The upgrade strategies you choose directly affect how long an upgrade takes to complete, the effect an upgrade has on your network, and the fundamental structure of your site hierarchy.

Upgrade strategies are divided into two major categories:

You are not limited to a single upgrade strategy for the entire site hierarchy. Because of the complex nature of Configuration Manager 2007, you might decide to employ a mixture of upgrade strategies that best fit your needs.

In-Place Upgrades

In-place upgrades offer the following benefits:

  • Generally easier to do and require less planning than side-by-side upgrades.

  • Better suited for use when you do not want to modify any computer hardware currently in use in your Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 sites.

  • Do not require the purchase of new hardware.

  • Do not require site boundary changes between sites.

  • Do not require clients to be reassigned to new sites.

Side-by-Side Upgrades

Side-by-side upgrades offer the following benefits:

  • Better suited to upgrade sites when new hardware will be used.

  • Easier to revise the existing SMS 2003 site hierarchy.

  • Allow you to rearrange sites and clients within the site hierarchy.

See Also