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Geekzone is now running Windows Server 2008 RC

By Mauricio Freitas, in , posted: 20-NOV-2007 13:57

This has been a long project! A few months back I was talking to Darryl Burling during one of our weekly coffee meetings  and he asked "why don't you try running Geekzone on Windows Server 2008?"...

Indeed why not.

After asking around and receiving some good feedback I decided to apply for the Go Live licence and install Windows Server 2008 in our servers.

I really wanted to test it beforehand. Thanks to Acronis I was able to duplicate the exact Geekzone environment (Windows Server 2003) and run it as a virtual machine under Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1.

On this virtual machine I tried the migration to SQL 2005 and the upgrade to Windows Server 2008.

I tested it during three weeks, finding some problems during the experiment - breaking things, restoring the virtual HD file and trying again.

After all those tests I finally had the confidence to go for it on the real box. The total upgrade took about two hours on the actual machine (a dual proc Xeon 3 GHz box).

My first impression is how responsive the UI is. Also it looks like Windows Vista in many aspects and it's easy to use. There are some new features that I will be trying soon. The next thing I notice is that pages are actually faster now - to create and load.

For Microsoft this is another showcase: Geekzone is now one of the top 15 New Zealand websites in number of unique browsers, which is a good traffic to try the new OS.

The plan now I to leave the server alone for a couple of weeks, to allow it to "settle down" and make sure we don't run into anything strange on the standard install.

Other related posts:
Register for .Net Code Camp Wellington now
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 available now
Windows 7 RC Wallpapers


 





Comment by Stuart Maxwell, on 20-NOV-2007 15:32

Well done! I assume you did an in-place upgrade which is why you weren't able to go 64bit, or were there other factors that prevented you from going 64bit?


Comment by KevDaly, on 21-NOV-2007 05:35

Once you get over the shock of how different things seem at first, IIS 7 is a big improvement over IIS 6 (especially when you run it in Integrated Mode). I would expect backup and recovery to be less painful as well, since essential settings can be put in config files rather than the fragile and mysterious metabase.
And then there's the ability to write filters without mucking around with ISAPI adapters...


Comment by Adair, on 29-NOV-2007 16:23

I work in an agency that had the chance to chat with the Microsoft developers behind Windows Server 2008.

Check out the vids http://www.youtube.com/microsoftdevelopers and meet some colourful characters...


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freitasm's profile

Mauricio Freitas
Wellington
New Zealand


I live in New Zealand and my interests include mobile devices, good books, movies and food of course! 

I'm the Geekzone admin. On Geekzone we publish news, reviews and articles on technology topics. The site also has some busy forums and is part of the Microsoft Featured Communities.

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If you want to contact me, please use this page or email me at freitasm@geekzone.co.nz. Note that this is not for technical support. I don't give technical support. You can use our Geekzone Forums for community discussions on technical issues.

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