SBS 2011 introduces an interesting challenge for those looking to install it. A lot of companies purchased SBS 2008 in the last year or so and purchased a new, 64-bit server to support it. The rub here is that in order to do an upgrade install of SBS 2011, you cannot simply run an upgrade directly on the SBS 2008 server;  the only supported upgrade to SBS 2011 is that you must migrate to a new server.
How does one accomplish this, especially those who have just bought their SBS 2008 hardware and do not need a new server? The answer is virtualization!

Vsphere, a virtualization product by VMWare, only costs $349 for a 3 server virtualization license. With this software in hand, you can virtualize your current SBS 2008 server, then start a virtual migration to your SBS 2011 server. You can take a snapshot of your SBS 2008 setup, should you need to revert in case of a migration error. Once the migration is done and validated, simply shut down your virtualized SBS 2008 server and bask in the glory of a successful SBS 2011 migration!

As an added bonus, your server is now virtualized, which will allow you to run multiple servers if necessary on the same server box. Now you are getting your money’s worth out of that server!

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