On to SBS
Because Susan and Nick are SBS MVPs, they
have strong opinions about SBS 2008. Will
they replace existing SBS implementations
when the new version is available? Susan
said, “SBS 2008 is driven by Exchange 2007’s
need for 64-bit horsepower, so I’ll upgrade
when I need to replace hardware. I anticipate
that to be in 2009.” Nick agreed that the need
for 64-bit hardware would delay his deployment
of SBS 2008.
What’s the key selling point in SBS 2008?
Susan likes the fact that “SBS 2008 Premium
comes with a second Server 2008 license (32-
or 64-bit) and will ship with both SQL Server
2008 and SQL Server 2005 (32- or 64-bit). I
like the idea that I can pull SQL Server off the
main box and move it to the second server.
I can make that second server my line-ofbusiness
application box, my SQL Server
box, or even a secondary domain controller. Also, the ability to add Terminal Server
remote apps to the Remote Web Workplace
Console will be great.”
Nick likes “the ease of deploying
Exchange 2007 with SBS 2008. The wizards
do everything for you, and if you’ve gone
through the hell of configuring Exchange
2007 certificates and Outlook Anywhere,
you’ll really appreciate SBS 2008’s excellent
automation of this process. As part of this
same web wizard, you can perform complicated
tasks, such as registering domains,
getting connected, and deploying a smart
website, in just a few minutes.”
What’s the biggest advantage in deploying
SBS 2008? Susan sees benefits for “a firm
that’s investing in Vista. The Server Message
Block 2.0 TCP/IP stack makes a difference.
You’ll see speed increases that you don’t see
in an SBS 2003–based network. Also, several
new networking wizards make it a breeze
to set up full SMTP email and perform
domain integration with a Microsoft Office
Live Workspace website and shared space.
The wizard of all wizards is called Fix My
Network. It reviews DHCP and DNS settings
and rectifies problems accordingly. In addition,
new POP3 connectors pull email every
five minutes, and a wizard helps you set up a
smart-host connection for Exchange. These
tools are great if you want to maintain legacy
email setups.”
SBS 2008 isn’t without some drawbacks.
Susan says she is “most disappointed in the
new SBS 2008 monitoring reports because
they look terrible in a non-Outlook mail
client. You can set up custom reports, but I
wish it performed better monitoring of the
health and status of my workstations than it
currently does. It only looks at the antivirus,
antispyware, and patch status of workstations,
and keeps an eye on the drive space. I would
prefer additional alerts, such as for problems
that are predictors of hard drive failures, and
I’ve built some custom alerts to share with the
community at www.codeplex.com/sbs.”
Nick adds, “Susan is being polite here.
The monitoring is just plain awful. We’ll have
to use third-party products to get a good overview
of the desktops on our networks, or find
solutions from open-source communities
such as CodePlex.”
Migration Hurdles
No doubt there are other changes that some
will love and some hate. Susan complains that there “is no support for tape backup.
The reason is that Server 2008 doesn’t support
tape as a backup medium, so SBS has
also dropped it. Also, people who already
have virus protection subscriptions won’t
like the inclusion of trial versions of Forefront
antivirus to protect Exchange and Windows
Live OneCare to protect the server. The good
news is that you can delete these during the
installation process and install your own
antivirus solutions.”
The biggest disappointment for Nick “is
the huge increase in price for SBS 2008. In
my opinion, this is a push to get customers
to sign up for Software Assurance, which
really isn’t where the majority of small businesses
want to be. SBS 2008 Standard is now
$1,089—a huge increase from SBS 2003,
which was $599. Although the CAL price
appears cheaper with SBS 2008, I see this
as a false perception because the CAL price
increased between SBS 2000 and SBS 2003.
However, I like the fact that you now have the
option of purchasing single SBS 2008 CALs.”
For Microsoft’s response to this point, see the
web-exclusive sidebar, “Microsoft’s Take on
SBS 2008 Pricing,”
InstantDoc ID 100271.
Susan believes the upgrade and migration
process “will probably be the biggest
hurdle for SBS 2008. Because Exchange 2007
requires 64-bit hardware, you can’t upgrade
in place from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008. You need
a unique answer file process to enable the
migration wizard, which is a combination of
automated tasks and step-by-step instructions
to guide you.”
Nick adds: “The migration process is certainly
better than in previous versions. The
product is well documented, and the wizards
are pretty intuitive. WSS migration is lacking
and requires that you install the new version
side by side with the old. Several consultants
have already suggested better alternatives for
migration.”
Some Improvement, Some Holes
Judging by Susan’s and Nick’s experience
with EBS and SBS, the Microsoft developers
got a lot right. But these MVPs also found
areas for improvement. If you’re considering
EBS or SBS, let us know what you think and
tell us your views and experiences with the
products.
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