What happened to my summer--Part 5
Part 5—Applying the SBS2003 Service Pack 1.
I have to be careful to get the story straight here. The migrated system was acting as the production server, the original server was now fixed, capable of being the production server, but was idle. I elected to do the SP1 upgrade to the idle server first. I copied the installation structions to a client computer and put them up on the screen. Then I put the first disc of the upgrade set into the reader on the server and just worked down the list of the instructions. Aside from getting confused at the start and cancelling the install at the first step, and having to read in the same files all over again the next minute, everything went like clock work.
So I wanted to sync the Original SBS2003 server’s exchange databases with the current “production” databases on the migrated server. They had been separated for 7 days now. I wondered about this because there had been a service pack applied to Exchange. But I went ahead. I stopped all Exchange services on the Migrated server, and copied the databases to a USB disk. Restarted everything on the migrated, now production server, and plugged the USB disk to the Original, now idle, server, stopped the Exchange services, renamed the MDBDATA directory, created a new one, and copied in the Exchange databases from the USB disk, and started all the Exchange services. Alas, the Public Folder database would not mount. I redid the copy, still no joy. Since the Public Folders change very slowly, and probably not at all in the last week, I copied in the last working database from the renamed MDBDATA folder. Neither the mailboxes nor the public folder databases would mount. Bummer! Well, there are more than two ways to de-flea a dog, so I went back to the clients on the production server, searched and found all the e-mail messages that were less than 8 days old, and copied them into a local archive pst file. I then plugged the client computer’s ethernet cables into the Original SBS2003 system, with its week-out-of-date-but-operational Exchange databases, copied the recent messages back from the local archive PST files, and declared the two systems to be In-Sync, and also declared the Origianal SBS2003 system to be the “Production System”. The sun shined bright in River City once again.
Now, of course, it was time to apply Service Pack 1 to the migrated SBS2003 system. Piece of cake. I put the instruction document back up onto the client, and worked down the list again. No initial confusion this time. At the end of the SP1 install, it said that there was a problem, and that it had to call home and make a report. But, of course, it couldn’t because it wasn’t on the internet, as the production server had the internet. But it was really insistent, and I had to kill it three times before the message went away. And it also offered to show me the summary of the install, and no errors were shown. I went on to the next step which was the SQL server upgrade, which threw an error because there was no SQL server installed, and then the ISA2000 upgrade. That upgrade ends with a mandatory running of the CEICWizard. The CEICWizard collected all the parameters it needed, I clicked finished, it brought up the progress screen then died immediately, without putting up a single check mark. So, its raining in River City again and I have been transformed into Unhappy B again. Using the production system, I asked on the SBS newsgroup what it meant? The SBS MVPs wanted logs. I could only find 3 of the four that were supposed to be there. Another asked if it had Dr. Watsoned and did I have Outlook installed on the server. Associating Dr. Watsons with blue screens of death, I said no, and no, Outlook had never been installed as a client app because I used Outlook from the Office distribution. It was opined that if it called home it had Dr. Watsoned and that the missing Outlook had caused an error; and please produce the Icwlog.txt file. Well, the icwlog.txt file is an 840KB file, and I didn’t really think anybody could look through a file that big; but I zipped it and sent it off. It got very quiet in that thread. I made progress reports to the effect that I had found a message to the effect that some one had tricked the SP1 wizard into putting up the SBS2003 installation continuation wizard icon, which then enabled the SBS2003 installation wizard to come up and present a list of the missing components. I was able to use this to install Outlook as a client app. I then reran the SP1 upgrade wizard. It still said it had an error, but this time I was ready for it, having switched the DSL connection to the migrated server, and it called home successfully, if mysteriously. The wizard did present the summary of the install and it still reported no errors. I ran the ISA upgrade, again, but it still had the same problem at the end. The CEICWizard still failed. But, this time I tested the internet connection, to see if it did still exist, and it did. I could still download e-mail. Didn’t test the send operation.
My thread in the SBS newsgroup was still very quiet. It was almost like I was whistling in the woods after dark. Actually, it was just like back in the SBS4.5 days when I wanted to maintain two systems as backups and switch between them and the then MVPs all said I was crazy; why wasn’t I using DHCP, and they all threw up their hands and wouldn’t talk to me because they had never done such a crazy thing and didn’t have any advice to give. It felt just like that. So I decided to use one of my remaining two free support events to find out what Microsoft Support found. Well, first, they said it was a free support call because it involved a Service Pack failure, and they would not use my contract number. I liked that. Then the first engineer asked me to join an EasyShare session, but nothing we did could get it to connect. Something was always blocking the final step. After two hours of this, he called over a Terminal Session expert, who got me on-line in minutes. Then, he poked around a bit, had me open the icwlog.txt file, found something at the bottom, then we opened the AD users and computer console and checked the name for he Internet Users group. “ OK”, says he, “Lets change the name of that group to the SBS Internet Users group.” After that the CEICWizard ran to completion, I had him look at the Relay list, and he is the one that said the WAN NIC is entered there, and as a host in the DNS server to allow individuals to log in and send e-mail. If I really wanted to worry about it, then I could just build the list with my local computers and uncheck the box that allowed users to relay if they authenticate with the server. I deleted it anyway. I want that surprise later when I finally want to log into the system, and want to e-mail, but have forgotten what I have wrought.
It should be sunny in River City, right? Not so fast. I wonder about not being able to install SQL server on the migrated server. When I try, it asks for a specific file, in a directory that isn’t on my Premium Disk. Unfortunately, that is a downloaded disk. I wonder if Support can provide me with a new install package. In the future x64 SBS system, I may need to have an SQL server there.
Remember, the problem I had trying to forklift Exchange back to the Original Server. I thought that, now that both systems had been upgraded to the same level, I could forklift between them. Unfortunately, I could not. The public folder database of the latest attempt would not mount. Puffy, black clouds float in the skys of River City.
Then I brought up the WinXP-x64 client and start Outlook. It shuts down immediately with a message saying that it can’t find the Exchange server, and can’t run off-line. I notice there is no ISA client on the box, so I go look for where, on the server, I should find the installer. Well, I find something and ask in the SBS Newsgroup if that is what I should use. I am told yes, but when I run the installer package it says it can’t be installed on a WinXP-x64 box. Bummer. This leads to more messages that say I should install ISA 2004 server SP2, to get a client that will install. More puffy dark clouds in the skys of River City.
Summer is not over, yet. We still have hot weather, though some fall-like interludes are in the offing. Stay tuned for the next part of this saga.
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