Replacing old server with new server (Server 2008 R2 64bit). Fresh install

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I recently order a Dell power edge server to replace and existing old dell poweredge server . I would like to decommission the old one then add the new one to my domain and for it to have the same IP address as the old one. What are my steps as this is new to me.

Tenasen,

I hope all is well. The steps will depend on exactly what you are looking to keep rom the old server, if anything, and what role the new server will take on.

At a high level, without knowing for sure exactly what your environment looks like, and the answers to the two statements I made up above, let's define a small scenario and the steps involved to walk through it as a starting point:

Scenario: You want to make a simple replacement of the "OLD" server for the "NEW" server, and copy over whatever data may be of importance. In addition, you want to have the "NEW" server joined to your domain and to take over the same IP address as the "OLD" server.

Approach:

1. Setup and Install the O/S on the "NEW" server and ensure that you fully patch the server with the latest Windows Updates as of the time you install the O/S.

2. Ensure any needed drivers are loaded and all hardware is working properly.

3. Go to the "OLD" server and take note of the current IP address. You will then need to figure out what additional IP addresses are available for use in your domain, and change the IP address of the "OLD" server to one of the available IP addresses.

4. ** OPTIONAL ** IF there is data that you want to move from the "OLD" server to the "NEW" server, you will need to organize the data and get it together so it can be easily moved or copied. I would suggest that you could place it all into a folder and then share the folder to make it available over the network for copying to the "NEW" server, OR you could copy the data to an external USB device and then move the data to the new server that way.

5. Assign the ORIGINAL IP address from the "OLD" server to the "NEW" server to ensure that the "NEW" server will take the ORIGINAL IP address and use it as it registers with the domain.

6. Join the "NEW" server to your domain using the appropriate DOMAIN ADMINITRATIVE credential.

You should be all set at that point, but again, there may be additional things tat you want to configure the "NEW" server to do, or additional steps involved, depending on the current configuration of your domain and network.

I hope that helps to at least get you started in the right direction.

Please let me know if you have questions as you get started.

Good Luck !!

Cheers,

Adam

Adam,

Thanks, great idea but the thing is that old server is the production server that all my users connect to and a specific sql production application is running.

Network Servers in my setup:

Domain Name: SICS.com.lc

1. Domain Controller 10.4.0.10 DOMAIN.SICS.com.lc
   2)Production Server 10.4.0.11 (will be replacing with new server) EverestServer.com.lc
   3)File Server 10.4.0.12 FILESERVER.SICS.com.lc
2. Application Server 10.4.0.13 APPSERVER.SICS.com.lc

I need the new replacement server to have the same IP address as the old one.

Please note that I can log on to any of these servers with my same credentials given by my domain controller.

I believe all servers are connected as a Domain member.

I await your response.

Thanks,

Tenasen,

I am sorry that I did not respond to you sooner, I have been working remotely for the last week, and did not realize that you had responded to my post, and were in need of additional clarification.

The general thought process is not any different than whet I outlined for you initially, however, based on the additional detail(s) that you have provided, there are some important considerations and items that you need to be clear about as you ponder where to begin, and how to proceed with the highest likelihood of success.

Because you have some sort of SQL application running on the Production Server (10.4.0.11 machine that will be replaced), you have to ensure that you are either going to be able to create a brand new machine (physical or virtual) to host the application, and then install a clean version of the application, and then restore all data,

OR

you will have to image the existing machine using some sort of image capture technology (SCCM, WDS, Ghost, etc...) and then restore that image, data, application and all to either new physical hardware, or a new virtual machine.

Either way, once you do that, you would shut down the old legacy machine being replaced, and assign the same IP address to the new machine you have created.

Since you will have to join this machine to the domain, IF you are going to keep the same machine name for consistency, you would have to unjoin the old machine from the domain PRIOR to shutting it down, thus removing the IP address and machine name references in the domain and in DNS. Then once you "ADD" the new replacement machine to the domain, it will register itself in DNS and in the AD and you should be all set.

Please think through my additional comments and suggestions, and let me know if there are any other questions we need to help work out as you proceed.

Good Luck.

Cheers,

Adam

If I do an imagine of the old server using one of the software mentioned does it depends on the Number of partition and partition size.

Example: Old server has 3 partition and new server has only one full partition, Would I need to have the partition sorted out just as the old server when installing that old server image to the new server?

Tenasen,

I hope all is well. It would depend on the capabilities of the imaging software being used. Typically you have some sort of option under advanced settings to choose what partition(s) you want to restore.

If you want to restore all 3 partitions to the new computer, then ensure all 3 are selected when you make the choices for what to restore, this could also be a "do a whole disk restore" option, again, depending on the software being used.

Either way, if you choose the whole disk, or all of the partitions, then the software should reformat the target drive and set it up to match the configuration of the imaged computer.

Cheers,

Adam