|
|
 |
Summary
Genisys helps an architectural firm migrate to a new platform with minimum operational disruption
The Customer
Chapman-Taylor is a London based firm of architects specialising in the creation of new shopping complexes. The company operates two separate offices, with a total of approximately four hundred users spread across both sites.
The Challenge
Chapman-Taylor's server infrastructure consisted of several Windows NT®4.0 servers acting as domain controllers across two domains with a one-way trust, file and print servers and Exchange® 5.5 servers based on freestanding, clone tower servers. There was very little built in resiliency and no centralised backup or storage system.
The company decided to migrate their NT4.0 domain to Windows® 2000 and Active Directory and Exchange® 2000 - with the exception, due to administrative and security issues, of their accounts domain, which still runs an NT4 domain for data whilst utilising the new Exchange 2000 server.
Chapman-Taylor also took the opportunity to move to a new, industry standard server platform with a small SAN storage solution and centralised backup solution. The file and print data was to be moved onto a Windows 2000 two-node, clustered server running in Active/Active mode.
The challenge was to carry out the migration of their NT4.0 user accounts, Exchange 5.5 mailboxes and public folders to the new platform with the least disruption possible, and to utilise the new features of Windows 2000 in the most productive way. At the same time as the server migration the corporate network was to be migrated from a shared 10Mb infrastructure to a 100Mb switched infrastructure and a 1Gb fibre server backbone LAN.
Genisys Solution
In order to migrate the user accounts, we installed a Compaq DL360 as a BDC in Chapman-Taylor's existing NT4 domain, and then promoted it to be the PDC before upgrading to Windows 2000.
We then configured two Compaq ML370 servers with Windows® 2000 Advanced server, and carved the SAN disk array into logical drives in order to utilise the Active/Active capability of MSCS and maintain data integrity. We successfully overcame the challenge of making data accessible via a single drive mapping by configuring one of the virtual servers as a DFS server, splitting corporate data evenly across each of the virtual servers and configuring a DFS pointer for all shared folders.
One Compaq ML370 was installed as the new Exchange 2000 server, and the Exchange 2000 SP2 Active Directory Connector was installed into the root domain and configured with two one-way Connection Agreements of Exchange 5.5 to the active directory.
A new child domain was created and placed into native mode to avoid problems with public folder and distribution list permissions.
Exchange 2000 was installed and joined to the existing Exchange 5.5 HQ site. After installation, the recipient update service was updated to create e-mail addresses and Exchange attributes for users in both AD domains. After allowing a day for replication to complete, all Exchange 5.5 users, DLs and contacts were visible within Active Directory and the Exchange 2000 server was visible within the Exchange 5.5 admin console. After testing, we carried out a phased migration of all mailboxes and public folders and then decommissioned the old Exchange 5.5 server according to Microsoft best practices.
We also deployed a centralised backup solution for the new servers and SAN. A dedicated ML370/G2 was installed to run BackupExec 8.6 advanced edition. All of the new servers had the BackupExec remote agent installed and the Exchange 2000 server had the BackupExec Exchange agent installed in order to carry out on-line backups of the Exchange databases. An SDLT tape library was attached to the backup server to provide the backup storage capacity and performance required to backup all of the servers overnight. The most critical servers (file & print, Exchange) also had the BackupExec Intelligent Disaster Recovery option installed to provide for a rapid rebuild process in the event of a complete server failure.
Benefits
Chapman-Taylor reported a smooth migration process. The new configuration enables them to effectively use key features of Windows 2000, enabling the company to make the most of its investment in the new technology.
|
|
|
| ©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved |
|
|
back