* Migrating from NT 4 to Windows Server 2003
Back in the last century (that does make it seem so very long ago) I used this newsletter to constantly remind you that you need to plan your migration from Windows NT 4 servers to Windows 2000 servers. I recommended a number of third party tools to aid in that migration.
A number of those vendors (e.g., Entevo, Mission Critical and FastLane) are no longer with us as they were acquired by larger organizations (respectively, BindView, NetIQ and Quest). Some completely disappeared. Entevo and Mission Critical had their technology rolled into their acquirers’ products while Quest still maintains the FastLane Suite of utilities as a separate entity.
However, there is one company that we advised you to check out – Miramar, which is still independent and still wants your migration business. And it still wants to move you from an NT 4 environment – but this time it wants you to move up to Windows Server 2003.
It’s not that a migration from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003 is that simple (it isn’t, so plan accordingly), but the move from NT4 to the latest server operating system is so much more intimidating than it was three years ago.
We know there are a lot of NT 4 servers still running on many organizations’ networks, if only through the sheer volume of marketing material from Microsoft over the past year or two almost begging you to migrate to Win 2000. And the longer you wait to migrate, the harder it’s going to be.
Miramar’s area of expertise, though, is the desktop – its “Desktop DNA” product has been used for years to automate and facilitate upgrading of users’ desktop computers by migrating the user’s “personality” (user-specific and application-specific profiles and settings) without moving unnecessary hardware information.
Simply taking a snapshot image of a user’s PC and installing it to new hardware means, most likely, that all the wrong drivers and hardware options (screen resolution, for example) get moved and the likely result is an unbootable machine. The alternative is often a new install of everything requiring the user to spend days or even weeks getting the new machine to the same state as the old one. Desktop DNA mitigates all of the manual effort and brings the new hardware online in a matter of minutes or hours rather than days or weeks.
Miramar is quick to remind you (or anyone who will listen) that moving from an NT4 domain to Windows Server 2003 and Active Directory causes major changes not only to the server but also to the policies and registries of the users. Head over to Miramar’s Web site and look at the demo to decide if this is the kind of help you need in your migration (and you do need some help).
If, like I was, you’re skeptical that migration tools could be “one-time use” products, I’ll just mention a response I was given: it’s like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, once you reach the end it’s time to go back to the beginning and start all over again.
