Vista - Virtualize Small Business Server 2003

I have a CPA company with a single SBS2003 server. I have one assistant who
uses RWW from home to access the server. I recently suffered a hardware
crash that took nearly 2 weeks to repair. Since this is unacceptable for my
job I decided that I need DR plan for myself. I have been reading about
Windows Virtual Server and wondered if this may be an option for me. I could
clone my SBS2003 server onto a Virtual Server and then when my primary
SBS2003 server crashes, I could bring the Virtual Server up at a secondary
location with all the settings and configuration being identical......so long
as the router is configured properly, I'm guessing. This would allow my
assistant to continue using RWW. As for data, I daily backup my data using
an Internet Storage site. I could download the data once the Virtual Server
is up running. Does this sound viable?

Sort of. A few questions would help narrow things down, however.

1.) You say you're running SBS - are you running Premium or Standard
Edition. If Premium, are you using ISA, or not?

2.) You say your physical server was down for 2 weeks due to a hardware
failure. What kind of server hardware do you have? And what kind of failure?
There is no possible way you should be down more than a few hours with a
reasonable real server and typical support contract.

3.) You say your assistant uses RWW. What workstation does s/he connect to?

4.) This scenario virtually guarantees you'll lose data, up to 24 hours
worth. I'd rather address that concern more directly.

I've set the followup to the SBS newsgroup - that's really the right place
to be having this discussion. We've got lots of good SBS users there, and
most of us have a fair amount of familiarity with virtualization.

--
Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/blogs/xperts64
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/charlie.russel


"Pearl" <Pearl@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:234D1A3E-8D8A-4BEF-A6C6-142AAF4DF065@xxxxxx

see replies below:

"Charlie Russel - MVP" wrote:
================Standard.============= Dell PowerEdge460SL

And what kind of failure? Power Supply==============no more warranty. No support contract. Small budget office.===========Windows XP Pro laptop