File server, migrate from Server 2008 R2 to Server 2012 R2?

[HendersonD]

Three hosts all running ESXi 5.5 Update 2. Windows file server, hostname of FS1, running server 2008 R2

C: is just the OS, E: and F: drives contain contain files/folders. E: drive happens to be home directories

Want to bring up new VM running server 2012 R2 and migrate the file server

• Can I somehow just detach the hard disk from current server and attach it to the new server?
• Are NTFS permissions maintained?
• Are sharing settings maintained?
• Are quotas maintained?

The other considerations are

1. home directory path defined in ADUC
2. Drive mappings defined in Group Policy Preferences
3. Need to maintain same hostname?
4. We do have a DFS name space defined that includes this server

[vfk]

Hi, you cannot just detach the drives because the shares and permissions are maintained in the register.  If the two servers are configured identically then I guess you could try this How to Back Up and Restore NTFS and Share Permissions - Ask the Directory Services Team - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

However, if you already have DFS and using DFS namespace to connect to current shares and home drives, then just configure replication group and slow remove the windows 2008 server from service.  OR use robocopy or similar to slowly migrate users and shares one at the time.

[HendersonD]

Ideally I would like to:

1. Backup the file share and NTFS permissions via the article you link to below
2. Detach the two disks from the current server
3. Attach the disks to the new server
4. Restore the file share and NTFS permissions on the new server

Two questions

1. Is the order I have above correct? For example, after I attach the disks to the new server making sure they get the same drive letters (E: and F:) I will then restore the share and NTFS permissions. I am thinking the new server needs to see these disks before the restore permissions will work correct.
2. The article linked to really talks about backing up and restoring share and NTFS permissions to the same machine. In my case I am backing up from one machine (Windows Server 2008 R2) and restoring them to a different machine (Windows Server 2012 R2). Both of these are 64 bit so I think the registry items end up in the same spot. Hostnames are the worry. After I backup share and NTFS permissions and detach disks, do I need to shutdown the current server and rename the new one with the same hostname in order to make all of this work?

The other two choices are below, not sure about these. I think for both of these I would need to have the new file server setup with empty drives and then do the migration. This means I would need a lot of extra storage space until the old servers are decommissioned

1. Windows Server Migration Tools
   Migrate File and Storage Services to Windows Server 2012 R2
2. Use Robocopy
   
   
   

[Thunderbuck]

I actually performed a similar migration last fall, and it followed your scenario just fine.  NTFS permissions remained consistent, for instance.

I had to record Share permissions and re-apply them after the change, but yes, I just detached most of the drives on my file server and reattached them to my new Windows 2012 R2 server.

Also, our file server also acts as our main print server, so I used Print Management to export the printer configuration from the old server and just imported it to the new one.

Home folder mapping was fine.  Of course, I named the new server identically to the old one, allocated it the same IP address, and made sure the shares were configured identically.

ETA:  I didn't notice that you have DFS shares.  You likely have to break them and re-build them once the drives have been migrated.  Yes, that potentially is a problem.