I recently had an issue with the System Centre Essentials on the Management Server of an Essential Business Server (EBS08). One of the catches with EBS08 is that you can’t easily reinstall the SCE component, you actually need to reinstall the server it is on. This is of course worst case scenario.

I found this article on Technet which explains how to do a “Replacement Mode Install” of EBS08.
Essential Business Server Replacement mode article on Technet.

Replacement Mode allows reinstallation of any one of the EBS08 servers in event of hardware failure or a particularly nasty software issue that is best resolved by a reinstall.

Note that it is extremely important to ensure you have a complete backup before attempting this.

Expert Advice:

The following tweets are a response from Mark Stanfill at Microsoft Support in response to a question posted on Twitter about doing a replacement mode install. Thanks very much Mark, this is really useful stuff.

Tweets from: @Markstan (Senior Support Engineer at Microsoft)
Marks blog is: blogs.technet.com/essentialbusinessserver

@nztechtweet: found this when investigating how to reinstall a broken SCE on #EBS08, anyone tried this? http://tinyurl.com/yexnnh6

@nztechtweet @energizedtech done dozens of #EBS08 Replacement Modes ( http://tinyurl.com/yexnnh6) Ready for a brain dump? New series…

#EBS08 New Series – Mark’s Rules for Successful Replacement Mode – MR4SRM. RM = replacment mode.

#EBS08 MR4SRM Rule #1 – Make a complete server backup first. No exceptions.

#EBS08 MR4SRM Export config to XML using http://bit.ly/2jlxkE. Pay special attention to all IP addresses . Make sure they’re corrrect.
technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd430092(WS.10).aspx

#EBS08 MR4SRM You need 2 functional EBS servers for Replacement Mode. If not, restore one server from backup.

#EBS08 MR4SRM Always back up CALs on Mgmt server before RM.

#EBS08 MR4SRM Mgmt server needs CALs reinstalled or restore post RM.

#EBS08 MR4SRM Mgmt Server RM will pull down all WSUS data again – many GB. Export & import – http://bit.ly/4DUxtN. Backup data drive
technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680473.aspx

#EBS08 MR4SRM All servers are going to need patching. Expect many reboots, considerable time.

#EBS08 MR4SRM Security & Msg can pull updates from WSUS rather than MU. Deselect optional updates during RM. Critical updates come from MU

#EBS08 MR4SRM Make sure AD is healthy before RM. Always run IT Health Scanner first – http://bit.ly/Od1uH
blogs.technet.com/essentialbusinessserver/archive/2009/10/28/how-to-run-the-it-environment-health-scanner-in-an-ebs-environment.aspx

#EBS08 MR4SRM Never, ever delete computer accounts or run metadata cleanup before RM. http://bit.ly/Cwsrr
blogs.technet.com/essentialbusinessserver/archive/2009/02/24/properly-handling-an-ebs-2008-setup-failure.aspx

#EBS08 MR4SRM All DCs need to be online and contactable before RM.

#EBS08 MR4SRM Make sure IIS is healthy, started, listening on port 808 for /remoting directory on all servers before RM.

#EBS08 MR4SRM Run “dnscmd /config /enableglobalqueryblocklist 0” for wpad autodiscovery – http://bit.ly/3NceQm
technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc995158.aspx

#EBS08 MR4SRM Management Server restore – repair all SCE clients underAdministration node.

#EBS08 MR4SRM RM on Messaging obviously does not restore mailboxes & PFs. Make backups first – online, offline, PSTs. Belt and suspenders.

#EBS08 MR4SRM To get Security Server to report back to SCE after RM – “net stop fweng /y”, repair SCE client, restart services

#EBS08 MR4SRM Remove UM (if present) from Exchange before RM of Messaging Server to avoid setup failure.