2008 r2 cloned server

[mataVCP]

hi, hope i have put this into the right community...

I am after a little bit of advice & something to put my mind at rest...

Runnning vSphere 4, all fine. Built a 2008 R2 Server left it in a workgroup & applied all updates etc... After the server which was still in the workgroup was all patched up I cloned it to build an identicle box but gave it a different name... Both were then powered on, IP's set to static unique ones & names set differently... I then joined these two machines to the domain.

After this I have installed SQL Server 2008 onto one & MOSS on the other. So far everything is running OK...

Problem... my initial routine of cloning the image was wrong I agree... I should have sysprepped it or something? Or should I? As a result if I run the sysinternals tool (PsGetSid) against the server name both servers come back with the same SID for its name...

What am I to do? Obviously the order in which I did things meant they were joined to the domain after the clone which means the domain SIDs should be different. So far I have had no issues with anything not working as expected...

I have read an article from sysinternals about the NewSID tool saying that its been retired becuase basically its doesnt matter if machines have the same SID on a domain... http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897418.aspx

Whats your thoughts guys/gals?

Many many thanks in advance...

[vmroyale]

Hello.

Problem... my initial routine of cloning the image was wrong I agree... I should have sysprepped it or something? Or should I? As a result if I run the sysinternals tool (PsGetSid) against the server name both servers come back with the same SID for its name...

Running sysprep certainly wouldn't harm anything, and is generally a good idea from a MS supportability issue. That being said, having the same SID isn't going to be much of an issue - read more about why NewSID was ultimately retired over at Mark Russinovich's site.

Good Luck!

[mataVCP]

hi, thanks for the quick response... both vms are now in production, i presume I cant run sysprep on them now? what would be the impact? out of the domain, delete machine from domain, sysprep, join back in... (would progs continue as they were, SQL & MOSS)

Mark R's site is very good & very understandable but some of the comments from guests are very worrying :-s

many thanks for your input.

[vmroyale]

hi, thanks for the quick response... both vms are now in production, i presume I cant run sysprep on them now? what would be the impact? out of the domain, delete machine from domain, sysprep, join back in... (would progs continue as they were, SQL & MOSS)

Some apps won't be impacted at all, and others could suffer from this process. If you want to try it, I would suggest taking a snapshot and then making the changes you described. Test, test, and test some more and if it works then keep it. If not, revert and maybe try the other server.

[mataVCP]

what about the vmware bios id? been doing a little reading but can't find much about it? will this cause me an issue. how the hell do you actually check what the vmware biod id is? should i change it?

tempted to just leave the clones with same SID... :-s (if it aint broke dont fix it?)

[vmroyale]

Chances are very good that this isn't duplicated. Check out kb 1002403 for more information.

[mataVCP]

vmroyale - cheers for the link & replies so far, really appreciate the input...

Have checked the uuid.bios on both VM's & they are reporting as being unique which is great news for me (one less thing to loose sleep over)

After newsid.exe becoming end of life (so to speak) I had to do some digging to find it via other sources... I have it now though... Quick question if you know? Can this be run whilst the machine is still part of the domain? If its just changing the "machine SID" then it should be OK to run like this shouldnt it?

Has anyone out there reported any issues running this on 2008 R2 with SQL & or MOSS installed?

As always - many many thanks for your input...