The Official SBS Blog

WSUS 3.0 SP1 Installation Behavior

[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

SBS Best Practice: Backup and Restore of IIS Configuration

[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:

1. Open IIS Manager
2. Right-click your server name and choose "All Tasks", choose "Backup/Restore Configuration..."
3. Click "Create Backup..."
   
   
4. Enter a descriptive backup name, you can also optionally specify a password, and then click "OK"
   
    

The backup should complete in under a minute. To restore a backup:

1. Open IIS Manager
2. Right-click your server name and choose "All Tasks", choose "Backup/Restore Configuration..."
3. Select the backup you wish to restore and click "Restore"
   
    
4. You will receive the following notice, click "Yes" to proceed
   
   
5. If you specified a password during the backup you must enter it now and click "OK"
   
    
6. Once the restore is complete you will receive this message:
   
   
7. Occasionally you will need to restart IIS to make the restored settings go into effect.

Microsoft Announces Public Preview and Pricing for Windows Essential Server Solutions

Today Microsoft announced the following prices for the Windows Essential Server Solutions family:

• Windows Small Business Server 2008 Standard Edition software, including five CALs, $1,089 (U.S.); additional CALs $77 each (U.S.)
• Windows Small Business Server 2008 Premium Edition software, including five CALs, $1,899 (U.S.); additional CALs $189 each (U.S.)
• Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Standard Edition software, including five CALs, $5,472 (U.S.); additional CALs $81 each (U.S.)
• Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Premium Edition software, including five CALs, $7,163 (U.S.); additional CALs $195 each (U.S.)

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:

• Customers will be able to purchase single client access licenses (CALs), so they will pay only for the exact number of employees using the product.
• Customers can cost-effectively purchase a mix of Standard or Premium CALs, as appropriate to the technologies that individual employees are using.
• CALs now apply to other copies of Windows Server, SQL Server or Exchange Server on the network, eliminating the need to purchase additional CALs.

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:

• Windows Small Business Server 2008 Standard Edition software, including five CALs, $1,089 (U.S.); additional CALs $77 each (U.S.)
• Windows Small Business Server 2008 Premium Edition software, including five CALs, $1,899 (U.S.); additional CALs $189 each (U.S.)
• Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Standard Edition software, including five CALs, $5,472 (U.S.); additional CALs $81 each (U.S.)
• Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Premium Edition software, including five CALs, $7,163 (U.S.); additional CALs $195 each (U.S.)

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.

Installing a Self-Signed Certificate as a Trusted Root CA in Windows Vista

This post has been updated.  Please see: http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2008/05/08/installing-a-self-signed-certificate-as-a-trusted-root-ca-in-windows-vista.aspx 

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[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Wayne McIntyre]

In order for RPC over Http to work you must have a Trusted CA Root Certificate installed and configured. In a situation where you are using a self-signed cert you will need to install the certificate into the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store.

1. Connect to your OWA site by going to https://host.domainname.com/exchange

You should see a screen like the above due to the fact that your self-signed cert is not trusted.

2. Choose "Continue to this website (not recommended)".

You should then be presented with your OWA logon page.

If you do not see the Install Certificate option close IE7 and then right click on IE7 and choose run as administrator and load the page again.

4. Once you have the install certificate button available, select "Install Certificate".

5. This will launch the Certificate Import Wizard. Make sure to Choose the option “Place all certificates in the following store” and select browse.

6. Select Trusted Root Certification Authorities and click Ok.

* In some cases you have to check show physical stores, then select “Local Computer” under Trusted Root Certification Authorities.

7. Click Finish on Completing the Certificate Import Wizard

8. Click yes on the security warning to install the certificate

9. If you want to verify the Certificate has been installed you can load the certificates snap in and you should see it under Certificates –Current User-Trusted Root Certification Authorities-Certificates.

Note: You can also copy it to the local computers certificate store so it applies for all users that use the machine.

If you install the certificate but then cannot see it please read the following KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;932156

How to Use Microsoft Exchange Custom Weighting to Block More UCE

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

Lately, SBS customers have been reporting receiving a large amount unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) within Outlook referencing e-cards, greeting card, and postcard from family, friends and mates.  Today's post will cover using a Exchange IMFv2 feature called Custom Weighting that allows filtering on words or phases within the Subject, Body, or Both. Below are the steps to enable the feature within Exchange 2003 with Service Pack 2 IMFv2:

1. Open Exchange System Manager and expand Global Settings. Right-click on Message Delivery and select Properties.
   
   
2. Select the Intelligent Message Filtering Tab. Select the SCL levels for the “Gateway Blocking Configuration” and “Store Junk E-mail Configuration”. Also select what you would like to happen with the mail option: Archive, Delete, No Action, Reject.
    
   If the Archive Option is selected you will find the archive mail in the following location: C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mailroot\vsi 1\UceArchive
   
   To learn more about the SCL settings look at the following document. Microsoft Exchange Server Intelligent Message Filter v2 Operations Guide: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=B1218D8C-E8B3-48FB-9208-6F75707870C2&displaylang=en
   
3. Within Exchange System Manager expand Servers>Servername>Protocols>SMTP> Default SMTP Virtual Server. Highlight SMTP Virtual Server and right-click and select properties.
   
   
4. General Tab selected click the advanced button. Highlight the All Unassigned and edit.
   
   
5. Check the “Apply Intelligent Message Filter” and select Ok
   
   
6. Now that we have IMF filters enabled and properly configured let’s look at the Script on the server for Customweight Entry.
   
   
7. Save the file as MSExchange.UceContentFilter.xml Save the file in the C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin\MSCFV2 directory. The MSExchange.UceContentFilter.xml file MUST be saved as UNICODE.
   This is a very important step if the file is not saved a Unicode it will NOT work.
   
   
8. Register the Msexchange.UceContentFilter.dll file on the server from a command prompt using the following command "regsvr32 c:\program files\exchsrvr\bin\mscfv2\msexchange.UceContentFilter.dll"
   
   
9. Once you get the dll registered successfully restart the SMTP service.
10. Test email to see if the IMF filters the message. This can be done by enabling Message Tracking within exchange and looking to see if the message is (1) in the UceArchive directory or (2) within message tracking.
    

Where is Outlook Mail Setup in Control Panel?

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Justin Crosby and Rod White]

We recently received a call where a user needed to create a new MAPI (Outlook) profile. They called because they did not see the Mail shortcut in their Control Panel.

It turned out that the user was using the 64-bit version of Windows Vista. When you are using a 64-bit OS (Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008) there are actually 2 Control Panels, one for 64-bit items and one for 32-bit items. Microsoft Office 2003/2007 is a 32-bit application; therefore it’s Control Panel applet will be in the 32-bit Control Panel, this is necessary because the 64-bit version of explorer.exe cannot open the 32-bit .dll files that are required for this application.  For more information on this and other applications that may be affected see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/895561.

To access the 32-bit Control Panel you must open the classic view of Control Panel and click on the “View 32-bit Control Panel Items” link as seen below:

Once the 32-bit Control Panel opened the user could then access his email profiles by clicking the Mail link.

You can also directly open Mail Setup by running “c:\Windows\SysWOW64\control.exe mlcfg32.cpl”

Geeky question of the day. . . Why .local for the default Windows SBS 2008 domain name extension?

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Becky Ochs]

We’re getting some great questions here at the SMB Summit. One of yesterday’s geeky questions of the day was, "Why are we are defaulting to use .local as the DNS extension for Windows SBS 2008? Isn’t that a problem for Macs?"

So here’s our logic for using .local and why we still make it flexible for you to choose your own internal domain extension . . .

• Historically, there have been issues with Mac OS X 10.2 and the use of .local that result in connectivity issues. However, the updated releases of the Mac OS no longer have the conflict with .local and there is a workaround to address the Mac OS X 10.3 and newer release.
• The default configuration of .local accommodates most folks for an installation, but if they really don’t like that default, they can easily specify the fully qualified domain name by using the Windows SBS Answer File Tool.
• When you specify domain information in the Answer File Tool, we recommend that you do not use a public TLD (eg .com). If you really want to do that, we won't prevent this, but keep in mind that this is an advanced configuration that will require you to do additional configuration of your networking on your own.
• We will not limit the number of labels in the DNS name to 2, so you can use a.b.c if you really want. However, it must have at least 1 label (i.e. you can’t just have a full DNS name of “contoso”, it must have 2 labels such as “contoso.local”)

And for those of you SBS 2003 folks out there who use Macs, here's a quick plug for the whitepaper that discusses how to add a Mac to an SBS 2003 network:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/thankyou.aspx?familyId=89ee677b-0ff6-4558-a54b-6070e2c8cd65&displayLang=en

A few highlights from yesterday . . .

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Becky Ochs]

So you couldn’t make it to the SMB Summit 2008 in Las Colinas, TX? Well, maybe next year. For now, here are a few of my favorite features from yesterday’s Windows SBS 2008 focused partner readiness day.

The SBS Answer File Tool is awesome! Kudos to the SBS Deployment Dev Team! I’ve heard several times throughout the day that this tool will help partners to streamline their new server deployments. Partners can fully install a new server (including a box that has been preinstalled by an OEM) at their own office using the customer specific information and then take that server to the customer site to complete the configuration.

They cheered when they heard about the Move Data Folders wizard that will enable you to move the Windows SBS 2008 application data to a specified drive.  This wizard works with a new installation, migration, or OEM preinstalled box. You can also script moving data using Windows PowerShell scripts. Very Cool!

Another of my personal favorites that I’ll call out from yesterday. . . Connect Computer, which is used to join new clients to an SBS domain, has been updated for this release. We’ve improved the user experience of this client side wizard. We still have our Web site access to this feature, but we’ve added the ability to run via a USB key as well. Oh, and did I also mention that you can now choose if your users are a local administrator or standard user on the client when we join it to the domain?

It was a day full of technical information about what’s new and what’s updated for the coming Windows SBS 2008 product. There was also great information from our partners who were talking about selling, deploying, and managing SBS.

Today, I’m going to check out what’s happening at the SBS Hands on Labs sponsored by HP and visit with more partners. Catch up with you later . . .

SBS 2008 Buzz at SMB Summit

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Aanal Bhatt] 

Hello from Dallas, TX - about 30 of us from Redmond are here at SMB Summit at our first ever partner readiness event for both Small Business Server 2008 and Essential Business Server 2008.

I did the opening this morning with an Intro to SBS alongwith Becky Ochs, a program manager on the SBS development team to a room packed with 400+ partners. I highlighted how we've really listened to partner and customer feedback with this version and made some really cool changes - for example, the ability to buy single CALs, instead of the current 5 CAL pack; creating a strong LOB platform by moving Premium Edition to a separate box, and replacing Workgroup Edition with SQL Server Standard Edition; the ability to run TS in App Mode on this second server. Partners kept cheering and applauding at everyone of those & when asked what their top 1-2 favorite things in SBS 2008, we kept hearing over and over - 'its hard for me to say. i like so much about what's coming in this new version'.

Stay tuned for more on this - we're very excited to see so much partner excitement as we're unveiling this product for the first time to our partners!

On a side note, I just noticed that Wayne Small & Dean Calvert, 2 SBS MVPs from Australia have been upto some mischief, so the excitement is certainly not restricted just to Dallas, TX: check it out

Aanal Bhatt, Partner Marketing, Windows Essential Server Solutions

Plenty of applause for SBS 2008 at SMB Summit today!

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of  Chris Almida] 

Great day for SBS 2008 at the SMB Summit!  I had the opportunity to present and watch some of the great presenters from the Product Group demo some of the fantastic new features in SBS 2008 to the packed presentation hall here in Dallas.  Topics covered so far include, setup, migration, networking, backup and the client experience. I have especially enjoyed hearing from the partners participating in the SBS 2008 TAP relating their real world experience of running SBS 2008 in production for the last 3 months.  More to follow - keep tuned for posts from other on site bloggers! 

Fax May Send the Wrong Attachment

[Today's post comes to us courtesy off Chris Puckett]

If you use the fax functionality in SBS 2003 or Windows Server 2003 to fax documents or attachments, there is an issue where a document or attachment may end up being sent to the wrong destination.  A hotfix is available for this issue.  For the details, see KB 933804.

933804:  Documents are faxed to the wrong destination if several fax clients call the "FaxSendDocument" API at the same time in Windows Server 2003. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;933804

Vista Service Pack 1 Considerations

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of  Justin Crosby and Chris Puckett]

If you are considering updating your Windows Vista machines to Service Pack 1 please review this KB article that explains reasons you may not see the update available for download on Windows Update and/or Automatic Updates: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;948343.

Pay close attention to Cause/Method 5.  If you have one of the problem drivers be sure that you update your drivers before installing Windows Vista SP1. 

If you are using WSUS to update your clients, Vista SP 1 has not been released to WSUS as a Service Pack at this time.  Therefore, Vista computers updated via WSUS will not be offered Vista SP 1 at this time.  Vista SP 1 will flow to WSUS servers as a service pack at a later date.  However, there is a way to manually import Vista SP 1 into your WSUS server if you wish to push it out sooner.  For the details on this, check out the WSUS blog. http://blogs.technet.com/wsus/archive/2008/03/24/deploying-vista-sp1-into-a-wsus-3-0-server-part-ii.aspx

This process applies to WSUS 3.0 RTM and SP1 servers only. WSUS 2.0 does not integrate with the Microsoft Update Catalog site, therefore the steps do not apply to that particular WSUS release. In this case, you have two options. One is to wait until Vista SP1 flows automatically at a later date or upgrade to WSUS 3.0 or 3.1.

Watch an Interview with a Small Business Server 2008 Product Manager

Click the following link to watch an interview with Sean Daniel: http://edge.technet.com/Media/SBS-2008-PM-Interview-and-Demo/.

Sean Daniel has been a program manager for Small Business Server since SBS 2000.  In this video he tells us a little bit about what's new in Small Business Server 2008 and shows us a demo of the SBS 2008 console.  He also describes the backup wizard and he shows us how much backup has evolved in SBS 2008. 

Issue Using RWW to Access the Console Session

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of John Bay]

We wanted to make everyone aware of a minor issue we recently discovered during the testing of Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008.

The remote web workplace has the ability to connect to the server console session. This is an optional checkbox exposed under the optional settings link.

If you use a Vista SP1 or a Windows Server 2008 system to connect to the SBS server, the log on to or resume the console session of the remote computer will no longer work correctly. You will get connected to the server but you will not be connected to the console session. You will instead be connected to a new RDP session. Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 include the new version 6.1 of the RDP client. This new RDP clients uses the /admin switch to connect to the server console session instead of the /console switch. The change in behavior of the console switch is documented in article 947723: Changes to remote administration in Windows Server 2008 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;947723 . This change causes our connect to the server console option to not work correctly.

If you wish to connect to the server console and your client machine is running Vista Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2008, you must use one of the following workarounds:

1. Use the Remote Web Workplace website and connect to the server or a client machine. Once you are logged on the server or the client run mstsc /console and connect back to the server again. This is assuming of course that the client is not running Vista SP1 or Windows Server 2008. If the client is running either of those OS’s, you must run mstsc /admin and connect to the server.
2. If you have published the Terminal Server port to the Internet, you can connect directly to the SBS server console without using the remote web workplace. To accomplish this you would run mstsc /admin from the client and specify the external name or IP address of the SBS server.

Installation Options for SQL 2005 Workgroup Edition in SBS 2003 R2 Premium

As more and more people are installing SQL 2005 WE, we wanted to refresh and clarify a few points and concerns. These are most likely addressed here and there, scattered around the Internet, so hopefully we can provide a quick way of getting to all of them.

The first thing we want to address is the lack of in-place upgrades from SQL 2000 Standard to SQL 2005 Workgroup Edition, if you need an instance to be SQL 2005 WE, you will need to migrate it. This is a limitation of SQL 2005 WE.

The upgrade matrix for SQL products is found here: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143393.aspx

In order to migrate your instances, you will need to consult the line of business vendor for proper migration steps (and to confirm support for SQL 2005 WE). From a technical perspective the steps are pretty straightforward, but there are always gotchas. Make sure you test the migration in your test environment before deploying in production.

High Level Overview of Migration Process:

1. Backup the databases
2. Record any logins under security and other relevant configurations
3. Uninstall the instance you want to migrate to SQL 2005 WE
4. Address the issues described in the following 2 KB articles:
1. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;920899
2. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;918767
5. Install the new version of SQL 2005 WE using same instance name you just removed
6. Re-attach databases
7. Correct/add logins that we removed before and any other security needs for the LOB application

Please note that this overview is not designed as a comprehensive walk-through of the migration process.  Your particular line-of-business application may require additional steps.

Migration of your SharePoint v2 (WSS v2) instance is described in this document: http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/0/8/40860507-c351-4308-a876-e1b83ee4e77a/sqlinstallsteps.htm

This document also discusses (with different levels of detail) the following topics:

• Migrate the SHAREPOINT instance of WMSDE
• Migrate a SHAREPOINT Instance of SQL Server 2000
• Install a new instance of SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition
• Migrate a SQL Server 2000 instance to SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition
• SQL Server collation settings

Finally, you might want to use all of the SBS 2003 R2 features but still keep your SQL 2000 STD instance, for information on your downgrade rights please see the SBS 2003 SQL FAQ: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/evaluation/faq/bizsolutions.mspx