Hit the ground running : EBS

The Pathway to the Solution

Jaburges — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:49:43 GMT

I thought I would blog about this as I personally found it quite complex to begin with. The Solutions Pathway is a way of saving money if you are migrating from a previous version of a product in the Windows Essential Server Solutions umbrella to a newer version (see below).

The website: http://www.microsoft.com/sbs/en/us/upgrade.aspx

At the bottom click continue, and there is a agreement that needs accepting on the next page. On the page after you will see this:

Once processed you are given the options you can migrate to:

You are then presented with a discounted purchase list for the Product you chose and the relevant and CALs. Below is both SBS 2008 standard (from SBS 2003 standard) and EBS 2008 standard (from SBS 2003 standard):

Please note these prices are current for 03/04/2008 in the UK only and may be subject to change.

Proceed to the checkout and Job done :D

Long strides – Essential Business Server

Jaburges — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:45:40 GMT

So I got my hands on an Intel Modular Server MFSYS25 and had the initial joyous task of updating all the firmware and BIOS, which to be fair went of without a hitch, except for the fact it was like having a small turbine engine under my desk.

So using 4 blades I set about installing EBS.

1 – RRAS (As any network port here is domain joined to microsoft.corp)

2 – Management

3 – Security

4 – Messaging

You get 4 Disks in the Standard Package which are numbered as above EXCEPT DVD 1 is actually the Preparation Wizard CD!

Couple of things to note so far:

The Preparation CD needs to be run in the environment you are building, which is a little odd for a greenfield install, so you just have to go through the motions so it can detect that there is no existing AD, Exchange, DNS or DHCP etc. Halfway through the planning phase the equivalent of an answerfile is splurted out….. Its a .xml file which needs to go onto a usb key (or the root of server 2 – Management). It is mainly the name and IP addresses of what you want the 3 servers to be, and the scope of the DHCP etc.

Then I simply booted off the EBS DVD 2 on the 2nd Server and by the wonder of technology (and the REALLY great job the EBS team have done) the installation begins, it runs through a detection phase (using the .xml which you will need to point it to) checks the health, and begins installing a plethora of cool stuff. It allows you to use a temporary IP address to install the box which you can either configure manually, OR, use DHCP :)

The wizards are AMAZING. Once that had completed I moved to the next server, Security, and began the install…..no .xml this time, but it allows you to save a .txt of the settings you are about to apply. You go through the whole ‘configuring’ process and at the end you get to install what you have set up, cool huh! Another feature in this install (obviously not in the first) is the Domain join step, you put in the domain, and the administrator credentials and it will do that as part of the install, along with configuring email gateway and remote access.

The final phase, captains log day 2……The messaging server….

This again was all wizard driven with some very diverse options to choose from. Again it gave the join the domain step, and then configure the rest.

I did think the bulk of the install was then complete. I was partially right, I then had a “to do list” generated by the installer which covers things like certificates, external RWW access, installing WSS 3.0, adding license packs, checking firewall rules.

All in all this was a long, but very straight forward process and I have to say was quite exciting to see the intelligent software, that the EBS team have spent ages locked away in dark cupboards building, do its stuff AND work! :) Well done guys

One thing to note, a little gotcha from me using an RRAS setup, was that the EBS DNS boxes needed to have the forwarders added (In my case the IP addresses of the DNS servers on Microsoft.corp) without this EBS wont be able to “see out”. Thanks to Matt McSpirit for pointing this out :)

The install process obviously has many screens, and posting hundreds of screen shots wouldn’t really work, so if you have anything you would specifically like to see, let me know.

Running around the Country - SBSC user groups with Prizes from the WESS Launch

Jaburges — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:17:00 GMT

Over the next month I will be part of the team that travels around the country visiting SBSC User groups with the aim of delivering training and readiness on WESS. More details can be found here..

Just to wet your appetites there will also be some prizes too which if you want more info you can check out here.

Myself and James Senior will be presenting on the business values of SBS and EBS 2008 and the opportunities for Microsoft partners. We'll give particular attention to how you can idenify sales opportunities within the current economic climate, using WESS to help address the needs of your customers at this critical time. Its going to be great fun, and living out of a suitcase for a few weeks plus getting to expand my UK geography knowledge. Hopefully see some of you there....

Touch Down and we are running

Jaburges — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:44:00 GMT

So I attended the Misco Expo 2008, and the awards ceremony, where Microsoft picked up a Misco Star Award for "Best Software Vendor".

It was a great event and was very interesting to hear peoples expectations of SBS 2008 and EBS 2008. Seems like a natural progression to SBS 2008, and a lot of people not fully aware how much stuff is included "in the box". Over all the day was a great success, and I got to dust of an old relic long forgotten since my university ball...THE TUXEDO

The Products I am responsible for are part of WESS - These are (if you dont know already, egg sucking apologies)

The rest of my remit is OS in general, client and server. I'll be working on Windows Server 2008, Vista and Windows 7. So watch this space......