Windows Small Business Server and Essential Business Server Documentation : Planning/Architecture

Hyper-V: A virtually exciting possibility with Windows SBS 2008

sbsdocsteam — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:19:00 GMT

Virtual servers. It's all the buzz. Have you been listening? Virtualization technology has been around a while, but with the release of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, it is much easier to virtualize a Windows Server 2008 network. And since Windows SBS 2008 supports the Hyper-V technology, you might want to consider if a Hyper-V virtualized server is a good solution for you. To help with your investigation, we have just published solution documentation that is intended to provide you with an overview of virtualization in an environment based on the Windows® Small Business Server 2008 software suite. "Using Hyper-V with Windows Small Business Server 2008" is now available in the Deployment section of the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Technical Library. For additional information about Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, check out the Microsoft Web site.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

New Documentation: “Adding a Server Running Windows Server 2008 to a Windows Small Business Server 2003 Network”

sbsdocsteam — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:47:00 GMT

If you have been waiting for the release of Windows Server 2008 to add or update a member server, check out this helpful information.

Windows SBS 2003 allows you to add computers running Windows Server 2008 to your network; however, you cannot use the wizards in Windows SBS or the http://ServerName/connectcomputer Web site to do so.

Before you tackle this (not very scary) task, find out what you need to know in “Adding a Server Running Windows Server 2008 to a Windows Small Business Server 2003 Network” in the Windows SBS Technical Library. This document describes system requirements and deployment scenarios, and provides step-by-step instructions to get you through the process.

As always, we want to hear from you! Please rate our documentation by responding to the question “Was this information helpful” at the bottom of each page. Do you have more to say? Click Comments (under Page Options), and tell us specifically what you like or do not like about the information. Definitely let us know if we did not document a procedure or solution thoroughly or accurately!

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

New Documentation: Migrating Windows Small Business Server 2003 to New Hardware

sbsdocsteam — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:10:00 GMT

It's been a long time coming, but we have FINALLY published a guide for "Migrating Windows Small Business Server 2003 to New Hardware." Here is a brief abstract from the overview:

"If you decide that your server running the Windows® Small Business Server 2003 (Windows SBS) server software is no longer able to keep up with the demands of your organization, and expansion is not a viable option, you can use this guide to help you migrate the Windows SBS 2003 settings and data to new hardware."

So if you've been holding off on upgrading the 5 year old computer that you are running Windows SBS on, now is the time. This guide will help you get it done.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

How to make Windows SBS 2003 compatible with Windows Vista and Office 2007

sbsdocsteam — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 00:49:00 GMT

Not everyone is going to jump on the bandwagon at the same time, but we know that many of you are itching to take advantage of the great new features in Windows Vista and Office 2007. Well, we are pleased to inform you that an update is now available that (in addition to other things):

Enables you to join client computers that are running Windows Vista (except Windows Vista Home edition) to your Windows SBS 2003 with SP1 or Windows SBS 2003 R2 network.
Updates Client Deployment tools so you can configure new versions of Windows Vista components.
Configures the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 messaging and collaboration client for computers that are running Windows XP or Windows Vista.
Enables client computers that are running Windows Vista to take advantage of the full functionality provided by the Remote Web Workplace.

To ensure compatibility between Windows SBS 2003 with SP1 or Windows SBS 2003 R2 and Windows Vista and Office 2007, you need to install the updates described in the Knowledge Base article “Update for Windows Small Business Server 2003: Windows Vista and Outlook 2007 compatibility (KB 926505)” at the Microsoft Web site.

Microsoft Update will automatically install this update on your server starting in March 2007.

For more information, see "Using Windows Vista and Outlook 2007 in a Windows Small Business Server 2003 Network" at the Microsoft Web site.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Just the FAQ’s maam. Just the FAQ’s.

sbsdocsteam — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 01:47:00 GMT

Just when you think you have something nailed, you discover what the claw-end of a hammer is for. Case in point. Early this summer, we (as a product group) went through a vigorous exercise to review all of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) on the Windows SBS Web site. We did this to 1) update some existing FAQ’s with the latest and greatest information, 2) add and update questions with relevance to the coming release of the SBS 2003 R2 editions, and 3) to organize questions into a framework that we felt was more logical and easier for customers to navigate. So, after modeling the revised format and passing it through a couple of internal reviews, we pushed a button and the new and improved information was published on the Web! Hooray! Right? Ummm…. Not necessarily. You see, not long after we pushed the button, we began to receive feedback that customers were having difficulty finding FAQ topics that they were interested in. Sometimes the search results were not helpful. Other times questions did not appear in a section that seemed most logical to the user. Even our support engineers have had some problems finding information to direct customers to. So what went wrong? Well, nothing, really. Sometimes we just need to take a step back and consider more closely the broad range of research styles that users employ. One person might feel most comfortable using a search engine, while another prefers to navigate through and across pages. Yet another may use the Find “keywords” function that is available from the main menu of the browser. Some of us like salt, some of like pepper. That’s just the way it is. So what do spices have to do with the Windows SBS FAQ? I’m not sure. But I can tell you this… thanks to a number of well directed comments from you, our customers, we are going back to the drawing board to create a better and more intuitive FAQ experience. And you can help! Send us links to your favorite FAQ pages, and tell us why you like them. They don’t have to be links to Microsoft Web sites. And we don’t care what kind of FAQ it is. It might be for your favorite gumball, or coffee roast. We just want to know where to find it. After all, there must be great technical writers and information designers in the gumball industry too!

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

New Documentation: Adding and Running Multiple Servers on Windows SBS

sbsdocsteam — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 02:12:00 GMT

A short quiz. (no grades will be given)

Did you know that you can run one or more additional servers on a Windows SBS network?
Do you know what role additional server's play in a Windows SBS environment?
Do you know the steps to take to successfully install, configure, and manage additional servers on a Windows SBS network?

How did you do? Did you answer no to any of these questions? Well if you did, we're pleased to announce that we have just published a couple of long awaited papers that will help bring you up to speed on the subject.

For an overview of how some small companies employ additional servers in their business, read Running Multiple Servers in a Windows Small Business Server Environment. This paper discusses customer environments, relevant Microsoft technologies, and integration scenarios that can help you plan your network deployments.

Already have a scenario in mind? Ready to take the next step? The Step-by-Step Guide to Adding and Managing Additional Servers in a Windows Small Business Server Network will help you get up and running. This paper guides you through the processes of configuring the Windows SBS server, connecting the server to the domain, and managing the new server using the Windows SBS management console.

Follow the links for immediate access to the docs. They will also be posted to the Windows SBS Product Documentation Web site sometime in the next few days.

Enjoy!

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

The Windows SBS SP1 Release Notes have been updated!

sbsdocsteam — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 21:00:00 GMT

The release notes for SBS SP1 have been updated to incorporate information about the following issues:

SP1 for Windows SBS 2003 cannot be applied to evaluation versions of Windows SBS 2003
After you have installed Windows SBS SP1 and you try to reinstall a Windows SBS component, you receive the message, "The drive contains a disc for Windows Small Business Server 2003 with no service packs…"
After you have installed Windows SBS SP1 and you try to install ISA Server 2004, you receive the error message, “The wizard cannot install ISA Server 2004 because the server is not running the correct operating system. To correct this problem, install Windows Small Business Server 2003 with Service Pack 1, and then restart this wizard.”

To review these updates, visit the Windows SBS SP1 Release Notes download site.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.