> >> 1. They never ran a best practices tool. When I did Exchange showed a >> "first administrator group" of an old Exchange 2003 SBS install on >> another computer that crashed. I don't know how or why it's there but >> the server doesn't exist and there is no Exchange 2003 anywhere. How >> do I get rid of that group? There are no E2003 server tools or >> anything I can see. >> >> 2. The SBS console crashes whenever I attempt to run a report. It goes >> for about 5 minutes and then the console crashes. Is there a way to >> delete the old reports (well over 2 GB database) and start all over? >> >> 3. They never used WUS, configured it, or looked at it. When I click >> on computers, there are none, nowhere! What did they do? (or didn't >> do) What should I do? >> >> This is a preliminary list. I'm wondering if I should just reinstall >> the entire OS, copy the Exchange pst files and data to an external >> drive and reformat. I'm close. >> >> TIA >> >> Bobby >> > >
From: Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP] on 6 Dec 2009 18:43
Ok, under those conditions you are on the right track. If the domain name, the server name and so on are not worth saving, then ditch it. And certainly a FQDN is a bad/rookie mistake. - Larry Please post the resolution to your issue so others may benefit - Get Your SBS Health Check at www.sbsbpa.com > I probably wouldn't want to do that. If I reformatted then I would > change the domain name, server IP and some other things. I like to > have a .local domain and not an FQDN on the server. I just bought a > terabyte drive for backup in case. I have not problem taking them down > for a day or two over the weekend, but is there any decent way to > recover these last few things.? > > "Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP]" <lstruckmeyer(a)mis-wizards.com> wrote in > message news:4e6835156b528cc44b94bd8888b(a)news.microsoft.com... > >> Hi: >> >> With 25 users, this is a canidate for a swing migration to new or >> same hardware. You would want to invest in a very good backup, or a >> some new hard drives so you could go back if the swing failed (almost >> never happens), but you would not have to touch the domain, the >> workstations, the server name or have any significant down time. >> >> A swing moves the AD, the Exchange store, and the data files, >> preserving the AD, the domain, the server name, and the shares and >> permissions. Almost automagicly. >> >> Send a message, or call and ask for their opinion. May save you a >> lot of hassle and the client a lot if time and or $. >> >> www.sbs-migration.com >> >> - >> Larry >> Please post the resolution to your >> issue so others may benefit >> - >> Get Your SBS Health Check at >> www.sbsbpa.com >>> I recently took over an SBS 2008 installation from a group that had >>> no business installing it in the first place. There were a ton of >>> event viewer errors, Exchange, SBS Console, you name it, they >>> screwed it up. There are 25 users and they never installed antivirus >>> on either the Exchange mailboxes or the client computers. Enough of >>> that.. Here are the few remaining issues. >>> >>> 1. They never ran a best practices tool. When I did Exchange showed >>> a "first administrator group" of an old Exchange 2003 SBS install on >>> another computer that crashed. I don't know how or why it's there >>> but the server doesn't exist and there is no Exchange 2003 anywhere. >>> How do I get rid of that group? There are no E2003 server tools or >>> anything I can see. >>> >>> 2. The SBS console crashes whenever I attempt to run a report. It >>> goes for about 5 minutes and then the console crashes. Is there a >>> way to delete the old reports (well over 2 GB database) and start >>> all over? >>> >>> 3. They never used WUS, configured it, or looked at it. When I click >>> on computers, there are none, nowhere! What did they do? (or didn't >>> do) What should I do? >>> >>> This is a preliminary list. I'm wondering if I should just reinstall >>> the entire OS, copy the Exchange pst files and data to an external >>> drive and reformat. I'm close. >>> >>> TIA >>> >>> Bobby >>> |