Hi all,
We're probably way behind the curve on this, but our Web server is running Windows 2000 Server and IIS 5. With version 9, we will have to run the .net 3.5 framework, which in turn requires Windows XP/2003 which comes with IIS 6.
We run both our test and live sites off the same machine, so we are a little...cautious about upgrading this server. After all, it's worked fine with very little changes since we went live in 2003! We would like to ask the community about when they upgraded to Windows 2003/IIS 6 on their web server, and the nature of the problems they encountered, if any.
Thanks in advance for any advice or insights you have to offer.
Matt
I'm not trying to be a naysayer here but I would shy away from doing an in place upgrade on a machine that old. Upgrading the OS on a production box seems like an invitation for disaster. The risk of extended downtime is pretty high. Besides that upgrades always leave behind some garbage that will slow the machine down a little and a six year old server is probably right on the edge of being capeable for W2K3 anyway.
If finances require the box be recycled I would try building a desktop up with server 2003 and moving your website there temporarily. Once you see everything running well there you could make that your temp production server and rebuild the production box from scratch to server 2003. That will give you the least chance of extended downtime.
We indeed have some budgetary constraints. With that said your advice is well taken. I do like the idea of the temporary server.
Thanks for your input Rich!