- E-mail people at 6PM saying the server will be offline as of 10AM the next day.
- The next day, find out that the new server doesn't want to work with the disks from the old server.
- Overwrite the partition table on one of the disks.
- Spend hours backing up the data and rewriting the partition table by hand.
- The next day, copy data and install new server into limited-access server room.
- While remotely migrating setup, remove /etc/passwd file (thus preventing all remote access).
- Wait 3 days to gain physical access to the machine.
- Slowly start setting up everything.
- Have users find out that some of the services are now running different software and didn't have their data migrated over.
Things which could have been better:
- Advanced notice of migration. Server migration is never simple, advertising it the night before is seriously inadequate for most people.
- Notice of which services, if any, will not be migrated exactly as-is, and how the decision was made.
- Setting up existing services on the new server prior to the swap.
Even now, the server still isn't running all services correctly, but hopefully it will be soon. I look forward to receiving mail via the new server, 4 days after it was supposed to be all working. ;-)