Testing the Server Hardware You found all your server hardware in the Windows Server 2008 HCL, you made sure your server is adequately sized, you purchased it, and you have your shiny ne
Trang 1N Disk A fast SCSI-based disk subsystem is important, particularly for servers
that will store a lot of data (See Chapter 13 for more information about
choosing SCSI systems, using different RAID levels, and other important disk
information.)
Use the information in Chapter 13 to help you size your server, but remember
this rule of thumb: Get the most capable server you can afford and make sure it is
expandable to meet your future needs, through the addition of more RAM, more
processors, and more disk space Even with all of that, it is common for servers to be
replaced three to four years from the date they were placed into service
Testing the Server Hardware
You found all your server hardware in the Windows Server 2008 HCL, you made
sure your server is adequately sized, you purchased it, and you have your shiny new
Windows Server 2008 DVD-ROMs sitting there, all ready to be installed Is it time
to start the installation yet? Well, not quite Before installing any network operating
system (NOS), particularly on a server that will be used for production, make sure you
carry out hardware testing (also called burn-in) on the server before installing Windows
Server 2008
Computer hardware tends to be most reliable after it has been running for a while
In other words, failures tend to happen when equipment is new, and the chance of
hardware failure decreases rapidly after the hardware has been up and running for
30 to 90 days Because of this, it‘s a good idea to test new servers for at least a week
(testing for two weeks is even better) before proceeding to install the NOS Doing
this can help provoke any early failures in the equipment during a time when they’re
easy to fix and they won’t affect any users or the network Moreover, many servers
have a 30-day return or exchange policy from their manufacturer, so if you discover
problems, you’ll have a chance to return the system and perhaps start over with a
different model
You test the hardware using diagnostic software that came with the server
computer or is available from the maker of the server Most such diagnostic software
lets you to choose which components of the system are tested and enables you to test
them in an endless loop, logging any discovered errors to a floppy disk, USB key, or the
screen You should focus the tests on the following components:
N Processor(s)
N System board components, such as interrupt controllers, direct memory access
(DMA) controllers, and other motherboard support circuitry
N RAM
N Disk surfaces
Trang 2TIP Server-testing software often enables you to choose between nondestructive and destructive testing of the disks (Destructive means any data on the disks is erased during the testing.) Destructive testing is best to discover any errors on the disks This is one reason that you want to carry out this testing before you install your NOS
If the diagnostic software allows you to do so, you can usually safely skip testing components such as the keyboard or the display Your primary concern is that the unit continues running properly when it is under load for an extended period of time You also want to make sure that the RAM is working properly and that no bad sectors show
up on the disks during testing It’s also a good idea during testing to power the unit on and shut it down a number of times, since the impact to the unit of initially powering
on often can provoke a failure in any marginal components, especially if the unit is allowed to cool down first
Surveying the Server Prior to an In-Place Upgrade
The Windows Server 2008 family of products takes advantage of plug and play (PnP) hardware and can detect and automatically configure any PnP devices to work with Windows Server 2008 during the installation PnP is not perfect, though For one thing, you might have installed components that are not PnP devices, and Windows Server
2008 will not be able to configure those devices Also, sometimes PnP devices can conflict with other devices, or the drivers for a specific device might not allow proper configuration for some reason Because of these imperfections, it’s important to survey the components installed in the server before installing Windows Server 2008 as an upgrade Performing a survey is not really important when setting up a new server For the survey, write down all the installed devices, along with the resources that each one uses in the server The resources include the IRQ channel, DMA channel, and memory I/O addresses used by each device Then, if a device isn’t working properly after you install Windows Server 2008, you might be able to configure the device manually to known settings that work
NOTE Some server computers come with utilities such as HP’s SmartStart Such utilities handle the server at a hardware level and keep the information in a space separate from the NOS Server utilities such as HP’s make life much easier when you are trying to troubleshoot a hardware problem with the server
Making Preinstallation Decisions
After configuring, checking, preparing, and testing your hardware, you can actually begin installing Windows Server 2008 During this process, you first spend time
making a number of important preinstallation decisions that you must be prepared to specify during the installation The following sections discuss these choices
Trang 3NOTE This chapter and the two following chapters provide an overall introduction to Windows
Server 2008 Certain advanced installation scenarios and techniques are not described here To
learn about other features and choices available when installing, administering, or using Windows
Server 2008, consult a book devoted to Windows Server 2008, such as Microsoft Windows
Server 2008: The Complete Reference by Danielle Ruest and Nelson Ruest (McGraw-Hill/
Professional, 2008)
Upgrade or Install?
You can upgrade a server running Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 or
perform a full installation, where you wipe out any existing NOS on the server The
main benefit to upgrading is that all your existing settings under Windows Server
2003 will be maintained and automatically carried forward into your Windows Server
2008 installation These include networking details, such as TCP/IP configuration
information, as well as security settings that you might have tediously set up over time
In fact, if the server can be upgraded, you should plan on doing so, unless you need to
change something fundamental in the server, such as changing the disk format from
FAT32 to NTFS
NOTE Different upgrade paths exist depending on which edition of Windows Server 2003 you
were running You can upgrade Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition to 2008 Standard or 2008
Enterprise You can upgrade Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition to 2008 Enterprise or 2008
Datacenter Edition
FAT or NTFS?
Windows Server 2008 supports hard disks formatted using either File Allocation Table
(FAT16 and FAT32) or NT File System (NTFS) NTFS is required for any Windows
Server 2008 servers that will function as domain controllers NTFS also is the only
file system that enables you to take full advantage of Windows Server 2008’s security
features Moreover, NTFS is optimized for server performance and performs better
than FAT under almost all circumstances
Domain Controller, Member Server, or Stand-Alone Server?
Another choice you need to make is in which mode you will configure your server To
make this decision, you need to understand two important concepts: Windows Server
2008 domains and workgroups A domain is a sophisticated administrative grouping of
computers on a Windows network that makes it possible to administer the network’s
resources from a single point and to implement strong security Domains enable
you to manage multiple Windows Server 2008 or Windows 2003 servers more easily
A workgroup is a simple collection of computers on a network and is suited only to pure
peer-to-peer networks
Trang 4You can configure Windows Server 2008 in one of three modes to support either domains or workgroups, as follows:
N Domain controllers hold the domain’s Active Directory information and
authenticate users and access to resources Most Windows Server 2008 networks have at least one domain and therefore need at least one domain controller
N Member servers are part of a domain, but do not hold a copy of the Active
Directory information
N Stand-alone servers do not participate in a domain, but instead participate in a
workgroup
Earlier versions of Windows servers (NT and 2000) needed to be designated as either primary domain controllers (PDCs) or backup domain controllers (BDCs) The PDC performed all administrative tasks, and the BDCs simply kept read-only copies of the domain information to continue authenticating security on the network in case the PDC failed
Newer Windows servers, such as those running Windows Server 2008, simplify matters, so that all Windows Server 2008 domain controllers are just that—domain controllers Each domain controller holds a copy of the Active Directory data and can perform all the functions of the other domain controllers Windows Server 2008 uses
the concept of multimaster domain controllers, which all seamlessly operate the same way
as the other domain controllers
TIP Except in the smallest of networks, it’s a very good idea to have two domain controllers This way, all of your domain information is preserved and available to the network should one of the domain controllers crash Domain information is automatically synchronized between the available domain controllers
Per Seat or Per Server?
Yet another important choice to make when installing Windows Server 2008 is how the server will manage its Client Access Licenses (CALs) Windows Server 2008 supports two different ways of managing CALs:
N Per-server licensing assigns the CALs to the server, which will allow only as
many connections from computers as there are installed CALs on that server
N Per-seat licensing requires purchasing a CAL for each of your client computers,
which gives them the right to access as many Windows servers as they wish; the servers will not monitor the number of connections
Trang 5Generally, Microsoft recommends that you use per-server licensing when running a
single server and per-seat licensing when running multiple servers If you are unsure of
which mode to use, Microsoft recommends that you choose per server, because Microsoft
lets you change to per-seat mode once at no cost (changing from per seat to per server
has a price) Carefully review licensing options with your Windows Server 2008 reseller
to determine the most economical way to license your network servers properly
Wait! Back Up Before Upgrading!
If you are installing Windows Server 2008 as an upgrade to another NOS, such as
Windows Server 2003, it’s vital that you fully back up the server prior to installing
Windows Server 2008 (It’s a good idea to make two identical backups, just in case.)
You should use whatever backup software you normally use for your existing NOS,
making sure the software can properly restore the previous NOS in case you need to
“unwind” the upgrade process and revert to your starting point
Even when you are performing an upgrade and will not be reformatting any of the
disks, making a preinstallation backup is good insurance in case of trouble
Installing Windows Server 2008
To begin the installation of Windows Server 2008, you can either configure the server
computer to boot from the Windows Server 2008 DVD-ROM or insert the Windows
Server 2008 DVD-ROM while running Windows Server 2003 Most servers can boot
from their DVD-ROM drives, which is the best way to start the installation
Running the Windows Server 2008 Setup Program
The following steps outline the process of running the installation program for
Windows Server 2008 and installing it onto a server If you are learning about
Windows Server 2008 and have a suitable computer to use, you should take the time to
install Windows Server 2008 so that you understand how the process works Or, if you
like, you can read along through the following steps to familiarize yourself with the
installation process (I recommend actually performing an installation such as the one
described here, and then playing with the resulting server as a way of more quickly
and completely learning about Windows Server 2008.)
1 When you boot from the Windows Server 2008 DVD-ROM, the program first
presents a screen that lets you choose the language to install, the formatting
to use for time and currency displays, and the keyboard or input method (see
Figure 16-1) Make the appropriate choices, and then click Next to continue