Defining the Project:

What is ZDTM?

Zero Downtime Migration means that we migrate an entire office's computer systems from an old server to a new server with Zero company-wide downtime for any important functions and less than one hour of downtime per desktop.

Note, also that we never work weekends. And we don't work evenings.

We perform Zero Downtime Migrations Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM.

Let's take that apart:

First, Zero Downtime means no company-wide downtime for the server, the primary line-of-business applications, email, etc.

Second, ZDTM means letting the clients work throughout the day. So we don't send everyone home, keep them out of the most important data, and keep them away from their email.

Ever.

The focus is primarily on the SMB market, but these basic technique will work for any migration.

The bottom line is that the tools and techniques you need for ZDTM have evolved over time. But they're cheap and widely available. What you need is a recipe.

There are no specialty tools here. And no magic. In fact, most of the tools we use are available in the Microsoft resource kits or available for free download from the Microsoft web site.

We've got that.

Karl Palachuk and Manuel Palachuk will show you how KPEnterprises does Zero Downtime Migrations.

See details on the Network Migration Workbook page.

The Network Migration Workbook

The Network Migration Workbook is an extremely detailed, comprehensive guide to Windows migration.

Since Karl's one of the author's, you know this will be a great money-making template for your business.

Following in the footsteps of the Network Documentation Workbook and the Super-Good Project Planner, this book will provide you with the recipes for perfect, profitable network migrations.

The checklist is completely up to date and based on the released versions of Server 2008 and SBS 2008. We also provide legacy checklists for use with Server 2003 and SBS 2003.

All of the techniques described here are directly relevant to migrations from NT3.5 to Server2008 -- including techniques for imaged backups and virtual machines.