The following is a list of the tasks that should be performed before the actual installation.
Check application compatibility
Disconnect the uninterruptible power supply (UPS)
Run the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool
Identify mass storage device drivers
Back up servers
Disable virus protection software
Prepare Active Directory
Some
or all of these tasks are recommended, depending on the path of
installation and whether this is a new installation or an upgrade from
an existing OS; in addition, you need to perform the Active Directory
prep only if you are going to promote your Windows Server 2008 machine
to a domain controller and add it to an existing Windows 2000/2003
domain.
Now let’s take a closer look at each of these tasks.
Check Application Compatibility
Before
you install Windows Server 2008, you must be sure that any third-party
applications you plan to run on the server will be supported. One way
you can do this is to contact the application vendor and get
documentation on whether the application will run on Windows Server
2008. In a real-world environment, the documentation is very important
because if things do not work as expected, you may
be able to save your job by providing the documentation. (Obviously,
you would have tested the application on a development server first.)
Another
tool that you can use is the Microsoft Application Compatibility
Toolkit 5.0 (ACT 5.0). This tool can be used to collect compatibility
data about your environment into a centralized data store. Having this
information can be essential when evaluating the risk involved with an
OS upgrade.
Disconnect the UPS
During
the installation process, Windows Server 2008 attempts to detect
devices attached to serial ports. If you have a UPS connected to a
serial port, you may run into issues with the installation, so be sure
to disconnect it until the installation is complete.
Run the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool
You
can use the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool to test the random access
memory (RAM) on your server. At the time of this writing, you can
download this tool and a guide from http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp. After you download the tool, you can perform the following steps:
1. | Run the downloaded file mtinst.exe to start the setup for the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool.
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2. | Choose
Create Startup Disk to install Windows Memory Diagnostic onto a floppy
disk or choose Save CD Image to Disk to use a CD-ROM to which you can
boot the server.
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3. | Reboot the server to the disk you just created.
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4. | The
server will boot to the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool interface and
automatically start the first test. It will continue to run tests with
the same settings until you exit or pause.
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Note
To
run a more thorough test on the memory, you can choose to run the
extended test suite by pressing T while the Windows Memory Diagnostic
tool is running. If you do this, it would be best to leave the tool to
run overnight.
Identify Mass Storage Device Drivers
If
a vendor has supplied a driver file for your storage device, now would
be a good time to have that file stored on a floppy, a CD, a DVD, or a
flash drive. You should store files either in the root directory or in
a folder named according to the processor architecture. During the
installation, you will have the opportunity to load this driver.
Back Up Servers
Backing
up servers is standard procedure when making any platform changes. Make
sure you have a good backup of any critical data. When performing an OS
upgrade, it is a good idea to make sure you have a backup of the boot
and system partitions as well as the system state data. An alternative
way to back up this configuration data is to create a backup set for
Automated System Recovery (ASR).
Note
You should consider this recommendation if you are planning to upgrade an existing OS.
Disable Virus Protection Software
Virus
protection software can affect the speed of your upgrade. Every file
that is copied to your server will need to be scanned.
Note
You should consider this recommendation if you are planning to upgrade an existing OS.
Prepare Active Directory
There are two steps in preparing the Active Directory service for a new Windows Server 2008 domain controller:
- Prepare the forest.
- Prepare the domain.
Note
You
need to prepare Active Directory only if you are going to build a
Windows Server 2008 domain controller that will be joined to an
existing Windows 2000/2003 domain.
Let’s first go through the steps to prepare the forest:
1. | Log
on to the Schema Master of your existing domain with an account that is
a member of either the Enterprise Administrators, Schema
Administrators, or Domain Administrators group.
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2. | Copy the adprep directory from the sources\adprep on the Windows Server 2008 installation CD to the schema master.
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3. | From a command prompt, navigate to the adprep folder you just copied. Then run adprep/forestprep.
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4. | For a read-only domain controller (RODC), run adprep/rodcprep.
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5. | Wait for the task to complete and replicate prior to running the second portion of the ADS preparation.
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When you have waited for the changes to replicate, you can follow these steps to prepare the domain:
1. | Log on to the infrastructure master of your existing domain with an account that is a member of the Domain Administrators group.
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2. | Copy the adprep directory from sources\adprep on the Windows Server 2008 installation CD to the infrastructure master.
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3. | From a command prompt, navigate to the adprep folder you just copied and then run adprep\domainprep\gpprep.
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4. | Wait for the task to complete and replicate.
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Now
that you have completed some or all of the pre-installation tasks, you
can start with the installation of Windows Server 2008. But first you
must decide which edition of Windows Server 2008 you need for your
environment.
