advice on growing from 1 to 2 servers

  • Thread starter Thread starter Neil Jarman
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Neil Jarman

Hi all,

We have a W2kAS box, two years old, also running ex svr 2000.

Have saved up enough buget to buy a second server, and licences for all
above plus sql svr.

I wonder what implications there are for joining the two together.

In particular, do i need a second nic in each for servers to talk, or just
connect 2nd server to lan in same way as 1st one?

Also, any issues with domain I need to know about.

Lastly (probably not) what about exchange, and what possibilities are there?

realise this is whole book's worth, but any help / hints appreciated.

NEIL
 
Neil Jarman said:
Hi all,

We have a W2kAS box, two years old, also running ex svr 2000.

Have saved up enough buget to buy a second server, and licences for all
above plus sql svr.

I wonder what implications there are for joining the two together.

In particular, do i need a second nic in each for servers to talk, or just
connect 2nd server to lan in same way as 1st one?

Also, any issues with domain I need to know about.

Lastly (probably not) what about exchange, and what possibilities are there?

realise this is whole book's worth, but any help / hints appreciated.

NEIL
Click to expand...
What is it you want to do with this Exchange server? Do you really
need two servers or will all users be able to reside on one box? How
big is this new box? Do you really want to co-host SQL and Exchange on
one box? (The answer to that one is no, by the way)
As you can see, you're seriously light on detail so if you could
re-post with a lot more information then you'll get properly targeted
advice.
Me saying that you need only one nic, connected to the lan and then to
install Exchange on the new box is factually accurate but not the
answer I suspect you need.

Mark Arnold MCSA MCSE+M MVP,
FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exchange.htm
Blog: http://www.msexchange.me.uk
 
Hi Mark,

woops! slapped wrist?

My main concern is that I have 35 users all hanging off one server - which
is (by today's standards) fairly slow (1GHz) and almost audibly groans at
certain times of the day.

I am interested in possibly sharing the load, if not for files, then for
other overhead, and the mail just sprung to mind!

The primary reason for buying was that I am to develop a company wide CRM
type database, so that's why I needed SQLserver, I just put the second exch
on the list rather that try to get more money later (always a trauma in the
poor arts)

I am totally open to ideas and criticisms.

BTW, I hear what you say re exch & sql, but how do you explain SBS, which
does just that (ie server, exch & sql) all on the same box?

thanks for the quick response,

regards,

NEIL
 
Right then, here we go.
35 users equaly one server, unless they've all got mailboxes of a gig
each, or more.
So, to move from one mail server to another you can follow this.
http://www.swinc.com/resources/exch...&sectionName=Exchange 2000 Move Server Method
It will bring the new one on line, do the migration and then go
through the steps to decomisison the first.

SBS is optimised specifically for a lot of features, Exchange, SQL and
even ISA on one box.

If you are strapped for cash (who isn't?) then you might want to look
at SBS as it's a good solution for a few users who need a lot of
stuff. You will have some migration challenges mail-wise but the SBS
newsgroups and sites have a number of set procedures that skirt around
what is and isn't strictly supported, but neatly achieve a migration.

There is nothing to stop you co-hosting Exchange and SQL on this new
box, just make sure you pay attention to the memory and perhaps set
fixed limits in SQL. You would then be free to use the old Exchange
box as a print server, file server, isa server, whatever.



Neil Jarman said:
Hi Mark,

woops! slapped wrist?

My main concern is that I have 35 users all hanging off one server - which
is (by today's standards) fairly slow (1GHz) and almost audibly groans at
certain times of the day.

I am interested in possibly sharing the load, if not for files, then for
other overhead, and the mail just sprung to mind!

The primary reason for buying was that I am to develop a company wide CRM
type database, so that's why I needed SQLserver, I just put the second exch
on the list rather that try to get more money later (always a trauma in the
poor arts)

I am totally open to ideas and criticisms.

BTW, I hear what you say re exch & sql, but how do you explain SBS, which
does just that (ie server, exch & sql) all on the same box?

thanks for the quick response,

regards,

NEIL
Click to expand...


Mark Arnold MCSA MCSE+M MVP,
FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exchange.htm
Blog: http://www.msexchange.me.uk
 
OK,

Many thanks - will read the doc through.

Matter of fact, mail is total around 8 Gig, so much lower than 1Gb pu.

So are you saying there is no benefiit in creating any kind of redundancy?

Neil
 
Never say never but you with a good wind you could have 8GB of mail
back within a couple of hours from bare hardware.
If your pocket won't stretch to a cluster and a good tech resource to
sit on that cluster 24/7 then you probably won't worry about a small
outage should the worst happen.

If, by your last sentence you were looking at redundancy in this new
server then I have to disabuse you of the idea right now. Your pocket
doesn't run to redundancy on Exchange and you don't get it out of the
box.


Neil Jarman said:
OK,

Many thanks - will read the doc through.

Matter of fact, mail is total around 8 Gig, so much lower than 1Gb pu.

So are you saying there is no benefiit in creating any kind of redundancy?

Neil
Click to expand...


Mark Arnold MCSA MCSE+M MVP,
FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exchange.htm
Blog: http://www.msexchange.me.uk
 
Mark - thanks for all your comments.

NEIL





Mark Arnold said:
Never say never but you with a good wind you could have 8GB of mail
back within a couple of hours from bare hardware.
If your pocket won't stretch to a cluster and a good tech resource to
sit on that cluster 24/7 then you probably won't worry about a small
outage should the worst happen.

If, by your last sentence you were looking at redundancy in this new
server then I have to disabuse you of the idea right now. Your pocket
doesn't run to redundancy on Exchange and you don't get it out of the
box.



001&faqname=Exchange%202000&sectionID=1024&sectionName=Exchange%202000%20Mov
e%20Server%20Method


Mark Arnold MCSA MCSE+M MVP,
FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exchange.htm
Blog: http://www.msexchange.me.uk
Click to expand...
 
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