1.2. Installation and Configuration Strategy

If you have done your homework and have an installation plan and architecture document ready, you are now ready to begin installing Windows Server 2008 in your lab. For help creating an installation plan and an architecture document (including an architecture template) visit www.misiq.com/whitepapers. You may be tempted (or you may have an urgent need) to go directly to a working or production system in a production environment. Perhaps your DHCP server died or a new DNS server is needed urgently. Resist—or stick with what you know. If you have a Windows Server 2003 network and need to raise a new service to fill an urgent need, stick with Windows Server 2003 until you have fully implemented a test lab and are familiar with the way things work under Windows Server 2008. In many respects it is a very different operating system. Microsoft Server 2008 has the same core kernel and presentation functionality as Windows Vista, but with server bits added in. So in many respects it is new code from the ground up compared to Windows Server 2003.

Conversely, if you are a seasoned administrator and you know what you're doing, you probably have issues such as a hardware checklist, remote or unattended installation, hot standby, and so on well taken care of. Proceed directly to a production system only if you know what you are doing and the production system is part of a conversion and rollout project.