[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Dean Paron]
After extensive development and private evaluation, I’m pleased to announce that a public preview of Windows Small Business Server 2008 RC0 is now available.
Windows SBS 2008 is the next major release in the Windows Small Business Server product family, and it offers a wave of new features for technology consultants and small business owners. There are too many updates and changes to list in one post, but here are some highlights:
To learn more about the product and to enroll in the public preview program, please visit http://technet.microsoft.com/evalcenter/cc184870.aspx.
We look forward to your feedback.
Regards,Dean ParonGroup Program ManagerWindows Small Business Server
[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Kevin Beares]
This is the third year we have published an SBS WW Community Survey to the SBS Community.
We have learned an amazing amount of information from the people who have taken the time to tell us what they thought. Some things we kind of knew already, but other things were not as clear before we had received the feedback.
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.
SBS 2008 program manager Becky Ochs appears in a TechNet Edge video, providing an in-depth overview of setup of an OEM box. Have a look.
Joel Sider
[Today's post comes to us courtesy of John Bay]
Back in February, we blogged about the release of WSUS 3.0 SP1 to the download center (http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2008/02/08/wsus-3-0-sp-1-released-to-download-center.aspx). WSUS 3.0 Service Pack 1 has recently released to Windows Update. Because WSUS 3.0 Service Pack 1 is classified as service pack it will be offered on Windows Update as a critical/important update to a server running WSUS 2.0 or 3.0. If you manually go to Windows Update from your SBS 2003 R2 server and search for updates you will be offered WSUS 3.0 Server Pack 1 for installation.
WSUS 3.0 SP1 does have an installation wizard and a license agreement that you have to manually approve before the update will be installed on the server so WSUS 3.0 SP1 should not get automatically installed.
The WSUS 3.0 SP1 installation will proceed. The installation will remove the existing WSUS 2.0 installation and install WSUS 3.0. WSUS 3.0 uses the new Windows Internal database to store the WSUS data. The existing Desktop Engine database will be uninstalled and the content will be migrated to the new database.
The installation will continue and will eventually complete.
If you rely solely on SBS 2003 R2's Update Services to download and install updates for your SBS server, you will have to manually approve WSUS 3.0 SP1 for installation. The default policy on SBS 2003 R2 does not automatically approve service packs for installation. The WSUS 3.0 SP1 update should appear in the Waiting for Review section under Update Services in the SBS Management Console.
If you wish to upgrade to WSUS 3.0 SP1, you must manually approve the update.
Once the update is approved, WSUS 2.0 will download the update files and it will deploy the application to the server.
For additional information about running WSUS 3.0 on SBS 2003, see the following article: http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServerSolutions/SBS/en/library/de2e9436-f23f-47f0-b840-e8b3e72182751033.mspx?mfr=true
[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Justin Crosby]
Today we will be sharing an IIS best practice. Before you make any changes to IIS we recommend that backup your current configuration. By changes to IIS I mean activities such as: making changes in IIS manager, creating a new web site, installing a program that has an IIS component, or updating a program that has an IIS component. Today's post will cover backing up and restoring your IIS configuration.
To backup your IIS configuration:
The backup should complete in under a minute. To restore a backup:
Today Microsoft announced the following prices for the Windows Essential Server Solutions family:
We also announced availability of the public beta, which is available here: http://www.MultiplyYourPower.com.
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For more information, please read the press release:
REDMOND, Wash. — May 13, 2008 — Customers and Microsoft Corp. partners can now visit http://www.MultiplyYourPower.com to find out how to evaluate pre-release versions of Windows Essential Server Solutions for small and midsize companies: Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008. Microsoft also today announced pricing for both solutions.
By combining Microsoft technologies such as Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, SQL Server 2008 and other Microsoft products and services into all-in-one IT solutions, Windows Essential Server Solutions helps businesses improve efficiency, increase productivity and drive growth. The solutions also are ideal for technology advisors serving the increasingly sophisticated IT needs of small and midsize customers.
“Small and midsize companies are looking for many of the same IT capabilities and benefits as those sought by large enterprises,” said Ray Boggs, vice president Small/Medium Business Research at IDC. “But the technology has to be delivered as part of simpler, integrated and more affordable solutions for organizations with minimal IT staffs and resources. And of course it helps if solutions are also tailored to meet the needs of technology consultants that often work with those small and midsize firms.”
Beta Program Participants Already Seeing Value
A number of customers and partners already have been privately testing Windows Essential Server Solutions, providing valuable feedback to Microsoft. They already are reporting great benefits, too.
Sumeeth Evans is director of IT for Collegiate Housing Services, a company that coordinates student housing for colleges. He said, “With Essential Business Server 2008, our administrative workload is one-tenth of what it was before. This is the largest step forward we have ever seen in terms of our ability to focus technology on real business needs.”
Dave Benson is founder and chief financial officer of Epicurean Cutting Surfaces, which creates popular kitchen cutting boards and utensils using sustainable materials. He said, “Small Business Server 2008 is advanced software that eliminates a lot of wasted time and allows us to focus on our business goals and to sell globally.”
Erik Thorsell, president of Success Computer Consulting in Minneapolis, said, “Small Business Server 2008 and Essential Business Server 2008 are both designed with me and my clients in mind. They make it easy for me to give my customers the freedom to work effectively from home or on the road.”
Solutions Designed and Priced for Small and Midsize Businesses
Slated for general availability later this year, Windows Essential Server Solutions are much easier for small and midsize companies to implement and manage than separate products. In response to customer and partner feedback, Windows Essential Server Solutions provide flexible pricing and licensing that offer substantial cost savings over purchasing individual products like those included in the solutions. Examples of licensing improvements over the current Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 product include these:
Also, Small Business Server 2008 Premium Edition includes additional Windows Server 2008 Standard technologies with SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition for Small Business, making it an ideal platform for critical business applications.
Windows Essential Server Solutions pricing* is as follows:
Microsoft also today announced rebates of up to $200 (U.S.) for solution provider partners configuring Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 for their clients who acquire the software and purchase Software Assurance within a certain time period. With Software Assurance, customers will receive the upgrade to Small Business Server 2008 at no additional cost when it is available, as well as access to support, tools and training. Terms and conditions of the rebates are available at http://www.SBSrebate.com.
More information about the products, pricing and beta customer feedback is available at http://www.microsoft.com/ess. More information for journalists is available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/serversolutions.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.