Small Business Server migration to new hardware

We have Small Business Server 2003 installed on a Dell Poweredge 1750 and are going to migrate it to a Poweredge 1950.
I talked to Dell's support about the possibility of doing a clone of the 1750 with True Image and restoring it on the 1950 but they thought it would result in a lot of problems, mainly because the 1750 uses SCSI while the 1950 uses SAS. At the same time I read here that it should be possible to restore to another system regardless if it has different hardware or not..
Can someone clear this up for me?

 

Hello.. Can I use True Image for this task or not?

 

I have heard of people who claim they have succeeded in doing this but, I suspect, in special circumstances (where there is a close match in hardware, incl. RAID setups, etc.). You could try it, and rely on SBS to find all the right drivers for you on the first couple of reboots, but you would very much be on your own and I really wouldn't recommend the risk that would entail.

Be aware that you cannot have two SBSs on the same network at the same time, so you would have to remove the old server from the network while you bring up the new, and also disconnect all clients during the switchover while you configure and test the new server. It's a very long time to hold your breath for.

Why not do the job properly? Head on over to http://www.sbsmigration.com and get yourself a copy of Jeff Middleton's Swing Migration kit. It'll cost you $200, but you will get your hands on an excellent resource together with Jeff's well-respected support. Practically all of the migration tasks are done offline, so you can go at your own pace, redo things to correct mistakes, and have minimal server downtime (which means happy users).

 

Yeah, I guess I was just looking for the easy way out.
Better to be safe than sorry so I'll take your advice and look into the Swing method instead. Thanks for your help.

 

I do this sort of thing all the time. I recommend using a bootable CD with the Universal Restore option. Read on how those work. Be sure to have your drivers handy.

 

I have just used UR to migrate my SBS 2003 to a new box and it worked fine.

I was using an old Dell Dimensions PC (IDE) as the SBS box and have just migrated to a Dell Poweredge server (Raid 5). There was an issue with speed (took 26 hours) but everything worked fine.

You must have an image of a basic drive as Dynamic drives are not supported by UR and you will not see the option to use UR if you have an image of a Dynamic disk.

Just my two pence worth.

N.

 

Hello Narog,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Acronis solution for transferring the system to a different hardware is Acronis Universal Restore

We recommend you to download and install the free trial version of Acronis True Image 9.1 Server for Windows to see how the software works on your computer. With the trial version of the product you will be able to fully use the windows version for a period of 15 days. The standalone version (bootable media) will have only restore function available.

Please submit a request to Acronis Support to receive a trial version of Acronis Universal Restore as well.

You can find the detailed instructions on how to use Acronis True Image 9.1 Server for Windows in the respective User's Guide.

Please visit Acronis online store to purchase the full version of the product.

Thank you.
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Marat Setdikov