* Answering reader questions about installing Windows Server 2003
A while ago, I got a note from a reader with some questions about installing Windows Server 2003. It’s a dilemma that many have and will face in the future, so it’s worth exploring here. As always, feel free to disagree with my suggestions – but do be ready to back up your disagreement with facts, personal experiences or at least humorous anecdotes.
My correspondent wrote:
“We have a new IBM server in both of our offices, but haven’t started using them yet, and we want to set them up the best way before putting them online. Both servers have [Win 2000] server installed, but on one, that is all. The other also has all the software programs we use. Neither has any files on it yet. We found out recently, as a small non-profit that we can get [Windows Server 2003] cheaply, so we decided to do that, and are waiting for it to arrive.”
So the scenario is two servers, one with only the operating system installed and one with the operating system and the organization’s applications. The questions I was asked were:
1) Should we uninstall the programs from the computer that has them before installing 2003?
2) Should we install SP1 or wait till they fix the bugs it’s going to cause?
3) Can we install 2003 over 2000? Or should we start over from scratch?
I’ll start with question No. 3. With the server that only has the operating system installed, I’d wipe it clean and install Windows Server 2003 as a new, fresh install. This eliminates any problems that might arise from older drivers or services that are inexplicably not updated. But I’d also recommend – provided you have some time – to do the install as an upgrade on the server that already has the applications installed. Then I’d install those applications on the server on which we installed Windows Server 2003 as a new system. By comparing the two in the lab, it should be quickly apparent if there are problems with the old apps on the new system. If you don’t have the time for this, then I’d wipe both servers and do fresh installs on each.
That pretty well answers question No. 1 as well: either keep the applications and upgrade the operating system or wipe the whole server and start from scratch.
Question No. 2 is a bit moot at this point as SP1 has been out long enough for us to know that you should install it, and do so before adding any software to the system. But, in general, the question could be rephrased as “How soon after its release should a service pack be installed?” The definitive answer is “it depends.”
Any service pack should be subjected to testing in the real world before it’s installed. If you have the facilities, you should do this yourself on a test system that’s not connected to your organization’s network. If you can’t test yourself, then you should hold back until others have tested it and released their findings. If you know that there is something in the service pack that you absolutely have to have, then find some way to test it quickly on your own even if that means taking down part of the production network for a few hours (probably not during the normal work day, though) to act as a quick and dirty test bed. Be sure that anyone who might be affected is given plenty of notice, though.
