Monday, June 25, 2007

"Swing" Away and Hit a Home Run on Your Next Server Change

Had an issue with a server that had way too many experiments performed on it. You know. Failed CRM installs, bits and pieces of monitoring packages left over, etc. It was, unfortunately, my main SBS server. Reloading from scratch was not the best option; losing my profiles was unacceptable. I worked hard to gum up that Active Directory and wanted to keep as much of it as possible while cleaning out the refuse (taking out the trash).

Hallelujah, there is an option! Many of you have hear about the Swing Migration technique that Jeff Middleton has produced for cleaning and moving Active Directory to a , new server, saving the lone IT guy from endless hours of work and "cross your fingers" data transfers. My need was for a specific iteration of his technique called "Redeploying SBS 2003".

Success though is predicated on the originating server having a healthy AD. As it turned out, mine did not. I was ignorant of my AD issue and began my "redeploy"...more than once. Much weeping and gnashing of teeth later (screams, howling at the moon, reexamination of my purpose on earth), I found the resources that Jeff provided for diagnosing and repairing AD issues. My server must have just finished a personal diary, because it had a "Journal Wrap" error. Further study indicates that this is possible side effect of CRM installations on SBS.

Oh, Jeff, you are good. Thanks for the information and excellent troubleshooting guides. I should have turned to you sooner. Then I could have smacked that home run much much quicker!