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This chapter is from the book

Best Practices

  • Verify that your hardware is supported.
  • Stick to using the recommended or better hardware and software requirements.
  • Make sure you document your server configuration information and perform a backup of any data that you want to keep.
  • Test your applications for compatibility before migration.
  • Use a consistent naming convention to name the servers and client machines.
  • Use only Internet-standard characters in your computer name. This would include the letters A–Z (upper- and lowercase), the numbers 0–9, and the hyphen (-).
  • Periodically verify that system backups can be used to recover a system in a lab environment.
  • Use the regular formatting option to perform a true format.
  • Use NTFS to create an efficient and secured filesystem.
  • If you are not sure which licensing mode to use for your environment, select Per Server.
  • Rename the Administrator account, for the sake of security, after you complete the installation.
  • Automate installation by using deployment tools such as RIS, Sysprep, RIPrep, Unattend files, and Group Policy (with SMS).
  • Choose and install Windows 2003 R2 components to a server to take advantage of new capabilities built in to Windows 2003.

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