David Overton's Blog : SBS 2003

Technical School: installing and Configuring Small Business Server 2008–June 17th 2010

David Overton — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:37:10 GMT

Hi,

I know this has gone out to UK SBSC partners, but I thought I should let people know through the blog too.

Technical School: installing and Configuring Small Business Server 2008

Technical Schools are a series of monthly Live Meetings specifically for the Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC) and Registered partners who specialise in targeting the small to medium sized business market. Taking place on 17 June, 15:00-16:00 (GMT), the next Technical School will be led by Microsoft's David Overton who will provide guidance relating to Small Business Server 2008. Review a recording of last months' Technical School, which discussed Office 2010.

We will cover off the preparation required prior to a migration, the process of installing or migrating and then some FAQ’s of the most commonly asked questions that people have sent me. These will include:

Converting a trial license to a purchased solution
Getting rid of the Outlook prompt for username and password
Installing the latest service pack for Exchange

Thanks

David

Where to buy Small Business Server 2008, Installing, Migrating and Configuring book

David Overton — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:37:00 GMT

I've had a few people ask where they can buy my book so I thought I would lay out the options. You can always purchase both the book and / or the e-book from Packt Publishing at this address however for those who wish to buy elsewhere, you can.

Book or eBook
Free shipping! US, UK, Europe & selected Asian countries

This is the RAW book (Read as Written).
More Information here
To buy or pre-order, click here

Book and eBook. Pre-order now!
Print only price £27.89 save 10%
eBook only price £13.19 save 40%

Amazon in UK

Amazon in USA

Anywhere in the world

I hope you enjoy the book. For a brief summary of the chapters go here and you can preview a chapter from the book here -(Sample Chapter 4 Installing SBS 2008 and Connecting to the Internet [2.0 MB]).

If you wish to request a copy to review, look at the Request a Review Copy page.

I have now embarked on my 2nd book project and you can find out more about it here - http://davidoverton.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2011/08/27/windows-intune-book-update.aspx. I have also included a link to buy the RAW version in the above table too!

Thanks

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2008,Small Business Server 2008,Installing,Configuring,Migrating,Microsoft,Book

SBS 2008, Installing, migrating and configuring BOOK now available to pre-order

David Overton — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:22:00 GMT

[updated 2nd May 2009]

Hi everyone. My SBS 2008 book is in now available to order. Details below. If you want to ask questions once you have the book, go to http://davidoverton.com/r.ashx?13. To order the book click http://davidoverton.com/r.ashx?1M

Small Business Server 2008 – Installation, Migration, and Configuration

David Overton

Set up and run your small business server making it deliver big business impact

· Step-by-step guidance through the installation and configuration process with numerous pictures

· Successfully install SBS 2008 into your business, either as a new installation or by migrating from SBS 2003

· Configure hosted web sites for public and secure information exchange using Office Live for Small Business and Office Live Workspaces

· An illustrative book for people with basic technical skills and no SBS background

In More Detail

Available April 2009. Order now!

Cover price	£24.99
Packt Special Offer	£22.49 save 10%
Multi-buy Discount	£20.49 save 18%

Hurray

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2008,Small Business Server 2008,Book,Personal,If you only read one blog today,SBSC,Microsoft

SBS 2008 Migrations from SBS 2003 – Keys to Success from the Official SBS Blog

David Overton — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 02:05:00 GMT

I started to write about this at SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 migration thoughts and issues and Active Directory Health Checks, but after some discussion with the SBS team at Microsoft we now have much more:

The Official SBS Blog : SBS 2008 Migrations from SBS 2003 – Keys to Success

The purpose of this post is to help you complete your SBS 2003 migrations to SBS 2008 successfully on the first attempt.

……………… much, much more

Use this information if you have a non-standard implementation or are concerned about the success of a migration.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,SBS 2003,SBS 2008,Migration,SBSC,Small Business Server 2008

Citrix Access Essentials, SBS 2008, EBS 2008 and you - Birmingham, 10th Feb

David Overton — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 09:35:00 GMT

As many of you know I work with Citrix in the UK. While their product is not appropriate for 100% of the SBS & EBS market, if you would like to know more about the opportunity when you are a Citrix Partner and specifically about Access Essentials for SBS and EBS, you should attend this event. There is also a great prize too :-)

If you want to see a blog all about Citrix then look at their official blog here and if you want to see someone in the community talking about his area then look at Brian Madden's info here.

www.citrixpartneraccelerator.co.uk

Find out how your business could join the fast lane in 2009 by becoming a Citrix partner. It's an exciting time to be part of the Citrix Partner Network™: in the last year we launched new virtualisation solutions, expanded our partnerships with the world's top hardware and software vendors and added new incentives to channel programmes. At our Citrix Partner Accelerator event, you'll learn how these investments could help you develop your business - by offering your customers the most powerful and comprehensive value-added application delivery infrastructure solutions in the market.

Get up to speed with Citrix
We'll bring you up to speed with the latest Citrix vision and strategy and give you the inside track on new Citrix and partner offerings that could help you stay competitive in 2009.

Understand the latest developments within Citrix and in the wider market with keynote speeches from senior Citrix executives.
Learn how you can develop new business opportunities by working together with Citrix.
Experience the newest application delivery infrastructure solutions through demonstrations and proof of concepts in the technical sessions.
Connect with Citrix employees, Citrix Distributors and Citrix Alliance Partners who could transform the way you do business.
Focused Workshops for new resellers on developing your business with Citrix, plus a Citrix Access Essentials for Microsoft focused partners and a Citrix strategic sales workshop for those who want to learn more about the value proposition.

Register online today to guarantee your place.

www.citrixpartneraccelerator.co.uk

The prize draw:

Explore the benefits of becoming a Citrix partner and you could win a once-in-a-lifetime Formula 1 VIP experience.*

In June 2009, the Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix comes to Silverstone, the home of British motor racing, for what could be the last time. Record-breaking crowds are expected to welcome home the reigning world champion, Lewis Hamilton. The stage is set for a weekend of unrivalled sporting excitement with an unforgettable party atmosphere - and you could be part of it!

Citrix is offering everyone who attends the Citrix Partner Accelerator event on 10 February the chance to win an awesome all-inclusive Grand Prix experience, including:

Two nights' accommodation for two at 4* Horwood House, a grand manor house set in 38 acres of landscaped grounds just 15 minutes from Silverstone.

Helicopter transfers to and from the race circuit.

Day membership of the exclusive F1 Paddock Club, including gourmet cuisine, fine champagnes, amazing views of the race start and finish, and guided pit lane walkabouts.

To ensure you're in with a chance to win, register now and attend the Citrix Partner Accelerator event in Birmingham on 10 February.

About the event
Citrix Partner Accelerator is an unmissable opportunity for any reseller who wants to evaluate the benefits of joining the Citrix Partner Network™. We'll bring you up to speed with the latest Citrix vision and strategy and give you the inside track on new Citrix and partner offerings that could help you stay competitive in 2009.

Register online today to guarantee your place.
www.citrixpartneraccelerator.co.uk
*Terms and conditions apply - see www.citrixpartneraccelerator.co.uk

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Citrix,Microsoft,Partners,SBS 2008,EBS 2008,Access Essentials

Active Directory Health Check - Make sure your AD is healthy before you migrate SBS 2003 to SBS 2008

David Overton — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:30:00 GMT

[updated 29/9/12 with new link]

Given the recent comments about AD validation I thought I would share this excellent document on verifying your AD before you begin a migration (or at any other time)

Active Directory Health Check - Active Directory

This document outlines a basic procedure for validating the health of your domain and is a good practice for iterative maintenance and an excellent pre-check before doing any potentially dangerous domain operations

I would add a couple of extra tests to the list in this document, which would be placed after the 1st DCDIAG test, also perform:

DCDIAG /test:DNS /DNSALL /e /v

DCDIAG /test:DcPromo /e /v

DCDIAG /test:RegisterInDNS

If you system passes these tests then it is a good indication of health.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003,Windows Server 2008,Active Directory,migration,Microsoft,SBSC,Partners

SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 migration thoughts and issues

David Overton — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:03:00 GMT

I've been part of a lively debate on the Yahoo UK SBS Group about how to migrate from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 and what the issues are. The information I have so far is good, but I need much more to take it to the product teams.

For sure, the issues so far are:

Concerns around the "state" of AD before a migration is started - how do you check it - look at this blog post
Concerns around the Exchange migration in terms of time taken and failure scenarios - how to remove the chances of this?
Concerns around "on-site" versus "off-site" strategies
Concerns around recovery options in the event of failures (restore from backup not being ideal if you want it diagnosed)

My problem is that I have no data to take to the Microsoft product teams, which means I can't ask them to fix things so this is a two fold open invitation.

If you have had an issue, share it via comments below, but also PLEASE e-mail (doverton@microsoft.com) as well so I can get in touch with you and potentially the product teams too. If you put your mail in the blog then others can see it. You are also welcome to just e-mail me, but then there will not be discussion in public, which might be a shame.
Share other concerns so I can get them documented and addressed, but also use the Microsoft support - you can always send me the SR numbers if you want me to tie them together.

That is it - may the knowledge sharing continue!

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003,SBS 2008,migration,Microsoft,Small Business Server,SBSC,Community,Partners

How to upgrade (migrate) from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 on the same system without using a swing migration

David Overton — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:33:00 GMT

Someone posted this question on a discussion group at work and it got me thinking. If you bought a nice new system over the last 2 or so years in preparation for SBS 2008 (Cougar as was or even SBS v.Next) and had it installed with SBS 2003 you've probably heard that SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 is a 2 box migration and needs the Swing technique to do an on box migration.

I've come up with a much simpler solution, but your hardware might need some additions to make it work. So here is what you need:

Box with 6GB of RAM minimum (4GB for SBS 2008, 1GB for SBS 2003 and 1GB for Hyper-V server).
1 new disk for SBS 2008 system disk and 1 disk to hold Hyper-V (which could be small if desired or temporary)
System that meets the minimum system requirements of Hyper-V (http://www.microsoft.com/servers/hyper-v-server/system-requirements.mspx)
You need to ensure your hardware is really up to spec and is fit enough that you want your new SBS 2008 system to run on it for the next 2+ years, otherwise this may well be a false economy.

The process in outline is below. If you need more detailed information, let me know and I'll knock something up (as well as this may possibly end up in the book)

Take a full system backup before starting
Take existing system and add RAM and 2 disks
Install Hyper-V Server onto 1 disk
Install Hyper-V manager onto a client PC (see here for details)
Configure the network to all nodes can connect to a real physical network that has your internet router and firewall on it
Configure a virtual machine with pass-through disks that point to each of your SBS 2003 disks. To make a disk visible in Hyper-V console as a pass-through see here. Only configure approx 1GB of memory as you only need it to run well enough to perform a migration.
Start and boot the SBS 2003 VM. Check that all services start (or can be started if there is a timing issue) and that all data is available.
Install the integration Services Setup disk, run the setup and reboot when asked
Create another virtual machine with 4GB of RAM that points to the other new disk, again as a pass-through volume. This will be the SBS 2008 boot disk and can be booted with or without Hyper-V later
Perform the Migration as per my book (not yet published) or Whitepaper
Start migration process, including creating the answer file.
Create a VFD with the answer file on it and boot SBS 2008 to start the migration
Finish the migration to the point where the SBS 2003 box is downgraded
Turn off SBS 2003 VM and store, recycle or dispose of disks
Choose to either make the machine book natively boot to the SBS 2008 partition (in the bios) or continue to use Hyper-V

That is it. Much simpler than a swing if your box is good enough to run Hyper-V server. If you intend on keeping SBS 2008 running under Hyper-V, have a look at this Technet article.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003,SBS 2008,Microsoft,Migration,SBSC,David Overton

Internet Explorer security vulnerability fix now available – think of it as an early Christmas present… now about Firefox’s 3 issues this week…

David Overton — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:25:00 GMT

I think everyone knows that an urgent security issue has arisen in IE this week and Microsoft has taken the (wise) decision to publish a fix outside the normal 2nd Tuesday release cycle. Some have said switch browser because of this issue, but not only can that be complex, but most browsers suffer security issues so once again the only real protection is to wrap in cotton wool and hide. Or, use the built in features of Vista and IE7/8 which means protected mode and NOT running as admin. You might ask why a Christmas present? Well, if this continued un-patched then your information is seriously at risk and that would make for a very bad Christmas if your credit card information was stolen!!

Either way, if you have IE on your systems then you will need to update your systems urgently. Of course, my Hyper-V server (or Windows Core for that matter) don’t have IE, so no updates for them!!!

Just for completeness, here is the information from the Technet newsletter

Internet Explorer Security Update
I wanted to update you on the Advance Notification of security update MS08-078 which will address a new vulnerability allowing remote code execution in all affected versions of Internet Explorer products. We plan to release this update on December 17th, around 10 a.m. Pacific Time (6pm UK time) through Automatic Updates and Microsoft Update. We encourage you to test and deploy this update as soon as possible. Our investigations of the known attacks have verified that they are not successful against customers who have applied the security update.
You may be interested to know, that in response to the threat we mobilized security engineering teams worldwide right away to develop, test and deliver a security update of appropriate quality for worldwide distribution in the unprecedented time of eight days. We also published the Microsoft Security Advisory 961051. Microsoft's teams worked constantly to identify more options for customers and updated this advisory 5 times in six days.
We remain committed to building secure products and we also encourage responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities. We believe the commonly accepted practice of reporting vulnerabilities directly to a vendor serves everyone's best interests. This practice helps to ensure that customers receive comprehensive, high-quality updates for security vulnerabilities without exposure to malicious attackers while the update is being developed.

Phil Cross
Technical Audience Group Manager

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: if you only read one post today, Internet Explorer, Security, Windows, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server, SBS 2003, SBS 2008, Microsoft

Important Microsoft security update – update your machines now!

David Overton — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:06:21 GMT

DavidOverton.com rebooted today due to an emergency security update – an “out of band” release from the normal “patch Tuesday” process. It is worth considering updating and reboot your computers and servers asap.

More information on this can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS08-067.mspx. Impacted systems below:

Operating System	Maximum Security Impact	Aggregate Severity Rating	Bulletins Replaced by this Update
Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4	Remote Code Execution	Critical	MS06-040
Windows XP Service Pack 2	Remote Code Execution	Critical	MS06-040
Windows XP Service Pack 3	Remote Code Execution	Critical	None
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition	Remote Code Execution	Critical	MS06-040
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2	Remote Code Execution	Critical	None
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1	Remote Code Execution	Critical	MS06-040
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2	Remote Code Execution	Critical	None
Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition	Remote Code Execution	Critical	MS06-040
Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2	Remote Code Execution	Critical	None
Windows Server 2003 with SP1 for Itanium-based Systems	Remote Code Execution	Critical	MS06-040
Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems	Remote Code Execution	Critical	None
Windows Vista and Windows Vista Service Pack 1	Remote Code Execution	Important	None
Windows Vista x64 Edition and Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 1	Remote Code Execution	Important	None
Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems*	Remote Code Execution	Important	None
Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems*	Remote Code Execution	Important	None
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems	Remote Code Execution	Important	None

ttfn

David

Can't find the WSS (Windows SharePoint Services) sales and marketing toolkit for SBS 2003 - here it was

David Overton — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:18:58 GMT

I've had someone ask me about the WSS toolkit that was referenced at How to Sell, Deploy, and Build Business with Microsoft Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 and SBS 2003 R2. The download location has moved to http://www.partnersalesresources.com/Pages/sbskit.aspx#.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Windows SharePoint Services, WSS v3, SBS, SBS 2003 R2, Microsoft, Partners

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

David Overton — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:06:00 GMT

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

Small Business Server 2008 downgrade rights questions and answers

David Overton — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:57:26 GMT

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

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)

David Overton — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:46:41 GMT

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

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

David Overton — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 08:07:00 GMT

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

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

David Overton — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:41:52 GMT

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

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

David Overton — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:07:00 GMT

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

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

David Overton — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:18:06 GMT

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

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

David Overton — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:40:51 GMT

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

UK SBS group meeting in Manchester on Wednesday 23rd April 2008

David Overton — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:51:15 GMT

I just saw this from Chris Parks and thought I would share with a wider audience:

Folks, Just a quick reminder of the meeting this Wednesday at One Central Park, Manchester M40 5WW, 18:30... Attending from Microsoft are David Overton, Danny Ovens and myself.

Hope to see you there :) Also, a huge thanks to those who’ve either joined the online network or sent me back their profiles so far...some of them have been enlightening and some of them downright intentionally hilarious!!! (Please feel free to send through today if you get chance and haven’t done so yet :)

Regards,

Chris Parkes

Technology Adoption & Solutions Specialist

thanks

David

Technorati Tags: Small Business, SBSC, SBS 2003, SBS, Manchester, Community

Where will your customers be looking for solutions – will they stick to on premise, or will they move towards a S+S or SaaS solution not from you?

David Overton — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:02:00 GMT

I know the table above is really, really simple, but I wanted to start the ball rolling – I have been thinking about this for ages!! Let me explain the diagram. The horizontal axis signifies how much of a solution is hosted. An example of this might be Office Live or Hotmail, where almost all of the solution is hosted. We then have the “on premise” or on-site IT going vertically. For most people, this is solutions like SBS 2003. A typical S+S solution might be MS CRM Online which has online components, but also enables you to go off-web and use Outlook or one of the mobile clients when on the road.

While many thought on-line would be the next best thing even the king of on-line, Google, have recently admitted that it would not always be the answer in the posting they made on April 1st. Steve Clayton did the leg work and checked this was not form of April fool too!!

Even the NY Times is talking about it, which to me says it really is going mainstream - http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_002570DE00740E180025742400363509.html.

Ok, so that is the picture out the way, now lets talk about the question. Which question you ask… well, this one:

Will any of your customers be running in the “S+S or hosted” marketplace in 5+ years time?

Now while that is a good question, I expect most of you will say … some, definitely not all, but some. How many customers can you afford to lose to a S+S provider?

Now this leads to an even bigger question ….

What will you have done to ensure they are still your customers, as opposed to someone who is skilled in S+S?

Personally I find this question much more concerning as many people can’t articulate any plans they have to capture these customers!! So what do I suggest …

If you are a services partner I recommend you start to look at SaaS services like Office Live that are slowly moving towards S+S or S+S services like CRM online and start to plan how you could add value to them and make money in the future.

If you are an ISV, then now is the time to start to look at services like the Sync Framework - http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/sync/default.aspx and the blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/sync/.

You should have most of the other tools already, although if not then other keywords to do some reading on are Hosting, SPLA licensing, Application Virtualisation and Citrix.

If you want to know more, let me know

David

Technorati Tags: S+S, Saas, Software as a Service, Software plus Service, Live, Online, SBS 2003, Small Business, Business, Community, SBSC

How to get DNS and DHCP working on a Windows Server from behind the Windows Firewall

David Overton — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:55:00 GMT

I have a Windows Home Server at home and I decided I wanted it to be responsible for handing out DHCP and DNS addresses in the house. All very good, but when I set up the services none of it worked because of the built in Windows Firewall. While I could have just turned off the Firewall I decided to learn how to put the holes into the firewall to make it work with the firewall, thus maintaining better security.

A quick search of the web showed me many settings, but it did not seem to cover the whole picture – then I came across the MS site Windows Firewall Settings which has things broken down into these four handy sections that shall for ever more be my guides to ports and firewalls in the Microsoft world. What is more, as you will see later, the tips in here as to how to get things working, getting over common hurdles is quite stunning too:

Windows Firewall Settings: Optional Components
Windows Firewall Settings: Remote Administration Tools
Windows Firewall Settings: Server Roles
Windows Firewall Settings: Services

The two key entries for me are below – DHCP and DNS. Note that the DHCP entry has a wonderful tip saying that you will need to ensure 0.0.0.0 is included in the scope of the acceptable ports – i.e. you can not just set the scope to local network only. This was my 1st mistake

Windows Firewall: DHCP server

Add UDP ports 67 and 2535 to the Windows Firewall exceptions list on the DHCP server.
Important:

When you create a Windows Firewall exception for the DHCP protocol on a DHCP server, you must set the scope for the exception to Any computer including those on the Internet. If you leave it set to My network (subnet) only, all inbound DHCP Discover packets from client computers are dropped because the IP address of the packet is 0.0.0.0, which is not recognized by the computer as being part of the local subnet. This causes the DHCP process to fail and clients do not receive IP addresses.
Windows Firewall: DHCP server

On the DNS entry the thing which grabbed me was the ports other than 53 that were needed:

Windows Firewall: DNS server

Add UDP port 53 and TCP ports 53, 139, and 445 to the Windows Firewall exceptions list.
Windows Firewall: DNS server

Invaluable information!

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: DNS, DHCP, Windows Server, Firewall, Windows Firewall, Ports, Port, Microsoft, Windows Server 2003

Extended Promotional offers for SBS 2003 – now available until June 30, 2008

David Overton — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:58:17 GMT

I saw these on the SBS Offers site and noticed that they have been extended, so here are the things you need to know below. It is worth remembering that it is up to you how you pass these benefits through to your customers!!

What? – Promotion Offering:

When? – The promotion extension means system builders and resellers can now submit claims for services they deliver between January 1, 2008 and June 30, 2008. Participants will have until July 31, 2008 to complete their claims.

*If a partner submitted claims between January 1, 2008 and February 29, 2008 they will be applied to this extension period and cannot exceed 50 claims in total per partner.

Who is eligible – All system builders and resellers in the participating countries in Western Europe, Germany, France, UK, APAC, India, MEA, CEE (EU only), and Latam (CCA only).

How? – The system builder/reseller goes to www.sbsoffer.com to learn about the offer and the steps needed to redeem:

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2, SBSC, Partners, Microsoft, Offers, Promotions, Community

Dear Susan … It is 75 CALs, but recommended for 50 users … reply to "Tom"? We'll need you to dispel another myth. - The Official Blog of the SBS "Diva"

David Overton — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:33:31 GMT

Susan has raised a really good point and something that is often misunderstood about SBS – and this ties in to SBS 2003 AND SBS 2008.

What is the problem … Here is what Susan put… is SBS designed for 50 or 75 CALs?

"Tom"? We'll need you to dispell another myth.

March 11, 2008
Windows Small Business Server 2008 – HOT!Prepare for New Server-Solutions Business <http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8493173>
Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2008 is coming in the second half of 2008. The enhanced platform, part of the new Windows Essential Server Solutions family, is built on the Windows Server 2008 operating system and includes Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft SQL Server 2008, and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. With SBS 2008, you can deliver cost-effective, manageable, enterprise-class technologies to your small-business customers with up to 50 75 workstations or devices,and grow your server-solutions business.
"Tom"? We're going to need you to dispell another myth that has already been started. It's not 50, it's 75. There's no change in cal count from SBS 2003.

"Tom"? We'll need you to dispell another myth. - The Official Blog of the SBS "Diva"

The answer is that SBS can run with up to 75 CALs, but the risk of hitting that limit is not good, so we recommend if someone is buying a new system for them to go with 50 CALs as a limit to give headroom. If they expect the server to last 3-6 years, the potential of hitting the top is there and the experience when they do is not great. Now I know that we have the transition pack for those that hit the limit, but this is about a simple positioning statement that people can understand.

So, 75 CALs limit is still true, but the recommended (as it is for SBS 2003 today) is still 5-50. You will also notice that EBS has a recommended coverage of 25-250.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2, SBS 2008, Licensing, Microsoft, SBSC, Community

Are you a “Wizard bigot”? So you think that SBS is a poor quality, cut down version of Windows Server? Do you think that SBS admins are small in capability?

David Overton — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:12:27 GMT

Unfortunately there are people who answer yes to the questions above, so lets get some things straight – if you think that:

SBS is bad. There were dark days in the SBS 4.5 and 2000 time (to a small extent) when people thought SBS did not work, did not perform and was clobbered down with stuff that made people hate it. Now Days SBS 2003 is amazing and is built on top of Windows Server 2003 with lots of good stuff extra too.

SBS is insecure. SBS is not only as secure as Windows Server 2003, but since most of the work of securing the system is done for you, it stops you missing silly and obvious things. SBS 2003 R2 even ships with WSUS enabled and a system for telling you if your systems are patched (yes, desktop and server). For a fun look, see Hack That!

Wizards are for wimps. I don’t understand those people who insist on not using the wizards. Yes, SBS 2003 has all the tools of Windows Server 2003 underneath, but why why configure everything by hand when a wizard will do 1/2 hours work in 1 minutes. If you then need to tweak the settings (and that means tweak because it helps the business, not because you prefer everything to end in an even number), then you can still do so – all the of the product features are still there, including all the low level tools.

SBS can’t do everything that Windows Server can do. Well, the answer is almost. It does have some restrictions on it, but they are really simple and nothing to do with application compatibility or ability to work inside a small business:

1 domain (as many other DCs and servers as you want – have a look at Ultimate Server Rave and )
75 CALs, so no enterprise
Only 1 SBS Server per organisation, but as with the domain question – you can have as many Windows Servers in the domain as you want.
Also look at Tech-knowledgey

I love SBS, but to help you convince others, why not have a look at a few places:

For information on the Myths -

Presentation: Dispelling Common Myths About Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2
Are you prepared to answer customer questions about SBS 2003 R2? Get an overview of product features and licensing scenarios as well as a list of common misperceptions about SBS and why they're incorrect.

Windows Small Business Server Truths Revealed
Myths abound about the flexibility and scalability of Windows Small Business Server (SBS) environments. The truth: SBS can work in most complex server-workload scenarios, from multiserver environments to line-of-business applications and remote access. Read about Microsoft Partner experiences. Learn about the robust capabilities of SBS. The benefits of deploying the platform and how you can satisfy the needs of your small-business customers - and increase revenue - by selling them the right solution.

or for customers, send them to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/evaluation/topmyths.mspx

To punish those bad wizards from the past have a look at Punch A Wizard Game and then understand more about them look at Wizards.

Finally, have a look at Hello World! and all the items on the blog to understand more about what SBS can do!!

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2, Server, Windows Server 2003, Wizards, Small Business, Small Business Server, Marketing, Microsoft, Humour, Humor

Want to know more about Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0? Make time from 6pm in London on the 29th April 2008. Remember that you can load WSS v3 onto SBS 2003 and it is a part of SBS 2008 (Cougar) and Essential Business Server 2008 (Centro)

David Overton — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:36:00 GMT

I have said many a time that SharePoint will be a key asset for small business partners now and in the future and all the press suggests the exact same thing. Vijay has arranged, and will be presenting, at an Event in London with Steve Smith, Craig Carpenter and Bill English. Given the quality of the speakers, I would suggest that you sign up early to say that you will be there:

Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 Event for SBSC Partners on 29th April 2008

Venue & Time
Microsoft London, Cardinal Place, 100 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 5JL meeting at 6.00pm for a 6.30pm start and 9.00pm finish.
Presentations from some of the worldwide experts on Sharepoint on Windows Sharepoint Sservices 3.0 which will be a key component of SBS 2008 and which can be installed as a side-by-side installation on SBS 2003.
Presenters
Steve Smith MVP and Craig Carpenter (co-owners of Combined Knowledge one of the leading Sharepoint Training Consultancies). Steve is also one of the organisers of the Sharepoint User Group in the UK. Check out the bios here.
Bill English MVP of US based Mindsharp and author of a number of MS Press Books on Sharepoint will be presenting on WSS User Management on the new DeliverPoint Platform.
To register either leave a comment with your name and company or drop me an email at vijay@iqubed.biz. We are expecting a lot of interest and it will be opened up to the Sharepoint User Group as well

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SharePoint, WSS, Windows SharePoint Services, SBS, SBS 2003, SBS 2008, Cougar, Office System, Office 2007

Manchester SBS Group (Kick Off Meeting) - 27th March 2008 - be there to see how it all starts again - with Chris Parkes, Ceri Thomas and me

David Overton — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 08:04:00 GMT

Ceri Thomas is planning a new group in Manchester and Chris Parkes will be there to host things with him for the 1st meeting. I will also be there slightly later in the evening. Below is the mail sent out by Danny Ovens to SBSC members in the area, but all are welcome.

Dear Partner
New: Manchester SBS Groups (Kick Off Meeting)

What is the purpose of the SBS User Group....?
SBS User Groups are partner meetings, run by partner, for partners. They are an independent forum that enable partners to meet one another, share best practice, learn how to better engage with IT Vendors and also hear directly from Microsoft about our products and strategies.
· Partner to partner networking – how can collaborating, learning what successes others have had, sharing problems and concerns or working as a group help your business
· Connect with Vendors – The group can invite Microsoft and others to attend and present to your agenda...be heard!
· Plugged in to Manchester Northwest activities – We’re increasing our engagement with partners in the Northwest through events and communities and we’ll keep the forum updated with relevant news
· Ability to shape the agenda of the User group in future – What works for you...? Influence the agenda to reflect your needs.
The first meeting is being held in Manchester on the 27^th March and if you’d like to register your attendance please do so through the voting buttons above.
[to vote from this blog entry, click here: Yes, I'd like to attend I would like to attend but can't make this date I would not like to attend thanks]

Date & Time:
Thursday 27^th March, 18:30-21:00

Agenda:
18:30 Welcome, introductions.
19:00 Microsoft Update
19:45 Partner Roundtable – Issues, concerns & successes
20:45 AOB – Agree Next meeting agenda
21:00 Close
Venue:
One Central Park, Manchester M40 5WW
Host Partner
Your host partner for the evening will be Ceri Thomas (168tech.co.uk) from 168tech and he will be supported by Chris Parkes, Microsoft Technology Adoption & Solutions Specialist and Dave Overton the Microsoft SBS Guy.
Please feel free to forward this invitation to others you think might be interested.
Look forward to hearing from you....
Regards
Danny
Danny Ovens | Regional Partner Engagement Manager

Hope to see you there

David

Technorati Tags: SBSC, community, partners, small business, Manchester

More ways to engage with customers using the Microsoft advertising campaigns

David Overton — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:00:00 GMT

[updated 4th March]

Many people congratulated Microsoft after the Mr Busy campaigns allowed partners to drive their customers back to them using a MS campaign. Well, this is now being repeated for a number of campaigns. Today I found the click and go site to get them all (http://www.campaigns.arvato-services.com/). You can get 200 post cards or 1,000 e-mails for free and then a low price for additional cards/ e-mails if required. The campaigns covered include:

Business Productivity
Customer Acquisition and Retention
Security and Reliability
Small Business PC
Mr Busy

This method of engaging is not new to the Small Business team and others have covered this before (eg Susanne here), but it is worth re-highlighting this now as some of the campaigns have been renewed, so go back and visit the site!!

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Marketing, Campaigns, Business Productivity, Customer Acquisition and Retention, Security and Reliability, Small Business PC, Mr Busy, Partner, SME, Small Business Server 2008, Mid-Market

Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer Updated - from the Official SBS Blog

David Overton — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:39:00 GMT

Yesterday we announce SBS 2008 and now there is the updated best practice analyzer for SBS 2003 - The Official SBS Blog : Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer Updated - the updates are below

Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer Updated

The SBS 2003 Best Practices Analyzer configuration file has been updated with new rules. There are approximately 100 new rules and many pre-existing rules have been improved based on your feedback.
To check to see if you have the latest configuration file go to Start>All Programs>SBS Best Practices Analyzer, then click on the About the Best Practices Analyzer link. The updated configuration file version is 2.1.18.0.
If you still have the old version (2.1.4.0), click on the Updates and Customer Feedback link. Then click on the Check for Updates Now link.
Some of the new rules include:

Expanded checks for Blue Shield issues relating to WSUS
Checks for the .Net Framework version for Companyweb
Resolved some issues with the WSS and DST update checks
Checks the SQL Default instance for service pack level/version
Information messages regarding Forest/Domain Functional Levels and Exchange Functional level
Checks that KB 911829 is installed for OWA/Vista compatibility
DNS Forward lookup zones are set to allow secure dynamic updates
Verifies IIS keep-alives are enabled
Checks ISA 2004 service pack level, and if ISA 2000 is installed recommend that it be upgraded to ISA 2004 using SBS 2003 SP1 media
Verifies that no restrictions have been placed on the IWAM or IUSR accounts for workstation or logon hours
Checks to see if the LANNIC guid appears to be the internal interface
Checks for MSFW instance for service pack level/version
Warning if NIC drivers are over a year old
Verifies that the reverse lookup zone is configured for allowing secure dynamic updates
Verifies that WSUS is integrated with SBS R2
Informational message to show the AD schema version level
Attempts to ping other domain controllers to test connectivity to them
Verifies that SSL is not required on the /exchange-oma virtual directory
Checks that the server has been updated with KB 926505 for Outlook/Vista compatibility
Checks for Windows SharePoint Services v3.0 SP1
Checks for Windows Server Update Services v3.0 SP1

Note: Please remember if you see the error that Windows SBS 2003 Service Pack 1 not installed that SBS 2003 SP1 is made up of 5 parts (Windows, Exchange, Windows SharePoint Services service packs, XP SP2 update, and the SBS 2003 service pack itself). If you are getting this error then you may have Windows Service Pack 2 installed but would appear the SBS 2003 SP1 itself is still not installed. For more information see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50694.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2, Best Practice, Microsoft

Where to go to study for SBSC exam 70-282 - help from the community by the community

David Overton — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:51:03 GMT

This comment was added to my blog the other day, but I think it deserves posting as a blog entry in it's own right:

Hi Dave,
We've worked up a 70-282 set of resources on a live.space. The effort is thorough and a good starting point for anyone looking at the 70-282 exam. Two particularly useful URL's are:
http://wigital.spaces.live.com AND
70-282examteam.events.live.com
You are welcome to contribute and/or comment if you have time.
Warm Regards,
Mark

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBSC, 70-282, Exam, SBS Server, Community

Citrix, HP and Brian Madden seem to think "Citrix Access Essentials is actually cool now!"

David Overton — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 06:40:22 GMT

I've been doing some work with Citrix and I've started to see a bit on an alignment come together for the small business arena. There are still areas where just a few users on terminal services is just fine - ala the white paper (SBS 2003, Virtual Server and / or Terminal Services and why use virtualisation and the risks to consider), but for those who need better management, have more users, heavier applications or poor comms then the Citrix solution is good. Even Brian Madden was impressed and if you read all of his blog article then you will see it took a long time to impress him

The next day I sat down with her at iForum. She sat across the table, smiled, leaned in, and asked point-blank why I have been ignoring CAE. Apparently she’d changed positions within Citrix, and whatever it is she’s doing now, she’s very passionate about CAE.
I leaned back in my chair, took a sip of Coke, closed my eyes and exhaled, saying, “Vicky, there is nothing at all about CAE that is even remotely interesting.”
“That’s where you’re wrong!” she exclaimed, somehow managing more enthusiasm than a minute earlier. “Have you seen v2? We have multiple servers--complete with 100% automatic and transparent failover! We have role-based server configuration! We have simple and automatic status emails to admins! We have an option to buy only the Citrix CALs if you want to upgrade from pure TS!”
“Okay, you have my attention.”
And she kept it for the next 45 minutes as we discussed what CAE had become today. Here’s a synopsis of what I learned about Citrix Access Essentials 2.0:

Like previous versions, CAE v2 is limited to 75 users. However, you can build as many Citrix servers as you need to support whatever application mix and usage scenario you have for those users. In the event that you want to grow larger than that, there is an upgrade path from CAE to Citrix Presentation Server. (This is a licensing upgrade path--you’ll have to rebuild your server environment based on real CPS when you upgrade.)
In the vein of multi-server support, you can use a wizard to configure the various CAE roles on each server, so you can easily configure one to be an application server, one to be a secure gateway, etc.
An easy-to-use email-based alerting system sends status and problem messages to admins. This could be to an engineer at a consulting partner who sets up the server, since many CAE customers will not have a real IT staff per se.
Since multi-server introduces some additional complexities, Citrix has built a new automatic failover system where the second server can grab the IP address and everything from the first server. This could let the system stay up and running in a completely transparent way, and then of course the email alert could be sent out to let an engineer know that the first server requires some attention.
On the licensing front, CAE v2 is still licensed based on named users, and the USD$249 CAL includes the MS Terminal Services CAL and a year of Subscription Advantage from Citrix. If you then upgrade to “real” Presentation Server, you can keep the Microsoft TS CALs to apply to your new environment. Further, if you already own TS CALs, you can buy a cheaper CAE CAL that does not include the Microsoft CALs.

Oh wow! Citrix Access Essentials is actually cool now! - From BrianMadden.com

However there is more. HP is now also in on the act and putting the CAE product onto its boxes:

HP Unveils Four Entry-Level Servers

The servers are available pre-configured with Citrix Access Essentials and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.
Hewlett-Packard on Monday introduced four entry-level ProLiant servers for midsize companies with limited space and IT staff.
The new servers include software tools that guide users through system configuration. "HP is aggressively focused on creating technologies that reduce complexity for midsize customers at every step," Paul Gottsegen, VP of marketing for industry standard servers for HP, said in a statement.
The four products use serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drives and support redundant arrays of independent disks. RAID is an umbrella term for storage schemes that divide and replicate data among multiple disks.
The new lineup includes the ProLiant DL180 G5 and the DL185 G5, which are two-processor, 2U servers with three PCI-Express slots and optional redundant power supplies. The DL180 G5 has up to 9 Tbytes of storage while the DL185 G5 has up to 10.5 Tbytes. The latter also has dual network interface cards and is a good option for mail and messaging, video capture, online gaming, and high-performance computing, HP said.

HP Unveils Four Entry-Level Servers -- Servers -- InformationWeek

For more information on CAE, have a look at

Citrix Access Essentials

Go Into Work Over the Internet

Citrix Access Essentials™ enables small organizations with 5 to 75 users to securely access order entry, billing, scheduling, CRM, accounting and other Windows-based line-of-business applications over the Internet with just a Web browser. The cost-effective software makes centrally maintained information as easy to update and retrieve from home, while traveling, or from Internet cafes, as if at the main office. Citrix Access Essentials software inexpensively addresses your remote requirements, by layering simple wizard driven administration and secure role based web access on top of the Microsoft Terminal Services foundation.
What Problems Does It Solve
Anyone who owns or manages a small business knows how difficult it can be trying to enter orders, bill customers, schedule resources, manage accounts, and generally run line-of-business applications when you leave the main computer facility – usually located at headquarters. Firewalls that block connections, impossibly poor response over slow lines, security threats from public networks, and improper or inadequate equipment at the remote end are just some of the obstacles that get in the way.

Citrix Systems » Citrix Access Essentials

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Citrix,SBS 2003 R2,Terminal Services,CAE,Citrix Access Essentials,HP

Windows Small Business Server 2003 at risk from critical flaw

David Overton — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:32:07 GMT

Hopefully everyone has seen this, but if not:

Windows Small Business Server at risk from critical flaw
Microsoft initially omitted Small Business Server from its list of critically affected OSes, but is now offering patches via its automatic update services
In an update to its MS08-001 security bulletin, Microsoft said that the latest release of Windows Small Business Server was also critically at risk from a bug in Windows' networking software.
The flaw is also considered critical for Windows XP and Vista users. Microsoft did not say why it had initially omitted Small Business Server from its list of critically affected operating systems, but it said that the product's users were being offered patches via Microsoft's various automatic update services. "Customers with Windows Small Business Server 2003 Service Pack 2 should apply the update to remain secure," Microsoft said in its updated bulletin.
The bug lies in the way Windows processes networking traffic that uses IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) and MLD (Multicast Listener Discovery) protocols, which are used to send data to many systems at the same time. Microsoft said that an attacker could send specially crafted packets to a victim's machine, which could then allow the attacker to run unauthorized code on a system.

Windows Small Business Server at risk from critical flaw | InfoWorld | News | 2008-01-24 | By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

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David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003,SBS 2003 R2,SBS,Security,System Updates

Quick licensing question and answer - the 5 licenses (CALs) that ship with SBS 2003 in the box, are they per user or per device?

David Overton — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 10:24:36 GMT

I have seen this question asked several time so thought I would share this one on the blog:

http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsServer2003/sbs/techinfo/overview/licensingfaq.mspx
Q. How do I know which mode I have selected?
A.For the first 5 CALs that come with the server, you should complete the CAL license document. There is a field for writing in whether you would like to choose per user or per device CALs. For CAL add-on packs there are separate SKUs for per user and per device.

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David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003, Licensing, CALs, Per User, Per Device

SBS 2003, Virtual Server and / or Terminal Services and why use virtualisation and the risks to consider

David Overton — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:27:32 GMT

I need to take my hat off to the PSS guys in India. I "met" Girish on the Microsoft internal aliases and then delivering a Technet chat. I've since seen him post some great blog posts, but also answer key questions in various SBS forums.

Alex recently asked the question:

They (well I) think it is time to virtualise the three SBS servers that support their three micro businesses (plus a terminal server each). Lower energy costs (down to 1 server from 3), quieter in their office.

Girish has recently blogged something that would help implement this:

Content Released: Deploying Terminal Services in a Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Environment

Deploying Terminal Services in a Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Environment
This document updates and replaces both "Deploying Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server to Host User Desktops in a Windows Small Business Server Environment" and "Installing Virtual Server 2005 R2 on Windows Small Business Server 2003 with SP1."
Kudos to SBS UA team and the SBS Support Staff.

Now, he also commented in the SBS forum with some great advice:

There are a huge number of caveats that make this a very complex and usually disappointing option. Make sure your understand these KBs:
909840 Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 do not support Virtual PC and Virtual Server for production environments
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;909840
840319 A list of supported host operating systems that you can use to run Microsoft Virtual Server 2005
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;840319
897613 Microsoft Virtual Server support policy
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;897613
320220 Support policy for Exchange Server 2003 running on hardware virtualization software
http://vkbexternal/VKBWebService/ViewContent.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;320220
897614 Windows Server System software not supported within a Microsoft Virtual Server environment
http://vkbexternal/VKBWebService/ViewContent.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;897614&PortalId=1
867586 Maximum CPU capacity is less than expected in Virtual Server 2005
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;867586

All good advice - people even chipped in with comments like "On the NIC side you should get two four-port server NICs. You should also get very good hardware with incomparable hardware support" and "Don't want to start Microsoft bashing but the paired down core Linux kernel used for ESX along with the VMWare kernel modules make it extremely efficient, reliable and scalable which even though Windows has come a long way over the last few years it still doesn't tick all those boxes."

Lets answer the hardware one. Some points to consider - none of these are show stoppers, but it needs to be thought of and included in the costings of moving to virtual:

If you move your customers to TS instead of desktops then should there be any form of server failure all those desktops fail, qualify of hardware and procedures is vital to stop this being an issue.
Moving servers to virtualised system can help when there is plenty of spare resources on each system, but if a system is close to its' CPU or memory limits then virtualisation can make those limits get closer and cause problems.
While virtualisation can reduce the number of physical boxes that get managed it increases complexity of managing the hardware - need more memory, cpu, disk etc, then all virtual systems need suspending while you shutdown your virtual server and add it. Some hardware supports this without powering off, but this moves the price.
Again, as with hardware firewalls and virtualised systems, the number of systems that need to be managed increases as you add these boxes. The virtualisation software will need managing as will all the virtual servers, so overall the number of systems managed will increase - don't forget this. Even a ESX box needs managing and if it is not your core skill, perhaps best to get trained or not use it

Now onto the ESX versus Virtual Server. ESX has some lovely technology, but the reasons stated above as reasons to go ESX are in my personal opinion flawed.

Linux vs Windows reliability should never be an issue on the same hardware. The days of "Windows just crashes all the time" have been gone in a well managed environment for years. It has been years since I have seen Windows cause a BSOD due to anything but poor quality (and nearly always un-signed) hardware drivers. As for maintaining the environments, both need patching, updating and taking care of. Again, as Girish pointed to - http://www.virtualization.info/2007/12/patch-tuesday-for-vmware.html - an average of 19 days between having to do maintenance that requires it being put into maintenance mode (no running VMs) for ESX while Virtual Server will be 1 month between the updates due to the managed monthly update cycle.
Windows can easily be paired down if desired to just run the services you want to manage your Virtual environment, but sometimes it is better to keep a few services running outside the virtual enviroment for performance or management reasons
ESX does today have something over Virtual Server in scalability in so much as native x64 guests are not available today (it will change soon, but not today), but having 8 VMs on a single box is not a problem today (in fact, you can go to over 64 with a x64 hosts)
Cost - Virtual Server is a free add-on to Windows Server, ESX is not

Once you go through all the points above, you can decide if virtualisation is for you and then whose to use. Hopefully you now feel a bit more informed.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Virtual Server, Virtualisation, Windows Server 2003, Virtual Server 2005 R2, SBS 2003, Terminal Services, Terminal Server

Download the "How to Sell, Deploy, and Build Business with Microsoft Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 and SBS 2003 R2" now

David Overton — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:11:51 GMT

I have been asked about this loads of times, but for those of you who want to know more about using WSS v3 and SBS 2003, the guide is finally here at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=59acc518-023e-43c3-b8f3-378c5e387461.

How to Sell, Deploy, and Build Business with Microsoft Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 and SBS 2003 R2

Partner tool to create solutions using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2.

File Name: Selling_WSS_and_SBS_Kit.zip
Date Published: 11/15/2007
Overview

A new partner enablement tool helps you create solutions using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2. Access the toolkit’s resources—including a process cookbook, technical documentation and marketing materials—to learn how to build your business by selling and deploying customized solutions.

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David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2, SBSC, WSS v3, WSS, SharePoint, Windows SharePoint Services

Whitepaper on Migrating SBS 2003 to New Hardware

David Overton — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:18:07 GMT

It is funny how things happen. I was debating with my dad which was better - building a new server and re-joining the clients, migrating via AD in a VPC to give the server the same name or adding the server and dealing with the fact that the "server" has a name change. I then told my dad that I had blogged about this and he should have read the document, only to discover that I had not. I've seen it covered in a few places. I'm always open to feedback on this sort of information. I am pro-VM based migrations but people seem to think they are too hard, so more on that would be really good.

Microsoft has released a new whitepaper and set of worksheets entitled:

”Migrating Windows Small Business Server 2003 to New Hardware“
Sections include:

Migrating Windows Small Business Server 2003 to New Hardware
Worksheet 1 Source and Destination Computer Information
Worksheet 2 SMTP Connector Settings
Worksheet 3 Exchange Server 2003 Global Settings
Worksheet 4 Location of Data for Line-of-Business Applications and Location of General User Data
Worksheet 5 Windows Small Business Server 2003 Settings
Worksheet 6 Shared Folder Information

The whitepaper outlines the following steps for migrating from an existing computer running Windows SBS 2003 to new hardware:

Evaluate the current status of the source server.

continued at Whitepaper - Migrating SBS 2003 to New Hardware | NoGeekLeftBehind.com

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David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2, Migration, Tips

How amazing in Windows Home Server? We Got Served blog shows that Paul Thurrott thinks it is amazing and a sign that innovation is alive and kicking at Microsoft. And no, small businesses should still go for SBS

David Overton — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:45:30 GMT

I just love the extract that Terry has pulled out at Paul Thurrott Reviews Windows Home Server | We Got Served. It shows that the SBS team who produced Windows Home Server (WHS) are a very good bunch at delivering solution oriented servers.

Paul Thurrott Reviews Windows Home Server
Posted by: Terry Walsh
If you remain to be convinced by Windows Home Server, Paul Thurrott’s review offers an enthusiastic, yet balanced view of its strengths and weaknesses… thanks for the shout-out, Paul.

Overall, WHS is a wonderful solution for problems you never knew you had. But make no mistake, these are very real problems that need to be addressed, and WHS does so in spectacular fashion. I’m looking forward to what the Home Server team does next, but even now in this initial release, they’ve spun some magic. Anyone who doubts whether innovation is alive and well at Microsoft simply needs to take a look at this product. Highly recommended

Some people have asked me if WHS should go into small businesses and most of the time the answer should be no. If they honestly don't need the e-mail, firewall, domain, server backup, WSS, WSUS etc features of SBS and are less than 10 people then there is a sliver that WHS is right for them, however to be safe for the future, I would go SBS for now.

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David

Technorati Tags: Windows Home Server

A SBS Blog to watch - Girish's Graffiti : How to use Performance Monitor Wizard (PerfWiz) on SBS

David Overton — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:18:00 GMT

This is just one example of the many blog entries on this blog that is again worth watching. Is it also worth mentioning that Girish supports SBS? Go to Girish's Graffiti to see lots of good stuff.

How to use Performance Monitor Wizard (PerfWiz) on SBS

You can download PerfWiz from here;
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=31fccd98-c3a1-4644-9622-faa046d69214&displaylang=en
Many times when you have performance issues on your server you can use this tool to simplify creating performance counters. This will benefit you in the following way; you don't need to do this one by one manually and this would be a head start before you call for support. Because for most performance issues you may find that we would want to collect this from your system.
So here is a step by step on how can do this
More information at Girish's Graffiti : How to use Performance Monitor Wizard (PerfWiz) on SBS

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS, Blog, If you only read one post today

Be there or be square - Westcoast Small Business Forum - 29th November, Reading

David Overton — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 08:30:30 GMT

What can I say - an amazing line up of presenters, plus a chance to throw pies at me as I do a song and dance for 1 hour. Seriously though, look at the agenda and wonder how you survived without it!!

Westcoast Small Business Forum

Get yourself booked onto our Small Business Forum which takes place on November 29th at Microsoft’s Thames Valley Campus.
Spaces are limited (unless you’re happy to sit on laps?!) so get yourself booked on now. First come, first served.
Full details are available by clicking here. We’ll be updating it with a few more events that are coming up this year in the UK that we think you’ll be interested in.
Look forward to seeing you there!
Oh, and guess who’s also found another site to blog on…

UK SMB Girl » Westcoast Small Business Forum

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David

Technorati Tags: If you only read one post today, Small Business, SBSC, Community, Westcoast, Event

A SBS Blog to watch - Moloy Tandon's Blog - Ask Me

David Overton — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:11:00 GMT

This is just one example of the many blog entries on this blog that is worth watching. Is it also worth mentioning that Moloy supports SBS? Go to Moloy Tandon's Blog - Ask Me to see lots of good stuff.

Upcoming Events: Small Business Server 2003 Webinar

We've arranged three Small Business Server webinars to cover topics that we think you may be interested in. You can watch these webinars from the comfort of your own PC and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions at the end.
But hurry! Spaces are limited so ensure you register as soon as possible.
The Small Business Server OEM pre-installation kit
Join us for the first of our three-part webinar series, focusing on Microsoft Small Business Server.
We'll be looking at how to:

Automate the build process - using features such as auto-unattend
Centrally manage your installations - by using network-based deployment
Incorporate third party drivers - and pre-install additional applications
Add unique customisations - to promote your company and support offerings
We'll also touch on creating images to help you save time on future installations and finish with a question and answer session.

Tuesday 30th October, 9am-10am - Register
Tuesday 6th November, 9am-10am - Register
Common configurations with Small Business Server
In part two of our series on Small Business Server we'll be investigating common configurations. This session will include:

Hardware and network infrastructure considerations, including how to set up, email or transfer from an ISP
Security
Troubleshooting techniques and common pitfalls

Tuesday 30th October, 4pm-5pm - Register
Tuesday 6th November, 4pm-5pm - Register
Windows SharePoint Services
In the third and final part of our series on Windows Small Business Server we'll look in detail at Windows SharePoint Services.

Key capabilities of Windows SharePoint Services version 2.0 around web-based team working
Options for ongoing management
Introducing Windows SharePoint Services version 3.0

Wednesday 31st October, 9am-10am - Register
Wednesday 7th November, 9am-10am - Register

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS, Blog, If you only read one post today

From the Official SBS Blog - SBS now has a Best Practices Analyzer!

David Overton — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 06:17:34 GMT

You have seen the Exchange, SQL, Security and Windows best practice scanners, well now we have all that SBS expertise wrapped up into an SBS scanner - enjoy!!

SBS now has a Best Practices Analyzer!

The Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer examines a server that is running Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Windows SBS) and presents a list of information and errors that administrators should review.
The Windows SBS Best Practices Analyzer examines the server and collects configuration information from many sources including:

Active Directory
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
Registry
Metabase

After collecting information about server configuration, the Windows SBS Best Practices Analyzer verifies that the information is correct and then presents administrators with a list of issues sorted by severity. The list describes each issue and provides a recommendation or possible solution.

System Requirements
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Any version of Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003)
Links
KB article
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940439
Download
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3874527A-DE19-49BB-800F-352F3B6F2922&displaylang=en
So take a look and let us know what you think about it! (Feedback email address is in the KB article).

The Official SBS Blog : SBS now has a Best Practices Analyzer!

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2, Best practices, If you only read one post today

How to give a user the ability to send mail 'on behalf of' a Public Folder

David Overton — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 22:04:04 GMT

I have been asked several times how someone can have an e-mail alias, such as "support@mycompany.com" which not only receives into a public folder, but also has the ability to send e-mails. Obviously the setting up of the public folder, e-mail etc is well documented, but since I have been asked this again I thought I would share my source of knowledge -

How to Give a User the Ability to Send Mail on Behalf of a Public Folder

How to Give a User the Ability to Send Mail on Behalf of a Public Folder
To give a user the ability to send mail on behalf of a public folder, perform the following procedure.

In Exchange System Manager, under Folders, right-click the public folder for which you want to give a user the ability to send mail, and then click Properties.

Click Exchange General, and then click Delivery Options.

Click Add to specify a user.

You may have to make additional modifications if the following conditions are true:

The user's mailbox resides in a domain that is different from the public folder's domain.
The user's mailbox resides on a server that is located in a site that does not contain any domain controllers for the domain that hosts the public folder.

Use one of the following additional steps:

Add the Exchange Domain Servers security group of the child domain with Read permissions to the ACL of the Microsoft Exchange System Objects container in the parent domain. This method is the recommended method for working around this problem.

Move one domain controller from the parent domain to the user's Exchange 2003 site.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Exchange, SBS 2003, Send e-mail from public folder

Installing WSS v3 on a Member Server in an SBS Network

David Overton — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 05:46:21 GMT

I have spoken before about how to install WSS on the SBS box, so it was quite nice to see the article on how to install on a member server - much simpler to do many less problems.

Installing WSS v3 on a Member Server in an SBS Network

If you’ve got a member server in your SBS network (especially if that server is a beefy SQL box) it may make sense from a performance standpoint to install Windows SharePoint Services version 3 on the member server instead of directly on the SBS box. This is actually a pretty straight-forward process, but in case you’re not totally comfortable with WSS v3 yet, the procedure is documented below using a combination of a Microsoft e-book and the WSS on SBS instructions Chad came up with for SBS.

Installing WSS v3 on a Member Server in an SBS Network | NoGeekLeftBehind.com

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: WSS v3, SharePoint, SBS 2003

The Official SBS Blog : New Best Practices for SP2 KB - From June, but worth getting out there

David Overton — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:23:29 GMT

I should have mentioned this before, but I appear to have been a bit bad at reading others blog and forwarding on :-) Anyway, since the release notes for SP2 can't be updated, here are the latest best practice KB articles.

This is just a quick note about the availability of a new KB published today to help consolidate some of the information that we've posted on this blog.
Best practices and known issues when you install Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 on a Windows Small Business Server 2003-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=939421

The Official SBS Blog : New Best Practices for SP2 KB

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Windows Server 2003 SP2, Best Practices

Where to go to study for SBSC exam 70-282

David Overton — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 10:21:03 GMT

I have been asked a couple of times if there has been any updated info on the 70-282 exam and information on it. While looking through old blog entries I found this:

A free webcast series hosted throughout the month of May by David Fabritius is being offered at MSReadiness.com. More information is available here - http://msreadiness.com/study70-282r2.

The Official SBS Blog : Studying for 70-282?

This takes you to the MS Web site, where I found out that all the webcasts happened in the past, but the recording and blog are still there for you:

To access the Study Group blog, visit us at http://blogs.technet.com/BackRoom.
Using Self Test Software's great data bank of approved practice exam questions, we will review the material for the week on Fridays and help you check your preparedness for the actual exam. We will not only be looking at why an answer is correct, but also exploring why answers are wrong.
Syllabus for 70-282 Study Group
All of the sessions outlined below will be presented at 10 AM PDT on their respective days. The primary references for this webcast series are:
Small Business Specialist Primer & 70-282 Exam Preparation Guide
by Mulzer and Brelsford
Published by SMB Nation Press, ISBN-10: 0-9748-5803-X, ISBN-13: 978-0974858036
Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Administrator’s Companion
by Russel, Crawford, and Gerend
Published by MS Press, ISBN-10: 0-7356-2020-2, ISBN-13: 978-0735620209
Session 1, 5/7/2007
Analyzing the Existing Environment &
Designing a Business Technology Solution for a Small- to Medium-sized Company, Part 1
Primer, Chapter 3 & pp. 4-15 to 4-18; Companion, pp. 36-39
Session 2, 5/8/2007
Designing a Business Technology Solution for a Small- to Medium-sized Company, Part 2 &
Expanding the Windows Small Business Server 2003 Network
Primer, Chapters 4 and 9
Week 1 Practice, 5/11/2007
Sample questions and Q&A from sessions 1 and 2, Analysis & Design
Session 3, 5/14/2007
Installing Windows Small Business Server 2003
Primer, Chapter 5; Companion, Chapter 5
Session 4, 5/15/2007
Configuring SBS 2003 for Networking and Remote Connectivity
Primer, pp. 7-6 to 7-21; Companion, Chapters 6 and 15
Week 2 Practice, 5/18/2007
Sample questions and Q&A from sessions 3 and 4, Installation & Configuration
Session 5, 5/21/2007
Configuring SBS 2003 for Messaging and Collaboration
Primer, pp. 7-21 to 7-51; Companion, pp. 90-92, 178-199, 324-363, 444-489
Session 6, 5/22/2007
SBS 2003 Security
Primer, Chapter 6; Companion, pp. 150-197
Week 3 Practice, 5/25/2007
Sample questions and Q&A from sessions 5 and 6, Installation & Configuration
Session 7, 5/29/2007
Managing Small Business Server 2003
Managing SBS Clients / Troubleshooting SBS 2003
Primer, Chapter 8; Companion, pp. 200-231, Chapters 12 and 20
Session 8, 5/30/2007
Using Backup in SBS 2003
Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2003
Primer, pp. 8-32 to 8-38, Chapter 10; Companion, Chapters 13 and 21
Week 4 Practice, 6/1/2007
Sample questions and Q&A from sessions 7 and 8, Support & Maintenance

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBSC, 70-282, exam, study, webcasts

Transition Pack Pointers for SBS 2003 peeps

David Overton — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 22:09:44 GMT

Just to recap on these links since I still get questions about the Transition Pack.

These are some good starting points for understanding Transition Pack (pay special attention to the registry key portion if they have Backup Exec installed):
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2006/01/12/417350.aspx
and
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2006/02/24/420521.aspx

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003, Translation Pack

The UK SBS Back to Basics Tour

David Overton — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 03:07:53 GMT

This will be the 1st one of these tours that I have not attended for four years. Sad times, however that doesn't mean that Mark, Sven and everyone else will not do an amazing job (in fact, to suggest otherwise would be incredibly arrogant of me). So come and see how they can help you sell more and solve more problems over the next 9 months before the end of "FY08" inside Microsoft. "FY09" is of course when SBS Cougar is due to ship, but more on that later on in "FY08"!!!

SBS 'Back to Basics'

New to selling Microsoft Small Business Server? Or looking for interesting ways to approach selling a Small Business Server solution to your customers? Our 'Back to Basics' seminars cover common configurations, building servers with SBS, and looking at Windows SharePoint Server as a great solution-based approach to SBS for your customers.

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David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2, Training, Windows SharePoint Services

WSUS on SBS and helping clients that think they are up to date, but WSUS does not

David Overton — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:00:19 GMT

I saw this posted internally and thought I would share. If you have clients that think they are up to date, but WSUS does not, have a look at this KB and also try these commands:

940357 An update is available to enable automatic approval of definition updates and to fix two problems in the Update Services component of Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;940357

and

Wuauclt /detectnow /resetauthorization
or
wuauclt /reportnow

from a cmd prompt on the client box (elevated if running on Vista)

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2, WSUS, Security

How to change the welcome mail sent to new users on SBS 2003

David Overton — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 06:20:56 GMT

This is just a small tip that I recently saw. If you wish to change the e-mail that is sent to new users when they are set up on SBS 2003 then you need to edit the html file found in this location:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Windows Small Business Server\Administration\samplemail.htm

that is it :-)

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2, Tips, New User, e-mail

SBS rebates for partners - get up to $225 back per installation - and don't complain that we only do these in the USA - this is available in many countries, including the UK too

David Overton — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:00:00 GMT

I just know when a rebate offer goes up on the Microsoft web site that I will get an e-mail asking if it will be available in the UK. For this one the answer is most definitely YES. To prove that it is not a waste of time, I need you to USE the offer, i.e. sell SBS and claim back you money, CALs or D-Link wireless router. Below are the details from the UK web site, but if you go to http://www.sbsoffers.com you will be able to select your country. Since this is a limited time offer, the more you sell now, the more you make - you can make up to 50 claims under this offer!!

Take advantage of these offers when you provide on-site, deployment services for Windows^® Small Business Server 2003 R2!

Don’t miss this opportunity! From September 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007, the on-site services you may already provide to customers to deploy Microsoft^® Windows^® Small Business Server 2003 R2 could make you eligible to receive some great rewards.

Provide on-site deployment services to your customer between September 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007.
Submit your valid Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Certificate of Authenticity or Volume License Number and then upload, fax or mail your deployment services invoice
Choose which offer you would like to receive!

Server Rebate Offer - UK rebate site

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: If you only read one post today, SBS 2003 R2, Rebate, SBSC, Partners, Microsoft

If you want to deploy Exchange 2007 with SBS 2003, how do you remove the Exchange component?

David Overton — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:37:46 GMT

I posted the other day on adding Exchange 2007 to an SBS 2003 environment, but for some, there is also the desire on how to remove the Exchange component on SBS 2003. Obviously there are the install / uninstall options from the SBS setup screens that can be accessed through add/remove programs, however because SBS has the 1st Exchange server in a group you need to go a bit further.

More information can be found on how to remove the first server via http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;822931 which discusses "How to remove the first Exchange Server 2003 computer from the administrative group". In this KB article it tells you how to:

Replicate all public folders to another server
Rehome the Offline Address Book folder
Change the server that is responsible for generating the Offline Address List
Rehome the Schedule+ Free Busy folder
Rehome the Organization Forms folder
Rehome the Recipient Update Service (RUS)
Designate another server to be the routing group master
Create another Site Replication Service (SRS) instance
Rehome connectors to another server
Move mailboxes to another server
Remove the first Exchange Server 2003 computer

I hope this helps - once again, I have not done this :-). As is often the case, this information came from two other people - Karan and Chris Puckett, who is often seen on the Official SBS Blog. Karan also tells me that he has helped a partner start to document this process at www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Installing-Exchange-2007-Small-Business-Server-2003-domain-Part1.html.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2, Exchange 2007

SharePoint User Group Meetings in UK (Newcastle and Reading) in September

David Overton — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 05:01:38 GMT

I got this e-mail today from the UK SharePoint User Group. They have two meetings coming up, one in Reading and one in Newcastle. Since SBS includes WSS and you can easily load WSS v3 onto it too, here are the details:

Newcastle - 10th September

MOSS MVP and general all round nice guy Spencer Harbar will be presenting an evening of goodness for all that attend.

Arrive 6:30 for a 7pm start
1st Presentation: MOSS Server Farm Architecture & Design.
This session introduces the fundamentals of MOSS Farm design including server roles, topology constraints and design goals which are paramount for delivery of a secure, available and scalable MOSS hosting platform. Each server roles’ unique characteristics will be covered with their associated trade-offs. In addition, three common models will be presented with a discussion of their strengths and weaknesses.
20 minute food and drinks break
2nd Presentatoin: Top 10 Tips for your SharePoint Development Environment.
This session will present 10 essential tips, tricks, tweaks or utilities for making your SharePoint Development easier and quicker.
All tips can be used equally in a Virtual Machine or on a “real” server. Many of the tips are also useful for systems administrators working with SharePoint 2007
location: BT, Unit 7, room 3, Innovation Place , Delta Bank, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE11 9DJ
Please post your full name here if you with to attend.

Reading - 17th September

The famous Patrick Tisseghem is over from Belgium so it seemed like a great opportunity to arrange a meeting.
1800 - 1830 arrive
1830 - 1930 - OBA, Office Business Applications Explained - Patrick Tissegham
This talk provides an overview of Office Business Applications. OBAs connect Line of Business (LOB) systems with the people that use them through the familiar user interface of Microsoft Office. They enable businesses to extend the Microsoft Office clients and servers into business processes running in LOB applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Supply Chain Management (SCM). You'll get an overview of the major concepts, the 6 OBA services and the different patterns involved. This of course juiced with plenty of demos.
1930 - 2000 - drinks and pizza
2000 - 2100 - Security Fundamentals in Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies 2007 - Stephen Lamb (MS)
This session describes the end-to-end security system in SharePoint, including Windows authentication, pluggable forms and Web Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication, SharePoint groups, system-wide and fine-grained authorization control, developer control over identity and permissions, administrative security options, and upgrade considerations.
If you'd like to attend please reply and post your full name here

Both of these meetings come from the leader Nick Swan nick.swan@sword-uk.com, so let him know if you want more, or go to the web site http://suguk.org/ for more info in general.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SharePoint, Events, User Group, Security Architect, Office Business Applications, OBA

Adding Exchange 2007 to an SBS 2003 / Exchange 2003 network

David Overton — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:44:13 GMT

This question has come up lots of times and the general statement is that it is not trivial. In fact the normal question is can Exchange 2007 be run on an SBS 2003 box. The answer to this is a resounding NO. Exchange 2007 is 64-bit and SBS 2003 is 32-bit and never the twain shall meet. The closest you can get is installing a Windows Server 2003 64-bit system and putting Exchange on it. You will have to buy a Windows Server license, Exchange 2007 license and CALs for each client that uses it. (note if you want Outlook Voice Access then you need Enterprise CALs even if you are only installing Exchange 2007 Standard edition).

Once this is done you need to decide if you are going to keep your Exchange 2003 box or forward ports to the new system. If you are keeping both then you also need to be aware of (note this comes from an e-mail from Karan in our support team and should not be considered complete, but a pointer in the right direction):

Please note that Exchange 2007 would appear in a different administrative group on 2003 snap in and they will not be able to completely manage 2007 from 2003 and vice versa. ESM and EMC are very different to each other and do not allow to perform all administrative task like LCR etc. I would like to use EMC to manage 2003 and switch back to ESM as and when required.
The recommendations are:
You must use the administrative tools that are specific to the Exchange server version that you are managing.
· You manage Exchange 2007 server roles and mailbox recipients by using the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell in Exchange 2007.
· You manage Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 servers by using Exchange System Manager.
· If you are using any features from Exchange 2000 that are not supported in Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2007, you must use Exchange 2000 System Manager to manage those features.
· You can manage Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 recipients by using a management computer on which the administrative tools for both Active Directory and the Exchange 2003 are installed.
Mailboxes that are located on Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 servers are also displayed in the Exchange Management Console in Exchange 2007.
· You can manage the Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 mailbox properties by using the Exchange Management Console in Exchange 2007.
· To move mailbox recipients from Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007, you must use the Move-Mailbox cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell
Link: Http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998604.aspx
Additional:
http://blogs.msdn.com/mstehle/archive/2006/10/09/FYI_3A00_-Exchange-Team-Blog_3A00_-Exchange-2007_2F00_2003-System-Management-Coexistance_2E002E002E00_.aspx

Also, I have not done this yet (I'm purely running SBS Cougar on my test system).

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Exchange 2007, SBS 2003 R2, SBS 2003

1st SBS webcast from series of 3 - SBS & the OEM Pre-installation Kit (OPK) by Sven

David Overton — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:12:24 GMT

I should have posted this information a few days ago, but I am making up for it now. Anyway, Sven's presentation can be found at http://uksbsguy.com/files/folders/events/entry4621.aspx and he has also gracefully provided a number of scripts to make the install even simpler which can be found at http://uksbsguy.com/files/folders/events/entry4622.aspx.

Enjoy

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2, OPK

SBS Technet Chat Transcript published

David Overton — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:25:38 GMT

Hi folks, this is a really simple one - I had the pleasure of answering some questions at a TechNet chat a few weeks back - that chat has now had a polished transcript published on the web at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/chats/trans/sbs/07_0713_tn_sbs.mspx.

thanks

David

Technorati Tags: SBS, SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2, Technet, Chat

SBS 2003 Configuration Webcast - presentation and key links

David Overton — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 12:56:54 GMT

Part 2 or 3 for the Webcast series was how to configure SBS and discussed things like disk, memory, dual NICs, firewalls and the Pop3 connector. The presentation can be found here.

Useful links from the presentation:

WSUS upgrade documentation

http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2007/05/02/installing-wsus-3-0-on-sbs-white-paper-released-including-when-you-already-got-wsus-on-there-or-need-to-upgrade.aspx

Transition pack

http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2006/09/18/Transition-Pack-for-Windows-SBS-2003-R2.aspx

The questions from the event:

Is there anything different we need to do on the server with Win Mobile 6 devices? No, it works, but you still need to be aware of the need for a certificate by a trusted root authority on the SBS box for Smartphones (just the same as all previous versions)

On the install it showed Active sync 3.8 available to install, why not the latest version? I have not updated the box, but you can load a later version of ActiveSync onto SBS

What is the URL to access outlook web access? https://www.mydomain.com/exchange or via https://www.mydomain/remote

When you do http://SERVER/ConnectComputer does it setup the outlook profile? Yes

Is it possible to upgrade from SBS2003 to WIN2003? Yes, using the transition pack as discussed in the slides

When you set up a folder for users do you have to setup a share and permissions as well? No, this is done for you

When you set up a folder for users do you have to setup a share and permissions as well

Answered: This is all done automatically - each user has a folder created that only they can access - it is automatic - nothing for you to do, except for turning on Redirect My Documents in the SBS user manager

What about if you have a general folder on another drive that you want a group of users to access

Answered: then you can share and set up access as per any windows server

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2, Network Setup

Slides from todays Webcast on Windows SharePoint Services on SBS (WSS v2 & WSS v3)

David Overton — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 09:40:15 GMT

Today I did my last Webcast on SBS. It was the 3rd of a 3 parter on SBS. Part 1 was about how to use the OPK, part 2 was on Configuring SBS. I will post links to part 1 & 2 later today, but thought I would get the last one out 1st. If you watched the Webcast you will know that explorer crashed on my machine stopping the demos with word and excel working, which was not desired, but I did load 2 beta patches onto my system yesterday, so now the diagnosis as to wether that was the problem begins.

Anyway, if you want the slides set they can be found here. Some of the useful links from the deck are:

WSS v2

Office 2003 web parts (the last ones)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=38be67a5-2056-46a1-84b1-337ffb549c5c&displaylang=en

Samples and information

http://www.sharepointcustomization.com/wss/articles.htm

Enable Office 2007 support

http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2007/03/13/how-to-get-companyweb-windows-sharepoint-services-v2-to-work-with-office-2007.aspx

Backup and restore of WSS using admin command line

http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/support/articles/backup_restore_sbs2003.mspx#EPDAE

Recycle bin support in WSS v2

http://mindsharpblogs.com/Todd/archive/2005/10/06/719.aspx

WSS v3

Comparison of v2 & v3 features

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sharepoint/techref/versions.mspx

External access to v3 site & renaming it to companyweb

http://msmvps.com/blogs/cgross/archive/2007/01/25/companyweb-sharepoint-v3-part-1.aspx -

Enable e-mail for WSS v3 site

http://www.mrict.co.uk/resources/incoming_email_for_wss_3_and_sbs.asp

Since the Office integration failed to fire due to the beta patches I will re-record these and post on the web.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: WSS v2, WSS v3, Windows SharePoint Services, SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2, Office System

Finally the internal mail arrives announcing two new SBS MVPs in the UK

David Overton — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:52:57 GMT

You saw it here last folks. Congratulations to both Susanne and Tim and to the existing peeps of Scott, Steve and Nick (since he works the UK patch sometimes). If you know of these two then you know they are hard working people in the SBS community and have probably already read that they have been honoured with the MVP award. They join the ranks previously blazed by Steve, Scott and Nick. I also think that Susanne might have decided that since at least 50% of the photos from the MVP site look scary, she would forgo one just now :-).

Their comments about this on there blogs can be found here for Susanne and here for Tim - both humble, but the links to other pages shows what others think.

New MVPs in UK

Susanne Dansey: Windows Server System - Small Business Server
Susanne Dansey has spent her entire career in business development in the IT industry & recognizes that the key to successful customer relationships is empathy, trust and under...
Tim Long: Windows Server System - Small Business Server
Tim has been a software engineer in the telecommunications industry since 1986 after graduating with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) Degree in computing. In 1999 Tim moved to Cal...

Existing MVPs in UK and Ireland

Scott McKenzie: Windows Server System - Small Business Server
Scott has been helping small and medium businesses maximize their use of technology for the past 7 years. He is a former solicitor and holds an MBA from NSU in Florida. Scott...
Steve Foster: Windows Server System - Small Business Server
Steve has more than 20 years experience in IT. He's worked for a variety of organisations, ranging from small software houses to large government agencies. For the past decade,...
Nick Whittome: Windows Server System - Small Business Server
Nick Whittome is the Managing Director of NTES Limited, a company he formed in 1999 with his partner Rachel Hogan. Nick has dedicated his skills to small and medium sized bu...

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS MVP, MVP, Community, Microsoft

Want to know what is happening on your network, packet for packet - get Microsoft Network Monitor 3.1

David Overton — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:05:19 GMT

I saw this had been published and thought I would share - it is an amazing tool that I use for diagnosis all the time. Reading http://www.ditii.com/2007/07/03/network-monitor-31-released/ it also reminded me that this includes traces on wireless networks!!

Microsoft Network Monitor 3.1

Network Monitor 3.1 is a protocol analyzer. It allows you to capture network traffic, view and analyze it. Version 3.1 is an update and replaces Network Monitor 3.0. Network Monitor 3.x is a complete overhaul of the previous Network Monitor 2.x version.

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2003 x64 editions; Windows Vista; Windows XP; Windows XP 64-bit
It is suggested that you have a CPU of 1GHz or greater, 1G or greater of Memory and 25 Megs of available Hard Disk space, plus room for capture files. Supports Vista 64 bit as well as 32 bit.
Instructions

Network Monitor 3.1 can co-exist with Netmon2.x. NM3.1 installs in %program files%\Microsoft Network Monitor 3, so there is no conflict. But it will require that NM3.0 be uninstalled first. The NM3.1 install will do this automatically for you.
For Vista, we have a new driver that supports new features available in the NDIS 6.0 driver. If you are using tools that rely on Network Monitor 2.x NPPTools, these tools will no longer work.
Capturing on Vista requires NM3.0 or NM3.1, as Netmon2.x does not capture properly on Vista.
Warning: Capturing with the NM3 GUI with conversations enabled can use up considerable amount of memory. This may cause a machine to become unresponsive. If you need to capture data for long periods of time, please use the included command line utility, NMCap, and the /DisableConversations switch.

Download details: Microsoft Network Monitor 3.1

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: NetMon, Network Monitor, Network, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 R2, SBS 2003, troubleshooting

Why should a business get Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SBS) to help their business

David Overton — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:24:59 GMT

I have been asked this many times and had promised to put these things down on paper (well e-paper), so now I am. This is my thoughts on why someone should buy SBS and also how I would sell it if I was selling it. Obviously there is much more that can be said and tailoring a solution to a customers needs is vital, but if presenting at an event or describing it on the radio, this is what I would say.

Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SBS) is priced lower than other Microsoft servers to enable a small business to get the benefits of servers without any functionality compromise. We have even enhanced the product to put MORE in there than a standard Windows Server. To enable this price benefit Microsoft has put some limits (see below) on how SBS can be used which basically stops big businesses from using it, however you can cash in your investment in SBS and buy an Enterprise server should you ever need to and use the "cashed" in value to make the Enterprise server easier to afford too. Having said all that, the functionality limits rarely impact a small or smaller mid-market business and some of them are very technical.

The Limits

Only 1 SBS server in your business, but you can add as many other Windows Servers to your SBS network
75 or less licenses - a license can be a user or a device, but they cost the same so in 98% of cases user licenses would be the best
Technical restrictions - SBS must be the "root" of the domain (rarely a problem in small businesses) and there can be "no server trusts" (again rarely a problem in small businesses)

If you don't already have a server

Share your files, printers, internet connection, fax and more without limits, while choosing who can read and modify information and who can't see it at all
Enable strong security on PCs and Notebooks with a common password for each person on all machines, security updates automatically delivered all machines and all internet access protected by a server firewall
Professional e-mail addresses for everyone in your organisation and also for teams and contact addresses outside your business, such as david.overton@uksbsguy.com or sales@uksbsguy.com and incoming e-mail filtered for undesirable attachments or suspect spam, greatly reducing spam
Personal and shared calendars to enable meetings to be booked with colleagues and for them to accept or decline so you know if people can make meetings and enable you to see your diary with Outlook, on a mobile device or at an internet cafe
Work remotely - from home, using a laptop wirelessly out and about and even using mobile devices (like a Blackberry, but much cheaper to run and more functional and easy to wipe should it fall into the wrong hands - or be left in the back of a taxi :-) )
All work files on the server and documents from your notebooks and PCs backed up to safeguard against hardware failure and loss of machines, plus the ability to undo changes to a file and roll-back to a previous version
Platform for other "server based applications" that need a server to provide central access

If you have an older server and are thinking about upgrading

Professional e-mail addresses for everyone in your organisation and also for teams and contact addresses outside your business, such as david.overton@uksbsguy.com or sales@uksbsguy.com and incoming e-mail filtered for undesirable attachments or suspect spam, greatly reducing spam
Work remotely - from home, using a laptop wirelessly out and about and even using mobile devices (like a Blackberry, but much cheaper to run and more functional and easy to wipe should it fall into the wrong hands - or be left in the back of a taxi :-) )
All work files on the server and documents from your notebooks and PCs backed up to safeguard against hardware failure and loss of machines, plus the ability to undo changes to a file and roll-back to a previous version
Personal and shared calendars to enable meetings to be booked with colleagues and for them to accept or decline so you know if people can make meetings and enable you to see your diary with Outlook, on a mobile device or at an internet cafe
Web based collaboration tool that can manage files, calendars and meetings. Full history of all changes to a document and even the ability for you to get an e-mail telling you when a document has been changed rather than e-mailing it to everyone or finding out "too late"

There is obviously much that SBS can do for a business, but this is just the starter that I would normally talk about. If you would add something to this list, please let me know in the comments.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2, Servers, Small Business, Why

David Overton moving on to pastures new

David Overton — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:00:47 GMT

With a tear in my eye the time has come for me to move my stick hut somewhere new. I have loved working in and with the small business community and with a set of awesome partners who can complain and nag, but normally with good cause and that are more willing to say thank-you and "good job" when the time is right. To you all I take my hat off for making me feel so welcome.

As a legacy we now have SBSC up and running, partner groups that support themselves, a voice into Microsoft from the smaller end of the partner community and a better understanding of the motivations of both Microsoft and our partners. We also have a new level of engagement with customers. I wish I could take credit for all of this, but I am just a figurehead for a great team of people inside Microsoft.

A nice chap called Mark in the OEM team will be helping to drive Cougar knowledge through the community when the time comes (no, this is not the time yet, trust me), SBSC has been supported by Jen as many of you would have seen from the e-mails and SBS has a product manager who cares in the form of Sonal. Finally campaigns like Mr Busy prove that while we still have some implementation details to improve on, the ideas are getting better and better and the team responsible for these will continue to push forward on this front.

They say you can take the boy out of the small business, but not small business out of the boy and this will be true for me - the blog will continue and I will still try to be a voice of reason and rant as I feel appropriate and pass on comments to the right people internally within Microsoft, just realise that I have less time to do this now. This points to the fact that I will still be with Microsoft. My next challenge is to help those ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) who wish it to move further along a path with Microsoft to do so, whether they already work with us today or not. This should be a fun challenge - viewing all of the Microsoft world as a platform rather than a solution, but this is something I have always said.

To those I have already told, thank-you for your kind words, to everyone else, good luck, don't go away as I will not, but remember that this is a business for all of us and the better the feedback the better the business!!

take care and see you soon!!

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, ISVs, SBSC, David Overton, if you only read one post today

Adding SBS to an existing domain

David Overton — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:23:59 GMT

There was a short burst on e-mail the other day about this, but I thought I would share. The situation was that someone was adding SBS to an existing domain, not a problem, but the existing domain had some trusts set up. Since SBS does not support trusts things did not go well. So, to follow up we need to remind everyone that when doing this you get a short period of time to make everything within the SBS constraints or things stop working. Details on how to do all of this are documented in the Knowledge Base (KB)article mentioned below.

Here are the bones of the internal notes:

You can add one SBS to an existing domain, but the SBS requirements have to be met within a certain grace period. (14 days, according to KB 884453.) By the end of that grace period:

The new SBS 2003 computer must be a domain controller that is installed on the root of the domain.

The new SBS 2003 computer must hold all the Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) roles.

The new SBS 2003 computer must be a global catalog server and must be the licensing server.

There must not be any existing domain trusts or child domains.

Only one SBS server can exist on the domain. If SBS 2003 is installed, no other SBS 2003 or 2000 server can be installed on the same domain.

thanks

David

Technorati Tags: Windows Server, SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2

Can Windows Server 2003 R2 be added to a SBS 2003 SP1 (i.e. non-R2) domain - Yes

David Overton — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:03:00 GMT

[updated 14:52 27th June 2007]

I got this question yesterday and while I will not name names, I felt this should go public. It is from a customer who I believe has been mis-informed by a partner about SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2 and Windows Server 2003 R2.

Here is the mail I got:

To: David Overton

I have a question concerning compatibility. I have a SBS 2003 with SP1 as my domain controller.... I am about to migrate to a new ERP package and have purchased 2 additional Windows Server 2003 R2 servers from XXXXXXXXXX. I have been told the new servers will not be able to join the Domain and I must upgrade my SBS 2003 to SBS 2003 R2. Is that true??

Here is my reply

You have been mis-informed. Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 r2 interoperate without any difficulty. If you are trying to use a specific R2 feature such as remote printer management or FSRM then you might have to upgrade, but joining the domain is not a problem. Also, SBS 2003 R2 enables you to get some extra benefits from your CALs with regard to licensing additional SQL 2005 WG Edition and Exchange 2003 Standard servers.
Thanks
David

Think of this as feedback for company XXXXXXXXX - Windows Server 2003 & Windows Server 2003 R2 work together just fine in a domain, as does Windows Server 2000 and if you really want to push NT4 (OK, so NT4 is ugly).

While I have stated that you have to only worry if you are using an R2 specific feature, if you have Active Directory in your domain then you will need to do a schema update IF your R2 boxes are to become DCs in the domain.

It is worth saying that at http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/5022eea0-54bc-422f-b98b-ddb836c8ee851033.mspx?mfr=true it states:

Update the Active Directory schema on domain controllers. In Windows Server 2003 Active Directory networks, you will need to update the Active Directory schema before:

•	Installing Windows Server 2003 R2 on a domain controller.
•	Configuring a Windows Server 2003 R2 server to be a domain controller by using the Active Directory Installation Wizard (Dcpromo.exe).

To update the schema, on the schema master domain controller, insert Disc 2 and open the command prompt. Then, change to the Cmpnents\R2\Adprep folder of Disc 2, and type: adprep.exe /forestprep

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: R2, Windows Server 2003 R2, SBS, SBS 2003 R2, SBS 2003

Best Practices for Exchange Server Public Folders

David Overton — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 08:12:04 GMT

I have been asked lots of questions about public folders recently and thought this little section here might come in handy. It is from the Best Practices for Exchange Server Public Folders site on Technet and is geared towards Exchange Server 2000/2003. I have snipped just the articles that I think are useful, so there are more on the page above including the ability to take the document offline.

Which Solution Works for You?

Before you deploy Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 public folders, you should make sure that the functionality that is provided by public folders meets your business needs. It is a good idea to evaluate the features and functionality that are provided by public folders and to compare them to the data repository solution that is provided by Microsoft Windows® SharePoint® Products and Technologies.
For detailed information about both options, see Selecting the Appropriate Public Folder Solution.
How to Select the Appropriate Client

After you have decided to use public folders, you must determine which client is best suited for your public folder needs. To make this determination, you should understand the difference between the two available top-level hierarchies for public folders and which type of top-level hierarchy suits your organization.
For detailed information about how to select a client for Exchange public folder access, see Selecting the Appropriate Client for Exchange Public Folder Access.
How to Manage Referrals

When a user connects to a public folder store that does not contain a copy of the content that the user is looking for, the user is redirected to another store that has a copy of the content. This process is called referral.
For detailed information about referrals, see Exchange Public Folder Best Practices: Understanding Referrals.
How to Mail-Enable Public Folders

In Exchange Server 5.5, all public folders were mail-enabled and hidden by default. In Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 2003, folders can be mail-enabled or mail-disabled, depending on whether the Exchange Server organization is in mixed mode or in native mode.
Mail-enabling allows authorized users to post items to public folders by using standard e-mail. After you understand how public folder e-mail messages are routed, you can configure Exchange Server to optimize message delivery for public folders.
For detailed information about how e-mail is delivered to public folders and how you can configure Exchange Server to optimize e-mail delivery to public folders, see Exchange Public Folder Best Practices: Mail-Enabling Public Folders.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Exchange, Public Folders, e-mail

Vlad Mazek - "What is service management" and "how to avoid being hit by a truck when it is most inconvenient"

David Overton — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 01:14:00 GMT

I love Vlad's straight talking. If you get a chance read the whole of the blog entry Vlad Mazek - Vladville Blog » Blog Archive » Windows Server 2003 SP2 EEULA & CYA because as far as I am concerned he is preaching to the converted.

I will stand by my view that Service Packs are tested as much as possible, but you need to do your own validation (see Who should test software and service packs - I think vendors,customers and partners - others thi) to ensure that your application vendor is also happy to support their products on that service pack. If you only have MS products, check the release notes AND SUPPORT.MICROSOFT.COM as both may well have important information.

I've extracted part of Vlads process to avoid a bloody head - read his post for more as people like Susan Bradley wishes she had :-)

However, a part of me wonders just how heavy the rock was. You know, the one that he was under since Microsoft started releasing service packs. As painful as the above is to read, and as painful as this process has been for him, this outlines the fundamental lack of respect for change management we have in the IT industry.
First, where is the full backup of the server that this was done on. At the very least this would have allowed him to take the server back to the last known good configuration.
Second, where is the test system on which he checked Act 6.0 for compatibility?
Third, never change more than one thing. If you installed the Service Pack and it broke things, do not proceed to install drivers (that likely have not been tested with the said service pack) and do more exotic changes.
Fourth, test, test, test, test. Forget about the stuff you should have done before you patched, too late to setup a test vm, too late to do a full backup, too late to check the app vendor for advisories related to the patch, too late. You’re patched, there is a whole new world on your network. Isn’t the first thing to check all the workstations and rerun MBSA, performance testing, reset the performance counter on both server and workstations, build new baselines, etc? If not, why?
Perparing for a Service Pack
There are a few simple things you can do to minimize your chances of a 35 hour support call:

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Service Packs, Support, Change Management, SP2, SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2

Would you mind joining a chat with the SBS EMEA support team they ask - I say yes, thinking it is internal, but no - on the Web "Join Microsoft SBS Experts for an Online Chat!" - Best come along then to see what advice we can offer

David Overton — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:37:00 GMT

OK, so this is more my fault than anyone else's, but I was asked to join a chat with the SBS EMEA team and I thought they wanted to chat about how to make things better internally, so I said yes. Then I discover that it is an external chat, with SBS people and partners. OMG!! So anyway, on July 13th around lunchtime there will be a 45 minute "ask the expert" session on all things SBS. Should be fun. Better than my 8 stints on talk sport - not knowing where the next question will come from, or what it will be about!!

Join Microsoft SBS Experts for an Online Chat!

[Today's tip comes to us courtesy of Karan Rustagi]
Small Business Server 2003 Chat (EMEA Community)
Join the Small Business Server team for questions and general discussion on SBS 2003. Bring your comments and concerns on the product and discuss them with the team.
Friday, July 13, 2007
12:00 - 12:45 P.M. British Summer Time (UTC + 1 hour)
7:00 - 7:45 A.M. Eastern Time
11:00 - 11:45 GMT
Join the chat room on the day of the chat:
www.microsoft.com/technet/community/chats/chatroom.aspx
Click on the link below to add this even to your Outlook Calendar:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/vcs/07_0713_TN_SBS.ics

The Official SBS Blog : Join Microsoft SBS Experts for an Online Chat!

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: SBS 2003, Chat, ask the expert, if you only read one post today

Please, Please, Please fill in the SBS Community Survey for 2007 - if you don't tell us about it in the survey, how can we do more / less / fix it for you?

David Overton — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 23:32:56 GMT

It has been around for a little while now, but this is a MUST do for us - whether you think things are great or poor. Please fill in the survey and then we can stay up all night and look at the results using the latest holo-projection equipment to understand the multi-dimensional nature of what it takes to please our small business partners. If you don't fill it in, then my R2-D2 projection system will not be used and we will take the 3 replies (two posted by me as a test) and you only get one answer this year.

OK, so this is a little humorous, but I hope you get the idea - we need the feedback to make things even better. Don't think you only need to answer it if you need to moan, or you think things are great. Confirming things either way (or even the fact that we have more than one type of partner out there) is all "goodness" as one of my managers used to say.

Have I said enough yes? Fill it in, send it off, spank us if we don't respond!

Announcing the SBS Community Survey for 2007!

The Windows Small Business Server Product Team would like to hear from the Windows SBS Community. This anonymous survey of the Windows SBS Community is brought to you by the Windows SBS Product Team.
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 2007
Thanks in advance for your feedback.
Kevin

The SBS, Centro and Windows Home Server Community Lead Blog : Announcing the SBS Community Survey for 2007!

ttfn

David

P.S. David was in a playful mood when this was written. We don't have any R2-D2 style holo-projectors (that they have told me about) and the spanking bit is as in spanking a naughty child - nothing else, except in many regions spanking naughty children is illegal too, so this is purely conceptual and hypothetical.

Technorati Tags: sbsc, community, survey, if you only read one post today

You can't use Outlook Web Access because you can't send or reply to mails. You've seen a server update will fix it, but you can't get the server updated - here is the simplest way to work

David Overton — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 08:45:00 GMT

I have to thanks Lauren for bringing this to my attention. She had found my posting on how to update Exchange so that this did not happen, but she could not get the SBS / Exchange Server updated. Her research said that using Firefox would fix the problem, but to me this was just a huge sledgehammer to crack a nut, so I guessed there must be a much easier solution and there is.

Use "basic" or "light" mode. This may sound complex, but it is about as easy as it gets.

Here is the Exchange 2003 login screen, simply select "basic" client and you are done.

Here is the Exchange 2007 login screen, simply select "light" and you are done.

Gosh, so easy. For the technically minded the issue comes from the Active-X control that Exchange is using. The answer is to either apply the update to the Exchange web components, or use a browser without the Active-X control.

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: Outlook Web Access, IE7, Internet Explorer

Small Biz Thoughts by Karl Palachuk - advice on when to think about a 2nd server with SBS

David Overton — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 00:24:00 GMT

Some people still think that SBS only works in a 1 server environment, which is clearly not the case. Karl suggests that perhaps nothing more than SBS should run on an SBS box. Here is a little extract of his thoughts, but click on the link for more information. He might have a point!!

"You can host your own internet site: web and email! In addition, you've got all the benefits of Server 2003 and Exchange! Firewall protection. Microsoft's most powerful database. Plus Remote Web Workplace and Sharepoint. And every one of these has been completely revamped and replaced in the last three years. It really is the best $600 product in history."

"Golly Gee, Mr. Balmer, That's Swell!"

Many people don't sell SBS Premium because . . . to be honest . . . we're already asking that little box with 4GB Max RAM to do an awful lot.
Here are a few notes from a conversation with someone on the SBS development team. I don't have permission to attribute his comments, but I don't think the term "NDA" came up either.

Consider this as a strategy going forward:

Don't install anything on an SBS box.

Small Biz Thoughts by Karl Palachuk: Overloading SBS

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2

SQL Server 2000 KB (Knowledge Base or Support) Articles

David Overton — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 06:20:36 GMT

SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition

FIX: You may receive an assertion or database corruption may occur when you use the bcp utility or the "Bulk Insert" Transact-SQL command to import data in SQL Server 2000

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=933573

FIX: Error message when you use the sp_addarticle stored procedure to add articles to an existing transactional replication publication in SQL Server 2000: “Cannot create a file when that file already exists”

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=932686

FIX: The Sqldumper.exe utility cannot generate a filtered SQL Server dump file when you use the Remote Desktop Connection service or Terminal Services to connect to a Windows 2000 Server-based computer in SQL Server 2000

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=928079

FIX: The sp_droparticle stored procedure performs very slowly if the @immediate_sync property is set to TRUE in SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=932674

SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services

FIX: An access violation may occur in SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services when you try to use a 2007 Office system program to open an offline local cube

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=925000

Technorati Tags: SQL Server 2000

Susan Bradley's found something that does good backup and virtualisation things - StorageCraft

David Overton — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 23:47:00 GMT

Susan's blog has recently come under my radar again (meaning I have time to read blogs), so I am posting lots of things from here. This one is a product which if your customer is DR minded could enable them to spawn a Virtual PC/Server and run the backup in it. An awesome addition.

He took a backup image he had done of a server, he then fired up virtual pc and restored the backed up "real" server to a virtual one and flagging the "check for hardware changes and deal with it automatically" function that the IT pro version does. Very impressive and very cool. You can even mount the image and browse a read only version of the server if you need to extract data or what not.
http://www.storagecraft.com/products/ShadowProtectIT/
Check it out... very cool.

The biggest thing at New Orleans.. was not the throwing of the beads...but StorageCraft and Mark Crall - E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva"

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2, Backup, DR, Virtualisation

Windows Server SP2 (SBS 2003 (R2) with SP2 too) RSS/Checksum/TCP fix up now on Microsoft update

David Overton — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 21:46:47 GMT

Susan B has probably been at the forefront of SBS 2003 SP2 pains, so it is only right that it is her blog I see this posting on.

SP2 RSS/Checksum/TCP fix up now on Microsoft update

The Official SBS Blog : New SBS 2003 Updates released through Microsoft Update and WSUS:
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/06/08/new-sbs-2003-updates-released-through-microsoft-update-and-wsus.aspx
New on Microsoft update is a sp2 patch that you should be installing BEFORE you install SP2. But the problem is that only gets MU'd offered up to you AFTER you install SP2. At that point in time there is a chance (especially with ISA on the box and broadcom nics) that you'll lose RDP/VPN.
So I'm sticking with my recommendations from before....

SP2 RSS/Checksum/TCP fix up now on Microsoft update - E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva"

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Service Packs, SP2, SBS 2003 R2, SBS 2003

BMS in the UK understands how to use the Business and Technology Assessment Toolkit - do you?

David Overton — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 20:37:35 GMT

I get asked about this quite a lot - so Microsoft has this thing, the "TAT". I've looked at it and it is just a bunch of questions. Yep, but you can change the questions and all the results are stored and if you know what you are doing, you can use it to build an IT strategy for your customers which means that you go back to them regularly and take their IT onto the next stage for their business.

I don't think this is rocket science, but perhaps it is something that we don't do enough of - look for the opportunities in a programmatic way. Now of course, this could be a very slavish process, but at Steve says:

The questions are now much more relevant to the SME market and you don’t feel so uncomfortable asking your customers. We don’t just run through all the questions one after the other but slot them in to the rest of the presentation. It feels less like the Spanish Inquisition that way! We’ve conducted several surveys so far and they don’t just have to be prospective customers. You can survey your existing customers as well which we have found really useful as it starts the ball rolling on subjects that they maybe haven’t discussed with us previously such as desktop refresh timescales for example.
Conducting the survey is really just the start. Once completed you can then start to spec. up a proposal based on the answers. It’s a great opportunity to open a dialog with your customers and prospects.

BMS Blog: Everything SBS in the UK. » Business & Technology Assessment Toolkit

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Technology Assessment Toolkit, SBSC, SBS 2003

Time constraints if you want to upgrade Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SBS) Premium SP1 - SBS 2003 Premium ISA 2004 CD must be ordered before 31st December 2007

David Overton — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 00:56:00 GMT

I saw this and having had a few people who could not order, or have not ordered yet, this is about as loud as I can make it!!! From The Official SBS Blog : Upgrading Existing Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SBS) Installations to SBS 2003 SP1 - GET IT BEFORE THE END OF 2007 OR DON'T GET ISA 2004!!!

SBS 2003 Premium customers may order an SP1 Premium CD3 which contains the ISA 2004 technologies. The site above has direct links for ordering:
North America: Order your Premium Edition CD3 online. If you encounter problems during your ordering process, please contact a customer service representative at 1-800-360-7561.
Europe/Middle East/Africa: Order your Premium Edition CD3 online. If you encounter problems during your ordering process, please contact a customer service representative at direct-mar@msdirectservices.com.

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: SBS 2003 SP1

Trial Software Kit for Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2

David Overton — Sat, 26 May 2007 09:55:00 GMT

I was recently asked how to get a trial of SBS. You can't download one, but as a customer you can order one here. Note that if you go to the international pages you might have to scroll around a bit to find the right bit of information. If you are a partner and wish to give them to use them with your customers then you only need one copy as you can re-use the key we provide you and you can get it from the Partner Marketplace

For customers: Trial Software Kit for Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2

North America – Order your CD package here.
Other Locations – The SBS 2003 R2 Trial is not generally available outside North America. Please select your country from the SBS Worldwide page to determine whether the trial software is available in your location.

For Partners: Partner MarketPlace - eg

Market - Partners - Microsoft UK

You searched for items of collateral related to the Small Business Server (SBS) group. To add items to your order, select a quantity from the drop down box.

Description Type Audience Price Quantity

Gear Up Sales Toolkit

The Microsoft Gear Up Sales Toolkit is the licensing and sales 'product encyclopaedia' that will help you generate up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.
Marketing Kit Sales £0.00

Selling to Small Business Guide

This guide explains Microsoft's approach to the Small Business market, and offers advice to Partners on how to maximise their sales and marketing efforts to this audience.

Partner Guide
Sales £0.00

Windows SBS 2003 R2

Integrated server solution for small businesses

Evaluation Software
All £0.00

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: Evaluation, SBS 2003

Want Microsoft to get you leads - this is how you do it

David Overton — Wed, 23 May 2007 08:58:21 GMT

One of the most commonly asked questions is "How do I get Microsoft to send me leads?" While we run campaigns that point people to the bCentral site and the find a small business IT advisor process some want more direct action.

Well, using the Mr Busy campaign you can now get us to carry our a campaign on your behalf. Yes, that is right, we will carry out a campaign on your behalf to people you want to - either by e-mail (EM) or post (DM). The process is really simple - go here and read the instructions.

For the Post Card campaign we know that using post cards effectively communicate with your customers and provide short and focused information. You can customise the postcard with your company details, your logo and a relevant web URL and phone number. We advise that the URL you supply has information about the IT healthcheck to increase the number of customers then contacting you. Your postcards will be sent directly to your customers in a neutral envelope within five
business days of you submitting the contact list.

The timing for a e-mail campaign are good as research has shown that more marketing messages are reach their targets via email than previously. A helpful and targeted communication, headed by a pertinent subject line is an excellent and fast way to contact your customers! Your emails will be sent within two calendar days and you will receive a full reporting, including
emails sent, links clicked, bounced emails etc. With this report you will be able to identify the potential within your customer base. To see the output is may be worth putting yourself on the list of recipients :-)

In each case it is a 3 stage process:

Personalise the campaign
Provide company logo
It gets sent out

Enjoy and tell me about your successes.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: If you only read one post today, marketing, it healthcheck

Microsoft says PCs may need DRAM upgrade (to ECC RAM)

David Overton — Wed, 23 May 2007 07:16:22 GMT

I have looked at many system crashed and often ended up concluding that RAM is at fault (random causes of BSODs is a very good pointer to this). It now appears that single bit errors is being considered as a major system failing. obviously, when spec'ing a server or computer perhaps you should consider ECC RAM as a standard to improve reliability.

For about four years Microsoft has been collecting data through its Online Crash Analysis (OCA) tool that reports system crashes to a Microsoft Web site. About 18 months ago it began sharing OCA data and the white paper with systems and chip makers. According to one source, the report said single-bit error rates in DRAM are now among the top ten causes of systems failures

Source: EETimes.com - Microsoft says PCs may need DRAM upgrade

Technorati Tags: BSODs, ECC RAM

May security updates for Server DNS and Office 2003/2007 and IE7. Also Quicktime needs an update

David Overton — Tue, 08 May 2007 20:16:00 GMT

I did a quick scan and it seems that this month Office is the main target of updates, along with one critical one for Windows Server (for DNS RPC attack) and one for IE7. Worth a quick download and install :-)

I also got this in the mail today: Apple QuickTime 7.x must be upgraded to 7.1.5 or higher.

On the security updates:

Microsoft is releasing the following new security bulletins for newly discovered vulnerabilities:

Bulletin Number Maximum Severity Affected Products Impact

MS07-023 Critical Microsoft Excel (all currently supported versions) Remote Code Execution

MS07-024 Critical Microsoft Word 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 (Mac) Remote Code Execution

MS07-025 Critical Microsoft Office (all currently supported versions) Remote Code Execution

MS07-026 Critical Microsoft Exchange (all current versions) Remote Code Execution

MS07-027 Critical Internet Explorer - all current versions on all currently supported versions of Microsoft Windows Remote Code Execution

MS07-028 Critical CAPICOM, BizTalk Server Remote Code Execution

MS07-029 Critical Windows 2000 (server), Windows Server 2003 Remote Code Execution
Summaries for these new security bulletins may be found at the following pages: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-May.mspx Customers are advised to review the information in the bulletins, test and deploy the updates immediately in their environments, if applicable.

Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal ToolMicrosoft is releasing an updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool on Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Windows Update (WU) and the Download Center. Note that this tool will NOT be distributed using Software Update Services (SUS). Information on the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool can be located here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=40573 High-Priority Non-Security Updates on Microsoft Update (MU), Windows Update (WU), Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and Software Update Services (SUS)Microsoft is also releasing High-Priority NON-SECURITY updates today on WU, MU, SUS and WSUS. For complete details on non-security updates being released today please review the following KB Article: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=894199 TechNet Webcast:

Title: Information about Microsoft May Security Bulletins (Level 200)

When: Wednesday, 9 May 2007 11:00 AM (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)

URL: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032327015

Replay: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032327015

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: Security, Office 2007, Office 2003, IE7, SBS 2003

From the The Official SBS Blog : Installing a Self-Signed Certificate as a Trusted Root CA in Windows Vista

David Overton — Fri, 04 May 2007 08:32:00 GMT

I've talked about this before, but thought it was worth pointing people to this

Installing a Self-Signed Certificate as a Trusted Root CA in Windows Vista

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Wayne McIntyre]
In order for RPC over Http to work you must have a Trusted CA Root Certificate installed and configured. In a situation where you are using a self-signed cert you will need to install the certificate into the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store.
1. Connect to your OWA site by going to https://host.domainname.com/exchange

FOR THE REST OF THE INSTRUCTIONS PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK TO THE SOURCE BELOW

Source: The Official SBS Blog : Installing a Self-Signed Certificate as a Trusted Root CA in Windows Vista

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Vista, Certificate, SBS

New downloads for Business Contact Manager for Office 2007 (and 2003) to provide Pocket PC / Windows Mobile 5 & 6 support, Admin a database on a SBS box, setup a database on a SBS box and offer Office Live Maps for contacts

David Overton — Thu, 03 May 2007 15:02:59 GMT

I have just got my new mobile phone and I thought I would update the BCM client - a quick trip to http://download.microsoft.com (link takes you to these results) led me to these results below. I think the ones shown are key for many people.

Results for - "business contact manager"

Title	Release Date	Popularity
Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager: Prevent error message about version mismatch when certain Office 2007 applications are launched Prevents error message about version mismatch when you start certain Office 2007 applications on a computer that is running Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager	5/1/2007	#963
Outlook 2007 or 2003 with Business Contact Manager Add-in: Business Contacts for Pocket PC This release is an add-in that allows you to synchronize your business contacts and a subset of your communication history to your Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC.	4/25/2007	#536
Business Contact Manager Database Admin Tool Users of Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 may want to install the Business Contact Manager database on a remote server which is not running Office 2007. This tool, when run on a server, allows users to create, share and administer databases for use with Business Contact Manager.	3/29/2007	#1705
Outlook 2007 Document: Deploying Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager in a Remote Database Configuration Learn about installing and configuring a Business Contact Manager for Outlook database by using Microsoft SQL Server 2005.	3/21/2007	#2390
Service Pack 4 for Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager Update and Small Business Accounting This service pack provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager Update to enable application compatibility with Windows Vista, and to allow compatibility with Office Accounting 2007.	3/5/2007	#124
Office Live Contact Map This download will install a sample code mashup for Microsoft Office Live which is designed to map the addresses of all contacts included in an Office Live Business Contact Manager application.	1/15/2007	#4226

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: Office 2007, Business Contact Manager, BCM

Installing WSUS 3.0 on SBS White Paper Released, including when you already got WSUS on there, or need to upgrade

David Overton — Wed, 02 May 2007 09:21:45 GMT

I thought you should be aware of this

WSUS 3.0 on SBS White Paper Released

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Chris Puckett]
WSUS 3.0 has released. You can download it here.
For information on installing WSUS 3.0 on your SBS 2003 SP1 or R2 server, check out the Installing WSUS 3.0 on SBS 2003 whitepaper.

The issue blogged in February 2007 regarding Vista updates not synching in SBS 2003 R2 has been fixed in WSUS 3.0.

If you experienced performance issues like high cpu usage by svchost, a UI hang and long scan times, the new new WUA client included with WSUS 3.0 addresses these issues in combination with the MSI update in KB 927891. It’s important to note that the new client is only a partial solution for the svchost/msi issue and clients must have both KB 927891 and the new 3.0 client installed for a full solution.

Source: The Official SBS Blog : WSUS 3.0 on SBS White Paper Released

Having looked at the whitepaper it seems it covers the following areas:

Install WSUS v3 on 2003 SBS SP1 and R2 (when to press cancel)
Upgrading Windows Small Business Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 to Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 while running Windows Server Update Services 3.0 (uninstall WSUS 1st and then re-install the database)
Uninstalling and reinstalling Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 components on a server that is running WSUS 3.0 (uninstall WSUS 1st and then re-install the database)

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: SBS 2003, SBS 2003 R2, WSUS v3

ActiveSync 4.x Troubleshooting Guide - Firewall, VPN and Proxy - all the server stuff can still be used with Vista clients too

David Overton — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 10:27:17 GMT

So you have sold SBS and Windows Mobile, but your customer gets a problem - how do you diagnose it and fix it - have a look at the ActiveSync 4.x Troubleshooting Guide - Firewall, VPN and Proxy.

It contains the following sections:

Installation

Initial Configuration

USB Issues

Guest Issues

Firewall and Proxy Issues

Outlook Errors

Synchronization Errors

Mobile Information Server / Outlook Mobile Access

Exchange ActiveSync Error Codes and Solutions

Missing Calendar, Contacts or Tasks Items

Security Advisories

ActiveSync 4.x Troubleshooting Guide - General

ActiveSync 4.x Troubleshooting Guide - Limitations

ActiveSync 4.x Troubleshooting Guide - 85010014

ActiveSync 4.x Troubleshooting Guide - Firewall, VPN, Proxy

ActiveSync 4.x Troubleshooting Guide - Logs & Services

ActiveSync 4.x Troubleshooting Guide - Connection Flow

USB Advanced Network Functionality

Microsoft ActiveSync 4.2 Troubleshooting

Using ActiveSync 4.x and Visual Studio 2005 and the Emulator

Understanding ActiveSync or WMDC Partnerships

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: Troubleshooting, ActiveSync, Windows Mobile

Got SBS Premium (or an ISA firewall) and Vista customers - you will need the updated ISA Server Firewall Client

David Overton — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 10:55:25 GMT

Just a quick note to say that if you have a SBS customer who has some PCs with Vista then you will need the updated ISA firewall client. You will need to go to this page - ISA Server Firewall Client

Firewall Client for ISA Server

Brief Description

Firewall Client for ISA Server installs the Firewall Client software on 32-bit and 64-bit computers running supported Windows operating systems.

It is also worth noting that the install script will look something like this

\\Servername\shared folder\SETUP.EXE /Q /P "SERVER_NAME_OR_IP=Servername ENABLE_AUTO_DETECT=0 REFRESH_WEB_PROXY=1"

Note this will almost certainly force a reboot due to the changes in the Winsock stack.

ttfn

David

Technorati Tags: ISA, ISA Firewall client, SBS, SBS Premium

SBS 2003 R2 & CALsare now on the Academic Price list so you can sell SBS to schools again :-)

David Overton — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 23:01:00 GMT

Hi guys,

I've just picked this up from one of our internats web chats and thought I would share it.

SBS will be on the Academic Price List and available in all languages (SBS Standard, Premium + 5 CAL packs) through Volume Licensing as of April 1st.

For FPP, retailers will be able to get the product as of May 4th.

This is great news and I have had it confirmed that it is on Wescoasts price list, plus some other distributors.

ttfn

David

Do you wish there was a good list of questions to understand a customers business and technical needs? Well you had better look at the Microsoft Business and Technology Assessment Toolkit FAQ (and win copies of SBS 2003 R2 to sell)

David Overton — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 23:01:56 GMT

I should have blogged on this ages and ages ago, but somehow I thought everyone knew about this already. It is a set of tools (pointers to documents, Q&A recording tool, customisation tool and general web based advice) to help you sell your services by understanding the needs of your customers and share this information easily around the business.

The best place to start is the FAQ page (Microsoft Business and Technology Assessment Toolkit FAQ: Toolkit Updates), which has loads of good links - below is just the start of the good information.

Also, if you do a few assessements and submit the data to Microsoft, you could earn a free copy of SBS 2003 R2 for you to do with as you will - give to your partner at home, sell to a customer, mount on the wall as the only free thing Microsoft has ever given you :-)

Find comprehensive answers to your questions about how to download, install and use the Microsoft Business and Technology Assessment Toolkit (English only).
For further information about the Windows Small Business Server Assess and Win offer, the Assess and Win offer for Microsoft Small Business Specialists, or the localised toolkits, please review the Assess and Win FAQ.

Toolkit and Assessment Overview

Getting Started with the New Toolkit

Installing and Uninstalling the Toolkit

Toolkit Updates

Assessment Templates

Creating Custom Templates

Saved Assessments

Assess and Win: Earn a Free Copy of SBS 2003 R2

Microsoft Products Included in the Toolkit

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: SBS 2003 R2, Technology Assessment Toolkit, Selling

How to add external contacts to the GAL (global address list or the list of names found by default in Outlook) by adding them to Active Directory

David Overton — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 23:01:29 GMT

So you may remember the call for help that led to the article How to add public folders to the list of contacts in Outlook:

We currently have several public folders which contain email address and contact information for people outside of our company that we want to keep up with.
I would like to put these in the All Contacts list on the server, so everyone can open it and reference it when sending email.
The only thing I can find it to put them in Active Directory so they can be on the list. Surely there is another way to get this done, but how.
I also am not opposed to manually typing them in (and weeding out old contacts), but don't feel very comfortable putting 800 outsiders in my AD.

Having proposed the solution in the above link, I then got back the following reply:

Thanks David for the reply. I have some address books in the public folder that I have done that to, but was trying to move away from the public folder and have the addresses included in the "All Contacts" under the "All Addresses" section for the organization.
Is there a way to do that?

Well there is a way - there is a huge difference between a contact in Active Directory and a User. If you add “contacts” to the AD they will appear in the address lists. Personally, I would suggest that to avoid anyone accidently sending a mail to a customer instead of someone internally you did not merge the two lists together, but you could export your contacts via Outlook and then use a script to load them into AD as contacts.

A scripted way to add contacts from a CSV or Excel file can be found at http://computerperformance.co.uk/vbscript/vbscript_contact_create.htm#Example_2:_Script_to_create_a_Contact_from_Spreadsheet_Data_

Ttfn

David

How to configure SBS / Exchange to forward or duplicate mails to an external e-mail address

David Overton — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 02:49:49 GMT

I have been using this for as long as the UK SBS GUY site has been around (it is how the admin mails get to me at Microsoft), but when I went looking for the "how to do this" blog item, I could not find it. After much searching of my blog I resorted to searching live.com and there was the article - not mine, but the one I used.

http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/MF015.html

It is very common for some of your users to express an interest in having their mail delivered to a mailbox that is external to your organization. For example, the user is going to be working away from the office and would like their mail to be delivered to their Hotmail account. Another request might be to have their mail delivered to a different person altogether

So I can finally give them the credit they deserve.

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: forwarding mail, exchange, sbs 2003

How to add Public Folder Contacts to the list of Address Books in Outlook so anyone can send e-mail to a shared contact

David Overton — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:49:00 GMT

I was recently asked by someone how to do this. Considering the fact that there are pre-defined public folders in SBS, including those for contacts I thought it was worth sharing this with a wider audience. Set this up for a customer using SBS and they can easily share contacts across the whole business. Add the contacts folder to the favourties list and they are also cached offline :-)

I found the answer by experimentation, but then this article describes it well too. The magic tab in Office 2007 (and 2003) is pictured below from my system.

How to add Public Folder Contacts to the list of Address Books

First thing you need to make sure that the public folders has a contact list created. Also, double check the permissions so that your users can view the contact list.

To setup the Contact List in the Address Book navigate to your public folder and find the contact list you want to add.

Right-click on the Contacts Folder and click properties.

Click on the Outlook Address Book tab.

Check the box next to “Show this folder as an email address book.

If the check box is unavailable you need to add the Outlook Address Book to your profile.

Click on the Tools menu and then click on Email Accounts.

Click Add a new directory or address book, and then click next.

Click Add additional Address book, and then click next.

Click Outlook Address Book, and then click next.

Click OK and restart outlook.

After this is complete you can go back to the contact list and then follow the steps on adding the contact list to your address book.

Source: How to add Public Folder Contacts to the list of Address Books - AppRiver

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: Outlook, Public folders, contacts

Channel Expo Show presentations - Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Windows Server (SBS, Naked, Home Server and Longhorn) sales slides

David Overton — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:39:00 GMT

If you visited the Channel Expo show this year then you probably saw one or two Microsoft presentations on desktop and server solutions. James Akrigg and Matt McSpirit provided the desktop entertainment while I covered off what servers we have out there and what is coming in the near future.

We promised the slides and here they are:

Desktop (Windows Vista and Office 2007)- Office 2007 PowerPoint

Desktop (Windows Vista and Office 2007)- PDF

Server (SBS, Windows Server 2003 R2, Longhorn and Home Server) - Office 2007 PowerPoint

Server (SBS, Windows Server 2003 R2, Longhorn and Home Server) - PDF

James has an amazing blog (Out of Office) at http://blogs.technet.com/outofoffice

Matt touches many aspects of desktop technology including that for small business at http://blogs.technet.com/mattmcspirit

Have a look at the blogs and enjoy the presentations.

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: Channel Expo, Vista, Office 2007, SBS 2003, Nakes Servers, Home Server, Longhorn

Important Update on SBS 2003 upgrade from RTM (SP0) to SP1 for Premium customers who wans ISA 2004

David Overton — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:55:52 GMT

If you have recently tried to upgrade from SBS 2003 RTM you might have hit a minor issue - we did not have the premium tech CDs available. While we can not promise them to be available today, the problem is being worked on and the issue will be resolved. However, the supply of CDs is limited, so if you plan to do this, order the CD now and save the CD for when you want to upgrade.

The URL with the information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/downloads/sp1/default.mspx. Standard users will still just need to download the SP1 bits. Premium users will need to download the SP1 bits AND order the Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium CD3 which contains the bits needed for ISA.

An update will be posted on April 30, 2007.

thanks

David

Technorati tags: SBS 2003, Service Pack 1, ISA 2004

What to do if you need the migration pack (transition pack) for SBS 2000

David Overton — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:37:56 GMT

First off I have some bad news for you - this pack no longer exists (although if you search the web hard enough you might find someone with a legitimate one to sell). However, this pack would have taken you to Windows 2000 - not exactly the best destination, so what are your options?

Migrate to SBS 2003 and get the Transition Pack for SBS 2003
Ditch SBS and just buy Windows Server 2003 and migrate the information by hand
If the number of users is still going to be below the 75 CAL limit and it was the 50 CAL limit of SBS 2000 that was the problem, then simply move to SBS.

Some useful reading will come from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555040 and http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/d/c/6dccf9b4-d915-4c95-b5af-100b89e02add/SBS_MigratingSBS2k.doc

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: SBS 2000, Migration Pack, Transition Pack, Windows Server

Who should test software and service packs - I think vendors,customers and partners - others think it is just Microsoft (vendors)

David Overton — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:32:00 GMT

I saw this in a forum and got a bit upset by it... it read:

“SP2 is not going anywhere near anything we manage until some other people have tried it and seen whether it has any unexpected side effects.”

This was followed by

“What would happen if everyone took that attitude? I believe that we have to take responsibility for testing these service packs ourselves for the benefit of our customers, not waiting for someone else to try it first.”

And then

“That's MS's job - not ours.“

And

“It's not about whether others can be bothered it's about whose job it is to test these patches. It's not mine, nor my customers.

There are far too many Microsoft bashers and there are far too many Microsoft sycophants - the rest of us just get shouted down when we say it like we see it.”

The last comment really got my goat, so much so that I posted back to the forum this reply, but I thought I would make it wider as I think the conversation should be discussed broader. Now in defence, I have snipped little bits of the conversations to highlight the point and people posted things like:

“And do you think MS didn't test it? Give them a break.
I am of the opinion that as soon as something new comes out you go like this:
First week
On your test box (or if none then home system)
Second week
On your own production domain if there has been no 'blog storm'
Third week
On 10-30% of your clients
Fourth week onwards
Slowly install on the remains of your client base until after 10 weeks or so all is done

Key thing is to keep an eye on the blogs and SBS2K Yahoo group”

And

“Well I am with you Ian on this - its exactly what I do - test, test, test, check, verify, and test!
IF other cannot be bothered, leave them to it !”

In the end, this is what I posted. Flame me if you disagree, comment either way, but I think that IT professionals are part of solution and that means testing software, not on behalf of the vendor, but on behalf of the customer who should not have to pay IF something is rolled out and is untested and does not work as expected.

My Post to the UKSBSG group:

I don't know which group I fall into, but I do disagree with your statement that it is neither you nor your customers role to test a Service Pack.

I'm sure I'm going to put some noses out of joint here, so I should say this is David's view, not necessarily Microsoft’s. I also have a banging headache that won't go away and I have "coffee shop" music playing in my ear which has included “Chariots of fire” and “Hawaii five-o”, so I could blame my "strong" views on that.

Microsoft builds service packs to fix a number of problems and sometimes to change the behaviour of a server. This is tested extensively internally and externally and then released with no known issues. They are not always perfect and we need to be told about the things we do not find. Thousands of vendors (non-Microsoft people) are involved in the signing off of the product to try to get the best quality product out the door.

We do not test against the millions of combinations of hardware, not the 100s of millions of possible combinations of software / custom devs on a box - this is not possible. (I guess we could charge to do that as other organisations do). In every large corporation I have worked the IT department saw its job as taking the software as supplied by any vendor and implementing it inside the organisation to benefit the business. Part of this process is finding all the little things that don't quite work right and making them work right by either working around them, filling the gaps or working with the vendors to fix the problems (lets call this testing). This is what IT departments do (besides then keeping it running as it shows it still has niggles after deployment). They don't open a box, install the software and walk away - they add value. Part of that is knowing which box to open, but far more is doing the magic of making IT fit the business needs by whatever means necessary and then keeping it running.

Just because I have worked with organisations of 250,000 employees or more does not mean that these principles do not scale right down to a 1 man band business. Someone has to work out which box to open and then make the software in the box do what the business needs, integrating it with what is already there.

I believed this is what you do.

Now this does not mean that you implement SP2 when it 1st ships, you work out whether you should look at it. You work out the case if you don't look at it. You could even say, I'll let someone else test it 1st, but you should still work out how key it is for you before you make that decision.

My job is NOT to test the service packs. I don't have a technical role at Microsoft, I sit in sales - yes sales. My job is to help a number of sales channels sell more. I do however run a SBS box that runs several small ventures and help partners. I installed the service pack because some of its benefits were for me. I documented it (and the issues I found) to give others a true view of what it did for me (BTW, SQL does run faster on my box with it).

My advice, unless you always want to be 2 steps behind your fellow consultants, is to test it. I like the approach mentioned above in the thread. To decide which customer gets the product 1st you think who will benefit 1st or be happy to help kick the tyres and start with them.

So, opinion shared. I think it IS your job to do some testing. Customers probably think it is your job too. You may want to ask them to see what they think about service packs and ultimately who they think should manage it if it does not work. Even if you wait a bit, you still have to test it!

I'm sure others will disagree, but unless we tested solutions before we implemented them, what value are we adding as a profession? Would you be happy if a doctor gave you a drug because lots of other people had used it and he had not heard of any problems, or if he said "you are the 1st and I think it will be good for you, but I can't be sure" and then for others "I have used this lots and it has helped many people". I like people who test. They tend to also be the people who do backups and know how to restore them.

ttfn

David

Published with BlogMailr

Symantec "Microsoft Listed as Most Secure OS"

David Overton — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:31:02 GMT

Wow, you have to wonder whether this hurt them to say this :-) Now I am a believer that any security vulnerability is bad and that the longer it is out there then the more likely it is to exploit it. If "people" only have one way to crack into your system, then they can still get in and the longer it is out there then the more likely it is that it will be used, however always nice to see that MS is trying hard and while not perfect, is doing better than other people who throw stones at MS. Of course, Windows also has more in it, so being better with more features in the box is even nicer and this is across all versions of Windows, not just the latest (Vista) for example.

I think it shows that the IT industry has more work to do in this area - as Ed the Fed said - "this is a journey."

Surprise, Microsoft Listed as Most Secure OS
By Andy Patrizio

UPDATED: Microsoft is frequently dinged for having insecure products, with security holes and vulnerabilities. But Symantec (Quote), no friend of Microsoft, said in its latest research report that when it comes to widely-used operating systems, Microsoft is doing better overall than its leading commercial competitors.
The information was a part of Symantec's 11th Internet Security Threat Report. The report, released this week, covered a huge range of security and vulnerability issues over the last six months of 2006, including operating systems.
The report found that Microsoft Windows had the fewest number of patches and the shortest average patch development time of the five operating systems it monitored in the last six months of 2006.
<snip>
During this period, 39 vulnerabilities, 12 of which were ranked high priority or severe, were found in Microsoft Windows and the company took an average of 21 days to fix them. It's an increase of the 22 vulnerabilities and 13-day turnaround time for the first half of 2006 but still bested the competition handily.
<snip>
Then there's Mac OS X. Despite the latest TV ads ridiculing the security in Vista with a Matrix-like Agent playing the UAC in Vista, Apple has nothing to brag about. Symantec found 43 vulnerabilities in Mac OS X and a 66 day turnaround on fixes.

Source: Surprise, Microsoft Listed as Most Secure OS

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: Security

Help and Support Service not working / there after Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) is applied to a machine

David Overton — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:12:05 GMT

I had some apps fail on my machine yesterday after I got back from the TechNet event, so off I went to diagnose. It was then that I discovered that the help and support service had gone. Vanished, Vamoosh. I did find this little baby in the event log though:

Event Type:        Error
Event Source:      HELPSVC
Event Category:    None
Event ID:          16387
Date:              14/03/2007
Time:              11:44:31
User:              N/A
Computer:          SERVER
Description:
Service could not be deleted

Being of a speedy nature I fired a mail off internally only to be told "yep, we know about and are investigating and we have already blogged about it" - http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/03/20/help-and-support-service-missing-after-installing-windows-2003-service-pack-2.aspx

There is a fix there, which I used, works and is great, so no harm done, just a small panic.

Deploying Vista to many desktops from Small Business Server 2003 with SP2 (R2 or R1) using Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) tools

David Overton — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 07:56:49 GMT

A nice man named Zack dropped me a mail asking about the Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) tools and "real" documentation, which led to Matt in the PTS team writing about all the great tools (see below). I then installed SP2 for Windows Server 2003 and realised that my SBS 2003 system now has the capabilities of BDD to deploy Vista desktops (in my case, pre-configured with Office 2007 too).

Wow. I went and checked and the Windows Deployment Services admin controls are there on my SBS SP2 system, so you can use this information to enable PXE deployments of Windows if you want. These can include other programs such as Office and anti-virus products and also be pre-configures to join the domain etc.

Business Desktop Deployment 2007 - Resources
Posted Wednesday, March 14, 2007 11:43 AM by mattmcspirit

For those of you out there who have an interest in the different ways that you can deploy Windows Vista, Office 2007 and your other applications, you may be interested in the Business Desktop Deployment Workbench, or BDD for short.
So, what is it?
Well, the BDD is essentially, your one-stop-shop for deployment when it comes to our new wave of technology. Want to customise your Vista install? Want to inject drivers for hardware into images? Want to customise WinPE 2.0? Want to easily create Unattend.xml files? Want next week's winning lottery numbers? OK, BDD can't help you with that last one, but it can allow you to do all the others!

Source: Peering through Windows...

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: BDD, Business Desktop Deployment, SBS 2003, Service Pack 2, SP2, SBS 2003 SP2

Small Business Server 2003 (SP1 and R2) upgrading to SP2 and Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) information - including the fact that you do NOT have to uninstall IE7

David Overton — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 23:28:00 GMT

[updated 21th March 14:15]

This is just a quick note to say that the release notes are WRONG (and will be changed) in stating that IE7 has to be uninstalled. Also, if you have automatic updates turned on, SP2 will still prompt prior to an install as the EULA needs to be accepted, so no discovering that it was installed by the note that the server has rebooted.

I did the install today my system is fine and I have had it confirmed that unless you specifically fall into the problem areas listed in http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/932600:

You upgrade from an evaluation copy of Windows Small Business Server 2003 to the full retail version.
You upgrade from Windows Server 2003 to the full retail version of Windows Small Business Server 2003.
You migrate to Windows Server 2003 from Windows Small Business Server by using the Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Transition Pack.

For information on SP2 and what it delivers, please look at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sp2.mspx.

This is a follow up to several people blogging (Susan, Vlad, Nick and many more) who, in my personal opinion, were right to say that some notice should have been given about the date of shipment!!

Mark Stanfill of the offical SBS blog has also put some more information up at http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/03/14/can-i-install-windows-server-2003-sp2-on-sbs-2003.aspx and while writing I noticed that Susan also has details at http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2007/03/14/install-sp2-over-the-top-of-ie7.aspx

[update]

The text has been replaced on the web. The link for the release notes now points here - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b6fcca62-c291-4303-8cb8-cdb255d849f6&DisplayLang=en
(Note the old web page still physically exists – so if customers have bookmarked the old one they need to update their bookmark… or follow the links once again)

The new text on the webpage is as follows

<snip>

Internet Explorer

You do not need to uninstall Internet Explorer 7 prior to installing Windows Server 2003 SP2.

If you have previously installed Internet Explorer 7 on a computer running Windows Server 2003 with SP1 and are now installing Windows Server 2003 SP2 using Microsoft Update, the downloadable SP2 update from the Microsoft Download Center, or the SP2 update CD, your computer will retain Internet Explorer 7 as expected.

If you have previously installed Internet Explorer 7 on a computer running Windows Server 2003 with SP1 and are now installing the integrated version of Windows Server 2003 SP2 (that is, the full operating system integrated with the service pack), the computer will have Internet Explorer 6 as the default browser in Windows Server 2003 SP2. You will need to reinstall Internet Explorer 7.

For more information about options for installing Windows Server 2003 SP2, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=85899.

</snip>

[update 2]

If you find the help and support service missing after installing SP2 then go to Help and Support Service not working / there after Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) is applied to a machine to find a link to the solution.

If you are having VPN and NAT issues then look at this VPN, SecureNat/Nat and Outlook clients not working after installing Windows Service Pack 2 in SBS 2003

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: SBS, Small Business Server 2003, SP2, IE7

Are you finding Outlook Web Access (OWA or e-mail from Remote Web Workplace) is showing errors or "image not found" red crosses when accessed from Vista? Another catch by Kevin at Neoblog

David Overton — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 15:29:00 GMT

I'm beginning to think I need a subscription from Neoblog to appear higher in my list. I have not tested this, so let me know if there are any issues, but here is the information he has posted.

OWA and Vista

Posted on February 14th, 2007 by Kevin Higerty
If you use Outlook Web Access and have recently upgraded to Vista you will find that you can’t reply or do any action on an email, typically the edit area shows a ‘image not found’ red x in the corner.
This is because Windows Vista no longer includes support for the ActiveX control that is used for HTML editing in Outlook Web Access, you need to apply a hotfix to Exchange.

Source, more details and the link to the fix: neoblog » OWA and Vista

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, Vista, Exchange 2003, SBS 2003 R2, SBS 2003, Small Business Server 2003, Outlook Web Access, OWA

Using Vista and getting a slower performing network? Perhaps with SBS or other network equipment? Then you need to read Kevin's post at Neoblog.

David Overton — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 14:26:20 GMT

We all know that sometimes things sloooowwwwwiiinnnngggg down can be a real drag. Some people have seen this sort of thing with Vista and while sometimes it is to do with drivers (do I need to say wireless here??), others it could be one of the "nice" new features in Vista. In the latter example I can give you a good pointer to help.

Susanne Dansey pointed this out to me, which is a posting by Kevin Higerty on this very problem - pop along to his blog to get the low down.

I’ve been running Vista on my SBS network for a while, well since the January Action Pack, and have noticed resource access to the SBS box getting slower and slower over the last few days. At the same time I had issues like log on’s taking 2 minutes, explorer time outs and generally the whole system running like a dog.
The two symptoms have turned out to be seperate, but combined they are a ‘throw the sodding pc outa the window’ type scenario.
Slow networking is due to the auto tuning of TCP/IP in Vista which is turned on by default.

Source: neoblog » Vista + Network = Slow

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, Network, Slow, Auto Tuning, Syn

How to get Companyweb (Windows SharePoint Services v2) to work with Office 2007

David Overton — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 00:01:00 GMT

[updated 9th August 2007 to add read/write document registry change]

A few people said this was a showstopper for them in recommneding Office 2007 to their customers so I figured it had to be fixed. I nixed a huge amount of work from the right stuff blog "Office 2007 File Icons for Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 and SharePoint Portal Server 2003" and the script work from http://blogs.msdn.com/karstenj/archive/2006/01/03/508888.aspx. The problems were: 1) no icons for files 2) file types not recognised by companyweb 3) downloads could not be opened as the file type was said to be a compressed file 4) could not edit from companyweb

OK, so here is the process.

1. Download the icons from here and put them into folder C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\TEMPLATE\IMAGES\ (read the item on the the right stuff to pick your files)

2. Update the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\TEMPLATE\XML\docicon.xml file with the information below into the ByExtension section

<Mapping Key="docx" Value="docx.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office Word" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="docm" Value="docm.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office Word" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="dotx" Value="dotx.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office Word" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="dotm" Value="dotm.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office Word" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="xlsx" Value="xlsx.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office Excel" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="xlsm" Value="xlsm.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office Excel" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="xltx" Value="xltx.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office Excel" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="xltm" Value="xltm.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office Excel" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="xlsb" Value="xlsb.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office Excel" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="xlam" Value="xlam.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office Excel" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="pptx" Value="pptx.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office PowerPoint" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="pptm" Value="pptm.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office PowerPoint" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="potx" Value="potx.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office PowerPoint" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="potm" Value="potm.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office PowerPoint" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="ppam" Value="ppam.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office PowerPoint" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="ppsx" Value="ppsx.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office PowerPoint" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>
<Mapping Key="ppsm" Value="ppsm.gif" EditText="Microsoft Office PowerPoint" OpenControl="SharePoint.OpenDocuments"/>

3. Update the metabase MIME types by running the following script (copy it to a text file called update_mime.vbs and then double click on it - ONCE):

'This script adds the necessary Office 2007 MIME types to an IIS Server.
'To use this script, just double-click or execute it from a command line.
'Running this script multiple times results in multiple entries in the IIS MimeMap.

Dim MimeMapObj, MimeMapArray, MimeTypesToAddArray, WshShell, oExec
Const ADS_PROPERTY_UPDATE = 2
'Set the MIME types to be added
' MimeTypesToAddArray = Array(".manifest", "application/manifest", _
' ".xaml", "application/xaml+xml", ".application", "application/x-ms-application", ".deploy", "application/octet-stream", _
' ".xbap", "application/x-ms-xbap")
MimeTypesToAddArray = Array( _
".docm","application/vnd.ms-word.document.macroEnabled.12" , _
".docx","application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document" , _
".dotm","application/vnd.ms-word.template.macroEnabled.12" , _
".dotx","application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.template" , _
".potm","application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroEnabled.12" , _
".potx","application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template" , _
".ppam","application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.addin.macroEnabled.12" , _
".ppsm","application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slideshow.macroEnabled.12" , _
".ppsx","application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow" , _
".pptm","application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroEnabled.12" , _
".pptx","application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation" , _
".xlam","application/vnd.ms-excel.addin.macroEnabled.12" , _
".xlsb","application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroEnabled.12" , _
".xlsm","application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12" , _
".xlsx","application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet" , _
".xltm","application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroEnabled.12" , _
".xltx","application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template" _
)
'Get the mimemap object
Set MimeMapObj = GetObject("IIS://LocalHost/MimeMap")
'Call AddMimeType for every pair of extension/MIME type
For counter = 0 to UBound(MimeTypesToAddArray) Step 2
AddMimeType MimeTypesToAddArray(counter), MimeTypesToAddArray(counter+1)
Next
'Create a Shell object
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
'Stop and Start the IIS Service
Set oExec = WshShell.Exec("net stop w3svc")
Do While oExec.Status = 0
WScript.Sleep 100
Loop
Set oExec = WshShell.Exec("net start w3svc")
Do While oExec.Status = 0
WScript.Sleep 100
Loop
Set oExec = Nothing
'Report status to user
WScript.Echo "SharePoint Mime Types have been added."
'AddMimeType Sub
Sub AddMimeType (Ext, MType)
'Get the mappings from the MimeMap property.
MimeMapArray = MimeMapObj.GetEx("MimeMap")
' Add a new mapping.
i = UBound(MimeMapArray) + 1
Redim Preserve MimeMapArray(i)
Set MimeMapArray(i) = CreateObject("MimeMap")
MimeMapArray(i).Extension = Ext
MimeMapArray(i).MimeType = MType
MimeMapObj.PutEx ADS_PROPERTY_UPDATE, "MimeMap", MimeMapArray
MimeMapObj.SetInfo
End Sub

that did it for me :-)

[updated]

Well, it almost did, in fact, when you tried to open a file by clicking on it, you only got a read only version. Reading the KB article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/870853 I discovered this was deliberate and I changed it a bit for Office 2007 and now the following command run from an ELEVATED command prompt on the client will work. You can also set Group Policy on the server to set this key too (just remember to change the 11 to a 12 if reading the KB article).

reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\Internet /v OpenDocumentsReadWriteWhileBrowsing /t REG_DWORD /d 01

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: WSS v2, Office 2007, SharePoint, Office 2007 Deployment blocker fixed

Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc) always has the wrong domain name, IP address or always prompting me about security - here are the fixes

David Overton — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 15:11:25 GMT

One of my UK SBSC partners asked me how to do a couple things in Remote Desktop using the new Vista RDP v6 client as they were bugging the hell out of him and others (I asked him how Vista was going). Since he admins a number of SBS boxes, these were his top (valid) gripes:

Stop putting in IP addresses for the domain name
Stop the pre-prompt for credentials when TSing to another system
Stop the statement about security every time I try to remote admin into things

The good news is that much of this has been documented else where.

Stop putting in IP addresses for the domain name

Problem is that you fill in a screen like this and get a prompt as below. Notice it has the domain name as the IP address? The quick answer is to type the username as <domain>\<username> - eg abusiness\administrator. This will change the domain name.

Stop the pre-prompt for credentials when TSing to another system

Now the pre-prompting for credentials is the process we have just seen above. This is required in domains where Network Level Authentication will stop the TS connection without the appropriate credentials before the connection is made. Details of this can be found at http://blogs.msdn.com/ts/archive/2007/01/22/vista-remote-desktop-connection-authentication-faq.aspx#_When_to_use

Stop the statement about security every time I try to remote admin into things

This is again due to increased security levels. It can be solved by either editing your RDP file (the default.rdp file is in your documents folder - it is a text file) or by going tothe advanced tab and tellit it to always connect. This information can be found at both http://weblogs.asp.net/owscott/archive/2006/11/10/Vista_2700_s-Remote-Desktop-Prompt.aspx and http://blogs.msdn.com/ts/archive/2007/01/22/vista-remote-desktop-connection-authentication-faq.aspx#_How_to_eliminate

ttfn

David

Technorati tags: Vista, Windows Vista, Terminal Server, RDP, Remote Desktop, Credential Prompt

Description	Type	Audience	Price	Quantity
Gear Up Sales Toolkit The Microsoft Gear Up Sales Toolkit is the licensing and sales 'product encyclopaedia' that will help you generate up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.	Marketing Kit	Sales	£0.00
Selling to Small Business Guide This guide explains Microsoft's approach to the Small Business market, and offers advice to Partners on how to maximise their sales and marketing efforts to this audience.	Partner Guide	Sales	£0.00
Windows SBS 2003 R2 Integrated server solution for small businesses	Evaluation Software	All	£0.00

Bulletin Number	Maximum Severity	Affected Products	Impact
MS07-023	Critical	Microsoft Excel (all currently supported versions)	Remote Code Execution
MS07-024	Critical	Microsoft Word 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 (Mac)	Remote Code Execution
MS07-025	Critical	Microsoft Office (all currently supported versions)	Remote Code Execution
MS07-026	Critical	Microsoft Exchange (all current versions)	Remote Code Execution
MS07-027	Critical	Internet Explorer - all current versions on all currently supported versions of Microsoft Windows	Remote Code Execution
MS07-028	Critical	CAPICOM, BizTalk Server	Remote Code Execution
MS07-029	Critical	Windows 2000 (server), Windows Server 2003	Remote Code Execution

David Overton's Blog : SBS 2003

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