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  • How Long Does It Take To Install SBS 2008

    Posted on July 12th, 2010 HandyAndy 3 comments

    A number of folks have asked me how long it takes to install SBS 2008, well the short answer is an hour and a half. If you are installing from DVD’s it is 90 minutes give or take a couple of minutes. I have done quite a few of them.

    But I don’t think that is what they are really asking me. I think they really want to know how long before you have a working system. Well it just happens that I needed to know this as well for an upcoming project I am doing out of town next month. I have not done any real installs of SBS 2008 since the media refresh, so I though some practice was in order. The last couple of weekends I have done 2 dry runs following along the SBS 2008  Community Build Doc to get an idea of the timings of the different components. I thought I would share my rough notes with you from the last run to help in your planning.

    By the way all through this post you will see that I use a script to reboot the SBS Server, mine is a quick and dirty little script with no logging. If you would like to use mine at your own risk it is at the end of this article, if you would like something more professional, take a look at Charlie’s Script, you may need to modify it a bit for SBS 2008.

    Ready to start 2nd Dry Run SBS 2008 Clean Install, bios flashed, drives cleaned, dvd’s burned

    Will use rtm MSDN Key with current media to make sure it fly’s

    Start 6:00pm
    * 2 physical drives
                    Drive 0 500 Gb create partition C: 250 Gb balance unallocated
                    Drive 1 700 Gb create partition D: 350 Gb balance unallocated
                    Finishes 6:02pm

    Expanding Files Finishes @ 6:15pm

    Installing features and updates, less than a minute

    First reboot starts @ 6:16

    Completing installation starts @ 6:18pm

    Second reboot starts @ 6:22pm

    First Phase finishes @ 6:27pm

     *Clocks and Time Zone 4:36

    *Do Not Get Updates

    *Configure Networking

    *Company Info, Computer Name, Domain Name, Admin Info

    *No Forefront for Exchange

    Expanding & Installing Files Starts 6:32pm

    Finishes and Starts 3rd reboot @ 6:45pm

    Reboot @ 7:19pm

    Delivers Success Message and Desktop @ 7:24pm

    *Requires Admin Input to continue

    Grab SP image of C & D

    Start To-Do List 8:00pm

    Turn off DHCP on Router

    Connect to Internet

    OK IP Addresses Server 192.168.4.2, Router 192.168.4.1  finish 8:03pm

    Ok to feedback

    Setup Internet Address 8:04pm

    Router Warning manually open ports 25, 80, 443 & 987  finish 8:09

    Import DigiCert Trusted Certificate (exported from older build, allow 30 minutes to purchase new one)  finish  8:23

    Add 8 Users and configure e-mail finish 9:34pm

    Quit for the evening 9:35pm

    Start next morning 8:20am

    40 updates ready, let them install

    Reboot 9:04am w/ha script

    Desktop back @ 9:11am

    Snap SP image start 9:45am finish 9:54am

    Start BPA 10:02am finishes at 10:08am

    WSUS finds 3 more updates, install and reboot @ 10:10am w/ha script

    Desktop back at 10:18am

    Run Fix My Network Wizard @ 10:20am

                    Reports missing mappings (not missing)
                    Reports DHCP error on IP6, fix, finish 10:30am

    Configure Backup start 12:02pm   finish 12:07pm

    Install SBS Rollup 4 12:20pm-12:23pm

    Add local printer (deskjet 1220c)  and share 12:25pm-12:27pm

    Do first batch of BPA fixes, finish 12:40pm reboot

    DNS Cache TTL fix

    Fix Event ID 10016 & 10017  KB920783

                    Note instructions say change location to local server, but actually you have to change to domain
                    Finish in 5 minutes

    Exchange 2007 SP3  KB 982423 (try doing this after wss next time)

    Start decompression 2:10pm

    Run Setup from Elevated Prompt @ 2:15pm

    Finishes @ 2:57pm

    Configure DNS Forwarders

    Configure logging, errors and warnings only

    5 minutes

    Move Data Locations (while folders empty)  Start 1:55pm

                    Exchange Server to D: Finish 1:57pm
                    SharePoint 3 to D: Finish 1:58pm
                    Users Shared Data to D: Finish 1:59pm
                    Users Redirected Data to D: Finish 2:00pm
                    WSUS to D: Finish 2:0pm

    Disable IIS Logging  Finish 2:05pm

    Disable License Logging finish 2:08 and reboot w/ ha script

    Logon and Desktop Returns @ 2:17pm

    Install PDF Icon fix took longer to find than install, actual install is a couple of minutes

    Install Office iFilter Pack 2 minutes

    Install Adobe iFilter Pack start 2:29pm  finish 2:42

    Fix Gather 2436 errors (found it already done) 2:47pm

    IIS Reset

    Stsadm commands to reindex finish 2:58pm

    Install KB 977022 to allow wss sp2, failed twice

    Reboot and try once more

    Still no joy

    Approve optional updates for deployment
                    Win internal db x64 kb955706
                    Sql 2005 ex SP3 kb955706
                    Ws kb981793
                    Malicious software x64 kb890830
                    Win7 kb981793
                    Malicious software kb890830

    Did not install yet these optional updates
                   WSS SP2
                   IE8
                   WSUS SP2
                   DotNet 3.5 sp1 kb 951847
                   Will do these later

    Decline optional update

    Browser Choice EEA

    Break for today 3:54pm

    Start again @ 11:45am

    Backup from last night is good

    BPA to see what is broken, no errors reported just info messages, it will be a good day

    4 Updates ready for install, start them going @ noon

                    kb981793
                    kb955706
                    kb955706
                    kb890830
                    Successfully installed all 4 reboot at 12:17

    Logon and desktop returns @ 12:25

    Download and install SnagIt finishes @ 12:32

    Snag pics of installed updates

    Try kb977022 again, fails yet again

    Extract the installer to c:\dhc\here and install sts-x-none.msp from there, install succeeds quietly, check app log and it was successful @12:49pm

    Install Windows Search, start 12:55  finishes 1:04pm

    Install SQL fix for monitoring finishes 1:18

    Install Fax HotFix kb973640 finishes 1:24

    Reboot before wss 3 sp2

    Start WSS3 SP2 @ 2:30pm
    2:41 configuration wizard starts, needs input to continue

    2:47pm completes and companyweb is functioning

    2:49pm au popup  kb970892  want to install let it start, finishes 2:53pm

    Reboot before wsus sp2

    Start WSUS SP2 @ 3:12pm , remember to not run the configuration wizard at the end

    Needs input until it connects to ##SSEE

    Cancel wizard and it finishes 3:25pm

    Install Report Viewer 2008 SP1, takes a couple of minutes tops.

    Reboot @ 3:30 before dotnet kb951847

    Cannot find standalone update, go to windows update, get just this one for now at 3:48pm

    Finishes @ 3:53 and I rebooted because it was a dotnet

    Sync WSUS Catalog, finishes @ 4:06pm

    Install IE8 it wants a restart at 4:12pm, say later and use ha script now

    Configure IE8 finish @ 4:26

    Console working

    CompanyWeb working

    WU for other updates

    Get 11 (84.7Mb) of the 12 updates, dotnet update can wait and go by itself

    Finishes @ 4:40 and reboot with ha script

    Logon and desktop back @ 4:52

    Console working

    CompanyWeb working

    Snag image of update screen

    Good time to break, backup will run @ 5:00pm

    2 updates waiting for me this morning, let them start @ 9:59am
                    Kb971119 report viewer
                    Kb963707 dotnet assistant
                   Finished @ 10:01am  no reboot required

    Add Firewall policy mods for win7 management, finish 10:15am               

    Download Vipre 4.0.4031

    Reboot before installing @ 10:37

    Logon and desktop back @ 10:47

    Add firewall exceptions for Vipre to vista firewall policy 18082 & 18086 both directions, finish 10:51

    Install & Configure Sunbelt Vipre
                   use add 2005 express instance option
                   use internal fqdn for smtp server
                   use authentication
                   finish @ 11:16am

    1 update waiting to be installed, start it @ 11:17am
                    Kb970892
                    Finished @ 11:19am

    Check WU (online) again, 2 available, do them separate 1 is dotnet
                    Install PowerShell 2.0 & WinRM 2.0
                    Finished @ 11:26 needs reboot,

    Logon and desktop back @11:37am

    Install dotnet 4.0 kb982671

    Finish @ 11:54am

    Final Reboot with ha script @ 11:58am

    Console working, CompanyWeb Working, Vipre Console Working

    Now at this point I have a server ready to support my network, all that remains is to join the workstation and add the data, but that is a story for another day.

    I hope you found this helpful and now you won’t get lulled into thinking you can show up Monday morning and be done by lunch time.

    Here is the scrip I promised you, use it at your own risk, all I can tell you is it works for me.

    Copy the lines below to a text file and save it with a handy name like HAscript.cmd, when you want to use it, right click on it and run as administrator. If you want to schedule it, remember to comment out the pause line.

    @Echo Off
    Echo Use at your own risk!
    Echo .
    Echo This Will Restart the Server
    Echo .
    Echo “<Ctrl> + C to Cancel or”
    Pause

    net stop msExchangeTransportLogSearch /y

    net stop msExchangeTransport /y

    net stop msExchangeServiceHost /y

    net stop msExchangeSearch /y

    net stop msExchangeRepl /y

    net stop msExchangeMailSubmission /y

    net stop msExchangeMailboxAssistants /y

    net stop msExchangeFDS /y

    net stop msExchangeAntiSpamUpdate /y

    net stop msexchangeadtopology /y

    net stop msftesql-exchange /y

    net stop msexchangeis /y

    net stop msexchangesa /y

    net stop iisadmin /y

    shutdown /r /t 05

     :End

     

    3 responses to “How Long Does It Take To Install SBS 2008” RSS icon

    • sorry – I’m a little slow. what was the total time? you took breaks – shame on you : ) but it took days from what I can see.

    • The point of the exercise was not the total number of minutes it took, as that will vary on every different piece of hardware. It was to see how many days for the process. I needed to prove to myself, I could take down the old system Saturday morning and have it back up serving mail on Monday. I was able to prove that to my satisfaction, so I made the commitment to the client. I thought I would share the notes here as others may find the information useful in their planning. This is actually an odd case, normally I would have just done a swing using the kit from http://www.sbsmigration.com, but in this case the desktops were all moving from xp to win7-64 or being replaced and most of the users being removed/replaced, so it just made more sense to start clean.

    • Thanks for the notes – I’ve tried a couple of times to do something like this but always get distracted!
      For anyone else who follows – I got HandyAndy’s times as 6pm-935pm, 820am-354pm, 1145-5pm,959-1158am – total of 20 hours – thats a tight squeeze for a weekend installation. One point from experience – if you deal with any symantec product you’ll need to add about another 20 hours to get it working 😉

      Thats a lot of reboots and patches and a lot of manual intervention which echoes my experience too.
      One thing I’ve done is to use autopatcher to have most of the windows patches already downloaded to a usb hard drive so it’s quick and easy to patch a machine when it’s first on the network. As this server will be hosting the wsus you obviously can’t use wsus to do the patching. If you don’t have the windows updates locally (or if you do have a wsus server you can use) then I’d recommend the wuinstall.com file that will let you script getting all windows update files. A lot quicker than running through the gui by hand. This can also be scheduled to run at night – saving a fair amount of time in the install process.


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