Upgrading from XP to windows Server 2003

[alanj]

Its time for us to upgrade our mail server hardware and at the same time we want to upgrade the OS from XP to Windows Server 2003/2008.

I saw in the FAQ about upgrading by installing AMS on the new server and copying the Directory and files over this installation will this work in the case of an upgrade from XP to Win 2003 server?

Should I do an in place upgrade from XP to Server 2003 then follow the instructions in the FAQ copying the files over to the new hardware with a freshly installed Server 2003.

When we did the initial installation we followed the defaults on the new server we want the data store on a separate partition OS will be on C (RAID1) Data store on the E (RAID5) I’m treating this as a separate problem, is this, the best approach?

For the inquisitive why are you doing this types, here are the reasons.

XP will only allow us 10 concurrent users at the moment users are going out and coming back in on the same internet connection to get their email not efficient and slow with larger attachments. Hence the move to windows server. Any one have a work around for this?

Hardware is old and a bit flaky, it was fine when we had 5 users now we have 45

Need more storage, and want to use RAID 5 for data storage, also want to back this up or mirror this onto an external backup device. USB 1.1 on current server and No firewire or Esata.

Any guidance gratefully accepted.

Many Thanks

Alan

[Code Crafters]

As far as we know there is no limit of concurrent connections on Windows XP Pro. We have load tested 10,000 users on XP Pro and use XP Pro for our mail server installation. There may possibly be a limit on the Home or Server Web editions but not on XP Pro. Please check any antivirus software running on your computer that may be intercepting communication to and from the mail server and causing slow down or limitation on the number of connections. Obviously, in your case, hardware upgrade is the main change but XP should run fine for your setup. The number of Windows accounts on XP pro may be limited to 10 but this is unrelated to our software limits. If you are upgrading for Windows user limits then please ignore my previous comments.

You should follow these steps to transfer your installation:

1) Copy the "C:\Program Files\Code-Crafters\Ability Mail Server 2" folder to the new server in the same location or any other folder you like really.
2) Install the software from http://download.code-crafters.com/ams.exe or upgrade via the admin dialog interface main status page Help button -> Update. This is optional and only to replace your start menu program group and desktop shortcuts.
3) Migrating your users is a separate issue really. To do this you should move the "C:\Program Files\Code-Crafters\Ability Mail Server 2\config\accounts" folder to the new drive ("E:\", for example), set the account path in the general settings to the new account folder location("E:\accounts\", for example), then finally go through the moved accounts folder and change any paths in the six INI files directly within that folder (users.ini, mailinglists.ini etc.) from "config\accounts\..." to the new account path ("E:\accounts\...", for example).