Updating a Network

If you have the latitude to do so; before you "Up-Grade" try the following to prepare for it and then move on into the actual up-grade with the confidense that no client time will be lost to inconveience or lost (misplaced) data. Get a copy of the Interactive Operating Platform and activate it - follow the instructions - , elevate it to system operations when it indicates it is time to do so and then have it investigate the up-grade desires so that it can facilitate the doing of the operation thru-out your network in an expeditious manner.

RIVER FREIGHT

Contact a vendor regarding volume licesning; I have uused PC Mall with a lot of success.

You want to buy your software through the Microsoft Licensing program, not through any retail outlet or online at the MS site. You can get the best deals when you buy all of your licenses together - server, CALs, Office apps if you're using them, etc. When you buy through the licensing program you get only one CD and one product key (actually, MS charges you about $25 for this). You cannot, however, buy through the licensing program except through a reseller. Some of the on-line resellers, like CDW for example, will sell you licenses, I believe, or you can go through a local reseller.

Since you have under 50 workstations, you should consider Small Business Server 2K, which includes Win2K server as well as Exchange 2K and SQL 2000,as well as modem and fax sharing server software. This is a really great deal if you want the whole MS scenario including email, office apps, etc.

As far as documentation, again I'd have to refer you to the MS knowledgebase - support.microsoft.com. Search for white papers, etc., here.

Basic steps would be:

1. Make sure you have both a PDC and BDC in place in your NT 4 domain.
2. Decide whether you are going to (a) upgrade on your existing systems or (b) replace your hardware.
3. If (a), upgrade your PDC first (required), then the BDC(s) and then the workstations.
4. If (b), create a new domain/forest by installing Win2K fresh on your new hardware and do a migration from the NT4 domain to the Win2K domain.

Hope this helps!

Synergy has given you the best answer so far, but I'd like to expand a little on his advice and throw in my opinions.

It hopefully goes without saying that although you only need the one copy of the Win2K Pro CD (or 1 media kit in Microsoft-speak), you still need enough software licenses to cover all your clients in addition to the Server CALs.

Where to buy what you need: Any Microsoft reseller will generally give you about the same price for the items you need. Volume discounts are based on the number of a given product that you buy. It still pays to shop around because some resellers may have steeper profit margins than others. You can access a short list of resellers that sell online at http://shop.microsoft.com/helpdesk/mvlref.asp

Reference Small Business Server - this can be a good deal IF:
you need all the different server packages it includes; AND
you don't EVER plan on growing past 50 clients; AND
your network isn't part of a larger company or corporate network.

If all any one of these items doesn't hold true, you are best going with the full Server package.

As far as which order to upgrade things, it really depends on your objectives. If you've read about, and would like to take advantage of Win2K Server's Remote Installation Service (RIS), you need to upgrade the server first (NOTE: RIS only works with fresh OS installs; it cannot be used for OS upgrades). If you can't use RIS, it REALLY doesn't matter which you upgrade first, the server, or the clients (especially clients running Win9x). It's more a matter of preference for whoever is doing the install/upgrades.
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