The easiest part of migrating from Server 2003

In the last post I mentioned that the hardest part of migrating from Server 2003 was getting started and maintaining momentum. So what’s the easiest part?

While there are certainly some things in terms of migrating from Server 2003 that are easier than others, for example it’s much easier to add new domain controllers running Server 2012 R2 to a Server 2003 domain than it is to migrate from Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2013.

That so many organizations were unable to migrate away from Server 2003 before the deadline expires in just over a week indicates that not only is getting started pretty difficult for many, but that even starting the planning process is something that often ends up in the “too hard basket”.

So what’s the easiest part of migrating from Server 2003? Well your mileage will of course vary, but my guess it will be shutting down that last computer running Server 2003 and knowing that the whole process is done and dusted. Because when you are at the point where all you need to do is turn things off, you’ve done all the hard stuff. It’s also pretty difficult to muck up turning something off.

(The only caveat here is to make sure that should the Server 2003 servers need to be turned on at any point in the future, you make sure that you do it in an isolated environment. I recently read a story about an organization that had shut down some servers, but hadn’t yet removed them from the racks in their server room. Someone went and turned them on to retrieve some data he couldn’t find, forgot to turn them off, and then some automated tasks kicked in overwriting newer data. So when you shut down those servers for good, make sure that they stay shut down!)