[Today's tip comes to us courtesy of Mark Stanfill]

This is an update to this post http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/03/19/problems-getting-sbs-sp1-upgrade-media.aspx.

Previously, SBS 2003 Premium customers who wanted to upgrade to SBS 2003 SP1 Premium had to: (1) download SP1 bits, and (2) order a SBS SP1 Premium CD in order to complete their upgrade to SP1.   The SBS 2003 SP1 Premium CD part number was temporarily unavailable. Effective today (May 24th, 2007), Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition (SBS) customers may once again order an SBS SP1 Premium CD3 (which includes ISA 2004 technologies).    

SBS 2003 Standard customers should download the SP1 files from the SBS SP1 web site (if they haven’t done so already).  There is not a separate CD available since everything existing 2003 customers need is downloadable:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/downloads/sp1/default.mspx

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.

(Latin America and Asia/Pacific links will be included later.)

You will need your SBS 2003 Premium product key to enter the site. 

Note: This fulfillment program will be active from now through December 31, 2007 only.  After that, it will no longer be available.  Please, please, please order the CD now if you think you will install ISA 2004 for your SBS 2003 Premium Edition installation.  One of my least favorite issues to handle is to tell someone that an offer has expired, we put the expiration date in a red font, we posted to the blog multiple times, other blogs also mentioned it was expiring, but no, I do not have a stack of CDs for people who call in the first week of January.  It seriously stresses me out to tell that to our customers, and it's a terrible experience for you and your customer.

Customers who previously ordered the Premium CD and whose orders were canceled (orders between October 31^st, 2006 and March 27^th, 2007) will be sent the CD free of charge.   You will receive an email letting you know they can expect the CD in the mail.  If you or your customer do not receive the email, please go ahead and place the order again as we do not have the order on file.

Additional details on downloading SP1 bits, and ordering Premium CD3 media can be found here.

[Today's tip comes to us courtesy of Chris Puckett]

One frequent question often asked of SBS 2003 server installations concerns the order of installing the components, upgrades, and updates that have released over the years.  For the most part, the best approach is to install the items in the order they were released.  For those of you planning on installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (aka WSS 3.0, SharePoint 3.0) and WSUS 3.0 on the same server, this guidance is no different and both installations should go smooth if you install WSS 3.0 before installing WSUS 3.0.

How to install SharePoint 3.0 and then WSUS 3.0.

1. Install SBS R2 including WSUS 2.0.

2. Install WSS 3.0 using the side by side installation steps in the white paper. Complete all steps.

3. Upgrade to WSUS 3.0.

I know there will be plenty of people who may have an immediate need for WSUS 3.0 and later on down the road find they have a need for WSS 3.0.  If you install WSS 3.0 after WSUS 3.0, the SharePoint setup will complete, but the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard that runs after setup will fail to create a configuration database and WSS 3.0 will not be functional. To fix this, you need to install the hotfix from KB 934790 and then run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard.

Screen shot of Error:

To resolve the issue at this point:

1. Close the error dialog.

2. Install the SharePoint 3.0 hotfix package from KB 934790. You will have to call Microsoft to obtain this hotfix package.

3. After you apply this hotfix, you must run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard. To do this, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard.

NOTE: This is the same wizard that you run in Step 3 of the WSS 3.0 white paper.  You only need to run this wizard once to completion after installing the hotfix.

4. Complete steps 4-6 in the WSS 3.0 white paper to complete the SharePoint 3.0 side by side installation on SBS 2003.

To avoid the error above when installing SharePoint 3.0 after WSUS 3.0:

1. Install SBS R2 including WSUS 2.0.

2. Upgrade to WSUS 3.0.

3. Install WSS 3.0 using the side by side installation steps in the white paper. Only perform steps 1 and 2 in the white paper at this point.

4. Before performing step 3 in the WSS 3.0 white paper, install the SharePoint 3.0 hotfix package from KB 934790.  You will have to call Microsoft to obtain this hotfix package.

5. Complete steps 3-6 in the WSS 3.0 white paper to complete the SharePoint 3.0 side by side installation on SBS 2003.

[Today's tip comes to us courtesy of Mark Stanfill]

WSUS 3.0 is being offered today as an update for servers running Windows Server 2003 SP1 and WSUS 2.0 (release or SP1).  However there is an exclusion for SBS servers that will not automatically upgrade your SBS servers.  This is a change to the announcement previously made on the WSUS blog [here] that the WSUS 3.0 server and client package would be automatically be pushed out to all servers.  This applies to all SBS servers - Release, SP1, and R2.

Because of the number of fixes included in WSUS 3.0 (primarily the client update to fix svchost CPU spike issues), WSUS 3.0 is highly desirable for many SBS environments.  If you plan on updating your SBS server, this is a full supported path, but a few cautions should be taken.  First, make sure you have a complete backup of your server.  This includes a System State backup and a complete copy of your WSUS data directories and database.  Next, manually install WSUS 3.0 (see link below).  As a best practice, disconnect all but one client machine for testing to make sure that the client works with the updated client (clients will be updated automatically the next time they connect).  Before installing WSUS 3.0 on SBS, make sure you read the WSUS 3.0 on SBS white paper (described here;  direct download here).

You can manually download WSUS 3.0 here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E4A868D7-A820-46A0-B4DB-ED6AA4A336D9&displaylang=en

The WSUS blog has more information on this update here:

http://blogs.technet.com/wsus/archive/2007/05/22/updates-for-wsus-available-today.aspx

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Roderick White]

Before a user running Windows Vista can send a fax, the user’s fax account must be manually configured.

The first step in configuring fax is to open Server Manager on the SBS2003 server and run the Setup Computer Wizard to create a computer account. By default the fax client is installed from within the Advance Client Computer Settings. After creating the computer account you’ll then need to go to the Vista client and open Internet Explorer and run the Connect Computer wizard (http://servername/connectcomputer ).

To configure fax in Windows Vista:

1. Run the Connect Computer wizard and during the Client Setup Wizard you should see the installation of fax.

Installation is almost finished.

Select Finish

2. Select Start > All Programs > Windows Fax and Scan.

3. Click New Fax

4. Click Connect to a fax server on my network

5. Type the name of the server that is running SBS 2003 (In our example the server name is SBSserver)

6. Type a name for the fax account, such as \\SBSserver. Select Done

(In our example the server name is SBSserver)

7. If you receive the following Windows Firewall Alert select Unblock.

8. After selecting Unblock you should have a New Fax property page available to send your first fax.

[Today's tip comes to us from Mark Stanfill]

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.

SB: SBSC 70-282 Exam Study Group with R2 Content and Practice Questions

This 4-week, 12-part series covers the 70-282 Exam, Designing, Deploying, and Managing a Network Solution for a Small- and Medium-Sized Business. It will be held on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays at 10 AM PDT starting on May 7, 2007. This exam is a key component in acquiring the Small Business Specialist Certification. Special attention will be paid to the new features and functionality of Small Business Server 2003 R2. The material will be drawn primarily from books by SMB Nation Press and MS Press, as well as other internal resources. This is an opportunity for technicians at the partner level to grow their skills and includes all of the basics required to install, maintain, and troubleshoot networks built on SBS 2003 R2. 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. Attendees can take advantage of Self Test Software’s offer to purchase their 70-282 Practice Exam at a 30 percent discount! A special link to use when purchasing the practice exam will be given during the webcast series and also posted to our study group blog site. This offer is brought to you exclusively by Self Test Software.

As part of the Server Accelerator Program, attendees of this webcast series may be eligible for $100 in Marketing Fulfillment Services and a voucher to take the 70-282 exam for FREE! For all the details, visit http://oem.microsoft.com/serveraccelerator.

In addition, we will be giving away four SMB Nation Press books after each webcast, two copies each of the Small Business Specialist Primer & 70-282 Exam Preparation Guide and Advanced Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices. That’s a total of 48 free books! Attendees who fill out the user satisfaction survey at the end of each webcast will automatically be entered into a random drawing to receive one of the books (the specific book to be selected by Microsoft). See the terms and conditions for complete details.

[Today's post comes to us from Justin Crosby]

CompanyWeb has the ability to copy the attachments sent to a specific Exchange Public Folder and store the attachment in a document library. To enable this feature perform the following steps:

1. Create a DNS CNAME record for a second Exchange HTTP virtual server.

a. Start > Administrative Tools > DNS

b. Expand Servername > Forward Lookup Zones > domain.local

c. Right-click domain.local and choose "New Alias (CNAME)..."

d. Enter a meaningful Alias Name such as SharePointAccess.

e. Enter the server's fully qualified domain name (i.e. server01.contoso.local) and click Ok.

2. Create a second Exchange HTTP virtual server.

a. Open Exchange System Manager

b. Expand OrgName > Servers > ServerName > Protocols > HTTP

c. Right-click HTTP and choose New > HTTP Virtual Server...

d. Enter a meaningful Name such as SharePointAccess.

e. Click the advanced button, highlight the default identity and add a host header to match the CNAME you created in step 1d. Click Ok.

Note: If ISA is installed change the IP address to the internal IP address instead of All Unassigned.

f. Under Exchange Path select the Public Folder radio button and click Ok.

3. Create Public virtual directory.

a. Right-click the HTTP VS you created in step 2d and choose New > Virtual Directory...

b. Enter Public for the Name.

c. Under Exchange Path select the Public Folder radio button and click Ok.

4. Link SharePoint to your new virtual directory.

a. Click Start, select Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint Central Administration.

b. Under Virtual Server Configuration, click Configure virtual server settings.

c. On the Virtual Server List page, select the virtual server you want to use.

d. On the Virtual Server Settings page, under Virtual Server Management, click Virtual Server General Settings.

e. In the E-Mail Enabled Document Libraries section, select Yes next to Document libraries on this virtual server can accept e-mail attachments.

f. In the Public folder server and root path: box, enter the Exchange server name that hosts the public folders. Example: http://sharepointaccess/public

g. Select one of the options in the Check for new e-mail in the public folder: section.

h. Click OK.

5. Create and link a document library to a public folder.

a. Navigate to the document library you want to use. You can either create a new document library or use an existing one.

b. Under Actions, click Modify Settings and Columns.

c. Under General Settings, click Change Advanced Settings.

d. On the Document Library Advanced Settings page, under E-Mail Settings, in the Public folder path box, enter the path to the Exchange public folder you want to link to.

Example: The portion of the URL that was specified in the virtual server general settings page will be listed. You will only need to fill in the specific public folder to. So if the folder is called HR and is directly under the path http://exchange/public, you would type HR into the box and click OK.

e. Click OK.