An undergraduate project by Derek Bable (C.T.L. in Ohio) in 2017 Spring. It's a collaboration of a student's graduation projection with a practical project in a small/medium business.
Constructing a Modern Information System for a Small Company: A Real Battle
1. Constructing a Modern Information
System for a Small Company: A Real
Battle
PRESENTED BY: DEREK BABLE
2. Project Outline
Two Parts:
Part I: Research for Replacement of Apple OSX “Mainserver”
Involved reconstructing network for testing
Part II: Replace two Windows Server 2003 Servers
YSU Data Lab
Distributed File System Server – GlusterFS
LDAP Server – OpenLDAP
3. Part I: Mainserver Replacement –
Analysis
Apple OSX Server Roles:
File server
ACL (Access Control List) and POSIX
permissions management
User Management
DHCP Server
DNS Server
Network Composition Problems
Mostly Windows Clients, some
other
Permission Issues Due to POSIX /
ACL permissions conflicting
4. Part I: Mainserver Replacement –
Operating System Choice
Decided to begin testing using FreeBSD
Cost associated with Windows was too great
Test “Server” Hardware
Virtual Machine on VMWare
Processor : i5 4th generation
RAM : 16GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz
Hard Drives : 2 x 1TB HDDs for filesystem testing, 2 x 240GB SSD for OS
OS : VMWare
5. Part I: Mainserver Replacement –
FreeBSD - Challenges
Challenges with FreeBSD
Learning curve
Provisioning an Active Directory with Samba using ZFS as the root filesystem
did not work
Bug in latest version of Samba prevented provisioning an Active Directory at all,
after fixing ZFS as root error
No GUI for administrative tasks / lack of GUI availability
Webmin not quite good enough
8. Part I: Mainserver Replacement – FreeBSD
(ZFS) – Configuration: Webmin
Webmin
A web based GUI for server administration
No Active Directory management modules, but did not matter
Domain Naming conventions
“.com” requires resolution from internet
“.private” a standard for local Active Directory
11. Part I: Mainserver Replacement –
FreeBSD (ZFS) – Configuration: Samba
Samba
Active Directory Domain Controller
Error: Samba setup claims ZFS does not support ACL permissions by default
Error: could not join computers to new domain
.com was not resolvable, but .private was (external vs. internal resolve)
Fixes
Decided to install and setup Windows Server 2016 server as ADDC
It was after this I discovered domain naming issues
Reinstalled FreeBSD using UFS as root filesystem
14. Part I: Mainserver Replacement – FreeBSD
(UFS) – Configuration: Samba
Samba
Active Directory Domain Controller – necessary to add “acls” option to boot
partition
Latest version in FreeBSD pkg and ports (Samba44) had segmentation fault
error during setup. Samba43 also had errors
Used Samba42
19. Part I: Mainserver Replacement –
FreeBSD (UFS) – Final Thoughts
Ease of Installation / Setup
Documentation makes new setup easy
Administration
DHCP – slightly more involved
AD Users and Groups – much easier than Apple Server
Share management – easier than Apple Server
Additional Management – global policies
i.e. turning off autoplay
Cost
Free – only hardware and time cost
20. Part II: Server Replacement -
Background
Requirements
Server3 and Server4, the new servers, were meant to replace two existing servers,
Server1 and Server2
Server Roles:
Server1:
Active Directory Domain Controller
DHCP Server
DNS Server
Windream Server
WINS Server
Primary Backup Server
Server2:
Active Directory Domain Controller
File Server / Secondary Backup Server
21. Part II: Server Replacement – Server4
Setup Procedure
Server4 first
Only serves as Domain Controller
Pre-Installation Configuration
Two RAID1 Volumes:
Volume0 – 2 x 120GB SSDs
Volume1 – 2 x 4TB HDDs
Installation Media Issue
ISO > 4.7GB – could not fit on standard DVD.
Solution – use bootable USB drive instead
Image.wim file > 4GB – could not fit of FAT32 partition
Solution – Use DISM command-line to split into multiple .swm files
22. Part II: Server Replacement – Server4 –
Setup
Windows Server 2012 R2 Setup
Change name to Server4
Configure Static IP Address settings
Domain Controller Issues
Could not promote to ADDC; Domain / Forest functional level too low
23. Part II: Server Replacement – Server4 –
Setup (2)
Domain / Forest Functional Level
Originally, domain created by Windows Server 2000 servers
Server1 and Server2 (Windows 2003 Servers) added later
Domain / Forest functional level never raised, Windows Server 2012 requires Domain
/ Forest Functional level >= Windows Server 2003
Solution – increase domain / forest functional level, then verify and test
24. Part II: Server Replacement – Server3 –
Initial Setup
Server3 Initial Setup
Server3 - the same as Server4
Two RAID1 Volumes:
Volume0 – 2 x 120GB SSDs
Volume1 – 2 x 4TB HDDs
Note
Server3 was reinstalled multiple times
Varying issues due to program installation / setup
i.e. SQL Server 2012 installed on Domain Controller
Screenshots / Instructions focus on final, successful install
Some problems highlighted
25. Part II: Server Replacement – Server1 – Enable DNS /
Active Directory Integration
DNS Server Setup
Integrated existing DNS records on Server1 into Active Directory
Prevented having to manually copy records
26. Part II: Server Replacement – Server3 – Quantum LTO Tape
Drive and SQL Server 2014 Standard
Quantum LTO Tape Drive
Drivers
Diagnostic Software
xTalk Management Console
Firmware Update
SQL Server 2014 Standard
Difficult Installation
SQL Server installation on a Domain
Controller is not recommended by
Microsoft
Security issues
Necessary to use Domain Account
for all SQL Server related services
Can not change accounts used for
services
SQL Server ISO Mix Up
ISO for SQL Server 2012 SP2 (only
SP2) mistakenly provided at first
This caused accidental creation of
SQL Express instances
Caused one reinstall of Server3
27. Part II: Server Replacement – Server3 – SQL Server 2014
Standard (2)
28. Part II: Server Replacement – Server3 – Veritas Backup Executive (2)
– Create Backup Job for Server4
Create Backup Job Routine for Server4
Full Backups: Every week
Incremental Backups: Every day
29. Part II: Server Replacement – Server3 –
Windream
Windream - a Document Management System
Used for Advanced file auditing
Essentially a file system on an SQL Database
As of 3/31/2017
Windream database ~6GB; Windream file store ~300GB
Validation required
Contracted with Biomedian to help with installation / setup
Windream setup tasks:
Migrate existing “Windream” database from Server1 (SQL 2000) to Server3 (SQL 2014) (my
task)
Copy file store from Server1 to Server3 (my task)
Install Windream 4.5 (Server1 current version), upgrade to Windream 5.5, upgrade to
Windream 6.5 (Biomedian with my help)
Verify data integrity (Windream only)
30. Part II: Server Replacement – Server3 –
Windream (2)
Complications
Cannot directly backup database from SQL 2000 and restore in SQL 2014
Need intermediate step, SQL 2008
File store copy and verification
Copy ~300GB, verify with binary comparison (takes a LONG time, copy takes ~20
hours)
Current Status
File store copied, database migrated
Windream 6.5 installed and working on Server3
Windream 4.5 installation, upgrade to Windream 5.5, and upgrade to Windream 6.5
had no major issues – tested 4/3/2017
31. Part II: Server Replacement – Final
Thoughts
Lessons Learned
The most important lesson I learned during this project was to test everything you
can as early as you can. Server3’s setup had went perfectly well until I tried installing
SQL Server 2014, which ended up causing me to reinstall Server3. I had waited a few
days before attempting to install SQL Server, because I didn’t think it would be
important until closer to the cutover day for Windream. Had I waited to install SQL
Server until later, I may have not had enough time before the Windream cutover day
to reinstall Server3.
Experience
Overall, the greatest benefit of this project was gaining experience in setting up
servers for production use. It is one thing to set up a virtual server and mess around
with it, but it is a whole different beast when setting up servers for a production
environment.
32. Project Summary
Server3 and Server4 have been running for two weeks with no issues after
replacing Server1 and Server2. Users of the network have not reported any
problems with Windream or any other functionalities on the network.
Overall, this project has GREATLY increased my understanding of business
networking, server installation and setup, both in Windows and
Linux/FreeBSD. I also learned valuable communication skills through
working with Biomedion.
33. Special Acknowledgements
A big thank you to Dr. Yu, for numerous recommendations throughout the
semester to better my documentation and for helping me manage my
time, prepare this presentation, and support me through this project.
Thank you to YSU CSIS department for all of the skills and knowledge I
learned in various courses that I could apply to this project.
