If the media you acquired from your SBS 2003 reseller came on DVD, all the SBS 2003 compo- nents are on just one disk. If the media came on CD, you should have four CDs for the Standard edition or five CDs for the Premium edition. The Premium edition will more than likely have two separate license keys included with the package: one for the Standard edition components, and an extra key for the extra features of the Premium edition.
The following procedure should be used to install the basic Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system (the core of the SBS 2003 technology). So, on with the show:
1. After physically installing all your server peripherals, such as modems, tape drives, and fax cards, turn your system on and put your media in the CD or DVD drive.
2. After you see the option to boot from CD/DVD, press the appropriate key (generally any key will do, but make sure to read the instructions on the screen).
3. The system will begin the boot sequence from the Windows media, starting by installing a text-based installer in the system memory (see Figure 4-2). If you need to install a third-party RAID controller or SCSI system driver, remember to press F6 during the start-up sequence.
4. You will see a screen announcing Welcome to Setup. Press Enter to continue setting up Windows. The Repair option is used for troubleshooting and is covered later in this book. At this stage, you can also press F3 to quit if you have decided not to proceed for any reason.
■Note
If all is well, the Windows 2003 setup will recognize your server’s hardware and proceed. If it doesn’t, follow the instructions on-screen to use the hardware drivers you received with the server. This part of the setup routine will include those drivers in the list of devices it loads into memory.5. The next screen displays the Windows License Agreement. You must press F8 to agree to the terms of the license before you can continue with the SBS 2003 installation. Not agreeing (pressing Esc) will cancel the installation.
6. You are now presented with a view of your available disk partitions. This screen lists all the disks available to the operating system as presented by the system or RAID con- troller BIOS. Before you can install the Windows operating system, you must create your partitions. Using your preplanned disk layout as a model for the way you want to split up your disk, press C to create the first partition.
7. You will see the full amount of space available on your selected disk displayed on the screen (see Figure 4-3). To create a smaller partition than the full amount, simply type in the number of megabytes you wish allocated. This will be your C: drive. Press Enter to create the partition.
8. Repeat the process until you are happy that you’ve created the disk layout you decided upon earlier.
9. To Install Windows, highlight the C: partition and press Enter.
10. You can now select the file system to use on your C: drive when the drive is formatted. The best file system to select is NTFS. It is the most secure file system available for use on SBS 2003 and should always be used in preference to FAT32. (Microsoft ISA Server, for example, requires NTFS to function, so it should be a given rather than an option.) Press Enter. Depending on the size of your disk, this may take some time. Refill your coffee cup at this stage. Avoid using NTFS Quick Formatting the first time you install the server. If you have started again, having previously formatted the hard disk, Quick Formatting could be used.
■Note
The only exception to performing an NTFS Quick Format is when you are using a hardware RAID system. In this case, low-level formatting is carried out by the controller, and a quick format using Microsoft Windows Server 2003 will suffice.■Warning
Some hardware manufacturers preinstall disk utilities on a small partition (usually no more than a few hundred megabytes) on your disk, accessible by some hook into the BIOS system. Do not delete this because it may be useful later. This might appear as the first partition on your system disk, but it is normally not set to be bootable and will not appear to the operating system as the C: drive.11. When the disk is finally formatted, the operating system installation files will automati- cally be copied from the installation media. You will then need to follow the instructions for installing Windows Server 2003 into the default directory (C:\Windows).
■Warning
Reports of wizards not working properly when the default directory has not been selected suggest that you should always select C:\Windows.12. When you are happy, press Enter, and the Windows files will be copied to your hard drive. Windows automatically reboots.
13. When your system restarts, the setup program will have changed to a graphical inter- face (see Figure 4-4). The whole process so far should not have taken more than 60 minutes. In this time, the display may flicker or momentarily turn blank. This is nor- mal and is related to the Plug and Play system detecting which devices are plugged in to your system and determining the best drivers to choose for your screen.
Figure 4-4.The graphical installation interface
14. Next you are offered the option to change the language your system will display—the default is English (United States). Be careful if you are in the UK, for example, as there are settings specifically for the UK that you should take care to select. To change the settings, click Customize. When you are happy you have selected the appropriate lan- guage and regional settings and applied them as the system’s default, press Next to continue.
■Note
Make sure you change the standards and formats to suit your situation. It’s important that you select the appropriate location, language, and so on from the menu.15. Enter your name and the name of your business in the appropriate boxes. Click the Next button.
16. Now enter your product key exactly as it is shown on your media. There should be five sets of five characters. Press Next to continue.
17. In some installations (depending on how you obtained the software), you are required to select the licensing mode you have bought into. To remind you, SBS 2003 comes with five client access licenses included. If you need more than five, you should have bought them when you approached your SBS 2003 reseller. When ready, click Next.
18. Now it’s time to bring out the planning material you compiled in Chapter 3. You have to enter the computer name you designated for your server as well as the password to be used by the administrator’s account (see Figure 4-5). Rules for creating strong pass- words can be found in Chapter 11. Click Next.
Figure 4-5.Make sure to enter a strong administrator password.
■Note
The password you choose at this point will be used later to perform some very advanced trouble- shooting, such as logging in to the system in Active Directory restore mode. This account is different from the one you would normally use to manage the system.19. Next you have the opportunity to adjust the time zone to suite your locality. Also make sure the date and local time are correctly set. Click Next.
■Warning
It’s vitally important that you get the time zone settings right at this stage. Changing them later might result in extensive authentication problems that are best avoided at all costs.20. You should already have installed your modem/fax modem at this stage. After the installation program detects your modem, it will ask you to select your dialing loca- tion. Select your country, type in your area code, and then type the digits (if any) you need to dial to get an outside line. Click Next.
■Note
Modem dialing settings can be modified at a later date, so don’t worry if your dialing prefix changes or you get something wrong. You can use the Control Panel applet Phone and Modem Options to modify them later.21. You are now returned to the graphical installation interface, where more files are copied to your hard drive and the rest of the underlying operating system is finally configured for use as the base of SBS 2003. This part of the installation could take up to an hour to complete, with no user input required.
At this stage, the first phase of the installation is complete.
If there are any issues detected by the SBS 2003 installation program, you will be pre- sented with a dialog box explaining exactly what these issues are. You also might be offered advice on where your server configuration falls short of the minimum specification. You can still continue the installation, although the levels of service might be reduced. Take note of any issues highlighted and consider an upgrade to your hardware at a later date.
If all is well, the system will reboot. When it starts up, you are presented with a standard login dialog box. Press Alt+Ctrl+Del to start the login process. You can access your server by using the Administrator account and password entered in step 18.