Nicholas King

As many of you know we’ve been running a series of webcasts on Windows Small Business Server 2008.  Just to let everyone know that we moved the Virtualization webcast originally scheduled for today.  You might be wondering why?  Well we decided we’d move this session to come after the Virtualization launch early next month so we can share even more great scenarios with Windows Small Business Server 2008.

You can sign up for the updated webcast here

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=249912

Sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused.  Trust me the wait will be worth it…

Come listen to the SBS and EBS teams talk all about EBS and SBS.  First up in the series ‘Which to Choose?”.  Make sure you check out the other sessions being offered too.  We have an action packed couple of weeks planned for you!

Get Ready for the Windows Essential Server Solutions Launch with Technical Training Series

The November 12, 2008 launch for Windows Essential Server Solutions is fast approaching!  Prepare by attending Partner Academy Live technical training sessions for Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008 starting on August 15, 9am PDT with “The Small and Midsize Business Server Platform: Which Is Right for Your Customer?”.  Topics include planning and installation, migration, security, management, virtualization, and more for both Windows SBS 2008 and Windows EBS 2008.

Following on from the release of the EBS click through demo.  Check out the SBS CTI demo.  We’ve been using these for our local field sales teams and are definitely worth checking out if you’re still putting off that 64 bit hardware purchase.

This will run on any XP or Vista PC and requires .NET Framework 2.0.

Download here

We know that it’s a little hard to carry three servers around with you, or even find three spare servers to demo Essential Business Server 2008.  Well we thought we’d help you out a little here.

Check out the EBS click through demos here.  These require .NET framework 2.0 but once installed allow you to demo EBS on any Windows XP SP2 client of better.

Enjoy!

One of the best sources for information around SBS is the Technet document library SBS TechNet.  We have an incredible team of talented writers on both products, who are all committed to getting you the right information.

In this round I’d recommend checking out the Planning section here.  This now includes an install worksheet which will help you to collect the right data before you start your installation.

Also you should check out the administering the SBS console here.  If you haven't had a chance to download and install the betas this is a great way of seeing what SBS 2008 is capable of.

Lastly but not least check out the first Windows SBS 2008 SDK here.  Perfect for integrating security and other technology into SBS 2008.

Two interesting offers for you today.  First up get early access to the EBS beta exam via Prometric.  Spots are limited so get in fast.

To get access simply follow the instructions below

1. Navigate to http://www.prometric.com/Microsoft/default.htm
2. Select Schedule/Reschedule
3. Schedule an appointment
4. Select your location
5. Select Microsoft, and then the 070,071,074, 075,076 program
6. Read the legal content – hit next
7. Scroll almost all of the way down till you find 071-654 – Windows Essential Business Server 2008, configuring, select and hit next
8. Choose your test location
9. Sign in with your Prometric account
10. Set time, date
11. Enter promotion code EBS08
12. Sit your exam

If you’ve made it you’ll get an email with the details to sit your exam.

Correction only attendees at WPC are eligible for the SBS vouchers.  Apologies.

Good luck

Check out the next in the Slice series.  User Roles in Small Business Server 2008.

User roles are incredibly important when maintaining a secure infrastructure.  They allow administrators to simply create standard users based off of a usage profile designated from the SBS 2008 console.  This means less opportunity for administrative error during user provisioning.

Another contribution from David F our Partner TPM.

The announcements start coming out from WPC.  First up Steven announces launch date.

Public launch for Small Business Server and Essential Business Server is November 12.

You can read the full press release here

Another work of art from David.  Check out this time the Distribution and Security Groups VLOG.

Notice how simple it is to create mail distribution groups without touching the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC.

Also make sure you pay attention to what each of the preinstalled groups do too. 

Roll camera!

Recently I’ve had a couple people ask me about the system requirements for EBS.   As part of the Reviewers Guide we wrote up the specs below.  Caveat:  These are only current for the RC0 release.

<snip>

Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Standard Edition is only available as a 64-bit operating system; your server hardware must have a 64-bit processor to install and use Windows Essential Business Server 2008. Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Premium Edition adds a fourth server running either 32-bit or 64-bit versions of the operating system.

All server hardware should meet the requirements established for the Windows Server 2008 Logo Program for Systems. You can learn more about these requirements by visiting http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/hwrequirements.mspx.

Processors

· Systems with a Single Core CPU – x64 with a 2.5 GHz minimum clock speed;

· Systems with a Multi Core CPU – x64 with a 1.5 GHz minimum clock speed;

· Systems with Multiple Physical CPUs – x64 with a 1.5 GHz minimum clock speed;

RAM

· Management Server – 4 GB of RAM;

· Security Server – 2 GB of RAM;

· Messaging Server – 4 GB of RAM;

Hard Disk Drives

· Operating System Drive Partition – Minimum of 40 GB of free disk space;

· Application Data Drive Partition – Minimum of 20 GB of free disk space;

When determining the appropriate disk space for your Application Data partition, you should consider all aspects of storage needs, including the Exchange Server 2007 databases, the redirection of a user’s Documents folders, and other application data. See figure 1 for a sample hard disk drive configuration.

Recommended Hard Disk Configuration for Management and Messaging Servers

o Eight hard disk drive bays (provides for in-server storage expansion);

o Operating system stored on RAID 1 volumes - application data stored on RAID 5 volumes.

Recommended Hard Disk Configuration for Security Server

o Two or more hard disk drive bays;

o Operating System and Application Data stored on a single RAID 1 volume

Figure 1 – Sample Hard Disk Drive Configuration

Other Requirements

· DVD-ROM – Must be bootable from the system BIOS or a peripheral connection such as a USB port.

· Network Interface Card (NIC) – One network adapter that supports a 10 Mbps or greater link speed. Two network adapters are required for the Security Server.

Other Recommendations

· Dedicated hot swap hard disk drive configured for RAID 1 or RAID 5 volume failover.

· Redundant power supply for each server.

· Hard disk speeds 15K RPM or greater.

· One or more additional network adapters per server at 100Mbps or greater.

<\snip>

David Fabritius was busy over the weekend and put together another SBS 2008 VLOG slice.  Check out the next installment with a drill down of the User Group Properties.

Key things to call out.  Look at the options available within the UI on the right pane, allowing you to simply make changes.  Also make sure you check out the control you have over that users experience. Everything from access to Remote Web Workplace, right through email configuration quota.

Listen to Steven VanRoekel talk about EBS 2008 with Joe Wilcox.  Steven is probably the nicest guy at Microsoft, and adds to his list of accomplishments not only directing the Server Solutions group at Microsoft, which includes Home Server, Small Business Server and EBS 2008, but also was Bill Gates’ speech writer for several years.

Anyway definitely worth a listen.

Check it out here

P.S Check out the video we did about Watson Furniture which Steven mentions here

Here’s a little bit of extra goodness for those of you wanting to run Vista within your SBS 2008 environment.  Ever wanted to put something else on your sidebar?  Check out the SBS Vista Gadget below.  When you join a client to your SBS domain we push this gadget down to the client.  Once you add the gadget you get some pretty cool features.

Let’s take a look what this does from a user perspective.

1. No requirement for users to remember the Remote Web Workplace URL
2. Access to published links (I’ll show you how to do this further down)
3. Simple access to the Companyweb SharePoint Site
4. One click access to Outlook Web Access (OWA)

Why is all of this so cool?  Well, we learnt that one of the pain points found by SBs is the complexity in remembering all of those links.  This gadget really goes a long way in making that simple.

But wait there is still more.  I bet your thinking “Can I add other items to this gadget?”, the answer is YES.

All of these links come from the Remote Web Workplace, link set up page, so you can easily add other links to your gadget (or RWW for that matter).  The next time the group policy updates your gadget will get a refresh.

To customize these links:

• Open the SBS 2008 admin console

• Select Remote Web Workplace and Click view site properties

• The dialog box above should appear, then click home page links

• Click Manage Links

• You can then add a new link by typing the link description and address and then clicking add.  Ok all of the Windows and there you have it.  You’ve customized RWW and the Vista Gadget.

There you have it!

Well after a short stay here on my blog you may have noticed that the EBS slice demos have found a new home.  As of Monday this week, I’ve moved the EBS part of this side project to be directly on the EBS blog.  What about SBS you may ask?  Well, that’s a surprise… You’ll have to wait and see.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback so far.  There really has been overwhelming demand for these.

Do keep the ideas coming and make sure you check out the EBS blog here

Another addition to the VLOG Slice series.  This time contributed by David Fabritius our resident Partner Technical Product Manager.  Some of you my also recognize his voice from the now famous 5w/50 US partner sessions.

See the Slice demo below.  Core things to watch for;

• Simplified add user UI
• More secure by design
• Setup of multiple workloads all in one simple wizard
• Guidance to enable tech-savvy business owners to do this too!