Will Craddock's Technology Adventure in Ireland : SBS Ireland User Group

Harry B and Phillip Elder SBS Dublin Event

will.craddock — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:52:22 GMT

Sunday saw a small number of local SBSC’ers attend a session with Harry Belfast from SMB Nation. Harry made a special trip over to Dublin for the Sunday session after a successful Friday SMB Nation event at the Microsoft UK office.

Joining Harry for the presentation was Phillip Elder via the LiveMeeting from St. Albert, Alberta Canada. Phillip runs one of the most frequently hit SBS blogs and is co-author of the new SBS2008 book from SMB Nation.

After a few minutes of technical difficulty with the mic and speaker setup, we are off an running. Given the presentation was via LiveMeeting, there was still a number of question and answer sessions, tuning the event into a very interactive session. Also given the audience had all installed SBS2008 and worked with SBS in general for a number of years the presentation was somewhat free form.

There was some great conversation on managing users via GPO and specifically on the ability to assign printers through Group Policy and some of the issues that might be encountered given SBS is x64 when using X86 clients. Phillip recommends the site www.gpanswers.com for all GPO relates inquires.

The biggest conversation of the night centered around the lack of ISA in SBS 2008 and what alternatives are available. Everyone in Dublin was using a hardware based firewall like Checkpoint, Cisco, etc but Phillip and Harry presented some information on Untangle, an open source software based firewall. The solution provides SPAM, virus and intrusion protection through a subscription service.

As the meeting drew to a close, Phillip was asked his favorite part of SBS 2008 and Phillip was quick in his response. He likes the ability to custom configure the RWW to include weblinks and a link to the Terminal Services Gateway. RWW and TS Gateway are the best features of SBS2008.

This event happened as a result of the invitation to Harry from David Houston with the Ireland SBS User Group. I encourage anyone with an interest in SBS to join the user group, come out to some of the events and even make a presentation on a topic.

There is even an event happening tonight as a great first step!

SBS Ireland Leinster Event

11th December 5.30pm to 8.30pm

Remote Monitoring tools.

Presenting - Hound Dog, N-Able, and Microsoft System Center Essentials.

Places are limited for this event, so please register early.

To register click the link and login:

http://www.sbsireland.com/Events/tabid/55/ModuleID/514/ItemID/37/mctl/EventDetails/Default.aspx?selecteddate=12/11/2008

SBS Upcoming Event

will.craddock — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:11:00 GMT

Just to let everyone know of some upcoming SBS specific events here in Dublin as well as in the UK.

SBS Nation UK

Speakers:
• Harry Brelsford (Bio at www.smbnation.com)
• Jeff Middleton (Bio at www.sbsmigration.com)
Location:
Microsoft London (Cardinal Place)
100 Victoria Street
London
SW1E 5JL

Agenda:
December 5, 2008 – Microsoft Central London
8:30am-9:30am Delegate Registration
9:30am – 10:00am Microsoft Introduction
10am – Noon How SBS 2008 Saved The Economy (Brelsford)
Noon – 1:30pm Lunch and HP (Essential Business Server, HP Partner Program)
1:30pm – 3:00pm Migration Techniques for 2008 (Middleton)
3:00-3:30 Come see how Autotask can help your IT Business Run Better.
3:30-5:00 Migration Techniques for 2008 Platforms (Middleton)
5:00pm End of Day

Delegate Pass = $200 USD
Save $50 USD with EARLY BIRD ($150 USD total cost to delegate) until November 15, 2008!

Speech Content
Title: Business Development: How SBS 2008 Saved The Economy! Your Next Blue Ocean…
By: Harry Brelsford
Date: December 5th
Time: 10:00AM – Noon (GMT-0)
Attend this fast-paced analytical “pocket MBA” lecture on Small Business Server 2008 business development approaches specifically related to Blue Ocean Strategy. You will learn:
• SBS 2008 Pillar and Foundation Messaging
• Being the Trusted Business Advisor (TBA)
• Assessment(s) with the Microsoft Small Business Assessment (SBS 2008 Case Study and Group Exercise)
• Trusted Business Advisor Certification
• Multi-vendor enablement in SBS 2008 ecosystem
• Goal: A defined set of SBSers capable of delivering business-centric IT solutions.
• SBS 2008 and Red Ocean\Blue Ocean
• SBS 2008 and a method for developing and implementing sustainable Blue Oceans
• Partner Panel
• Summary

Title: Migration Techniques for 2008 Platforms
By: Jeff Middleton
Date: December 5th
Time: 1:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Gain a practical and strategic view of the technical issues from Jeff Middleton, the Founder of SBSmigration.com. This session will educate you about the good and bad ahead for deploying SBS 2008 or EBS 2008 to existing or new customers. This technical assessment will be a guide to what you can expect to include in the scope of your customer proposals, staff preparations, and the underlying skills that will be essential to your success with production deployments.
2008 Platforms: SBS 2008 versus EBS or Windows
• The WESS Product Family Overview
o From 1 to Many: Choosing your Server Platform Directions
o Suite Value vs Technology Comparisons
• The “Essential” Product Elements
o Windows 2008, x64, & Hyper-V Story
o The WESS Application Family in SBS and EBS
o Elemental Differences from SBS 2003 R2 to SBS 2008
• Migration & Transition Project Challenges
o The Microsoft Concepts
o The Swing Migration Concepts
Deployment Optimization: Predictability, Time, Quality
• The Transition Timeline & Value Budget
• The Value-Add of Quality & Predictability
• Establishing Roll-Back, Pause or Completion Goals
• What’s implied in EBS & Multi-Server Deployments?
Discussion: Techniques, Traps, and Scope Concerns for SBS 2008 Deployment
• Essential Elements in the Migration Path
• Where is the Automation?
• Learning the Project Path with Practice
Q&A: Strategies, Technologies and Preparations
Wrap-Up

Register Here

Upcoming Irish events in the next month.

SBS Ireland Leinster Event

11th December 5.30pm to 8.30pm

Remote Monitoring tools.

Presenting - Hound Dog, N-Able, and Microsoft System Center Essentials.

Places are limited for this event, so please register early.

To register click the link and login:

http://www.sbsireland.com/Events/tabid/55/ModuleID/514/ItemID/37/mctl/EventDetails/Default.aspx?selecteddate=12/11/2008

Also

A casual affair: SBS 2008 BusinessSpeak and GeekSpeak with Harry Brelsford and Philip Elder LIVE

SBS 2008 Server-side Setup:

Your chance to see the SBS 2008 server-side setup process, learn more about the pre-requisite step of configuring your router\firewall FIRST BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING and the exact use of the answer file.

Presenting are Harry Brelsford and Philip Elder.

Location to be determined. Starting at 6pm GMT. Please register to receive updates.

You must be logged in to register for this event.

There is a €5 charge for this event, all money raised is to be given to charity, decided by attendees.

To register click the lick, become a member of the site and register for the event here:

http://www.partneroutreach.com/Events/tabid/54/ctl/Details/Mid/373/ItemID/4/Default.aspx?selecteddate=12/7/2008

Also

SBS Migration Workshop Event

Location to be decided. Get your hands on real kit and test a production server swing to new hardware using the Microsoft Whitepaper on migration to SBS 2008.

To register please email me at David@Damecomputers.com this event is space limited, 10 attendees max so please register early, there will also be a €5 attendance fee that will be donated to a charity designated by attendees. This will be a day event, Saturday 29th November.

SBS 2008 Presentation

will.craddock — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:31:00 GMT

For those interested in a first look at the new Small Business Server 2008, please sign-up for the SBS Ireland User Group meeting scheduled for Wednesday October 1st at New Horizons. I will be presenting on the changes in SBS 2008 as well as giving a quick product demo. For more information and registration please check out the website at http://www.sbsireland.com/Events/tabid/55/ModuleID/514/ItemID/36/mctl/EventDetails/Default.aspx?selecteddate=01/10/2008.

I will make sure a link to the presentation will be posted on the blog after for those unable to attend.

Cheers

Will