The Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate is available for download here:
LiveID sign-in is required.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
We are in the process of setting up a number of Intel Server System SR1695GPRX2AC units along with our soon to be two Intel Server System R2208GZ4GC units to one Promise VTrak E610sD RAID subsystem.
Out of the box we are dealing with 3Gbit/Second SAS connections with the VTrak so we are not able to use the more advanced features the SAS Switch offers.
The LSI SAS6160 Switch compatibility list can be found here:
Specifically we are looking for a replacement for the Promise VTrak that will give us access to SAS 6Gbit/Second and the advanced features offered by the SAS Switch.
Now, note that the Promise VTrak E610sD requires firmware 3.36.00. Our current unit is at 3.34.00. So, we are on our way to updating the firmware in the Promise before we can draw any conclusions as far as setting things up.
As far as a replacement for the Promise the first in the above list is actually a NetApp appliance. We will be looking into their products. We have already been in conversations with IBM over their DS3524 dual controller SAS unit so we shall see where that goes.
For now, we are on the road to bringing a very flexible, high performance, and highly redundant hardware solution online to deliver Hyper-V Failover Clusters as well as a Private Cloud solution.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
The direct link to PDF documentation on the Intel Integrated RAID Modules can be found here:
Note that the above links are good as of this writing.
A relatively full list of compatible products can be found on the Intel Ark site:
So, between the Technical Product Specifications, the Ark site, and the Server Configurator we get a pretty good picture on what components we can deploy with our Intel Server Systems.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
We thought this would be an appropriate way to start off the day, though we are well into it:
If the message to SMB IT providers has not come clear yet it should.
Private Cloud initiatives seem to all have a solution set around their definitions that require a number of products on top of the virtualization stack whatever that may be.
The in-house solution set based on SBS 2011 Standard is a solid product. Fortunately we have this product in place with most of our clients giving us some room to see where the Microsoft SMB strategy will be taking us over the next two or three years.
Whatever that strategy is we will always be able to figure out a way to provide value for our clients in our delivered products and services.
The business and revenue model may change in the next few years, but we are quite certain we will still be in business and still providing great value for our clients.
In the end, we are just on the cusp of all of the changes that have been in the works for the last number of years at most of our vendors.
It is going to be an interesting couple or three years folks! :)
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
My father in the Canadian Navy and my Grandfather during WWII as a supply truck driver in Europe and Africa.
We remember the ones that server today to protect our freedoms.
We remember those that paid the ultimate sacrifice.
We have what we have today because of them.
Lest we forget . . .
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
As we go through setting up the Intel Server System R2208GZ4GC we are discovering that there are a lot of features in this server system that we appreciate.
Some are cluster specific:
We now have a boot delay option in the BIOS. This option is absolutely critical for servers that are configured in a cluster with shared storage.
In a full power out situation the networking and centralized storage systems need to be online prior to the Hyper-V Failover Cluster nodes coming online. Otherwise there can be all sorts of issues.
We can now save the default boot order out of the box. So, when this box gets connected to a Promise VTrak E610sD RAID Subsystem with LUNs configured the 120GB Intel 320 Series SSDs in RAID 1 should still boot after a reboot with no interference.
This has yet to be tested, but we are confident that the feature will work as advertised.
When using the Intel Chipset RAID feature for software driver based RAID on _any_ Intel Server Board _always_ use the Intel ESRT2 (LSI*) Mode.
The other option is the consumer chipset version of Intel’s Software RAID stack.
The major catch is that the LSI version can have an Intel or LSI RoC Hardware RAID controller plugged into the server board or PCI-E slot at a later time and have the ESRT2 (LSI*) based RAID set imported with no fuss.
This is not possible with the Intel chipset version.
So far so good. This Intel Server System is the configuration we have been asking for in the Channel for _years_ now to compete with HP, IBM, Dell, and others.
Pound for pound we will now be able to compete apples to apples with the Tier 1 vendors. And, with Intel’s available next business day on-site warranty support we can reach most major markets in Canada and Lower 48.
The Intel Server System R2208GZ4GC 2U will be our primary starting point for any 2 processor Hyper-V Failover Cluster Nodes going forward. It is an awesome product!
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
We use EFI to update the BIOS and other firmware components on Intel Server Systems and Intel Server Boards.
To work with the EFI shell we sometimes need to plug in a USB flash drive or run other commands that are not so obvious.
The mount command:
Then to choose the flash drive:
Off we go to run our updates whether in the root of the flash drive or in a subfolder.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
We are setting up the Intel Server System R2208GZ4GC 2U unit with its processors, RAID, storage, and SAS components.
The CPU below the E5-2650 is a Cyrix by IBM. Vintage is around the Pentium II 300 time frame which was mid nineteen nineties.
And, as a comparison with a socket 775 CPU which is fairly consistent size wise through to today’s Intel Second Generation Core processors.
Moore’s law is alive and well. :)
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
We needed to recover an item deleted on an SBS 2011 server with Exchange 2010 SP1.
When we opened ExFolders for Exchange SP1 we ended up with an error:
An error occurred while trying to establish a connection to the Exchange server.
Exception: The Active Directory user was not found.
A search for the error turned up the following:
The fix was to delete the CN=Servers container using ADSIEdit.msc:
First we closed ExFolders then performed the above edit.
We then opened ExFolders and were then able to recover the deleted item the user had accidentally removed in Outlook.
Note that this SBS 2011 was a migration from SBS 2003 R2.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
We ran into a bit of a syntax problem trying to get the ISInteg utility to run on the Windows Server 2008 server hosing Exchange 2007 SP3.
The proper syntax to get the command to work is as follows:
This was the last step before we mounted the database and were greeted with content in every folder within each user’s mailbox.
Just goes to show: Make sure the UPS attached to the server is tested for battery life and that the software that is supposed to shut the server down gracefully is receiving correct signals from the UPS!
Have an awesome long weekend! :)
Hat Tip: emalf-pc blog: Running ISINTEG on Microsoft Exchange 2007
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
In the process of working on this Exchange 2007 database recovery we ran the eseutil /d defragment on one of the recovered databases.
The notes for the utility state that it should create the temp database in the same location as the database being worked on. Exchange and its databases were installed on a dedicated E:\ partition.
In this case it did not and we needed to run the following option:
We ended up needing to figure out where eseutil dropped the temp database that filled up the system partition during the first run through.
A bit of tweaking in Search and we found it:
Both the RAW and EDB files were found in System32 under the %windir%. Note the size of the temp database at 23GB.
We removed the two temp files and re-ran the eseutil defragment process using the temporary file location designation and all was good.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
We have a few of these showing up:
Event Properties – Event 11, CAPI2
Failed extract of third-party root list from auto update cab at: <http://www.download.windowsupdate.com/msdownload/update/v3/static/trustedr/en/authrootstl.cab> with error: A required certificate is not within its validity period when verifying against the current system clock or the timestamp in the signed file.
Source: CAPI2
Event ID: 11
The fix is found in the following KB:
From an elevated command prompt we run:
We then need to clean out a series of folders.
LocalService:
%windir%\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\Content
%windir%\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\MetaData
NetworkService:
%windir%\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\Content
%windir%\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\MetaData
LocalSystem:
%windir%\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\Content
%windir%\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\MetaData
Once done the CAPI2 errors should be gone.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
Boy, have we got Lotus Domino stories to tell! ;)
We were in the process of tweaking our Financial Times Daily Briefings subscriptions when:
An e-mail client that does not support HTML formatted e-mail is so 1990s! And early in that decade to boot.
We actually hardened Outlook to use Text Only via GPO a number of years ago when scripting became a problem behind the HTML e-mail pages and Outlook 2000/XP/2003 did not have any facility built in to block them.
Once the security measures were better in Outlook 2007/2010 we left those policies behind.
Lotus Notes users, we have an _awesome_ Hosted Exchange product we would love to talk to you about!
It even _includes_ an Outlook 2010 license!
We do in-house highly available mail solutions too! :)
Let’s talk.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
It was inevitable.
In our running about at 115% over the last few months (um, maybe years?) an article passed by that indicated Microsoft’s position on “Private Cloud” and what that “truly” is.
Unlike the running shoe company that has a moniker that promotes being active or a no longer Canadian beer company that promotes being Canadian and the trademark associated with those particular companies Microsoft has not taken the step to trade mark “Private Cloud” from what we can see.
Part 2 of the above article:
From Part 2 we find:
We see that Microsoft’s position is that virtualization of resources provides the platform upon which the “Private Cloud” is based but it is _not_ the “Private Cloud” itself.
Ultimately, what we are seeing is a marketing position to present a Microsoft suite of products to provide the ultimate “true” “Private Cloud” experience whether that Cloud is in-house or hosted elsewhere either in the client’s own DC resources or a third party’s DC (Data Centre).
Realistically, for those of us at the SMB level, and maybe even the smaller side SMEs, a Private Cloud as Microsoft defines it is way beyond what is needed and/or required for a client business to generate revenue efficiently using the IT tools at their disposal.
The Cloud, or an in-house IT Solution for that matter, does make a company _with properly trained users_ a lot more agile and efficient than they were before they dropped the Quill & Papyrus.
However, the Cloud does _not_ make a significant business process/efficiency impact on a SMB/SME company that had a properly implemented and maintained in-house IT Solution with their users being trained up on its use.
Cloud Marketing Folks are promoting that a business that moves from in-house to Cloud will see a better bottom line. That, however, has yet to be proven over time plus there are a lot of additional variables that are not accounted for in this type of marketing fluff.
Newer businesses will always be on the lookout for ways to reduce their initial outlay of cash. Cash flow is King! It used to be leasing for that first in-house IT Solution. Now, that solution is more than likely to be Cloud based.
Having the Cloud as an option is certainly a good thing as the smaller company will then be less likely to encounter a consultant that deploys a poor implementation of hardware and software technologies with Microsoft and others facing the blame. No more black eye for Microsoft and others from the flying-by-the-seat-of-their-pants self-proclaimed expert.
However, the more savvy business owner that has been around the block a number of times with their business will be a lot more mindful of the in-house versus out-house (pun intended) discussion and the value either or a blend of both will have for their business.
There will be no substitute for a properly designed and deployed in-house (possibly with Cloud components) IT Solution that is tailored to the business owner’s company needs.
The Cloud model is a one size fits all solution that cannot be tailored to a business’s specific needs. That is one of the main reasons that we need to be very picky about the Cloud vendors we choose to partner with.
In this case OWN’s hosted Exchange/SharePoint solution (in our case) beats Microsoft’s online solution hands down. We get to be the face behind the service and that counts for a lot despite the all of the contrary marketing fluff.
We are certainly mindful of all of the change going on about us and trying to keep our heads above the Clouds so to speak, we are still investing a lot of time, energy, and equipment into some of the market niches that we see as being coming about as a result of all of the Cloud marketing fluff!
We will continue to do what is in the best interests of our client’s businesses and their business processes to make sure that their IT does what it is supposed to do: Give them the tools they need to make money! It does not matter whether those tools are in-house, Cloud based, or a blend of both.
Fellow MVP Tim Barrett works his way through some of the Microsoft Cloud marketing fluff here:
Some further thoughts on SMB and the Cloud:
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
The following is our response on the Yahoo SBS2K list to a question about whether to virtualize Exchange or not.
For a client size of 150 users we would look at deploying a 2 node Hyper-V Failover Cluster to give some resilience to the Exchange environment.
One suggested VM deployment scenario:
The servers above would be fully licensed with two Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Open Licenses that give 1+4 virtualization rights. This would be important for those times when the nodes themselves would need to be updated and thus the VMs moved from node to node.
Additional licenses would be required for Exchange, SQL, RDS, and other components. Enterprise CAL would cover much of it except SQL.
Another option would be to virtualize the four VMs on one box.
In that case two systems would need to be addressed:
The above two options would be along the lines of what we would propose.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
Microsoft downloads:
Note the new spreadsheet for Windows Server 2012 (8).
The spreadsheets support Pivot Tables so it is fairly straightforward to find a specific or group of settings. The Excel Find feature allows for a quick search of the content.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
We are looking to scale out our two node Hyper-V failover cluster configuration beyond the two redundant SAS connections per controller on the Promise VTrak E610sD RAID Subsystem.
So, we brought in a couple LSI 6Gbit/Second SAS switches.
We see the possibility of going beyond the maximum six nodes in the Intel Modular Server using Intel R1208GZ Server Systems (previous blog post) with dual Intel RS25GB008 SAS Host Bus Adapters.
It will be interesting to see when we connect all four external SAS connectors on the two RS25GB008 HBAs for a total of four quad port SAS connections running at 6Gbit/Second at each port what kind of throughput, bandwidth, and IOPs we will see.
We have the switch out of the box, plugged in, and powered up. We changed a Windows 7 VM’s IP address to 192.168.1.101 so that we would be able to connect to the switch at its default static IP of 192.168.1.100.
Note that Java is required to connect to the management console.
The default username and password:
Once logged in we are greeted with the SAS Domain Manager GUI:
From there we went into the Operations tab so we could configure networking for management:
Now, the next step in the process is to get the firmware updated if need be.
Out of the box this particular switch has 200.10 which has the publishing date of August 1, 2011.
So, in this case it looks as though we need to run through the upgrade process as indicated in the above KB article twice to get to the most recent version. The KB is very specific about the process too!
Note that the dates must be goofy on the downloads because the April 11th download is Phase 12 with a later version number than the firmware the switch came with.
Once we have run through the firmware updates we will be plugging in the four Intel Server System SR1695GPRX2AC servers with dual 3Gbit/Second SAS connections each into the two switches we have for a fully redundant configuration.
We will start with one Promise VTrak E610sD RAID Subsystem for destination storage. We will add a second E610sD once we have worked our way through the first few rounds of configuration and testing.
More to come . . .
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
This video is absolutely jaw dropping.
Folks that develop systems, such as on board computer networks in vehicles or medical systems, that allow access via wire or wireless need to rethink the way those systems are made.
Fellow MVP Dana Epp also has some great security related videos that include simple step-by-step instructions on how to get past system security.
It’s getting to the point where the only “secure” way to live is to build a log cabin somewhere with a faraday cage and no inbound/outbound connections whatsoever. Note that there needs to be tree cover to deep keep the eyes in the sky out too.
Getting to know the risks is a part of what we do.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
There are so many times where we need to answer a quick question that is found or linked to in our SBS 2011 Setup and Migration Guides.
Mobile is sometimes the only way to get what we need since we prefer not to browse from the server, our laptop may not be readily available, or any other number of Murphy type situations that interfere with quick access.
The following QR Codes will make mobile access that much quicker:
Thanks again to everyone that has commented or commended us on our guides!
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
We are finding that the server where the Symantec Endpoint Protection management console resides on gets its disk filled up with the SEM5.LOG over time. This is with the most recent edition that was apparently supposed to fix this problem.
Since we have Small Business Edition we are not able to trim that log using the SEP Console.
So, we set up the following script in a BAT file that we will set to run every week or day depending on log growth rate to keep that log size in check:
REM Change the extension to .BAT please!
REM Created by Philip Elder of MPECS Inc. http://blog.mpecsinc.ca
net stop SQLANYs_sem5
net stop semsrv
CD "C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager\db\"
attrib -r sem5.log
del sem5.log
CD "C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager\ASA\win32"
dbsrv11 -f "C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager\db\sem5.db"
net start SQLANYs_sem5
net start semsrv
A copy of the batch file resides in a text file here:
The BAT file nested in the Task Manager:
The log file before the script runs:
Note that the above log file was a just deleted and recreated one used in our testing.
The log file comes back in weighing in at a paltry 8KB!
We keep a copy of the file in the admin’s Downloads folder that is used to run the scheduled task with all PAUSE commands removed. We keep a copy of the file on the desktop that has PAUSE commands in it that we use to test the script and/or run it manually when we are logged into the server.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
Eric Ligman’s announcement today:
Specifically:
Question: Right now you have the Microsoft Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC). What does the Small Business competency mean for SBSC now and moving forward?
- Answer: The current Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC) program will continue to exist and support SBSC partners for a 12 month grace period after the Small Business competency launch. During this grace period, both the Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC) and the Small Business competency will reside side-by-side, and SBSC partners will continue to benefit from the SBSC program and branding. After the grace period, the Small Business Specialist Community will transform into a Microsoft Partner Network partner-to-partner community. There will be no requirements to join the community and the current SBSC benefits will go away as well. In other words, the Small Business competency will be the Microsoft Partner Network offering for Small Business starting 12 months after its launch.
The following two cartoons were created by Tim Barrett and speak largely to our sentiments behind the big Cloud push by Microsoft and others:
And:
The Small Business Silver Competency requirement:
- Exam Credentials:
- 1 MCP must pass 2 exams:
- Required: 70-323 - Administering Office 365
- And another exam from:
- 70-321 - Deploying Office 365
- 70-680 - TS: Windows 7, Configuring
- 70-169 - TS: Windows Small Business Server 2011, Configuring
- Business Assessments:
- Sign and complete: MOSPA (Microsoft Online Services Provider Agreement)+ Assessment
- 1 person must complete Licensing assessment
- 1 person must complete Business focused small business assessment
- Evidence:
- Must have 3 submitted customer references
- Fees:
- $1,850 (based on country)
That is from here:
The Small Business Specialist designation required the sweat of the brow and some serious application of real experience with a product, Small Business Server, and then an online competency test that may or may not have asked questions that were relevant to the environment we work in: SMB.
The SBSC gave us the ability to establish our company as a legitimate player. It gave us the ability to state very clearly, with the backing of Microsoft, that our company had a good handle on the SMB IT Solutions we were going to suggest and/or deploy.
The SBSC stood out very distinctly from the other Microsoft Partner Competencies as a unique offering specifically for SMB.
No longer. In a year or so the SBSC Program and Logo will be retired as it is being replaced by the Microsoft Partner Network Small Business Competency.
We have absolutely no inclination to learn Office 365 Administration to the point where we would pass an exam. Though with what we have done with the online offering so far we may get by. But why? Where is the benefit to our clients and to us?
Own Web Now is our partner of choice for hosted Exchange and SharePoint. We have a great team of folks to deal with that we know on a first name basis. And, Vlad is an all around astute business man that operates with a level of integrity that is difficult to find in today’s business environment.
A quote:
There are over 148 million SMB businesses worldwide needing relevant technology solutions, out of which approximately 50% are Small Business organizations - this areas is a huge opportunity for our Microsoft partners to tap into as trusted advisors and quality technology providers to this customer base.
From:
Another quote:
There are 148 million small business customers around the world. According to IDC, two thirds of small businesses were expecting to use Software as a Service by mid-2011. This represents a $ 94B opportunity for Microsoft partners. A big number, yes, but what does a small business competency have to do with it?
From:
With all due respect to the authors of the above two articles and to Eric Ligman whom we have great respect for we have heard this all before.
Perhaps it is because the various product and marketing teams have no continuity with the histories of their teams that we keep getting the same messages over and over again.
We received the same marketing flog for the release of Small Business Server 2003 (which was one of the best most anticipated SBS versions EVER), then for SBS 2003 R2, then for SBS 2008, then for SBS 2011, and now for Office 365 and the Cloud.
We were, and are, encouraged to seek out that great untapped number of small businesses that could use a small business server solution for their company. This was realistic because the client would win (in the case of an IT Solution put together by a competent consultant), Microsoft would win with licensing sales, and the consultant and their company would win. Win-Win-Win. This was a good thing.
Now, we are encouraged to seek out those great number of small businesses that could use a Cloud solution and _hand them over to Microsoft_ with but a pittance for our efforts.
Is there any wonder why there has been a fairly consistent and strong push-back by the small IT Shops against all of the Cloud market flog?
As we have mentioned before, the last economic downturn, that is still ongoing, with its inherent risks on this continent and with our neighbours across the Pond did a great job of weeding out a lot of the fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants type consultants that cobbled together solutions that may or may not have worked and always gave Microsoft and other vendors a black eye when they didn’t.
The Small Business Specialist Community certification went a long way to differentiate between the legitimate consultants and the seat flyers. The Silver Small Business Competency may also do so but at a great additional cost in time and money.
In the end, the IT Shop that needs to differentiate themselves from the other shops should bite the bullet and gain the Silver Competency. It will be one more cost of doing business to keep one’s status as a legitimate player in the IT Solutions world.
As for us, we may hold our nose and dive into the Administering O365 exam just to get by it. But, that, and the $1,850 fee will wait until our SBSC status has officially been laid in the grave and covered ...
Or sitting on a beach half buried by the ages!
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
