SBS 2008 - Remote Web Workplace JavaScript Required

For those of us that have been working with SBS 2008 in production or in labs, one of the noticeable things is the tightening up of security in Internet Explorer a la Windows Vista.

Now, as a rule, browsing the Internet while at the server console, or remotely connected is a no-no.

To put it another way, browsing the Internet from a server should never happen.

For those of us that manage small SBS installations where there may not be a free desktop to remote into in the first place, this can be a bit of a challenge ... initially.

But, stop and think about what SBS based tool we have to use to facilitate the ability to never browse the Internet from the SBS console or remote desktop?

Before answering that question have a look at this:

SBS RWW JavaScript Required

The Remote Web Workplace for SBS 2008 requires that we have JavaScript enabled in IE. Well, that is not really possible on SBS 2008 without trying to change the security settings in the browser or figuring out how to uninstall IE's browser security.

The answer to the above question is the Companyweb SharePoint site. The catch to that answer though, is not the client's Companyweb!

Why?

Try and upload a zipped driver file to the SBS 2008 Companyweb at a client's site or in the Lab setting. When we right click on the file and download it to a local directory then try and extract its contents we will get an error that the archive is empty!

So, a best practice kinda way to get files like drivers, updates, and the like to the client's network is to do the following:

1. Download the file via a secure desktop within our own shop.
2. Zip the file, files, or a folder.
3. Post the zip archive to our Companyweb site.
4. Use the direct link on the client's SBS server to connect to our Companyweb: https://remote.mycompany.com:987 for SBS 2008 or https://rww.mycompany.com:444 for SBS 2003.
5. Navigate to the zip archive.
6. Right click and Save As.
7. Extract the zip archive once the download has completed.

Now, this is the process we use for about 95% of any needed files from the Internet. The other 5% are things like service packs and other large files that we will need to download directly from the manufacturer's site.

Note that most Microsoft Updates will appear in WSUS, so we generally do not need to download from their site.

Once we have finished our own migration from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008, we will have a dedicated SharePoint site along with the SQL back end for this purpose.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.