P2V Server Migration Question

[drjones]

Need help / advice on the following:

• Client has Dell PE SBS 2008.
• Need to replace for two reasons:
  • 1. Running out of disk space on their shared drive.
  • 2. the hardware is 5 years old, out of warranty.
    
• My engineer has looked at it & gave it a clean bill of health, additionally since I've been managing this server for about 4 years, it has run perfectly smoothly - no issues of any sort.
  • This server handles:
    • Exchange
    • File & print serving
    • AD / DC
    • Sage MasterBuilder

Client also has a brand-new R320 running Hyper-V + 1 VM dedicated for a new LOB app.

1. Given that this server runs perfectly well & is in good health, would you go P2V on this SBS box and run it as a VM on the new R320? Seems as though it would save the client a lot of time, money & hassle instead of rebuilding everything from scratch, including exchange.

2. If you were to go P2V with this box, again keeping in mind it runs Exchange, what RAID config would you use? I like RAID 6 because of its dual-disk redundancy but wonder if the added write penalty would be problematic for Exchange....

The R320 has a PERC 710, 6 open disk bays, so we have a lot of options.

And yes, we will be adding more RAM; the R320 has 16GB, I'll prob double that to 32GB total.....

Thank you!

 

[TAPtech]

First question as this is usually the case... is that an OEM license of SBS 2008?

EDIT: sorry, didn't help with any of your questions...

1) Well.. it depends. A second set of hardware is more redundant- hardware failure on the new server will stop everything at once.

2) I'm just doing RAID1 and RAID10. Drives are relatively inexpensive these days and have lots of storage. It just makes life easier and performance is great.

 

[drjones]

AFAIK, yes, it is OEM / would likely have been purchased through Dell with the server, but I'm not positive.
How can I tell if it is OEM or not?

As for your #1; what do you mean? If the new R320 dies? I forgot to mention that I'll be pushing very hard to get them a BDR / Axcient.

 

[TAPtech]

You can just right click on computer, go to properties, and scroll down to the bottom of the window. That'll display the key. If it says OEM in the key... you guessed it. That key is tied to the hardware so you'd need a replacement key for the P2V conversion. It sorta stinks.

Yes, I did mean if the new R320 dies. It just depends on the environment... I guess a better question is- how many users? How critical is down time? For most SMBs, virtualization makes a ton of sense.

 

[Markverhyden]

Can you apply a new license key to a instance that has been pushed through P2V if it was originally OEM? I've never had any luck getting an OEM installation to recognize a non-OEM key. But the last time I tried that was with '08 if I remember correctly.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I'm a big fan of RAID 1 and RAID 10 lately....especially for SBS. Put the OS on the small RAID 1 volume, and put the Data on the fast big expandable RAID 10 volume.

I do the same with my Hyper-Vs...just a bigger RAID 1 for the host and C drives of the guests.

SBS on a single volume... //puke.

BUT...since this is an OEM Dell license...moot conversation. You're stuck. Now a guy I work with did a special license upgrade with SBS2011 I think...through Dell, for this purpose...I recall it being a difficult go, but I believe that was only supported with SBS2011. Pretty sure now back with Vista server..I mean..SBS08. But it's worth a try for you to spend a half day on the phone with Dell trying to find out.

Now...you could export your current SBS08 instance to hypervisor file format...and then take this 5+ year old server...double the memory and slam new hard drives in it and skin it with a Hyper-V host...and then import your SBS instance. But you're client is looking at...oh...//rubs head// easily 3 grand possibly more in parts and labor...to what...bubble gum and duct tape a server past its prime? Not good ROI in my book..especially since it's crummy SBSVistaServer (SBS08).

IMO...better talking to the client and heading towards the direction of an upgrade....new physical server, new virtualized guests, and O365.

Back to that OEM license thing, I see you mention BDR...like Axcient...or Datto (we're big Datto users)...OEM screws you there too...just as useless. Soon as you do that first reboot of the server in a virtualized environment...BAM...you're dead ended...activation won't fly. Same for any basic image based backup/DR...if you have to restore to new server metal...BAM...you're screwed. OEM is literally tied to the hardware is was purchased with, period. There is no need to quote a BDR/business continuity solution when the server licenses are OEM. Even putting in a hypervisor environment for redudancy or portability..nada...nope.

For servers, always quote Microsoft volume licensing ...much more flexibility, typically better pricing than retail, and it builds your status with Microsoft as you start building sales volume and history.

 

[freedomit]

Also worth mentioning that Outlook 2016 doesn't support Exchange 2007 so your gonna have to migrate away at some point soonish

 

[TAPtech]

Found this on Google, but have not tried it before:

https://social.technet.microsoft.co...convert-server-2003-r2-std-oem-volume-license


"Open an elevated CMD prompt and run slmgr /ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx"

Where the XXXX's are the new key. You may need to do this BEFORE the P2V.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Found this on Google, but have not tried it before:

https://social.technet.microsoft.co...convert-server-2003-r2-std-oem-volume-license


"Open an elevated CMD prompt and run slmgr /ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx"

Where the XXXX's are the new key. You may need to do this BEFORE the P2V.

I've......seen that done before. Not on SBS08..but on, ehh..can't remember. Didn't work.

 

[drjones]

StoneCat: how the heck does everyone get around that licensing issue when you rely on a Datto or other BDR??

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

StoneCat: how the heck does everyone get around that licensing issue when you rely on a Datto or other BDR??

Well, it's part of the education process in learning the product you're about to sell. You are told about this.
Those of us in IT likely know about it already.

Years ago, back in the Server 2K and prior days...the company I worked for often did OEM licensing...but "BDR" and virtualization wasn't really around yet. When I left that place and got together with my colleage, where I'm at now...he was already setup with Microsoft doing Volume Licensing for all his server jobs. He was pretty firm about that...and with the reasoning of building up a relationship with Microsoft. So by the time BDR stuff came out on the market, and by the time we started doing virtualization, and signed up with Datto...the greater majority of our clients had servers with Volume licensing.

We have had a couple of situations where it was OEM..and we had to do something. For some cases, your Microsoft account rep will give you a temporary license key that will last for 30 days for you to do a swingover...so, you have 30 days of being able to boot up that OEM server.

 

[putz]

I've never had a problem activating OEM server licenses in a virtual environment or other hardware for that matter. It's not ideal, but I just did it today in fact to build a test IIS platform for a customers software. My understanding is per the license agreement, the licensing is tied to the physical hardware, so you can use it, as long as its being used on the same physical hardware it was assigned to when you purchased it and your only using that one instance of it. Hell, you can build and sell whitebox servers and buy your own OEM licensing and throw the stickers on the hardware you sell, there is nothing magical that binds the license so that it only activates on your hardware.

When you attempt activation, you have to use the product key that's on the OEM license sticker. You cant use the product key that the machine was offline activated with. OEMs use different keys to offline activate their products when they are shipped out, which are also configured on the OEM media. They use an SLP key which when combined with their OEM license file, and a BIOS that is loaded with the compatible SLIC table, automatically activates the software without the need to activate by phone or by internet. This was actually a popular method used to pirate windows 7. There are tools out there where you can inject a Dell or other OEM SLIC table easily into a non OEM mobo bios, then just install the SLP key and OEM license file (which are widely available) and you had a permanent activated Win7.

So if you are going from physical to virtual and are needing to re-activate because of the difference in the perceived hardware, you may need to use slmgr to flush out the old product key and remove the installed oem license file if you are having difficulty activating it. Being that it sounds like you want to activate on different hardware though, you most likely would be violating the OEM agreement. With that said, I would never want to move SBS server to a VM. Its a pile and a resource hog.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Being that it sounds like you want to activate on different hardware though, you most likely would be violating the OEM agreement. With that said, I would never want to move SBS server to a VM. Its a pile and a resource hog.

Yeah he's talking about new physical server hardware here...which isn't "most likely" violating the OEM agreement, it is "without question" violating it.
As would the backup stuff we discussed.

SBS can run fine in a virtualized setup, I've done tons of them and I'm VERY anal about top performance from servers. The mistake lots of people make with SBS is they put the C and D or E volumes on the same spindle. Like ..both partitions on 1 large RAID volume. Be it bare metal install, or virtualized.
I always build my hyper-V setups with multiple RAID volumes (spindles)...and spread the servers drives across those.

 

[drjones]

Well, crap....you're right.....I just installed an Axcient at a client site with an SBS 2008 & 2008 Std; spun up a VM of the 2008 Standard and windows was NOT activated.....oh well......it's still cheaper & way easier to go P2V & buy the SBS license than build & migrate everything from scratch....thanks for the help, guys.

 

[Markverhyden]

Make sure to check and see if you can apply a retail license to an OEM instance.