Create bootable image of a 2000 SP3 server
We have a windows 2000 sp3 server running proprietary software developed in house many years ago. We want to P2V the server but first have to upgrade to SP4. We want to ensure the upgrade to SP4 does not affect the proprietary software so we need to take a bootable image and restore it to another x86 machine. How can Acronis help us do this?
Thanks
Actually, there are many ways you can do this. First, you can install Acronis onto your W2K box, take its backup and store somewhere on network share or USB disk. You can create bootable media, insert it into some bare metal x86 box and restore that image onto that box. You may need so called Universal Restore feature if the hardware is dissimilar. You may also do P2V using your backup image and try SP4 on a virtual machine.
If installation of agent onto your Windows 2000 box is prohibited on undesirable, you can install only Media Builder component, create bootable CD and take a cold backup of your W2K box.
So, I guess Acronis is exactly about your use case.
Thanks for the info but I think we would have a problem creating a bootable image of Windows 2000 SP3 using the current version of the Acronis server backup/restore software as it only supports 2000 SP4. This is the root of my problem - I want to create a duplicate server so that I can then intstall SP4 and test. Installing SP4 on the existing box would defeat the object and possibly cause problems I can't roll back from.
Is there a repository of older versions of Acronis which would support SP3?
What exactly do you mean by "it only supports 2000 SP4". The bootable media can be created on any machine running whatever Wndows you want. Using this bootable media you can create a cold backup of your Win2K SP3 server and restore it over some bare metal box (with AUR). What part do you mean by saying that Windows 2000 SP4 is supported? For AUR?
What exactly do you mean by "it only supports 2000 SP4". The bootable media can be created on any machine running whatever Wndows you want. Using this bootable media you can create a cold backup of your Win2K SP3 server and restore it over some bare metal box (with AUR). What part do you mean by saying that Windows 2000 SP4 is supported? For AUR?
I asked the question of Acronis support and received this.
"I wish to thank you for showing interest in Acronis products. Acronis products support the Windows 2000 server family beginning from Service Pack version 4. Solid backup for the version prior to this release was not implemented due to environment compatibility issues."
...and also the requirements state that SP4 is required
http://www.acronis.com.sg/backup-recovery/server-windows/#requirements
I guess they refer to Agent being installed on Windows 2000. For cold back up of Windows no SP requirements are applicable. You can even backup Mac with sector-by-sector backup. For known file systems (NTFS) you can backup volumes in native manner.
I'm not sure a cold image (if I understand the terminology correctly) is possible as the system is mounted on a RAID5 array
I don't see why it should not be possible. If it is hardware RAID5, the product will see it as a single volume which will be backed up.