This is a take on how my productivity is going with carrying 2 devices every day, NetBook and Laptop.

Yes its painful to carry 6-8 KGs everyday.. But there are benefits. I am using my everyday laptop as a mini datacenter with all san and cluster simulation and NetBook for everything else, its more like a 8.9' Mobile Phone..

Upgraded NetBook memory to 2GB and SSD to 64GB.. It now brilliant with Windows 7 professional. 

Laptop with 8GB RAM and 1TB HDD running Windows Server 2008 R2 + Hyper-V + iSCSI Targets.. Bloody brilliant!.. 

Very soon I will need to replace my NetBook with a tablet model. Not much models out there for a reasonable price..

Some references I found for NetBook with a tablet model...

http://hothardware.com/Articles/Asus-Eee-PC-T91-SwivelScreen-Netbook-Review/

http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/52342_Gigabyte_T1028X_Tablet__Netbook__Bronze.aspx

Lately I had to test the best approach to migrate SharePoint databases including the configuration database to a brand new SQL Database Server, and make sure everything is back in order. The following expresses my approach and the steps involved in a safe and sound migration.

Although there are various blogs and articles available out there, Unfortunately it became very cumbersome to manage and my intention was to keep it as simple as possible..

Assets.

Small to Medium farm contains 1 Application server, 2 frontends and 1 SQL Server (Just to keep it simple).

Topology.

Requirement.

1. Commission a new SQL Database Server (DB02) and
2. De-Commission the current SQL Database Server (DB01)

Reason.

Any valid reason in relation to performance, Network Issues and growing too fast and too quickly etc etc. In my case moving up to failover SQL clusters from single server scenario..

Process.

- Backup the entire MOSS farm using STSADM command line tool or the central administration web interface. This step is just in case anything goes wrong.

Make sure the backup is validated and tested.

This backed up information is not used in the following steps

- Backup all SharePoint related Databases from source database server (DB01) using standard TSQL Statements.

Script Example:

BACKUP DATABASE [dbname] TO  DISK = N'T:\Backup\Dbs\dbname.Bak' WITH NOFORMAT, NOINIT,  NAME = N'dbname-Full Database Backup', SKIP, NOREWIND, NOUNLOAD,  STATS = 10

- Generate the SQL Scripts for User creation ( domain user accounts and domain service accounts ). SQL Logins require additional operations that where not tested through this process. 

Script Example:

CREATE LOGIN [domain\user] FROM WINDOWS WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE=[master], DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=[us_english]

- Restore SQL Database Backup files to the new Database server (DB02)

Script Example:

Restore DATABASE [dbname] FROM  DISK = N'D:\Backup\DBs\dbname.Bak' WITH  FILE = 1,  MOVE N'dbnameLN' TO N'D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\DATA\dbname.mdf',  MOVE N'dbnameLN_log' TO N'D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\LOG\dbname_log.LDF',  NOUNLOAD,  STATS = 10

- Execute the account creation script on the new Database server (DB02) (script generated from earlier step)

- Stop all SharePoint Services on all the servers including the application servers.

Example: In my scenario I run the following commands

On the application server

Net Stop SPTimerV3
Net Stop SPSearch
Net Stop OSearch
Net Stop SPAdmin
Net Stop SPTrace

On the web front end server

Net Stop SPTimerV3
Net Stop SPAdmin
Net Stop SPTrace

- Stop IIS, including all dependency services. Its easier to stop the IISAdmin service which in turn stops all dependency services.

Example: On the application server and web front end server(s)

IISReset /stop

- Run the STSADM Command to Rename the Server. This command needs to be executed on all the servers (application and front end).

Example:

Set PATH=%PATH%;{12 hive}\bin;

STSADM.exe -o RenameServer -OldServerName DB01 -NewServerName DB02

Watch for any abnormal messages and errors. Mostly the message will guide you what to do.

- Finally either

1. restart the SharePoint web front end servers including the application servers or;

2. restart all the stopped services (SharePoint and IIS) manually in a orderly fashion based on the dependencies.

Example:

On the application server

IISReset /start

Net Start SPTrace
Net Start SPAdmin
Net Start SPSearch
Net Start OSearch
Net Start SPTimerV3

On the web front end server

IISReset /start

Net Start SPTrace
Net Start SPAdmin
Net Start SPTimerV3

- All done…Now you should have your farm pointing to the new database servers, Just to make sure there are no other side effects monitor the event logs.

Test.

Go to the Central admin UI > Operations > Servers in farm, you should now see the new server displayed.

References.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc512725.aspx

Note.

This process will not work effectively on a single/standalone server scenario.

Couple of weeks ago i went in a bought one of the DELL Mini’s offered thru Vodafone contract.

Nice gadget, Not many serious people appreciate it. It comes with a 14gb ssd and 1gb ram (upgradable), and a 5 gb mobile broadband,. and no boring bits.  I will be upgrading as soon as i feel this is working for me..

Its too small to even install a full version of vista business and office ultimate.. But i have 3 gb of available space.. Interesting..

Softwares installed.

• Vista Business (Small foot print)
• Office ultimate 2007 (required bits)
• Visio professional 2007 (required bits)
• Windows Live (mail, writer etc)
• Adobe reader and air for twitter client
• Office Live addins

I wanted to see whether this will work for me, Isolating my development laptop to netbook which now carries all day to day bits. Now I dont have to worry about my personal bits on the development laptop., resetting and rebuilding is a breeze..

Will update more on part 2 – Configuration.

Zak

Why blogging?. Why not Blogging..

I decided to start blogging my viewpoints and experiences on a daily basis. why?

There is a long story to it. In short I am fed up with people writing blogs and articles without getting their hands dirty.  The reason most people read blogs is not to reinvent the wheel and learn from the experience the world has had….

I spent a good few days trying to get a piece of functionality ready over the holidays and realised that most documentation i have read is standard MSDN and TECHNET documentation, which is in a way “BAD” (some areas), Lacks explanation and scenarios..

Finally this is where I officially start, the aim is to write my side of the story in all aspects of IT, .NET, SharePoint and general things.

More to Come..

Zak

Due to personal issues I have left Readify and started back again in freelancing. I had a very brief stay  at readify, did couple of engagements, made some good friends and great contacts.

I am planning to start blogging more in the fourth coming days.

After years of small business consulting and contracting for state and federal govt agencies, I finally decided to take up a technical role with READIFY...

READIFY, the technical readiness specialists in the Microsoft .NET space.