SBS 2008 - The Daily and Weekly Reports

There are two types of reports in SBS 2008 by default:

1. Daily Summary Report
2. Weekly Detailed Report

This is what the SBS 2008 Daily Summary looks like:

SBS Summary Network Report

The weekly report has a Details hyperlink on the right hand side that would break out all of the items under each heading:

Detailed Network Report

After clicking on the Details link:

Security Details

We will now have a lot more information given to us via the built-in SBS reports. Also, the Reports section in the SBS console also gives us the ability to generate any number of report types at a moment's notice. As a result, it will be a lot easier to get to know a particular SBS box and its regular behaviours.

The new reports will also give those of us who have not taken the step into Managed Services the ability to at least bill on a monthly basis for the reports monitoring ... if we are not already doing so! They can also provide the foundation from which to build a case for a product like System Center Essentials to provide a more detailed monitoring setup ... and thus more revenue.

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.

SBS 2008 - Install Consistency = An Answer File + Migration Caveat

The new SBS 2008 install routine is pretty close to bullet proof. There is only one install phase with a couple of question screens early in the install routine.

To streamline the install and negate any need to input data into the question screens, we can answer them ahead of time using the SBS 2008 Answer File Tool.

The new Answer File Tool is found on the DVD under the \Tools\ directory. The application is called SBSAfg.exe.

When we start the utility from the DVD we are presented with:

Windows Small Business Server 2008 Answer File Tool

Ever wondered what to do with those small 32MB USB flash drives? Well, now we know. We can have one for all of the installs happening on our workbenches! ;)

With the answer file on the USB flash drive, the only input we will need to provide is the RAID driver and the OS partition setup at the start of the setup routine. Keep in mind that we need to configure a minimum of 60GB for our primary OS partition.

Once we have filled out our client's relevant information we have:

SBS Answer File Tool - Fresh Install Completed

When we choose to "Save As" an XML file will be generated in the location we choose.

If we choose to create an SBS 2008 migration answer file we need to fill out the following:

SBS Answer File Tool - Migration Install

Note the exclamation mark for the existing domain's administrator account name. The warning is telling us that there cannot be any spaces in the domain administrator's name.

Keep this in mind if a client or potential client has an SBS domain where the admin account name has a space in it. This means that the domain admin account will need to be renamed prior to the migration.

The time saved installing SBS 2008 from scratch is quite significant versus an SBS 2003 Standard install and post install setup.

There will be post install steps to take on a fresh SBS 2008 setup too. Things such as installing the server hardware's drivers and management software, creating the additional partitions that are to be used by the server and moving the relevant data stores to those new partitions, and more will be required.

All in all, it looks as though the SBS 2008 setup routine has been greatly streamlined. This means we can provide a more consistent setup structure for our SBS servers. Consistency means that there will be a lot less of an opportunity to make mistakes and cost our clients and us time and money.

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.

Small Business Server 2008 - RC0 Public Preview will be available this week ...

For those of us on the private SBS 2008 "Cougar" beta program, we have been privileged to have access to the new RC0 build of SBS 2008 since late last Thursday.

The Public Preview will be available via link this Microsoft Web page: Windows Small Business Server 2008.

Note the "Be the First to Get a Public Preview" for SBS 2008.

The link should go live sometime this coming Wednesday May 28, 2008.

Since this is a Release Candidate version of the product, it should be installed for testing purposes only. Use of the RC0 software in a production environment will not be supported by Microsoft, so if things blow up and that is where the RC0 SBS box happens to be ... there will be no support.

There is a huge learning curve involved with this new product release.

While the install and administration has been simplified to meet the needs of those with no real I.T. background to setup an SBS 2008 box, there is a lot underneath it all that we can get our fingers into the customize those boxes! ;) A neat thing about those underlying features: It is a lot easier with this edition to set things up so that our builds will be greatly simplified, and identical.

Some of the new aspects we will need to grapple with:

• Install options are now available: New and Migration.
• Answer File for installs (fairly straight forward).
• New Management Console.
• New Remote Web Workplace features and capabilities.
• Default data location on the C: drive with wizards to move to other partitions after the fact.
• Active Directory, Group Policy, and ADMX management.
• Exchange 2007 SP1 and its features and abilities
• Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
• Interet access management, filtering, and firewalling for prior SBS 2K3 Premium clients.

We will be putting together a box for RC0 this weekend, with a deeper dive into it this coming week.

We are now able to comment on the product publicly, so we look forward to sharing our SBS 2008 experiences here in the near future!

Will this be our first public comment? Not really, but: Windows Small Business Server 2008 will really ROCK! :D

For those of us who love to build solutions ... real solutions around a whole host of server products, services, and components available in the hardware and software we work with, SBS 2008 will be the "cat's meow".

We will be able to take SBS and especially Remote Web Workplace to that next level providing integrated solutions that will provide our clients with a really kewl plethora of workflow collaboration and data access abilities.

Check it out folks ... SBS 2008 is the bread to our services butter! ;)

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.

SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 Open Value versus OEM

Here is something to consider with the advent of SBS 2008 (Cougar): When considering an upgrade for an existing SBS 2003 Premium client to SBS 2008, ISA is no longer included for clients without Software Assurance on their current SBS 2003 Premium product. It may be a good idea to put existing or new clients into an Open Value Licensing Agreement or Subscription with a 3 year spread payment option for any new SBS 2003 install or upgrade.

This will give the client some flexibility when it comes time to upgrade them to SBS 2008 where we need an internal/Internet security option like ISA.

Given the upcoming release of SBS 2008, we have been promoting Open Value Agreement/Subscription to all of our existing clients as well as new clients with a great margin of success in winning them over from OEM licensing. Software Assurance is an option on OEM, but how many clients are going to say, "Sure, I'd love to spend $X on additional licensing costs" after the fact?

Depending on budget, it makes more sense to utilize the 3 Year Spread Payment option on Open Value Agreements and Subscriptions. This enables us to reduce the upfront cost to the client and establish a commitment with the client to purchase their licensing from us on the subsequent two Agreement anniversaries. The 3 Year Spread Payment option becomes a small additional source of revenue for us too.

One more selling feature for a Licensing Agreement in place over OEM: If the client needs to grow their hardware performance to match growth in their company, Swing their existing License Agreement SBS OS onto a new hardware rig and away they go. The Open Value OS license stays with the organization as opposed to OEM which stays with the respective hardware it was originally sold with.

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.

Windows SharePoint Services Version 3 learning & SBS 2008

As soon as we found out about the Microsoft Small Business Specialist Primer book being updated and released last December, we put in an order for some.

The book is going to be used to facilitate training here in the shop for those wanting to attempt the 70-282 exam: Designing, Deploying, and Managing a Network Solution for a Small- and Medium-Sized Business.

We were also interested in the new section for the 70-631 exam: TS: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Configuring. Since we have some up coming client demands for customizing SharePoint installations to their particular needs, this section was of particular interest to us.

To date, there has been a dearth of Windows SharePoint Services Version 3 (WSSv3) information out there. Yes, there are some documents one can download from Microsoft's Web site, but they really did not flesh out the how and why of WSSv3.

So, we were pretty excited to receive the SMBNation books in mid to late January.

One should be prepared, 70-631 gets three chapters devoted to it. So, it will give a really good medium to big picture of working with WSSv3 with some finer technical details. There are exam preparation questions at the end of each chapter to facilitate one's knowledge building endeavors.

So, to dive deeper into WSSv3, the various install scenarios, and customizing WSSv3 sites, we need something more.

We recently received these two books:

• Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Version 3.0 Inside Out (0735623236)


• 
• Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (0470127287)


• 

So far, the Microsoft book is by far the clearest and most organized of the two.

Our reading method is to work through the Microsoft chapter while augmenting what we read with the detailed information that can be had from the Sybex version. Both have very detailed information, but the MS book tends to be a little more intuitive in its layout and presentation.

Together, the two books are both technically excellent, providing good methodology for installing, configuring, and securing WSSv3 sites. Both come with CDs that provide an electronic version of the books, as well as multiple utilities, templates, and more.

For clients who discover WSSv3's abilities, the sky is the limit! WSSv3 is a sweet spot for revenue growth in our company. Having someone on staff who can work magic with site presentation as well as providing an excellent grasp on bringing the various WSSv3 components together specific to a client's needs is worth their weight in Gold.

One of the benefits we see with the new SBS 2008 Premium Edition that contains a stand-alone server license and SQL 2005 license is a dedicated database server for SharePoint. For busy internal and/or externally facing WSSv3 sites, having the ability to dedicated RAM and CPU power to the site can provide a very solid foundation for promoting an upgrade to SBS 2008 Premium.

Even smaller clients that utilize volumes of data for their business via VPN will see a huge benefit in dropping the VPN bandwidth overhead for access to their data on WSSv3 via a Remote Web Workplace SSL secure session.

In our opinion, all three books are highly recommended. For the MSBS Primer, check out SMBNation, for the other two, visit your favourite local technical book seller or online merchant.

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.

SBS - Cougar 64bit and "Upgrades"

Eric Ligman is reminding all of us just what will be included in the new SBS Cougar: What is going to be in "Cougar?"

From his post:

• Based on the Windows Server 2008 platform and technology wave
• Cougar will include these technologies:
• Windows Server 2008
• Exchange Server 2007
• Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
• SQL Server 2005
• System Center Essentials
• Dramatically improved management, protection, and business productivity
• Emphasis on simplicity and integration
• Providing value for new and existing partners
• Embracing Live Services
• 64-bit only [emphasis ours]

We emphasize the 64-bit only line at the end for a reason: We are gearing up for a number of upcoming Swing Migrations for clients that are at the end of the line for their server hardware and this is the only method, in our opinion, that will work for moving clients from SBS 2003 to SBS Cougar.

It may, or may not be, obvious, but, one cannot do an in place upgrade of a 32bit operating system to a 64bit operating system. It just ain't going to happen.

So far as we can tell, Jeff Middleton's Swing Migration method will possibly be the only way we will be able to migrate current SBS client domains to the new SBS Cougar setup.

We are on the Cougar Beta Program, so we definitely have testing the Swing Method on our To Do list when the Cougar beta is more mature.

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.

SBS - Open Value Licensing SKUs for You

The following SKUs are for purchasing SBS Open Value licensing, which includes 3 years of Software Assurance, in Year 1 of the 3 year Agreement:

• T72-00882 - Microsoft Windows SBS 2003 R2 Standard 5CAL
• T75-00927 - Microsoft Windows SBS 2003 R2 Premium 5CAL
• T74-01746 - Microsoft Windows SBS 5 User CAL Pack
• T74-01745 - Microsoft Windows SBS 20 User CAL Pack
• T74-01731 - Microsoft Windows SBS 5 Device CAL Pack
• T74-01730 - Microsoft Windows SBS 20 Device CAL Pack

When setting up Open Value Licensing with the client, they will know that they are entering into a 3 Year Agreement with Microsoft, the cost of the licensing would be distributed over three years, and that the first payment would be due immediately. The second and third payments would be due on the one year anniverary of the initial Agreement signing.

Open Value Licensing is an excellent way to mitigate some of the costs associated with software purchases, includes Software Assurance over the three year period, and provides a bit of fixed income for our company for the duration of the Agreement.

At this point, Software Assurance is important as SBS 2008 "Cougar" is just around the corner.

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.

SBS 2008 (Cougar) - Vista's UAC Control & Group Policy on W2K8

These training labs are available via the Partner Learning Centre.

That means that your company, whether incorporated or sole proprietorship, needs to be at least at the Microsoft Registered Partner level.

Not there? Then go here: Microsoft Partner Site and register your business. The benefits far out weigh the 15 minutes to register, and the subsequent hour or two to setup your company's profile.

Event Title : Managing User Account Control in Windows Vista and Windows Longhorn Server.

Event Title : Managing Windows Longhorn Server and Windows Vista using Group Policy.

Of course, Cougar is in Beta and under NDA at this point.

However, we all know that Cougar is being built upon Windows Server 2008 with Windows Vista as one of the target client OSs.

With that in mind, these two labs are an excellent way to see some facets of what we are going to have to learn in order to manage Cougar based networks in our near future.

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.

TechNet - Future of the Server Room Tour - Presenter's Post Posts!

We attended the Future of the Server Room Tour in Calgary a while back.

Our post conference take: TechNet: Future Of the Server Room - Longhorn/Server 2008, SBS, & SBS Cougar.

Rodney Buike has just posted information including the most popular questions (text messaged or e-mailed) and their answers, as well as some great resources on the Canadian IT Pro Blog: FoSR Interesting Q&A.

One thing he pointed out was a free PowerShell book that we can download from Microsoft: Free PowerShell Book (Zipped PDF with registration required).

There is also a link to the demo files: FoSR Demo Files (Zipped file).

And, a link to the Microsoft TechNet Command-line Reference.

The demonstrations on this tour were some of the most in depth into the new OS that we have seen to date. So, we suggest having a look into Rodney's post and the current Longhorn/Server 2008 beta. It will be well worth your while.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

System Builder Tip: Vista Aero Performance Rating - ATI X1250 on AMD 690G Chipset

A while back, we went to the AMD/Microsoft TechTour which offered us a Tour Bundle at a discount over purchasing through distribution.

According to the coupon we received to redeem for the bundle, we were to get an AMD X2 4400+, Asus M2A-VM AM2 series motherboard, a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate NFR, and a one year subscription to McAfee's security product *cough*. ;0)

We decided to take a risk and purchase the bundle.

This is the first time in over five (5) years that we have purchased anything AMD!

Why? Because, we were burned so badly by a number of AMD based systems back then that we never turned back. We had to fight with the motherboards to work with any add-in cards like network or video for example. Or, we had to fight to get the drivers to work properly or the system to run stable at all. There were a number of times we were replacing components or motherboards to get things to play together nicely. Any so-called cost savings was obliterated by the time fighting with the systems.

So, that was that. Remember the three strike rule? :D

And here we are, with the processor, motherboard, some Kingston RAM, a couple of 320 GB Seagates setup in a RAID 1 array and having just finished installing Windows Vista Ultimate.

All in all, the install went smoothly.

The one glitch we ran into was getting Vista to recognize the on board ATI X1250 video subsystem. Vista refused to. After fighting with it for about half an hour, we extracted the driver ZIP file, and went into the Device Manager and forced the driver to update via the Update Drivers button on the Standard VGA driver.

After a reboot the Standard VGA was still there, though the display setting was reset to 640 x 480. So, tried one more reboot and it worked. We now had Vista recognizing the video as an ATI X1250.

By the way, we had a bit of a struggle trying to figure out where to find the video driver in the first place. The lingo used on Asus' site didn't have anything labelled video. It only had what turned out to be one massive "chipset" driver:


Um, Intel's "chipset" drivers tend to be something like 2-3 MB. So, the only logical conclusion with a 149 MB download, is that Asus packages both the chipset and video drivers together.

That is a pretty chunky download by the way.

Here is the current Catalyst driver size:

A whole whopping 40 MB.

So, take 3 MB for Intel's chipset drivers and 40 MB for ATI's Catalyst drivers, and that leaves 100 MB+ of what exactly? Not too sure on that.

The first run at the Windows System Assessment Tool failed. That was after the first reboot post ATI driver install.

The Windows System Assessment Tool ran fine after the second reboot.

Here is how the ATI X1250 did:



Desktop performance for Windows Aero scored a 2.5 and the 3D business and gaming graphics performance scored a 2.8.

So, how does the on board ATI X1250 stack up to Intel's on board GMA 3000 series video chipset?

Not really that well I am afraid.

In our System Builder Tip: Vista Aero Performance Rating - Intel GMA 3000 on DQ965GF and ATI FireMV 2200 PCI-E,

the on board GMA 3000 series graphics ran a 3.9 score for Vista Aero and a 3.7 score for 3D Graphics.

Intel's 945GM chipset in a Toshiba Portégé M500 had a Desktop performance for Windows Aero score of 2.0 while the 3D business and gaming graphics performance scored 2.8.

For most users that use the Internet, e-mail, and perhaps Microsoft Office this performance level would be okay.

I think that the occasional gamer may be a bit disappointed in the ATI X1250 performance and go out and pick up at least an ATI X1600 or above to get better performance.

Please keep in mind that since this is our first foray into AMD in so many years, we are not exactly up on what's the fastest and newest stuff from them and those that manufacture their system parts. So, hopefully we won't need any flame retardant underwear! ;)

This particular box is going to be our test desktop mule for our SBS Cougar beta testing. So, it is going to get a lot of use, as well as tear downs. Hopefully it is up to the task.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

TechNet: Future Of the Server Room - Longhorn/Server 2008, SBS, & SBS Cougar

We do not have a computer where we are staying, so I am posting via my UTstarcom connected via wireless. [At least I thought I was. IE on the UT did not allow me to hit the Blogger Post button! :(]

The TechNet - Future of the Server Room tour was jam packed with Longhorn/Server 2008 roles, features, tools, and demos.

I can see a lot of potential in Microsoft's new server OS. While Microsoft has been touting Longhorn for quite a while, from what I was hearing yesterday at the conference,it is only in the new Beta 3 that we are seeing what will be close to the final form.

Look to the new version of Terminal Services with TS hosted applications to be a "killer app". One will not need to log onto a dedicated TS desktop in this case. One will be able to run, say, a TS hosted Word session on the local desktop client with minimal fuss. Talk about potential for recycling old systems as dumb terminals.

Us SBSers will be familiar with the new method of connecting to the TS App server too: RPC over HTTPS. Talk about removing a bandwidth bottleneck by eliminating the VPN connection.

Neat!

Another set of Longhorn features that will be totally relevant to us SBSers is Server Core - a command line only extremely small footprint version of the OS that can run on very low end hardware like say a P IV 1.6 GHz with 512 MB of RAM. And, it will handle all of the local network Active Directory, file sharing, and more without breaking a sweat.

As far as that Branch Office Active Directory is concerned, it can be Read Only with cached credentials. Set everything up in the main office, and send the box over to the branch to be plugged in and turned on. Local users will then authenticate against the already cached credentials hosted on the Core box.

Talk about an important step for the Branch Office scenario.

Branch box get stolen? There are management features in Active Directory to immediately reset all of the relevant accounts along with the now gone Core server.

I am hoping that our application to be on the SBS Cougar beta test will be accepted. Based on what I Have been seeing, SBS Cougar is going to really ROCK!

We received a DVD of Beta 3 which is nice as it will save us somewhere north of 4 GB of download bandwidth.

As soon as I have a bit of time, I will be installing LH/W2K8 Beta 3!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists