Tips and Tricks on Rolling Out Windows Server 2008

Now that I've covered the key migration considerations for Server 2008 over the past several weeks - finally, here are a few miscellaneous tips and tricks when it's time for your organization to roll out Server 2008.

• You may want to start with a member server and upgrade your domain controllers a little later. Adding a Server 2008 DC involves a bit more work, such as running ADPREP on your existing forest.
• If you want to avail yourself of the BitLocker full volume encryption technology, you'll need to spend some time planning out your disk partitions; 2 are required at minimum.
• One nice thing about Server 2008 compared to Vista is that the server product lets you encrypt non-system volumes.
• You can use your Server 2003 printer drivers with Server 2008, but that's just about the only category of drivers that is likely to be compatible with the new OS.
• User Account Control is likely to be a major area of application compatibility headaches, but remember that you can turn it on or off via Group Policy for specific OU's.

Windows Server 2008 is easily the broadest and deepest product I've ever seen from Microsoft, and my recent blog posts have just been designed to flag some of the areas that you may want to know about when deciding whether and when to move to the new platform. I'll be writing a lot more about this product as we all get to know it better in the coming months and years.

See recent blog posts...

Your Migration and Deployment Toolbox in WS 2008

The evolution of Group Policy in Windows Server 2008 - Part 2

The evolution of Group Policy in Windows Server 2008 - Part 1

Server Manager - One-stop shop for Server Administration