Posts Tagged ‘SBS 2008 R2’
SBS 2011 Releases to Manufacturing
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
Today Microsoft finalised and released the code for SBS 2011 Standard and the SBS 2011 Premium Addon. They announced it here.
So over the next few weeks the actual code will be made available to the rest of us via the various channels. I’ll expect to see it on MSDN/TechNet early in the new year and available via the channel probably around the same time. This will be your chance as a reseller to grab the final code and install it in your own environments. You will want to become familiar with this before you head on out and deploy it for clients for real. There are a number of changes around things like Exchange 2010 that are worthy of note.
I’ll be posting more on this over the coming weeks once I get my hands on the final RTM code. For now – congratulations to Microsoft for getting this out the door.
Tags: Microsoft, SBS 2008 R2, SBS 2011, SBS 2011 Premium, SBS 2011 Standard
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Sometimes you just have to laugh…
Thursday, November 25th, 2010
While many are up in arms now about the decision to remove Drive Extender from SBS 2011 Essentials, and Windows Home Server Codenamed “Vail”, it’s great to see that some can still have a laugh at things. Tim Barrett has taken the trophy today with his carton on the topic.
Personally I think the Windows Home Server product is the big one affected here. I really would have liked to see the Drive Extender technology in SBS 2011 Essentials as well, but I’m not overly worried about that. What concerns me more though is the amount of development effort Microsoft has put into it that is now effectively wasted and how that effort could have been better used in other areas on the SBS product range…
Tags: Future Products, SBS 2008 R2, SBS 2011, SBS 2011 Essentials
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SBS 2008 and Windows Server Backup is limited to 2TB in total
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
SBS 2008 uses the inbuilt Windows Server Backup under the covers of their wizards. This backup is a block level backup that stores it’s information as a VHD file on the destination disk no matter if it’s on a USB hard drive or a remote drive share. The SBS team have placed a wizard over the top of this for configuration, but essentially under the covers, it’s just Windows Server Backup. Other vendors such as BackupAssist have also done a great job to make it easier to use the inbuilt Windows Server Backup.
When the SBS 2008 / Windows Server Backup runs for the first time, it backs up each logical drive on the server to a separate VHD file on the destination media (in SBS this will be a server connected USB hard drive). The first backup of any logical drive is a full backup where each block is effectively copied over to the VHD file. The next backup to the same destination media includes just the incremental blocks that have changed since the full backup. Subsequent backups are only of the changes since the last backup. All of these blocks/changes are stored within the VHD file for that logical disk.
Ok – so here’s the rub. VHD files are limited in size to 2TB. That means that the 2TB VHD that is your destination VHD for any given volume can only contain the base image and changes up to 2TB in total. That’s pretty much like saying you have a 2TB tape and that’s all you can fit onto it. Once the VHD is full, there is NO OPTION to backup anything more as SBS 2008 / Windows Server Backup only allows FULL VOLUME backups. There is a process that will kill older snapshots from within the target VHD, but there is no way to determine exactly what will be in any given backup in advance (ie no way you can guarantee that the backup from Monday 2 weeks ago will be on that hard drive).
In Windows Server 2008 R2 and therefore SBSv7 and SBS Aurora, things change a little. Windows Server 2008 R2 backup has both a block level engine and a file level engine in it. If the source drive is a 2TB drive then it will automatically switch to file level backup to back it up. Files will be sent into the target backup device (VHD) until that device reaches 2TB. At that point it will attempt to prune some older backups. However the destination backup device is still limited to 2TB in total.
What this all means is that if you are using the standard backup engine in Windows Server 2008, then you are limited to 2TB for your backup devices. It does not matter that you might have a 3TB Hard drive, you simply cannot backup that much data. Ok – so how do we solve this problem? The only solution is to use third party products such as StorageCraft ShadowProtect. ShadowProtect does not have this 2TB limit as it stores it’s files in it’s own file format and also compresses the data that is being backed up. If you are designing servers that have more than 2TB in a single volume then you will want to think carefully about this aspect of your design. The standard Windows or SBS backup won’t cut it at all and will leave you without a solution.
Microsoft for their part do not yet have a solution for this problem. Given they based the destination file format on the VHD format, they have not as yet released any indication of when they will have the ability to extend the VHDs beyond the 2TB limit that they currently have. You have been warned.
Tags: Backup, SBS 2008, SBS 2008 R2, SBS Aurora, SBSv7
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Upgrading to SBS 2011 and SBS 2011 Essentials
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
With the announcement of SBS 2011 recently, many resellers are looking forward and planning future sales for their clients. One of the key questions that comes up is around migration to SBS 2011 in both versions. Currently there are a few methods to get to SBS 2011. Your choices are using the Microsoft Whitepaper method, Jeff Middleton’s Swing Migration method or Karl Palachuck’s Zero Day Migration method.
Microsoft Migration Wizard
Microsoft White papers that will guide you how to move from SBS 2003 and SBS 2008 to SBS 2008. This process whilst it takes time, does work quite well and has been the main process I’ve used for my clients to move over to SBS 2008. Based on current beta whitepapers that I’ve seen and used from Microsoft, this process will be pretty much the same in SBS 2011. Microsoft are planning to document the path from SBS 2003 and SBS 2008 to SBS 2011 using these whitepapers and the so called Migration Wizard (I don’t call it a wizard personally as it does not automate much at all but guides you to the steps you need to do).
With respect to SBS 2011 Essentials however, I’m yet to see any whitepapers from Microsoft like this and therefore I’m unsure of what the strategy is. I know that according to an OEM/System builder webcast recently there are config file switches that you can use to put Aurora into a migration mode, but that so far Microsoft has not provided a public release of further documentation. Therefore I’d hazard a guess to say that yes – there will be a documented way to get from SBS 2003/2008 to SBS 2011 Essentials, but due to the fact the product won’t be released until H1 2011, they’ve not announced it as yet.
Regardless of which version you are migrating from, your new server will end up with a new name and new IP different from the old server. The majority of the migration can be done during normal business hours with only some items needing to be done outside of business hours. I’ve done enough of these now to know that with proper planning, they work pretty well and if you don’t mind having a new server name for your SBS 2011 server then it’s just fine.
Jeff Middleton’s Swing Migration
Jeff has been documenting the process of swinging over to new servers for many years now. Jeff was a little slow out of the gate with his swing process over to SBS 2008 and has vowed not to do the same with SBS 2011. I know that he’s made announcement’s that he has documentation coming that will be targeted to land around the same times as the products are in general availability. Jeff’s method provides for you to build a temporary domain controller and use that as a basis to build your SBS 2011 server. The advantage here is that you can build the new network offsite and take it onsite only when you are ready to cutover the clients machines. It also gives you a way to test the migration without impacting the clients network before you actually proceed with the build of the new server.
Karl Palachuk’s Zero Day Migration
Karl has taken an alternate angle on the migration and whilst I must say I have the book, I’ve not yet taken the time to read it all or give it a try (sorry Karl). From other reports though I hear that Karls method is not just a technical process, but an entire business process that he guides you through and that the process is quite complete and detailed (something I’ve come to expect from Karl). I’d suggest you check it out to see if it fits for your business/client requirements.
Inplace Upgrade
The elephant on the table is that there is NO in-place upgrade at all to get to any version of SBS 2011. In-place upgrades for the server environments have been dead for a while now, it’s now all about migration hence my desire to write this article so that people can understand the options available.
Ok – so there you have it – the current state of play with respect to the options available to you for migrating to SBS 2011 and SBS 2011 Essentials. Can you make any assumptions or final decision yet? Absolutely NOT. You need to get your hands on the final products before you do that and evaluate which method is right for you and your clients. Find out which method works for you. Just because I’ve used the Microsoft method without failure for my clients, does not mean it’s right for you and your clients.
Tags: Future Products, Migration, SBS 2008 R2, SBS 2011, SBS 2011 Essentials
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Client PC Backup in SBS 2011 (SBSv7) is now available.
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010
Today Microsoft announced what I think is some very cool reuse of their technology that will have massive benefits for SBS 2011 and even non SBS environments.
Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials is a great new product from Microsoft that uses the combination of Windows Server 2008 R2 as a base and adds in the Client Backup technology from SBS 2011 Essentials. This new hybird was codenamed Breckenridge and was one of the most closely guarded secrets in the new Small Business family. I’ve had the chance to play with this now for many months and I love what I see. Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials (SS2008R2E) is a box that can be domain joined and will support backup for up to 25 client PCs. You can use it as a NAS however for an unlimited number of users. This box can be joined to both SBS and non SBS environments and gives us great potential to use it for things like remote branch environments where we need a small NAS for local file sharing AND it can backup the local client PCs as well. What’s more is that you can add multiple of these units into a domain to cater for backup of hundreds of PCs (limited to 25 per box however). It also has the very cool Remote Web App (formerly Remote Web Workplace) interface that SBS 2011 Essentials and the new version of Windows Home Server (codenamed Vail) has.
The SBS team have also announced the device here on their blog and have provided screenshots too. Check it out.
Tags: Backup, Client Backup, NAS, SBS 2008 R2, SBS 2011, SBS Aurora, SBSv7
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SBS 2011 Australian Pricing – What will Microsoft do?
Friday, November 5th, 2010
With the announcements this week from Microsoft about SBS 2011 and SBS 2011 Essentials, we now know what the US pricing will be for the product. That’s’ great so I’m now waiting to see what the Australian Pricing will be. The Australian dollar has been doing VERY well lately compared to the US. Today as I write, the AUD is above parity with the US Dollar. What does this mean for Australian Pricing of SBS 2011? Will Microsoft listen to this and make SBS 2011 more competitive than they did with SBS 2008? With SBS 2008 we paid a 40% premium for the product despite the Aussie dollar doing so well for the past few years. We’ve not (as far as I recall) seen ANY price reduction in SBS 2008 even though the Aussie dollar has been so high. So Microsoft Australia… what will you do?
Tags: Future Products, SBS 2008 R2, SBS 2011, SBS Aurora, SBSv7
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SBS 2011 Finally announced
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
Microsoft this morning finally announced the proper naming, pricing and availability for the new SBS product family additions.
Windows SBS 2011 Essentials is the proper name for the hybrid cloud/on-premise solution that was called SBS Aurora and Microsoft have set an RRP of $545 USD which includes all 25 CALS that the user will need to be correctly license. In fact you can’t buy it with less CALs.
Windows SBS 2011 Standard is now the proper name for the “traditional” SBS replacement that was called SBSv7. This product includes Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange 2010, Windows Sharepoint Foundation and the new Remote Web Access components that are in SBS 2011 Essentials. This version of SBS follows the more traditional CAL model with the base version coming with 5 CALs and users needing to purchase additional CALs as needed. It’s still got the same upper limit of 75 CALs though which is disappointing as many of us feel Microsoft should have increased this limit given the complete absence of the older EBS product which was cancelled in March this year.
Microsoft have also changed the model for the Premium edition of SBS. The SBS 2011 Premium edition is now an add-on that can be purchased and added to either the SBS 2011 Essentials or SBS 2011 Standard edition and includes a copy of Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2 for Small Business (basically SQL 2008 R2 with a modified EULA that specifies it must be in an SBS network). CALs are required to be purchased for this as well regardless of if you add this to SBS 2011 Essentials or SBS 2011 Standard editions.
Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard, download the datasheet.
Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, download the datasheet.
Windows Small Business Server Family, download the family overview brochure.
To download previews of Windows SBS 2011 Standard and Essentials you can visit here.
If you’ve not played with either product, well your time is about up now. December will mean that SBS 2011 will be here with us very soon now and by the end of June 2011 (H1 2011) so will SBS 2011 Essentials. I’d suggest you go get hold of these preview versions now and see what Microsoft has in store for your customers quick smart.
Tags: Future Products, SBS 2008 R2, SBS Aurora, SBSv7
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The SBS Family – Growing and Developing
Friday, October 29th, 2010
Today I’m in Las Colinas, TX working with the SBS PSS team. One of the traditions that we have as SBS MVPs is that Susan Bradley loves to get us grown men and women in matching T-shirts… yes it’s a little freaky, but we let her have her way to keep her happy 
We do it too because it allows us to have a dig at the SBS team in different ways.
This year I asked my daughter (Alicia) to do a design for us and basically told her that the theme was “growing and developing”. The SBS Family has been growing and changing now since 1997 when SBS 4.0 was a released. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been involved with it for that long
She came up with the design below which shows the growth and development of SBS over the years from a baby product in SBS 4.0 through to Cloud based Aurora and more mature SBS7 products.
In my daughters words…
I was asked to re-design the logo for the SBS family. I was given the original logo and from here I came up with the concept of the growth of humans and the development of technology. I incorporated the growth process of humans, as well as the development from sketch, to outline, black and white, simple colour, full colour and shading. I decided to do this as technology is an ongoing growing and developing process.
Yes – I’m pretty proud of my daughter and yes she is available for hire for graphical design work – contact me here if you are interested. She has other examples of her art and photo manipulation on her site – http://little-miss-artist.com but below you can see some of the cool photo work she’s done…
Source Picture (stock photo she got from a library)
End result – she called this Siren Caller
Tags: Future Products, SBS 2008 R2, SBS Aurora, SBSv7
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SBS 7 and SBS Aurora Premium Add-on
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
Last night at the SMB IT Professionals meeting in Sydney, Michael Leworthy presented on the next generations of SBS 7 and ABA Aurora. Michael highlighted about how Microsoft are making things simpler for us with the new version of SBS by not having both Standard and Premium versions of each product. Instead, Microsoft will release an SBS Premium Add-on pack that can be added on to either SBS 7 OR SBS Aurora. This add-on pack will include Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard and SQL Server 2008 R2 for Small Business. Positioning wise, this will be priced around the point of you getting a “free” copy of Windows Server 2008 R2 for the price. You’ll need to purchase SQL CALs for however many users you have that require SQL Server acces which is pretty much the norm.
I like this idea – I think it’s a good compromise as to how our customers tend to grow over time, they’d start with the standard edition of the products and then later as they upgrade their line of business applications. Well done Microsoft. Now we wait to see the pricing 
Michael also suggested that we keep an eye out for later this year for more information as to release dates, pricing and product availability.
Tags: Future Products, SBS 2008 R2, SBS Aurora, SBS7
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Microsoft releases public beta of SBSv7
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
You’ve been waiting for it, and now it’s here. A public preview aka beta of SBS7 the codename for the next version of SBS 2008 has been released today for public beta. You can and SHOULD download it and install it ASAP. You can find out more here Naturally do NOT install this in production environments.
Tags: SBS 2008 R2, SBS7
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