David Overton's Blog

SBS 2003

• How to migrate from SBS 2003 to Small Business Server 2008 (SBS 2008)

  I’ve spoken about migration several times now for SBS 2008.  The short answer is that migration from one box to another is vital.  If a customer wants to do migration on the same box, then this is either expensive (and a very long process) or something that requires moving the server temporarily to another system, or as I prefer, virtualising it.  Of course, SBS 2003 is not necessarily supported in a virtual environment, but since all we want to do is migrate from it, not “run it”, this should help you get over this. The details of the process can be found in the Windows Small Business Server 2008 technical library.  One of the MOST IMPORTANT things to understand is to create the answer file.  This is covered in the migration help below: Windows Small Business Server 2008 Migration Help  (Download) Provides step-by-step instructions for migrating from Windows SBS 2003 or 2008 to Windows SBS 2008.  Last Updated on June 30, 2008 Windows Small Business Server 2008 Product Help (Download) Provides step-by-step instructions for using the Windows SBS 2008 server software.  Last Updated on June 30, 2008 Downloadable documentation for Windows Small Business Server 2008 Before you start – what you need to remember SBS 2008 is a 64-bit solution requiring x64 capable hardware There is NO 32-bit to 64-bit “in-place” upgrade solution SBS 2008 Standard is a single server solution, while SBS 2008 Premium includes the license and software for a 2nd Windows Server system (as part of the domain) SBS 2008 Premium edition does NOT have ISA as part of the solution. SBS 2003 Premium customers with Software Assurance will be able to “make good” their ISA licenses for a limited amount of time after SBS 2008 is released. SBS 2008 Premium edition has the option to use SQL 2008 Standard edition on either server. SQL 2008 can be downgraded Migration options at high level Add a new server to existing SBS 2003 domain and either Remove old SBS 2003 server Purchase SBS 2008 Premium edition and make old server 2nd server using the license as part of SBS 2008 Premium edition Using the rights of Software Assurance / Full Packaged Product, move physical SBS 2003 to an virtual machine and migrate from it to the existing x64 capable hardware Note that SBS 2003 running in a Virtual Machine is not supported! Load onto existing server, reloading all data and rejoining all PCs to the domain   Option 1 - Process to add new server Backup up SBS 2003 server Tidy up the SBS 2003 system Remove unwanted software, files, users etc Install the new SBS 2008 system Create the answer file and install the new hardware with SBS 2008   The answer file tool looks like this: Complete the setup Set up web site information, security and so on Be aware that the migration process is an interactive process, not a click and go process   Turn off old server Confirm all client applications, printers, shares etc work If you have SBS 2008 Premium edition, rebuild old server Windows Server 2008 Standard or downgrade to Windows Server 2003 Standard for application compatibility reasons (x86 or x64 server) Finally, share how to use SBS 2008 Option 2 – Move from physical to virtual to do 1 box migration You need to do this part before you go to the steps above, starting at step 3 Purchase P2V (Physical to Virtual) software, such as SCVMM or PlateSpin solution Backup SBS 2003 server Tidy up SBS 2003 server as before and remove all unnecessary files Run P2V software Turn off SBS 2003 system and re-start SBS 2003 virtual machine Continue migration process as if installing a new server   Option 3 – Blow away existing server and rebuild all PCs Just don’t do this unless you really need to pretend you or your customer never had a network before! I hope this makes sense.   ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2008, Microsoft, Partners, Community, SBSC, Small Business, Small Business Server 2008 Posted Jul 02 2008, 02:06 AM by David Overton with 3 comment(s) Filed under: SBS 2003, Support and Tools, Community, SBSC, Microsoft, SBS 2003 R2, Documentation, Small business, Partner, SBS 2008

• Small Business Server 2008 downgrade rights questions and answers

  Last night I was at the Merseyside Partner group in Liverpool and once question that got asked again (and was in TPV and London too) was around downgrade rights from SBS 2008 to SBS 2003, so I dug for about 30 seconds and found these items on the Licensing FAQ site Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008: Q: What are downgrade rights? How do I exercise them? A:Downgrade rights, in general, means that you can use an earlier version of the software acquired. For Windows Small Business Server, this means you are allowed to install and use Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Premium Edition instead of Windows Small Business Server 2008 Premium Edition, which is what you purchased. You can also install and use Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition instead of Windows Small Business Server 2008 Standard Edition. At any time, you can install the software you purchased and cease to use the earlier version. If you obtained your server with Windows Small Business Server preinstalled from a partner or OEM, in order to exercise your downgrade rights you must already have the earlier versions of Windows Small Business Server media available. If you purchased Open Licensing, Volume Licensing, Software Assurance, or the full retail product of Windows Small Business Server 2008, contact Microsoft fulfillment services in your region. Q:Are my Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 CALs valid to use to access my Windows Small Business Server 2008 network? A:No. You must have the CAL version that matches the version of the server software you are running. That is, if you have a Windows Small Business Server 2008 domain, you must have Windows Small Business Server 2008 CALs. Note: If you choose to run an earlier version of the server software (by way of using downgrade rights), you would still be in compliance with your license by acquiring Windows Small Business Server 2008 CALs. Q:How do I obtain CALs for earlier versions of Windows Small Business Server when they are discontinued? A:You will need to purchase Windows Small Business Server 2008 CALs and use your downgrade rights Q:How are my licenses activated? A:The Windows Small Business Server 2008 server license is activated over the Internet. If you do not have an Internet connection, you can follow the instructions in the Windows Activation wizard for calling a telephone number to activate. Windows Small Business Server CALs no longer have to be activated. Note that if you are running Windows Small Business Server 2008 Premium Edition, the second copy of Windows Server 2008 technologies will require similar activation. ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2008, Licensing, Microsoft, SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2, Small Business, SBSC Posted Jun 26 2008, 07:57 AM by David Overton with no comments Filed under: SBS 2003, SBSC, Microsoft, SBS 2003 R2, Small business, Licensing, SBS 2008

• Moving SBS 2003 to new hardware or performing a migration – Update (QFE) to give you longer to do it (21 days up from the 7 days)

  From The Official SBS Blog : Small Business Server 2003 Migration Update 943494 Released, a slightly old post, but something work highlighting – how to have 2 SBS boxes on the same network for 21 days. Small Business Server 2003 Migration Update 943494 Released [Today's post comes to us courtesy of Justin Crosby] The software license terms for Windows SBS enforce a limitation that permits the presence of only one Windows SBS server in the domain. However, there is a grace period where you can have a second SBS server in “join domain” type migration scenarios. This grace period is 7 days. In some situations, this grace period may not be long enough to properly complete the migration. This software update extends the allowable grace period for the supported scenarios from 7 days to 21 days.  Please plan accordingly, aim to complete your migration within 7 days and only use this update for situations where it is needed. Remember, if you hit the 21 day limit there is nothing that can be done to extend the limit any further. Important: We strongly recommend that you complete all migration tasks before you demote the Windows SBS domain controller to a member server. Once you demote the Windows SBS domain controller to a member server, the grace period is reset back to 7 days or whatever is left from the 21 days (whichever is less). The update is available at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=64903D3C-3264-418D-9199-2963A599E268 The KB is available at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;943494 For more information on migrating Windows Small Business Server 2003 to new hardware please see: http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServerSolutions/SBS/en/library/62e2094e-ad4e-4227-b20e-97a716ed7c861033.mspx ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2003, SBS 2008, Small Business, Microsoft, SBSC, Updates, Tips Posted Jun 19 2008, 11:46 PM by David Overton with no comments Filed under: SBS 2003, Support and Tools, Community, SBSC, Microsoft, SBS 2003 R2, Small business, SBS 2008

• Proof that SBSC partners can grow from 1-man businesses into Microsoft Certified Partners – and still be good for small business – congrats Richard Tubb

  I remember the name Richard Tubb being mentioned a few times over the last 2 year and remember him on some of the Live Meetings I delivered and then he launched his blog. One thing that was apparent from his questions, contacts and especially his blog is that this is a man that “got it”.  Now there are a few others that I believe live and breathe this attitude and to name some and miss others would be bad, so I wont name any (if you want to know if your on my “I love you man” list, drop me an e-mail, but I’ve probably told you or made time for you, which is a good hint), but one thing about living your life by certain principles is that you still have to live your life.  By got it, I mean: is solution, not product oriented Is value sensitive, not price sensitive Believes in the value of the community Is prepared to stand up and be counted for his opinion – which is his, not others Will tell you when he things you are talking… erm… rubbish!! Believes in good processes (eg service plans, documentation etc) If you look at his blog, you will see the above, so it is nice to see the business grow and achieve an amazing milestone.  Richard is still a great SBSC partner, but now he is ALSO a Microsoft Certified Partner. Well done - TubbBlog: Netlink IT achieves Microsoft Certified Partner Status I'm chuffed to announce that Netlink IT achieved Microsoft Certified Partner Status this past month gone. After striving to reach the level this Certification demanded for quite some time, the achievement of reaching the goal-post almost got lost in the business that taking on new staff, moving into a new office and re-organising the business brought on! It was March 2006 that Netlink IT became a Microsoft Small Business Specialist Partner - and two years on I think that the SBSC certification, and in particular the benefits of working with the community that surrounds the "blue badge" from that certification, have significantly helped me to grow the company to the stage it's at now. I'm hoping that Microsoft Certified Partner Status helps me grow the business further still.   I’m always happy to shout about great partners, so if you have something to shout about, let me know and either myself and / or Microsoft will shout too.   ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Partner, Certified Partner, SBSC, Community, SBS 2003, Small Business, Business Posted Jun 10 2008, 09:07 AM by David Overton with 2 comment(s) Filed under: SBS 2003, Business, SBSC, Microsoft, SBS 2003 R2, Small business, Partner

• Upgrade Windows Search to Version 4.0 and improve your PC (for Windows Vista, XP, Server 2003 and 2008)

  If you have have Office 2007 or a Windows Vista or Windows Desktop Search (WDS) then you probably have V2.6 or V3 of this fantastic search product.  Version 4 has a wealth of updates, but most importantly, is more stable and faster.  One of the things I love about this is that if you put this on a client and server, and then search a network share, if the contents are indexed on the server then WDS uses the remote index to search, making it super fast.  It can even be used with SBS 2003 / 2008 to speed up access to the shares there too. Description of Windows Search 4.0 and the Multilingual User Interface Pack for Windows Search 4.0 Windows Search 4.0 Windows Search 4.0 lets you perform an instant search of your computer. Windows Search 4.0 helps you find and preview documents, e-mail messages, music files, photos, and other items on the computer. The search engine in Windows Search 4.0 is a Microsoft Windows service that is also used by programs such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and Microsoft Office OneNote 2007. You can use this search engine to index a program's content and to obtain instant results when you search in a particular program. Windows Search 4.0 includes the following improvements: Support for indexing encrypted documents of local file systems Reduced affect on Microsoft Exchange when you index e-mail in online mode, and there is no local cache (.ost) Support for indexing online delegate mailboxes Support for client-to-client remote query to shared indexed locations Improved indexing performance Faster previewer updates for Windows XP Per-user Group Policy settings Windows software updates for Watson errors Support for the following new enterprise Group Policy objects: Computer policies Prevent adding Universal Naming Convention (UNC) locations to index from Control Panel Prevent customizing indexed locations in Control Panel Prevent automatically adding shared folders to the index Allow for indexing of encrypted files Disable indexer back-off Prevent clients from querying the index remotely Allow for indexing of online delegate mailboxes Prevent adding user Specified locations to the All Locations menu Enable throttling for online mail indexing Per-user policies Prevent adding UNC locations to the index from Control Panel Prevent customizing indexed locations in Control Panel Prevent indexing certain paths Default indexed paths Default excluded paths Windows Search 4.0 Administrator's Guide http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/f98696ed-6e3e-47b7-ab38-511439bce7ae1033.mspx?mfr=true Windows Search 4.0 Troubleshooting Guide http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/84c1c305-baaa-4352-b55a-45daaebf18df1033.mspx?mfr=true  The following files are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center: Download the 32-bit Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 package now. Download the 64-bit Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 package now. Download the 32-bit Windows XP package now. Download the x64-based Windows XP package now. Download the 32-bit Windows Server 2003 and Windows Home Server package now. Download the x64-based Windows Server 2003 package now. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Windows Vista, Windows Client, Windows XP, Windows, Windows Server, Windows Home Server, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Desktop Search, Search, Windows Desktop Search, Support and Tools, Microsoft Posted Jun 08 2008, 01:41 PM by David Overton with 2 comment(s) Filed under: SBS 2003, Windows Vista and XP, Support and Tools, Windows Server 2003, Windows Home Server, Microsoft, Windows Client, Windows XP, Windows Vista, SBS 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Search, SBS 2008

• EBS 2208 and SBS 2008 Upgrades & Migrations from SBS 2003 and SBS / EBS 2008

  I saw over on Nicholas's blog post - Nicholas King : EBS/SBS Upgrades & Migrations that he has started to answer some of the questions around system upgrades and migrations.  Below are some snippets of key information he has shared.  Read his blog post for more.  However, key thoughts for me are: 1) no in box SBS 2003 -> SBS 2008 upgrades.  This is a box to box migration process.  If you have SA or FPP copies of SBS 2003 then you can potentially do a P2V and then migrate from the virtual image.  If not, I would consider running a VM of Windows Server to enable you to move the domain at least 2) Moving from one box to another (eg hardware upgrades in the future) are now supported.  This can potentially be used to go from a RC0 build to RTM, but it is not tested or supported, however that does not mean it will not work!! 3) There is a GREAT document linked below that describes a migration in glorious detail EBS/SBS Upgrades & Migrations Recently I had several people ask me whether it is possible or supported to do a build to build migration or upgrade from the RC0 of either SBS or EBS to RC1 or even RTM.  Migration and Upgrade are two words often used interchangeably.  Technically as you know they have some very specific meanings.  Upgrade means to take the existing code base and then lay binaries over the top of, or underneath of (believe it or not this is how Vista does it!) the existing installation effectively taking the old installation and making it the new, whilst maintaining the existing configuration.   Migration means setting up a completely new environment and then transferring the settings, user data and  environment functionality to the new setup. Upgrades are not something we design, test or develop for either SBS or EBS.  For RTM our research points to the fact that most installations have new hardware on site, and added to that the SBS architecture change from 32-bit to 64-bit prohibits us from doing in place upgrades. EBS is V1 so no upgrade requirement there. This leaves migrations, I need to be very clear that it IS NOT SUPPORTED from any build to build.  Code can and does change from each of these milestones and we focus our resources on shipping a quality product for RTM.  Now that that's out of the way, let's cover if it's possible.. Yes it is possible to do such a migration.  We do this for our TAP customers using the same migration document that is on TechNET (we add some more details to it to cover the changes we make, but for the most part it is the same doc).  Both products have focused heavily on migration scenarios.  I'll break this into two sections to make it read easier. Small Business Server 2008 Migration Migration is one of the killer workloads for SBS 2008.  We've built so much from SBS 2003.  An SBS 2008 migration is based off of a domain join side-by-side configuration where you migrate the user accounts and settings from the old machine to the new using a 21 day trust we create.  It is also answer file based so you'll need to kick off the tool found in the SBS 2008 binaries.  You can read more by following the migration guide found here <snipped>   ttfn   David Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2, SBS 2008, EBS 2008, Microsoft, SBSC, Partners, Small Business Posted Jun 03 2008, 01:07 AM by David Overton with 3 comment(s) Filed under: SBS 2003, Support and Tools, Windows SharePoint Services, SBSC, Microsoft, SBS 2003 R2, Documentation, Tips, Small business, x64, SBS Cougar, Windows Server 2008, Windows Essential Server Solution Family, SBS 2008

• If you are a Microsoft partner who sells SBS, then please fill in the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Community Survey

  Kevin asked a couple of weeks ago if I could share this – so I’m sharing :-) The Windows Small Business Server 2008 WW Community Survey is live This is the third year we have published an SBS WW Community Survey to the SBS Community.  Because of the previous surveys, we have made some adjustments in our community engagement. To name a few; we really worked on putting more focus on the Official SBS Blog. Our Sustaining Engineering team runs mini betas with our MVPs before KB's and Bug Fixes are released via Windows Update. We try to get more involvement in our techbetas from our User Groups. The list does go on. To the survey, the SBS Product Team would like to hear from the Windows SBS Community again. This survey is completely anonymous. In fact, some of you may have to sign out from Live in order to take the survey. So, if you get a PAGE NOT FOUND error message, please log out of Live and click on the link to the survey again. We want to know how valuable your experience is with the community resources and information that is available to you today as a member of the Windows SBS Community. We also want to know what you think could be done to improve your Windows SBS Community Experience. Please take a couple of minutes to provide us your candid feedback via this survey and let us know what you think. SBS WW Community Survey 2008 Thanks in advance for your feedback. Kevin Beares Community Lead - WSSG The WSSG Community Lead Blog : The Windows Small Business Server 2008 WW Community Survey is live   Please fill it in   David Technorati Tags: SBS 2008, SBS 2003, Small Business, SBSC, Partner, Microsoft, Community Posted Jun 01 2008, 12:18 AM by David Overton with no comments Filed under: SBS 2003, Support and Tools, Community, SBSC, Microsoft, SBS 2003 R2, Small business, SBS Cougar, SBS 2008

• Pricing for SBS 2008 and Essential Business Server 2008 released (US FPP) and public beta for EBS, with public beta for SBS 2008 to follow

  My blog has been quiet recently – think of it as a the quiet before the storm (or I’ve been maxed around quarter and year end  business, family and partner visits to the US).  Anyway, this has crept up on me before I re-installed my server, so I thought I would just share the love. Microsoft Announces Public Preview and Pricing for Windows Essential Server Solutions Today Microsoft announced the following prices for the Windows Essential Server Solutions family: Windows Small Business Server 2008 Standard Edition software, including five CALs, $1,089 (U.S.); additional CALs $77 each (U.S.) Windows Small Business Server 2008 Premium Edition software, including five CALs, $1,899 (U.S.); additional CALs $189 each (U.S.) Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Standard Edition software, including five CALs, $5,472 (U.S.); additional CALs $81 each (U.S.) Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Premium Edition software, including five CALs, $7,163 (U.S.); additional CALs $195 each (U.S.) We also announced availability of the public beta, which is available here: http://www.MultiplyYourPower.com Since I know this will raise some eyebrows I thought I would jump in early: Yes the price has gone up, but so has the value of what is in the box. In many scenarios, due to the single CAL purchases and reduction in Standard CAL prices, the solution will cost less for a customer than SBS 2003 today The Premium product now has a copy of Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition in it to enable SQL on a 2nd server, Terminal Server solutions and more.  The Exchange and management components need to stay on the 1st server You ONLY need a Premium CAL for users who are accessing SQL, so if you don’t access SQL, then you can use the Premium product without having to move to Premium CALs, saving you money   Happy to hear more about this – I will be discussing the product at the London and Liverpool group meetings over the next month.   ttfn David Technorati Tags: Small Business Server 2008, SBS 2008, SBS, SBS 2003, SBSC, Microsoft Posted May 14 2008, 03:40 PM by David Overton