Notes on an “All-Encompassing” Project

A few brief notes from an “all-encompassing” project which involved many elements – EqualLogic, vSphere 5.1, AD uplift, DHCP migration, EV 7.5 decommissioning, BES decommissioning, Exchange 2003 to 2010 upgrade, Archive Mailboxes, Print Services migration, File Server migration, SQL Services, RDS Services, Member Server uplifts, Backup Exec 2012...

Dell EqualLogic

VMware vSphere 5.1
Install as a domain user to avoid needing to do:

Domain uplift from a 32-bit 2003 DC to 2008R2
After passing: dcdiag, netdiag, replmon, repadmin /showrepl
adprep32.exe /forestprep
adprep32.exe /domainprep
(Optional) adprep32.exe /rodcprep
dcpromo

DHCP Migration

BES Decommissioning
If you just want to get rid of BES, can simply shut down the BES Server or just the Blackberry services!

Symantec Enterprise Vault 7.5 Decommissioning
Easy to do as in -
Note 1: Don’t delete the Exchange Mailbox Archiving Task, or Exchange Provisioning Task, just stop/pause them (if you do, you will be unable to Export back into Exchange 2003 - the tasks are easy to recreate though.)
Note 2: When all archives are moved back into Exchange 2003, and archive mailboxes deleted, it is okay to simply stop the Enterprise Vault services and that’s it.
Note 3: Be aware that exporting back into Exchange 2003 can take some time, as an example: one 150GB Enterprise Vault store took roughly 15 days!

Exchange upgrade from 2003 to 2010
Be sure to run Best Practice Analyzer Permissions and Health Checks first, and take heed of any warnings!

Useful command to get Mailbox Statistics from an Exchange 2010 Server:
Get-MailboxStatistics –Server EXCHANGE2010 | Select DisplayName, ItemCount, TotalItemSize | Sort-Object TotalItemSize –Descending | Export –CSV C:\MBSizes.csv

Exchange 2010 Archive Mailboxes
Simple to configure – important to remember this requires Exchange Enterprise CALs and Office 2010 Professional Plus*.

*For more on licensing requirements for Personal Archives:

Command to Exclude Archive Database from automatic mailbox provisioning:
Set-MailboxDatabase “Archive Mailboxes” –IsExcludedFromProvisioning $true
Note: In Exchange 2010 SP1 it became possible to have Archive mailboxes in a different database to the original mailbox – still requires good IOPs though!

Print Services Migration from 2003 32-bit to 2008R2
Easy:
1. Install Print and Document Services role on 2008R2 print server
2. Open printmanagement.msc (2008R2 Print Management)
2.1 Add the 2003 32-bit print server
2.2 Install 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the in use drivers on the 2003 server (names need to match for the import – might have to upgrade the 2003 printer drivers to manufacturer universal versions)
2.3 Right-click 2003 print server and Export printers to a file…
2.4 Right-click 2008R2 print server and Import servers from a file…

Image: 2008 R2 Print Management and Import printers from a file…

File Server Migration

SQL Services
Disk provisioning – 4/5 disks: O/S, SQL Server Data (DB), SQL Server Logs, SQL Server TempDB, (optional) SQL Server Backups

Remote Desktop Services
Apply best practices recommendations as per Citrix XenApp 6.5.

Symantec BackupExec 2012

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