Installing Windows 2003 server...

[Snow-Munki]

Hi,

at work at the moment and have been asked to reformat and install Windows 2003 server ( for the first time )

so probably won't get as far as reformatting but anyways i have a load of cd's here and was wondering what i use:

Windows small business serve 2003 - 5 disc !! why so many ?

Windows server 2003 web edition - 1 disc ?

ok acutally that's all i got, do i need much more.. lol soo going to mess this up

[Stringent]

Go for the Small Buisness Ed, 5CDs cos it comes with a cut down version of Exchange server.

[Snow-Munki]

sorry probably best to add that this is just a 'standalone' server..

as there is already a main one with SBS and all that stuff on it with its domain etc etc

so would i need all the extra's ?

[Butuz]

What is the standalone server going to actually do? A server is no good if theres nothing gonna be connected to it to use it!

"Windows server 2003 web edition - 1 disc" takes an ordinary server and turns it into a dedicated web server that can be controlled entireley via a secure web interface. Thats a good CD to have. And if your server is gonna be a web server, use that disk instead.

Butuz

[Snow-Munki]

sorry to be so vague...

its pretty much a 'dead' server for me to play with... i'm going to try and install windows 2003 server and then a few other bits of software..

and if all goes well will be connected to the main network with the other 3 servers they have at the moment...

so won't be used for exchange or anything, or web development/design either... hmmmm

[Butuz]

Well if your gonna play with it, i would suggest you get a workstation with xp on to connect to it, and have a serious play with active directory/exchange/sql server/IIS/volume shadow copy - as those are the only things worth playing with to be honest.

Once youve played and learned, reformat it before connecting it to your main network. You dont want a randomly half configured domain controller introduced onto your main network!

Butuz

[Snow-Munki]

hmm thanks that's very true...

so go for the full blown 5 cd sbs package one then ?

Will try it this afternoon now !

[Moby-Dick]

SBS wont play well with other SBS servers on the network as it insists on being a domain controller.

You want windows 2003 server standard ( not web edition )

[Butuz]

Ah, I've never used SBS as i aint a small business. If what moby says is true and i am sure it is, then DO NOT plug a second SBS server into your network unless you want a potential whole load of problems

It would be ok to play around with standalone though.

Butuz

[Moby-Dick]

SBS works well up to 75 users , but you need a suprisingly beefy server to support that many

[Nomadd]

You want windows 2003 server standard ( not web edition )

Exactly.

Then throw some *decent* software on it like Oracle and WebSphere - i.e. something worth learning that you can make a ton of money from! :-)

Nomadd