Hi guys, I've currently got a SBS 03 box acting as DNS, DHCP & mail server along with a Domain controller. I'm upgrading to SBS 08 but one of the applications is not compatible with server 08 yet but I NEED to upgrade. Is it possible to do the following: Install the new SBS 08 box as DNS, DHCP & mail server along with a Domain controller. THEN: Wipe the SBS 03 box and install NONE of the services above, just use the OS. Then on the new SBS 03 installation I can run the database application which can't run on SBS 08. Reason why I ask this is because I've heard that you can't have more than one SBS box on the same network. If anyone could let me know if what I've said will work that would be great! Thanks!

Number one you CANNOT have 2 SBS servers on the same LAN segment. SBS by default isnt capable of this. Addtionally if you must build a Windows 2003 box it must be Windows 2003 std edition or Enterprise. You cannot use SBS 2003 as there is a short grace period before the system will not function properly and will continually reboot. The best way to upgrade SBS is to use the Swing migration Kit. If you need backwards compatibility then you will need another license for the other line of business app.

Actually you CAN have two SBS in the same lan segment. Lan segment/ip addressing is not the limiting factor in SBS, It is Forest name and domain name. The two can not be in the same forest. Your plan is a good one albeit you will create a new forest/domain and 2008 users. Problem is when you do this: "Wipe the SBS 03 box and install NONE of the services above, just use the OS. " You can't do that with SBS. You will need 2003 standard not SBS. You will need whatever your database is running on like SQL server to install on this box. If you have lots of users and don't want to recreate from scratch the suggestion of the swing migration is a good one.

I beg to differ. The caveat although plausible is certainly not a best practice nor practical nor supported. For a start DHCP will cause issues on the same broadcast domain. My answer will always be "cannot" as there's not much point in employing a broken convoluted solution like that. MS will also tell you the same thing and will not support that scenario.

live training and business's combining are two such real world scenerios where multiple SBS's come into play. Dhcp can be handled by limited scopes or doing ip reservations. Point I was making was that the centric design of SBS is the limiting factor not the lan segment or the network topology.

The scope isnt the issue its the DHCP broadcast. Either way iv done many SBS swing migrations as well as conventional AD migrations and its a better practice simply not to have 2 SBS's coexisting at the same time. A b---tardized installation is a pain if you've inherited it. That being said i guess where meandering off topic as this chap will need a copy of W2K3 std/Ent to enable backwards compatibility with his LOB app.