Hi, we have windows 2003 ent 64 bit with CA, radius, winsand DHCP services. We need to upgrade to windows 2008 server. What is the best way to do it? straight upgrade, or install new server and move services ? thanks, aurimas

The Best way to achieve your scenario is going with Transition. That mean Install a new windows server 2008 and move all the roles to it from your old serrver to the new server. I beleive in place upgrade is dangerous as you cannot revert back easily if you fail to do it.http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/sanderberkouwer/archive/2008/03/02/transitioning-your-active-directory-to-windows-server-2008.aspx#choiceshttp://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/sanderberkouwer/archive/2008/04/08/upgrading-your-active-directory-to-windows-server-2008.aspx#2008UpgdReasonstoupgradein-place For DHCP see this link How to move a DHCP database from a computer that is running Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/962355http://blogs.technet.com/networking/archive/2008/06/27/steps-to-move-a-dhcp-database-from-a-windows-server-2003-or-2008-to-another-windows-server-2008-machine.aspx For CA see this 1. Backup the CA database and private key and export the CA registry configuration from the Windows Server 2003. 2. Remove Certificate Services from the Windows Server 2003 server. 3. Set up a enterprise root CA on a computer running Windows Server 2008 with the root CA certificate (with private key) that is exported from the Windows Server 2003 server. 4. Restoring the CA Database on the Windows Server 2008 Computer. 5. After I restart the certificate service on the Windows Server 2008, it functions well for enrolling certificates without restoring the CA Configuration (registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CertSvc\configuration from the Windows Server 2003). Please make sure to perform a complete server backup on the Windows Server 2003 before migrating the CA (remove Certificate Services). For Wins backup:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc727901.aspxrestore:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc727960.aspxhttp://technetfaqs.wordpress.com

thank you for an answer, Syed, this our server is on the virtual machine, so i can do a snapshot and revert it back if something goes wrong. So maybe it is easily to upgrade straight to Windows 2008 as i wil not have to remove CA and install it again and restore databse? thanksaurimas

hi there, Here is a detailed document to be followed when setting up Active directory on a VM .http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888794I appreciate this document because it gives us a checklist .sainath !analyze

Hi, Yes, you can upgrade the server to Windows Server 2008 directly. However, Microsoft recommend a clean installation of Windows Server 2008 whenever possible. For more information, please refer to the following guide: Guide for Upgrading to Windows Server 2008 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc755199(WS.10).aspx For AD CS, you can refer to this article to determine whether to upgrade or migrate the AD CS environment: Planning the Upgrade or Migration http://technet.microsoft.com/pl-pl/library/cc742466(WS.10).aspx Hope the information is helpful.