Monday, June 30, 2008

SBS 2003 Management Tasks and Adding a Printer

Hello!
I am Harry Brelsford, the author of Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices (purple book). Each day - I am posting up several pages from my book for your pleasure and reading!
Today we discuss - management tasks and adding a printer to a Windows SBS 2003 network
Thanks mates!
harrybbbb, sbsc, mcse, mct, cne, clse, cnp and mba
Harry Brelsford CEO at SMB Nation www.smbnation.com
###
Management Tasks
The SBS development team drew a demarcation line between network tasks and management tasks to delineate the type of work you perform on the To Do List. Whereas the tasks performed above tend to be one-time in nature, the tasks that follow in this section, such as adding users and computers, might be repeated. Thus, the SBS development team created a “management” category.
Add a printer
What can I say. Adding a printer is all about adding the physical printer and publishing it to Active Directory. We’ll do so now because you might remember from Table 2-4 in Chapter 2 that SPRINGERS has a HP Color LaserJet 5M laser printer (with the share name of HP5).
1 Assuming you are still logged on as Administrator on the server machine SPRINGERS1, select Add a Printer from the To Do List.
2 Click Next at the Welcome to the Add Printer Wizard.
3 On the Local or Network Printer page, accept the default setting of Local printer attached to this computer. But please deselect Auto­matically detect or install my Plug and Play printer (in the real world, you might very well select that automatic detection option,

but under the SPRINGERS approach, let’s face it, we’re kinda play­ing make-believe here to learn the product). Click Next.

4. Select LPT1: (Recommended Printer Port) in the Use the follow­ing port: field on the Select a Printer Port page. Click Next.

5. On the Install Printer Software page, select HP under Manufac­turer and HP Color LaserJet 5M under Printers. Click Next.

6. On the Name Your Printer page, type HP5 in the Printer name field. Click Next.

7. Accept the default share name of HP5 on the Printer Sharing screen and click Next. This name was obviously extracted from the Name Your Printer page and in all cases has the 15-character NetBIOS naming limit.

8. Type Main Office in the Location field on the Location and Com­ment page and click Next.

9. Select No when asked if you want to print a test page on the Print Test Page. Click Next.

10. Click Finish on the Completing the Add Printer Wizard page. Note that there is no “here” link to add this information to your SBS net­work notebook I’m encouraging you to complete. Why, you ask? Because the Add Printer Wizard is not a native SBS wizard and thus doesn’t incorporate that functionality.

Add Users and Computers
Now for the good stuff. We’re going to add all of the users for SPRINGERS, using the new bulk capability to add users. This is different from SBS 2000 when users were added in a linear, one at a time fashion. Time is a wastin’, so let’s get started by first reviewing the time-tested tasks of preparing the workstation to be added to the network. After that, you’ll perform the actual step-by-step tasks to add users and computers and connect the client computer to the SBS 2003 network.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

SBS 2003: Activate Your Server and Add CALs

hi there - I am harry brelsford, author of the infamous SBS 2003 purple book and I am posting up a few pages per day until SBS 2008 ships.
Today we activate the SBS 2003 and add Client Access Licenses (CALs) - all from the amazing To DO List
cheers...harrybbb harry brelsford, ceo at smb nation, www.smbnation.com
###
Activate Your Server
In the real world, you would now click the Activate Your Server task on the To Do List and complete it. Because you are creating an imaginary network for SPRINGERS, let’s not do that and say we did! Seriously, when you make a second pass at your SBS network, you will, of course, complete this task.
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
Server activation can occur online or via the telephone. Server activation is required because your server will otherwise become inoperable 14 days after creation if it isn’t activated.
Add Client Licenses
Here again, in the real world, you’d likely add more client access licenses (CALs) in order to support the full staff at your small business site. Earlier I spoke to licensing and its improvements (purchase online, device and user CALs, etc.).
In the case of SPRINGERS, we’re gonna keep it simple and not dig deeper into your hip pocket to make you purchase CALs. Remember, this is a sample network to learn SBS 2003. Later, when you’re “live,” you’ll proceed to purchase the required CALs you need.
BEST PRACTICE: Now select the Done checkbox on the To Do List
for the two tasks discussed immediately above.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Configure Remote Access in SBS 2003 [Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best PRactices book excerpt]

Happy Friday readers! Harry Brelsford here, author of the infamous purple book! I am posting up a few pages per day of this book until SBS 2008 ships!
Today we discuss configuring remote access from the SBS 2003 TO DO LIST (what a computing paradigm eh?)
cheers...harrybbbb
harry brelsford, ceo at smb nation, www.smbnation.com
PS - check out our huge three-day fall conference in Seattle at the above URL
###
Configure Remote Access
Welcome back. Time for more step-by-step.
1 Click on the Configure Remote Access link.
2 Click Next at the Welcome to the Remote Access Wizard.
3 Verify that Enable remote access is selected and VPN access is

checked as shown in Figure 4-19. Click Next. Figure 4-19
This is the magic moment for facilitating VPN remote access.
4. On the VPN Server Name page, the Server name field is automati­cally populated with springers1.springersltd.com (this information was extracted from the EICW). After confirming you screen looks like Figure 4-20, click Next.
BEST PRACTICE: So, do you always have to VPN in via the FQDN you’re entering in Step 4 above? No! You can also ring up the SBS server machine by simply typing in the wild-side IP address to commence a VPN session. In the case of SPRINGERS, this would be
207.202.238.215.
Figure 4-20
You are defining the FQDN that allows access to the server over the Internet.
5. Click the “here” link on the Completing the Remote Access Wiz­ard and save the configuration as VPN.htm in the My Documents folder (similar to the steps you undertook at the end of the EICW). Click Finish. After a few minutes the remote access configuration process will be completed, at which time you will click Close.
BEST PRACTICE: Before you and I become forgetful, please select the Done boxes on the To Do List for the Connect to the Internet and Configure Remote Access tasks.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

MS Response POint SP1 released to manufacuring

Hey - it's on the way in early\mid-july!
This from MS itself:
Response Point SP1 RTM'ed today
When we started RP, our vision was simple: to provide a telephony solution so easy to use that every small business customer can set it up like connecting
When we started RP, our vision was simple: to provide a telephony solution so easy to use that every small business customer can set it up like connecting a printer to the PC. Today, we are moving one step closer to realize our vision by releasing to manufacturing Response Point Service Pack 1. Our OEM partners will bring SP1 to market next month.

SP1 not only improved RP 1.0's performance/quality but also added some very cool features such as VOIP gateway, Click to Call, and Call Presence etc. Never before was PBX this easy to manage.

cheers...harrybbbb
harry brlesford ceo smb nation www.smbnation.com

Worlds largest retirement party tomorrow night in SEattle

Guess they are keeping the lid onm this one for security purposes...but guess who is being treated to the world biggest retirement party in Seattle tomorrow night?

MS Research seeking Managed Services test subjects in Redmond

Call for Managed Service Providers

Microsoft User Research is looking for individuals from companies who provide proactive, outsourced IT services for multiple businesses; these services could include backing up data, installing patches, keeping AV software up-to-date, and management of other IT assets.

It is important for you to know that you do not need to prepare anything to participate. We want to learn from you, the experts, to determine what needs to be improved in our software. We highly value your feedback and will be offering you a gratuity option in appreciation of your time and participation.

If you are interested or know someone who could be interested in participating, please email us at itusable@microsoft.com and include MSP in the subject line. For information on other studies and to learn more about Microsoft's User Research program email us.

cheers...harrybbbb
harry brelsford, ceo at smb nation, www.smbnation.com

CEICW completion in SBS 2003

Hello loyal readers - today we complete the CEICW in SBS 2003. Thanks for reading.
Harrybbbbbb, author of Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices
Harry Brlesford SMB Nation www.smbnation.com
###
11. On the Web Server Certificate, select Create a new Web server cer­tificate and complete the Web server name field by typing springers1.springersltd.com. Your screen should look similar to Fig­ure 4-11.

Figure 4-11
Creating the full Internet name for external clients to receive security certification.
BEST PRACTICE: What you’ve done in Figure 4-11 is provide the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) that can be accessed directly over the Internet. Remember, you’ll need a resource record (“A” record) registered in the DNS at your ISP which points to the IP address of your wild side network adapter card to make the FQDN functional in this scenario. In the case of SPRINGERS, the IP address
207.202.238.215 would point to springers1. springersltd.com via an A record at the ISP. Whew!
Oh - another war story. Perhaps you completed the original online SBS 2003 hands-on lab that was released in mid-July 2003 with the release candidate software (microsoft.granitepillar.com/partners). In that hands-on lab, there was an exercise where you completed the EICW. On the Web Server Certificate page of the EICW, you configured the Web server name field with Denver.wood­grovebank.local. So what’s wrong with that picture? The *.local domain extension as part of your FQDN entry can’t be referenced externally. So that would be a mistake. One way that you could satisfy your own curiosity about this matter would be to click the More Information button. The first sentence that describes the first option (Create a new Web server certificate) spells it out clearly by saying “...access your server from the Internet.”).

12. Select Enable Internet e-mail on the Internet E-mail page and click Next.

13. Select Use DNS to route e-mail on the E-mail Delivery Method page and click Next. This is the most common setting when using Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP)-based e-mail, and it is indeed part of the SPRINGERS story line.

Notes:
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
14. On the E-mail Retrieval Method page, select Use Exchange and verify that E-mail is delivered directly to my server. Click Next. This is shown in Figure 4-12.
Figure 4-12
In the case of SPRINGERS and in the real world, you typically have your e-mail delivered directly to the SBS server machine.
Notes:
15. On the E-mail Domain Name page, type springersltd.com in the E-mail domain name field. This is shown in Figure 4-13.
BEST PRACTICE: Here again, if you took the online SBS 2003 hands-on lab available after mid-July 2003 (microsoft.granitepillar.com/ partners), you might recall that you were instructed on the E-mail Domain Name screen to enter a third-tier domain name (e.g., denver.woodgrovebank.com). There is a problem with this instruction in that you only want to enter a second-tier domain name (e.g., woodgrovebank.com).
Figure 4-13
Enter springersltd.com for the register Internet e-mail domain name.
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16. On the Remove E-mail Attachments page, confirm that Enable Exchange Server to remove Internet e-mail attachments that have the following extensions. Then observe that all of the file name extensions are selected. This is shown in Figure 4-14. Click Next.
Figure 4-14
This is a really cool new feature in SBS 2003: the ability to block harmful e-mail attachments!
BEST PRACTICE: Exactly what are these harmful e-mail attachments, anyway? And how are they blocked? Are the attachments blocked on POP3 e-mail in addition to SMTP e-mail? The answers to all your questions can be found by clicking the More Information button on the Remove E-mail Attachments page. Take a moment to do that now.
17. On the Completing the Configure E-mail and Internet Connec­tion Wizard page, click the link at the bottom titled here. You will proceed to create a network notebook.
18. As seen in Figure 4-15, a Web page displaying the EICW configura­tion information appears when you select the “here” link in the prior step. Select File, Save As and save the file as EICW Configura­tion.htm in the default location (My Documents). Click Save.
BEST PRACTICE: A few comments about this “network notebook” capability in the SBS 2003. First, major hats off to the SBS development team for adding this capability, because every SBS and SMB consultant I know worth their salt has always wanted to do a better job of documenting their network! More important, if you’re the second SBS consultant at a customer’s site, you’ll be mighty appreciative if your predecessor had taken the time to perform this type of documentation.
Second, at the end of any native SBS 2003 wizard, you are presented with a “here” link to facilitate the creation of this network notebook. So, no excuses for not taking an extra moment to literally click “here” and document that network!
Third, look at the default naming in Figure 4-15 below. Notice it’s a sorta hokey looking file name. That’s why you rename the file to be more descriptive in Step 18 above. Fourth, you’re going to plop all of these network notebook files in a folder that becomes your de facto notebook binder.
Oh - you can still follow my advice from my prior book (Small Business Server 2000 Best Practices) and simply select the configuration information via your mouse on the completion page (Step 17) by typing CTRL-C to copy it to the operating system clipboard and then selecting CTRL-V to paste it into a text document (say in WordPad).
Notes:
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
Figure 4-15
Displaying network configuration information.

19. Close the Web page displaying the configuration information and click Finish back on the completion page. The EICW configuration process will take several minutes. Click Close at the end of the con­figuration process.

20. A dialog box will appear notifying you that password policies have not been enabled on the network. Let’s go ahead and do that now, so click Yes.

Notes:
21. Select all checkboxes on the Configure Password Policies dialog
box (Figure 4-16) and click OK. Figure 4-16
Implementing meaningful password policies reflects security improvements in SBS 2003.
22. Click OK when notified that your server is connected to the Internet and immediately apply the latest critical and security updates. This is a great reminder and much appreciated. In the real world, you would do exactly what is being suggested (with SPRINGERS, I’m assum­ing you’re building this on a test network possibly without a real Internet connection, so please make the necessary adjustments). When you click OK, Internet Explorer will attempt to connect to the Microsoft update site. In the case of SPRINGERS (assuming you aren’t truly connected to the Internet) simply close the Web page. I discuss the updating process in Chapter 5.
BEST PRACTICE: By the way (BTW), if you launch Internet Explorer on the SBS 2003 server machine (SPRINGER1) prior to launching and completing the EICW, you will see the Web page displayed in
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.
Figure 4-17. Interestingly, it is a Web page describing the process of
how to complete the EICW.
Figure 4-17
Internet Explorer encourages you to complete the EICW when you first launch it on an SBS 2003 server machine.
Notes:
After your run the EICW, the default Web page programmatically changes to CompanyWeb, as seen in Figure 4-18. Note that it’ll take a moment the first time you launch Internet Explorer post-EICW, as some background page-building activity will occur.
Figure 4-18
Post-EICW, the default Web page becomes CompanyWeb.
It’s been a long haul so far in this chapter, and we’ve got a long way to go. Take a break and I’ll see you back here after a cup of coffee.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Connect To The Internet with SBS 2003 (The TO DO LIST) [book excerpt]

howdy y'all - I am harry brelsford, author of Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best PRactices and the CEO of SMB Nation (www.smbnation.com).
I am posting up a few pages per day of my book until SBS 2008 ships!
Today we work further into the Connect to the Internet option on the SBS 2003 To Do List.
cheers....harrybbbb
PS - did I forget to mention we have a three-day conference in Seattle this October featuring SBS 2008? :)
###
Connect to the Internet
Continuing our way down the list, we actually have to “pause” on the list in the case of SPRINGERS, because we have a second network adapter card installed on our server machine that needs to be configured. You’ll recall that two network adapter cards were present back when you installed SBS 2003 in Chapter 3. To configure the network adapter card, before continuing with the Connect to the Internet link, please perform the following tasks.
1 Log on as Administrator on SPRINGERS1 with the password Husky9999! and click the Start button.
2 Click Control Panel, Network Connections and select Network Connection. This is the second network adapter card because the primary local network adapter card is called Server Local Area Con­nection by default. A Network Connection box will appear inform­ing you the card is being enabled.
3 When notified by another Network Connection dialog box that the network adapter card can be configured by the E-mail and Internet Connection Wizard, click Cancel to not launch such a wizard, and allow the network adapter card to be configured manually.

BEST PRACTICE: So exactly what gives in Step #3 immediately above? Here’s the deal. If you click Yes in the prior step, the E-mail and Internet Connection Wizard starts as you would expect. Then, when you get to the fourth screen of said wizard, the darn second network adapter card has been automatically enabled to receive its IP address dynamically. Truth be told by me to you, but it’s unlikely in most cases that you’d want to acquire your IP address dynamically on the wild-side NIC (aka second network adapter card). Rather, you are far more likely to input a static IP address that your Internet Service Provider (ISP) gave to you for use on your SBS 2003 network. And that’s the scoop, mates!
4. This is where the strange get weird. You’ve clicked Cancel, which killed the process underway from the steps above. Please repeat Step #2 again to select the Network Connection from the Network
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Connections option in Control Panel. The Network Connection Status dialog box will appear.
1 Click Properties. Network Connection Properties will appear.
2 Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties.
3 Complete the General tab of the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Prop­erties sheet to reflect the following information (as shown in Figure 4-4). IP address is 207.202.238.215, Subnet Mask address is

255.255.255.0 and the Default Gateway address is 207.202.238.1. Make the Preferred DNS server 209.20.130.35 and make the Alter­nate DNS server 209.20.130.33. Click OK.
Figure 4-4
Correctly configuring the second network adapter card for the SPRINGERS SBS network.
Note on page 4-21 I will explain how the Preferred DNS server field is reset to
192.168.16.2 by the EICW overriding your settings in Step #7 above.
8. Click Close twice (to return to your desktop).
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It’s now time to configure the e-mail and Internet connectivity capabilities in SBS 2003. Perform the following:
1 Click Connect to the Internet from the To Do List in Server Management.
2 The Welcome to the Configure E-mail and Internet Connection Wizard page appears. Take a moment to read about the information that is required to complete this wizard by clicking on the Required Information for Connecting to the Internet link (then close the help screen that appears). Click Next.
3 On the Connection Type screen, select Broadband and click Next as seen in Figure 4-5.

Figure 4-5
Select the Broadband choice on the Connection Type screen.
1 Select A direct broadband connection beneath My server uses: on the Broadband Connection page. Click Next. See Figure 4-6.
2 On the Network Connection page that appears, confirm that the ISP network connection reflects Network Connection with the IP address

of 207.202.238.215. Confirm the Local area network connection re­flects the IP address of 192.168.16.2. This is shown in Figure 4-7. Click Next.
Figure 4-6
You will select a direct broadband connection for SPRINGERS.
Notes:
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Figure 4-7
Take an extra moment to confirm your page looks like this figure. This is where you define the local area network connection (the “inside”) and the outside Internet network connection (the “wild side”).
6. The Direct Broadband Connection page appears. Confirm your screen looks similar to Figure 4-8 and click Next.
Notes:
Figure 4-8
The bottom three fields are editable on the Direct Broadband Connection page.
BEST PRACTICE: So even though my advanced SBS 2003 book won’t be out until mid-2004, a few gurus are reading this book and might ask this question after reviewing the Direct Broadband Connection page in the EICW: “Why do you accept the ISP DNS IP address settings and not point it back to 192.168.16.2 to utilize the DNS service in SBS 2003 as a well-known TechNet article states?” The same question was asked by an angry student whom we’ll call Jeff in Dallas, Texas, at a late-September 2003 SBS 2003 hands-on lab. Turns out Jeff thought he was being duped by the EICW because he wanted to point the wild-side NCI cards back to the DNS of
192.168.16.2. Fair enough. But Jeff, you might be surprised to know that the EICW does this internal referral thingy after running, because it’s the darn EICW that configures the DNS in SBS for forwarding out to the ISP’s DNS servers.
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1 Select Enable firewall on the Firewall page and Click Next.
2 On the Services Configuration page, select E-mail, Virtual Pri­vate Networking (VPN) and Terminal Services, and FTP. This is part of the SPRINGERS methodology and something you might not do for every customer site in the real world. Your screen should look similar to Figure 4-9. Click Next.

BEST PRACTICE: When you select the VPN-related checkbox, you’ll receive a notice that the server is not configured for remote access through VPN. You will further be advised that you’ll need to run the Remote Access Wizard in order to do this. This message is normal, helpful, and actually points to the very next link on the To Do List that you and I will complete for SPRINGERS in the next section.
Figure 4-9
Selecting what services will be accessible via the Internet.
The Web Services Configuration page appears. This is where you’ll select which Web services are externally accessible. In the case of SPRINGERS, we’ll select the radio button titled Allow access to only

the following Web site services from the Internet and select every­thing EXCEPT Business Web site (wwwroot) and click Next. This has effectively selected all of the checkboxes you see in Figure 4-10.
Figure 4-10
Completing the Web Services Configuration page.
BEST PRACTICE: Call it a case of Miami madness or “mean season” malfeasance, but there I was delivering the SBS 2003 hands-on lab in Miami, Florida in early October 2003 and being blamed by a student that an exercise involving Remote Web Workplace didn’t work. How could this be? If you look closely in Figure 4-10, the default settings on the Web Services Configuration page include the Outlook Web Access and the Remote Web Workplace screen. What gives here?
The student didn’t append the URL with /remote. You’ll learn more in Chapters 8 and 10 on this topic.
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And now for the rest of the story. Microsoft and I agree that you do not want to expose your root page to the Internet - EVER - unless you are going to host a Web site. Because the SPRINGERS methodology does not include Web site hosting, you’ve made the correct selections in Figure 4-10.

10. Approve the dialog box that advises you that the site will be acces­sible via the Internet. To do this, click Yes.

Watch Redmond - it is late June

Hey - it is late June in Redmond and you know what that means. A flood of reorganization announcements, *retirements* and departures for personal reasons :)

Stay tuned...the fun is only starting!

harrybbbbb
Harry Brelsford
CEO at SMB Nation
www.smbnation.com

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

SBS 2003 To DO List explored [Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices book excerpt]

howdy - i am harry brelsford (ceo, smb nation at www.smbnation.com) and I am the author of the infamous SBS 2003 purple book. I am posting up a few pages per day until the SBS 2008 product ships - so enjoy in good health.
Today we start our journey to look at the famous To Do List in SBS 2003 and review the Security Best Practices link.
cheers...harrybbbbb
###
To Do List: In Order!
So with the finer points of Server Management console behind us, it’s time to get down tonight! Let’s start by planning the SBS 2003 Methodology ballad. Few things in the deployment of SBS exemplify the notion that SBS is a ready-made network in a box (or SMB consulting practice in a box for us consultants) than the existence and brilliance of the To Do List. We’ll spend tons of time walking through the To Do List here.
But back to the brilliance part. The To Do List has been engineered to be your deployment approach for all of the SBS servers you’ll ever install. You start at the top and work your way to the bottom. This structured approach, whether you install one or 1000 SBS server machines, should be honored. Don’t be like a Boeing IT employee here in Seattle who likes to say, while installing SBS 2003 at her church over a weekend, “I don’t use the To Do List or the Server Management console at Boeing, so we’re not going to use it here on this holy site!” Such pompous thinking is truly short-sighted in successfully deploying SBS 2003 and can result in an unsatisfactory outcome. But BY FOLLOWING THE TO DO LIST, you can be assured of a positive outcome each and every time when you set up SBS 2003. You heard this breaking news here first!
So that said, let’s start at the top and work down the To Do List. You’ll start by noticing the To Do List is divided into Network Tasks and Management Tasks. That’s because the SBS development team, in its wisdom, determined that folks wanted to see it play out that way with task sets divided between network and management.
BEST PRACTICE: Note that you and I will indeed complete the To Do List in order as part of the SPRINGERS methodology. You would expect this. However, I don’t have to walk through the entire To Do List in this chapter; instead, I’ll take you through the first seven links. I leave the Configure Fax, Configure Monitoring, and Configure Backup links to be completed in order in later chapters.
Remember the mantra, mates: Always complete the To Do List in order!
Network Tasks
There are five items under Network Tasks on the To Do List that we’ll walk through right now.
View Security Best Practices
Talk about a future book! You could clearly write a thick tome on security on small business networks, but I’ll leave that for another day. Rather, I point you to this link as a “primer” on top-of-mind security best practices to consider as you move forth in deploying your SBS network. In fact, it’d be good to visit this link with each SBS server you deploy so that you don’t overlook a security best practice. When you select View Security Best Practices, you’ll read details on the following 16 topics:

1. Protecting your network from the Internet by using a firewall

2. Configuring password policies

3. Configuring secure remote access to the network

4. Renaming the Administrator account

5. Implementing an antivirus solution

6. Managing backups

7. Updating your software

8. Running security tools

9. Granting access permissions

10. Educating users

11. Not using your Windows Small Business Server as a workstation

12. Physically securing the server

13. Limiting user disk space

14. Keeping up-to-date on security information

15. Auditing failed logon events and account lockouts

16. Using monitoring tools

BEST PRACTICE: Regarding item #13 above, you would want to know that SBS 2003 implements a disk quota for users in the Add User Wizard. Specifically, for a user the disk space is limited to 1024 MB and a warning is sent at 900 MB. This can be manually modified later.
When you complete reading this list, please close the Small Business Server Help and Information screen that is open and return to the To Do List. Check
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the Done box next to View Security Best Practices (you check off each To Do List item as its completed, which is a nice touch!).

Monday, June 23, 2008

Power User Console in Windows Small Business Server 2003 [sbs 2003 book excerpt]

hi - I am harry brlesford and the author of Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices (SBS 2003). My goal is to post a few pages per day of my book for you to read and have the entire thing posted by the time SBS 2008 ships.
Today we discuss the Power USer Console!
cheers....harrybbbb Harry Brelsford, CEO at SMB NAtion, www.smbnation.com
###
Power User Console
And just when you thought they’d taken away the Personal Console from SBS 2000 days, I have news for you. If you really must have your “Personal Console,” which is a dumbed-down version of Server Management called Server Management for Power Users, you can find it at the following location:
%System Drive%\Program Files\Microsoft Windows Small Business Server\
Administration\mysbsconsole.msc Personal console, I mean Server Management for Power Users, is automatically launched when a Power User logs on remotely via Terminal Services to perform server management tasks (this is shown in Figure 4-3). Note the Power User is totally locked into using Server Management for Power Users. If said Power User closes this console, they are immediately logged off the SBS server machine. Period.
Figure 4-3
A power user at SPRINGERS logs on to perform server-related work and uses
Server Management for Power Users.
Visit www.microsoft.com/technet for the latest updates for any Microsoft product.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Advanced Management Console in SBS 2003 [Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Book Excerpt]

hey-hey - I am harry brelsford, ceo of SMB Nation and the author of Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices. Each day, I am posting up heaps of my infamous purple book until SBS 2008 ships!
Today we discuss the advanced management console (MMC-based) in SBS 2003!
cheers….harrybbbb
Harry Brelsford, CEO SMB Nation, www.smbnation.com
###
Advanced Management
It is under Advanced Management that the “native tools” you need to interact with SBS 2003 are exposed. For those of you who worked with SBS in the 4.x era, you’ll recall that it was more difficult to utilize the native tools (and some native tools even crippled SBS 4.x!). That, of course, changed in the last two SBS releases, wherein native tools are placed front and center for your benefit. The components of Advanced Management, as listed on the left panel of Figure 4-2, are described below.
Figure 4-2
The focus in this figure is the Advanced Management components.
• Active Directory Users and Computers. Ah, every MCSE certifica­tion candidate has likely committed to memory this tool that is the primary interface for managing objects in Active Directory such as users and groups.
BEST PRACTICE: A hands-on lab instructor for whom I have the utmost respect has an interesting take on Active Directory Users and Computers. He believes that it is the primary approach to managing the messaging function on a server computer with Exchange Server 2003 installed. What? I’ll explain this more in Chapter 6, but take a moment to look at the Exchange-related tabs that appear when you view a user object in Active Directory Users and Computers when you’ve selected Advanced Features under the View menu. You’ll see four Exchange-related tabs. Then ask yourself where you do most of your Exchange-related management on a day-to-day basis. I do believe you’ll agree that you do it here, pardner!
• Group Policy Management. Remember that paradigm d’etre we dis­cussed earlier about support for client computer configuration? Yep! That is again manifested by the Group Policy Management page.
• Computer Management (Local). Lots of great reasons to get to know this object, including the ability to manage your hard disks and start and stop services. I’ll explore this tool more in Chapter 11.
• First Organization (Exchange)/SPRINGERSLTD (Exchange). This is System Manager in Exchange Server 2003, where I can’t deny many Exchange-related tasks are performed. Let’s hold off further discus­sion until Chapter 6.
• POP3 Connector Manager. Hail to Charlie, a senior member of the SBS development team who owns the POP3 Connector Manager in SBS 2003. This allows you to download e-mails from POP3 servers (typically located at your ISP). This is discuss more in Chapter 6.
• Terminal Services Configuration. This tool could be used to modify the default Terminal Services configuration in SBS 2003 (which is in Remote Administration Mode). I’ll discuss Terminal Services more in Chapter 11.

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• Internet Information Services. Yes - Internet Information Services (IIS) is alive and well in SBS 2003 and the focus in Chapter 10, so I’ll wait until then to dive into the details.
• Migrate Server Settings. This page brings together all the cool settings you can migrate between SBS 2003 servers. This would, of course, benefit an SBM/SBS consultant who has perfect settings that he wants to easily share with customers. More on these settings in Chapter 11 and 12.

BEST PRACTICE: For a real good time, look at the menu shortcuts in the Server Management console. Click Favorites from the upper toolbar and look at the Standard Management and Advanced Management menu items. You might be surprised by what you see, such as the Sessions and Open Files items.
BEST PRACTICE: Don’t forget that the Server Management console in SBS 2003 is based on Microsoft Management Console (MMC)
2.0 and that customization is possible. How? Simply place the Server Management console in Author mode and add a snap-in, such as the SQL Server Enterprise Manager. The location of the Server Manager console on which you would want to perform your modifications is:
%System Drive%\Program Files\Microsoft Windows Small Business Server\Administration\itprosbsconsole.msc
You would right-click the above file and select Author from the secondary menu to make your edits.
By the way, a little SBS culture here. Really, really early looks of SBS 2003 had the console being based on SharePoint technologies (e.g., Windows SharePoint Services). But in the final product, it’s all MMC 2.0, baby!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Standard Management Console - SBS 2003 [book excerpt]

Harry brelsford here, author of Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best PRactices and just posting up more of my book for you, the reader. My goal is to have the entire book posted by the time SBS 2008 ships!
harrybbbb
Harry Brelsford, ceo at smb nation www.smbnation.com
Standard Management
Consider this both the “noun” and the “verb” of the Server Management console. The objects listed here are “things” you do such as faxing. What’s important to understand here is that you are not exposed to the application name at this time (e.g., Exchange). Microsoft has, in its wisdom that I respect here, elected to be task-oriented, such as Backup (i.e., Backup is something that we “do”). The components of Standard Management are described below.
• To Do List. This is covered in extensive detail in the next section but cuts to the heart of the SBS 2003 deployment methodology. Read on whilst I write on.
• Information Center. This is your SBS portal for seeking help or more information. You can click over to Microsoft update site, view internal documentation, click over to the SBS public product Web site at Microsoft and commence an online technical support request.
• Internal Web Site. This allows you to manage your Windows SharePoint Services internal Web site. I’ll feature many of the links on this page in Chapter 7.
• Fax (Local). This obviously relates to the SBS 2003 faxing function which is awesome. I cover this area in Chapter 9.
• Monitoring and Reporting. Covered in more detail in Chapter 12, this relates to configuring the Server Status Report and the Health Monitor tool in SBS 2003.
• Internet and E-mail. This is the page for all matters related to Internet connectivity and e-mail. We’ll spend some time here in Chapters 6 and 10.
• Shares (Local). Not surprisingly, this page displays the folders that are shared on the SBS server including administrative (hidden) shares that end with the dollar sign ($) in the share name. I’ll mention it in Chapter 11 again, but be advised that the View Connected Users on this page is the easiest way to discover who is currently logged on the network.

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• Backup. WOW! Much improved in SBS 2003, this is where the backup and data protection experience commences. Lots of discussion on this in Chapter 11.
• Licensing. A few changes here that I think you’ll like. No longer is client access licensing information hidden on an “About...” dialog box (as it was in SBS 2000). No sir! It’s now presented front and center on the Manage Client Access Licenses from the Licensing link.

BEST PRACTICE: Client Access Licenses (CALs) have really changed in SBS 2003. First, there are two types of CALs: devices and users. Long-time SBSers are familiar with device-based management, where a certain number of client computers are allowed on the network (say 55 PCs based on the number of CALs you have purchased for the SBS 2003 network).
User-based licensing is new to us SBSers and might be implemented under a scenario where device-based licensing doesn’t make sense. For example, imagine a small software development company with ten employees using SBS 2003. Each employee has four PCs for development and testing purposes (for a total of 40 devices). Here the customer is better off by using the user-based licensing and purchasing ten CALs.
So you want more licensing chatter? You can mix and match device and user-based licensing to optimize the amount of bucks you drop on CALs, pardner! And remember that the licensing model is EXACTLY THE SAME as Windows Server 2003 which helped me when I had to learn about SBS 2003 licensing and then proceed to go out and give speeches on it. So in addition to the licensing discussion found at the main SBS 2003 Web page (from the Information Center link above), you are highly encouraged to view the traditional Windows Server 2003 CAL licensing discussion at www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/howtobuy/licensing/ caloverview.mspx.
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Other licensing tidbits include the online purchase of CALs and the elimination of the CAL licensing diskette (thank you). You purchase CALs by the five pack (as was the case in the SBS 2000 time frame).
Note in my advanced SBS 2003 book, due mid-2004, I’ll delve deep into the depths of SBS licensing, but for the purposes of this book and SPRINGERS, this is far enough for now! Also be advised that I won’t have you add more CALs to the SPRINGERS network as part of this step-by-step book (even though you add ten users later in the chapter). That’s because I never have you log on more than one user at a time as we work through this SBS tome.
• Users. This link displays the Manage Users page where much of the support and configuration for users can occur.
• Client Computers. This link displays the Manage Client Computers page.

BEST PRACTICE: Aside from your performing client computer management duties here, this is the one place that you can start the Setup Computer Wizard (SCW) natively without having to rerun the Add User Wizard (to which the SCW is chained). Huh? Say that again and don’t use ten dollar words?!?! Okay - what I meant to say is that if you have a user, let’s call her “Sally,” and she purchases a new HP laptop, you really only want to run the SCW to add existing user Sally’s new HP laptop. You don’t need to run Add User Wizard to get to the SCW to configure Sally’s new HP laptop. If this still doesn’t make sense, it will later in the life of SBS when users start to replace client computers. Trust me.
BEST PRACTICE: Each release of SBS has a “paradigm” combined with a “raison d’etre” (which I’ll call a “paradigm d’etre”). In the first releases, SBS was the BackOffice bundle at a competitive price. The SBS 2000 time frame had “server-side stability” as its reason for being. SBS 2003 has a couple of paradigm shifts and I’ll share one here: client computer setup. Here’s what I mean. In the SBS 2000
time frame, there was such an emphasis on the server-side that the client computers were much ignored. The damn Define Computer Applications link from the SBS 2000 To Do List basically didn’t work. And the SBS 2000 To Do List and consoles didn’t natively take advantage of Group Policy Objects (GPOs). That’s all changed in SBS 2003 where client computer setup, configuration, and management received much attention! The results show.
I’ll share another SBS 2003 paradigm d’etre in just a moment.
• Server Computers. This is the interface for the management of server computers.
BEST PRACTICE: There is nothing like timing in business. As I was writing this chapter, I was working with my client, a cardiology clinic, who wanted to move to SBS 2003. In the planning phase, the managing doctor (that’s Dr. Paul to you) held the belief that SBS can be the only server on the network. Such is not the case, as you have member servers and even other domain controllers on the network (as I discussed earlier in Chapter 1). However, you can have only one SBS 2003 server machine on the network.
So, assuming you might have additional server computers on an SBS 2003 network, how might you manage them? From the Server Computers link we’re discussing right here, right now!
• Printers. Printers are printers (what can I say?). Once the primary rea­son we even had networks in small businesses (to share printers), print­ers are managed here. This is also where you manage the fax device that we treat like a printer.
• Distribution Groups. You use distribution groups to send e-mail to a specific set of people. By default, everyone you add to the SBS net­work will appear in the default distribution group named after the information you provided in the Organization field in Figure 3-4

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earlier in this book (when you were in the GUI-based phase of the Windows Server 2003 setup). In the case of SPRINGERS, the default distribution group would be called Springer Spaniels Limited.
• Security Groups. This relates to grouping users together for the pur­pose of granting permissions. For example, the folks in the bookkeep­ing department might belong to a security group called Accounting that has specific permissions related to the Timberline accounting folder. Please click over and view all the security groups created by default in SBS 2003. (Hint: There should be 22 security groups by default which would make a great exam question.)
BEST PRACTICE: You might not have known that security groups are actually e-mail enabled by default in SBS 2003. You would care about this because, for instance, the Accounting security group example I mention above might be the same group of people whom you want to receive an important e-mail about a Timberline accounting upgrade, etc., and you wouldn’t need to plop all these folks in a new distribution group to accomplish this. Rather, you could simply e-mail the security group (which should be security@springersltd.com by default once you create such a security group).
• User Templates. User templates are really nothing more than a disabled user account that has certain settings you want to easily apply to new user accounts you are creating. Each of the templates is self-explana­tory by reading the Description field on the Manage Templates page that appears. However, what is interesting is the addition of the Mobile User Template to provide remote access support for worthy users.
BEST PRACTICE: Time for another paradigm d’etre! So another big deal in SBS 2003 is the support for mobile worker bees. The Mobile User Template is only the start of how this paradigm d’etre plays out, and I continue the mobility discussion in Chapter 8.
BEST PRACTICE: Around when SBS 2003 was being released in October 2003, I was teaching a hands-on lab in Orange County, California, when a student, totally enthusiastic about SBS 2003, asked if he could fine-tune a user template on his SBS 2003 network and then deploy it in its exact form at his customer SBS network sites. That is, suppose he sold a customer relationship management (CRM) application that required specific settings, could it be created once and cloned over to his customer base? The answer is yes. You’d create a user template on the master network and use the Export Templates link (to launch the Export Templates Wizard) and get the configuration out to a floppy disk (the export function assumes Drive
A: by default) or a USB hard disk key (my favorite approach to transfer information in the 21st century!).
To import the user template at the customer site, just reverse the process - click the Import Templates link and complete the Import Templates Wizard.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Chatper 4: SBS 2003 deployment tools (book excerpt)

hey gang - I am harry brelsford (ceo at smbnation at www.smbnation.com) and the author of Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best PRactices. I am posting up a few pages a day until SBS 2008 ships!
Today we start chapter four and get into the SBS 2003 management console. Something all Small Business Specialists (SBSC) can related to and use!
harrybbbbb
###
Chapter 4 SBS 2003 Deployment and Management Tools
Congratulations to you, good friends! You’re well on your way to a completed, functional, and optimally performing SBS 2003 network. But a few important deployment and management tasks remain, including completing the items on the To Do List and discovering the powers of the Server Management console. This task area shouldn’t be marginalized. Whereas you possibly performed the SBS 2003 server machine setup out of sight (and hearing range) from your end users, you don’t have that same luxury with the final deployment tasks and the workstation setup phase you are about to undertake. Your role will be very public, and so will the users’ feedback. So, slow down, pardner, and take the extra time needed to get it right.
BEST PRACTICE: Let me take a moment to reiterate a key point to our time together in the SBS tome. As you work through this and other chapters, understand that the book is based on the SPRINGERS methodology (the sample SBS client based on Bainbridge Island, Washington).
The idea is that you spend the time upfront with this book creating a successful SBS network for a sample company following every keystroke in every chapter. It is paramount you try to follow through with each example and task. At the end of the book, you’re a bona fide SBSer as far as I’m concerned. I also understand that your real world SBS experience will be slightly different from mine with my beloved dogs. You’ll work on different equipment under different conditions. In fact, Microsoft reports that the majority of SBS sales
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are international, so you’re likely setting up SBS in a different country than I or my Springer Spaniels live in. (And, by golly, perhaps your country favors different breeds of dogs - cool!)
More important, where possible I try to compare and contrast different SBS features and functions, but sometimes I’ll bypass some esoteric alternative path to accomplish a task in the spirit of maintaining the purity of my SPRINGERS methodology. All I can say is that some excellent advanced resources that explore every conceivable SBS feature and function, starting with the online help system, exist for your academic researching pleasure. Thanks in advanced for your understanding (and no flames on Amazon, please, as I’ve taken this moment to manage your expectations). Long live SPRINGERS!
Meet Server Management Console
Microsoft has changed (okay - improved) the management console concept in SBS 2003 compared to prior SBS releases. What has occurred is that, based on experience and tons of feedback from SBSers like you, strong emphasis is placed on completing all network deployment and management tasks from the Server Management console, which is displayed in Figure 4-1.
Notes:
Figure 4-1
Meet the Server Management console. Play nice as you’ll be using this interface forever more to manage your SBS-based network.
In a past SBS book, I took tens of pages to describe the SBS console in its various forms and functionality. But in writing these words, I discovered I can quickly convey what the console is all about in far fewer pages, a true testament to the SBS development team trying to simplify the console experience for the SBSer. I liken it to this. I can now describe the Server Management console in a short elevator ride. Let’s now take that elevator ride together as I present the Server Management console by discussing its two major divisions: Standard Management and Advanced Management.
Notes:

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Troubleshooting the SBS 2003 Setup - book excerpt

Today we complete chapter 3 of the Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices book with a quick look at troubleshooting the SBS 2003 setup process. As you may recall - I am posting up my book, a few pages per day, unitl SBS 2003 ships!
harrybbbb
Harry Brelsford CEO at smb nation www.smbnation.com
###
Troubleshooting Setup Errors
In your career as an SBS professional, you will possibly have occasion to troubleshoot setup errors. These errors come out of left field, but the Readme.htm document contained on Small Business Server 2003 Setup Disc 1 discusses a surprisingly large number of setup errors and the suggested resolution steps (I discuss this document early in this chapter). Hats off to the SBS development team for shipping this timely resource in time!
You may also want to consult the SBS resources listed in Appendix A to stay current with SBS 2003 setup issues. Heck, don’t hesitate to throw in your own two cents in the discussion group and news list (listserv) mentioned.
And consider simply rerunning the SBS setup, as I discussed earlier, as your first line of attack in curing a problem.
BEST PRACTICE: And don’t forget that a book is outdated the day I type its final words. The technology world changes quickly and you’ll want to visit the Microsoft TechNet page to stay current with all the latest and updated knowledge related to SBS 2003. So no flames, masking as reader replies on Amazon.com, saying that my book doesn’t discuss some future issue you encounter in the Year 2005 with SBS 2003.
Summary
As you reach the end of the SBS server machine setup and installation discussion, remember to go forward keeping a healthy perspective. Often I witness SBS professionals spending hours troubleshooting some setup- or installation-related problem. In many cases, that is not a good use of time. Remember that it often takes less than three hours to do a complete SBS server machine reinstall. Believe me, I’ve done plenty of fresh SBS installs and come out hours ahead. Just a thought!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

SBS 2003 To DO List and Advacned Setup Issues (book excerpt from Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices book

hi - I am harry brlesford, author of the Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices book and I am posting up the SBS 2003 book a few pages per day until SBS 2008 ships! Today we discuss the TO DO LIST and a couple of advacned setup issues!!!
harrybbbb
Harry Brelsford, CEO at SMB Nation, www.smbnation.com
###
The To Do List Lives!
After you successfully log on for the first time, the SBS To Do List, on a page titled “Complete the configuration” shown in Figure 3-27 automatically appears. Figure 3-27
To Do List is your starting point for the SBS deployment experience.
BEST PRACTICE: Also at this stage, a “balloon” appears in the lower right advising you to configure the Internet connection for your server. This is the second link on the To Do List titled “Connect to the Internet,” which we’ll do in just a moment. You may close the lower left balloon.
In the Chapter 4 I pick up the SBS deployment process using the SPRINGERS methodology. You will also complete the To Do List and learn about the Server Management console.
Advanced SBS Setup Issues
After you’ve installed SBS several times, you’ll likely recognize many of the following advanced SBS setup issues. It’s also likely you’ll see a thing or two not mentioned here. If so, be sure to share your wisdom with some of the SBS newsgroups and mailing lists listed in Appendix A, “SBS Resources.” Let’s face it—SBS is an evolving culture (oh, and an evolving product too), so you’ll some day, some way, have something to share with the SBS community.
OEM Setup Scenario
Microsoft is perhaps most proud in the SBS 2003 time frame of its improvements to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Prenstallation Kit (OPK). SBS 2003 can be set up out of the box in about 15 minutes because of an Active Directory improvement that allows for renaming the computer and domain post-SBS installation. Needless to say, this might change how you view SBS 2003’s deployment both as a customer and a consultant. See you in Appendix E where I discuss the OEM approach more (with screenshots!).
BEST PRACTICE: Okay—last mention of my SMB Consulting Best Practices book, but I truly go into the consulting ramifications of the shorter SBS 2003 setup cycle in said text and how to make money at it as an SMB/SBS consultant. ‘Nough said!
One Source for Source Media
Two topics, not part of the detailed SPRINGERS methodology, are nonetheless of interest to the SBSer. First, you can copy all four SBS 2003 CD Discs to a partition on your server (e.g., Drive D) and perform the installation from this location. Why would you do this? Because this prevents you from having to swap the discs during the later steps of the SBS setup process. And just how did I learn this, you ask? Let’s just say necessity is the mother of invention. When developing a training course whereby students would actually perform the installation, I concluded that the SBS 2003 source installation files should be located on a second partition. Why? Because this prevented delays in the class when students forgot to swap discs (e.g., students take a coffee break and the machine simply waits for the next disc). Also, hard disk input/output (I/O) is
significantly faster than CD disc I/O, resulting in a faster, in-class SBS installation experience. (This is important when you’re trying to teach SBS 2003 in a one-day course format, let me tell you!)
Second, if your server is a late-model cream puff, to borrow terms from the automotive industry, you might be able to use the DVD media that ships with SBS 2003. This single DVD disc contains all of the SBS source installation media at a single source. Unfortunately, most of my small business clients don’t drive such cream puffs, but you get the point here: A late model server machine may well have a DVD device installed, saving setup time.
The Exchange Server 2003 Pre-Prep Maneuver
Another hidden hook in the SBS 2003 setup process is to save time in the later steps by “pre-preparing” Active Directory for Exchange Server 2003. You may recall that one of the longest phases in the later part of the SBS 2003 setup process was the amount of time Exchange Server 2003 took to modify the Active Directory schema. This time can be minimized (but not completely eliminated) by running a command after the Windows Configuration routine early in the SBS 2003 setup phase completes. Here are the steps to run this command that modifies the Active Directory schema for Exchange Server 2003 before the SBS Setup Wizard proceeds to install the applications.
1 Place SBS Setup Disc #2 in the CD drive on the SBS server machine.
2 Assuming you are logged on as the Administrator, click Start, Run, Browse.
3 Navigate to the following location: \exchsrvr65\setup\i386\setup.exe. Click Open to close the Browse dialog box.
4 In the Open field of the Run dialog box, append the command with /Forest Prep, so the total command would appear as \exchsrvr65\setup\i386\setup.exe /Forest Prep.
5 Click OK and the command will execute. The Active Directory schema will be prepared for Exchange Server 2003.

So the big question is, why would you do this? Simply stated, you would do this if you wanted to save time during the last part of the SBS setup process. I’ve done this so that when I demonstrate the SBS setup process to clients and
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students, we don’t have to spend up to (or more than) 30 minutes watching Exchange Server 2003 prepare the Active Directory schema. Let me tell you, when you are in front of a crowd, those minutes seem like hours!
Unsupported Devices
Every SBS installation has a right way and a wrong way to do it. There is the easy way and the hard way. There is the “follow the rules way” and the “break the rules” way. Surprisingly, you’re likely to try, suffer, cheer, celebrate, and curse all approaches during your tenure as an SBS guru. So far, I’ve demonstrated only the SPRINGERS methodology for installing SBS (which I believe to be a “best practices” methodology for installing SBS). Now, and I’m addressing the most advanced guru SBSers amongst us, let’s break the rules and understand why you would do so.
Without question, one of the greatest SBS installation challenges today is that of managing your library of current drivers from third-party vendors. By that I mean, when you install and maintain SBS, you have the latest drivers from the vendors of the components attached to your system. This is extremely important because operating systems are built and released at a certain point in time. Although the periodic release of service packs allows the operating system to refresh its library of drivers, in no way can an operating system hope to ship with the latest and most current drivers from all of the third-party vendors. It’s a common and daunting challenge that confronts system engineers everywhere.
What’s the bottom line? If you have unusual or new drivers, you need to specify F6 when installing SBS in the early character-based setup screen (immediately after the character-based setup process commences, which would be while disk 1 is still in the floppy drive if you selected to set up SBS with the four disks instead of booting directly from the CD disc) when you are asked to specify additional controller and adapter cards. And when you communicate that you want to specify drivers, you often have to specify the drivers for existing controller and adapter cards, because the setup’s auto-detection has not been stopped. That is, once you press F6, you’ll likely have to specify all controller and adapter cards, not just the unsupported one you were trying to add.
BEST PRACTICE: So of course there must be a Texas tale to
accompany this section, and here it is. There I was on a sweaty
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summer Saturday afternoon installing SBS (prior version, but example still applies here) at an accounting firm called “CFO2Go” in Bothell, Washington. For some strange reason, the SBS installation kept “hanging” or stopping right when the networking components were being installed. It was all very strange and I tried the setup a couple of times. No luck. I even tried installing the DNS, DHCP, and WINS services manually thinking something was hung up there. Heck, I even tried manually installing Terminal Services in Remote Administration Mode. Lo and behold, it turns out the SCSI card was an older Adaptec brand card that had been misidentified by the underling Windows operating system during setup (this was actually Windows 2000 Server). Once I downloaded the correct and supported Adaptec driver for Windows 2000 Server, it worked just fine and I was able to sail right past my blockage. Clearly this isn’t an SBS 2003 example, but is included here for reference purposes to help you think how you might solve some setup failures (if any should occur) in SBS 2003.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Finishing the Small Business Server 2003 (SBS) installation and a guest column! (book excerpt)

Hi gang - I am harry brelsford, the author of the Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best PRactices book. Each day I am posting up several pages of the book to have it completely posted before SBS 2008 ships or I will eat a floppy disk!
Today we COMPLETE the SBS 2003 installation and read a guest column from Frank Ohlhost!
enjoy...harrybbbb
Harry Brlesford CEO at SMB Nation wwws.smbnaiton.com
I am a Small Business Specialists! (SBSC)
# # #
BEST PRACTICE: If for some reason you’ve had a faulty installation with failed components, the Components Messages screen will be displayed describing the failure. After reading this screen, click Next to continue.
If your SBS installation was unsuccessful, you must stop and troubleshoot the failed components. Typically, a reinstallation of the failed components will cure the problem. However, I’ve had to call Microsoft’s Product Support Services (PSS) in the past to solve the really tough ones!
Specific to SBS 2003, I had a failed installed in a test lab where the second disc wasn’t detected correctly and Exchange didn’t install on the first pass. I reran the SBS 2003 setup and Exchange correctly installed on the second pass. But shortly thereafter, I noticed that the new cool company-related Public Folder (Springer Spaniels Unlimited Archive) and the company contacts (Springer Spaniels Unlimited Contacts) weren’t created because the script to create those apparently doesn’t run on a second pass of the SBS 2003 setup wizard. So I manually created these Public Folder objects (which I discuss much more in Chapter 6) and all was well. The only other setup oddity I’ve experienced to date derives from this same second pass scenario. Apparently, the Shared Fax Service, which did correctly install on “round two” wasn’t completely whole. When I clicked the Configure Fax link from the To Do List, the fax configuration wizard failed because it said the Shared Fax Service wasn’t installed (even though it was installed and running at the time). I share these insights with you so you’ll not fall victim to your own imagination if you encounter setup problems (that is, you’re not imaging what is happening to you because it might have happened to me!).
30. Click OK when notified that setup must restart your computer. The core SBS 2003 setup is now complete. Take a bow!
BEST PRACTICE: Be sure to remove the fourth disc from the disc
drive at this point and store it safely with your other SBS 2003 media.
So assuming otherwise that all went well, let me be the first to say congratulations! You have now completed the base installation of your SBS server machine using the SPRINGERS methodology. Now, more configuration items await you.
BEST PRACTICE: After the computer restarts, SBS performs some background housekeeping duties. Don’t be alarmed. These are one­time configuration events.
SBS is completely installed. When the logon dialog box is displayed, provide your username (Administrator) and password (Husky9999!).
Time Flies (Not!)
The basic SBS setup process from Phase A to the end of Phase D should take anywhere from 90 to 240 minutes, depending on the speed of your computer. I’ve noticed installation time breaks down as follows:
Phase A — Windows 2000 Server Character-Based Setup: 15 percent
Phase B — Windows 2000 Server GUI-Based Setup: 20 percent
Phase C — SBS Installation and Setup: 60 percent
Phase D — SBS Completion and Initial Boot: 5 percent
Guest Column
CRN Test Center Review: Small Business Server 2003
By Frank J. Ohlhorst
With the release of Small Business Server 2003 expected on Oct. 9, Microsoft
has fired a shot across the bow of the SMB server appliance market. The new,
slimmed-down version of SBS 2003 standard edition offers everything most
small businesses would need, and at an attractive price point, making the product
an alternative to low-priced, proprietary server appliances.
Microsoft has gone to great lengths to integrate key back-office applications
into SBS 2003, without overly complicating the product, reducing initial setup
to less than 15 minutes when purchased with OEM server hardware bundles.
Aggressive hardware bundling deals from leading server vendors should bring
the overall cost of a new five-user SBS 2003 standard edition server to less than
$1,500, while the reduction in administrative and setup chores helps to greatly
reduce installation costs.
SBS 2003 standard edition combines Windows Server 2003 with Exchange
2003, Share Point Services, networking, faxing, a network health monitor and
several other components aimed at easing administration and setup. The premium
edition adds ISA Server, SQL Server and a specialized edition of BizTalk 2004. Both versions of SBS 2003 are limited to single-server installations and 75 users.
CRN Test Center engineers put SBS 2003 standard edition through its paces and were impressed with the improvements offered. Starting with an HP Proliant server configured with an OEM install of SBS 2003 standard edition, Test Center engineers were able to set up a basic SBS 2003 network in less than 45 minutes, including configuring Internet access, VPN connectivity and five user accounts.
The basic installation process shows that Microsoft has accepted the fact that many businesses now use broadband connections that leverage broadband routers.
The Test Center used a D-Link DI-624 broadband router connected to a cable modem as the interface to the Internet. SBS 2003’s installation wizard recognized that router using universal plug and play and then offered several scenarios to best integrate the device into the network. Test Center engineers chose to have DHCP assignments remain with the D-Link router and then configured port forwarding on the router to pass specific services on to the SBS 2003 server.
The key advantage offered by that setup is that solution providers can leverage an existing hardware firewall, without overcomplicating the deployment of an SBS 2003 network. Furthermore, solution providers could choose to integrate a broadband security appliance into the mix to perform content filtering, ant-virus filtering and antispam technology. In the past, most of those services were installed directly on the server, impacting performance and further complicating deployments.
Setting up VPN access was just as easy. Test Center engineers simply used the “configure remote access” wizard found on the setup “to do” list to add VPN functionality. That wizard offered to use DHCP assignments from the D-Link router, further simplifying setup. The only caveat concerned setting up appropriate port forwarding on the router to pass PPTP VPN traffic on to the server.
Solution providers looking to support SBS 2003 networks remotely will appreciate not only the ease of VPN setup, but also the inclusion of remote desktop support. That feature can be set up to work with or without VPN
functionality. Furthermore, SBS 2003 offers the ability to establish remote desktop connections to Windows XP professional workstations located on the network. That feature adds the ability to establish a remote workforce or to remotely troubleshoot desktop options. Microsoft could have scored big if that connectivity could have been extended to Windows XP’s Remote Assistance capability, a true remote control application suitable for remote training and support. For those wanting true remote control, products such as PCanywhere or GotomyPC will be required.
One of the limitations often encountered by broadband users is the lack of a static public IP address. That limitation prevents the registration of public domain name that can be assigned to the SBS 2003 server. Test Center engineers overcame that problem by using Tzolkien’s TZO service, a Dynamic DNS provider. That service runs as a small client application on the server and associates a domain name with the assigned public IP address and updates that association whenever an ISP issues a new IP address to a broadband connected device. For those looking to host Web sites, or use services remotely, Dynamic DNS becomes a key add-on element.
Simplicity abounds throughout SBS 2003. Wizards to add users, set up shares, modify security and many other tasks ensure that even a technician with basic knowledge can deploy SBS 2003. The product’s enhanced simplicity does come at a cost for solution providers: a reduction in billable installation and configuration hours, along with a reduction in billable support costs. But, that is also the case with most server appliances on the market at this time.
For most businesses, the combination of the standard edition of SBS 2003 and a broadband router should be adequate and offers probably the best platform for business tasks. Solution providers should only consider the premium edition if there is a distinct need for SQL Server or if it is possible to leverage business-process management chores using BizTalk. All things considered, SBS 2003 hits the nail on the head when it comes to networking small businesses.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

SMB Nation Alumni - June 30th deadline

Hey gang - do not forget that the alumni rate for SMB Nation 2008 expires June 30th. It is a huge year with the SBS 2008 and EBS product launches right in the same time zone!

cheers...harrybbbbb

Friday, June 13, 2008

Completing the SBS 2003 setup - book excerpt from Windows Small Business SErver 2003 Best PRactices

Hi gang, today's installment from the SBS 2003 Best Practices book is to complete the core installation of SBS. Enjoy!
harrybbbbb
Harry Brelsford, CEO at SMB Nation, www.smbnation.com
# # #
23. After a reboot and some final configuration activity, the Component Selection page appears as seen in Figure 3-20. Note that you could redirect the installation path for the applications if you so desired. Click Next.
Figure 3-20
This is your chance to make decisions about the installation location of the core SBS applications.
BEST PRACTICE: Revisit Table 1-1 in Chapter 1 if you need to refresh your memory about what each SBS component is and does. For example, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 is the messaging program in SBS.
BEST PRACTICE: Did you notice the Shared Fax Service was selected by default and installed whether or not you have a modem attached? This is true in SBS 2003 and a major improvement compared to past
SBS 4.x releases where a modem detection issues could kill the whole party (this great sans modem capability also existed in SBS 2000).
And the older-timers would again notice the Shared Modem Service is absent (it’s no longer part of SBS 2003).
24. Next up is the Data Folders screen. You will redirect some of the components to Drive D as part of the SPRINGERS methodology. The User Shared Folders, Sent Faxes, and Exchange Store will be redirected to Drive D. But the Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE), Cli­ent Applications folder, and Exchange Transaction Logs will remain on Drive C. Note that I consider the Exchange Transaction Logs to be part of the application and not the data. Your screen should look similar to Figure 3-21. To change the location of a folder, select Modify Location, erase the first term “C” on the far left of the path in the Enter the path below field, and replace it with the term “D” for Drive D. Click OK and when you receive a notice that the path doesn’t exist and a question as it whether it’s okay to create it, click Yes. After redirecting the data folder paths, click Next.
Figure 3-21
Redirect data paths.
BEST PRACTICE: By the way, there is a school of thought that the Exchange store and transaction logs should be on two physically separate drives as a recoverability best practice. This is more enterprise thinking than I need to delve into here, but the point is well taken and you should consult some of the great advanced Exchange texts at your local technical bookstore. Note that my having you redirect the Exchange store to Drive D is not technically the equivalent of separating the Exchange store and transaction logs. Why? Because drives C and D are simply partitioned on the same RAID 5 array and aren’t truly separate physical disks.
25. The Component Summary page appears, allowing you to confirm or change your settings one last time (Figure 3-22). Click Next. The heavy lifting on installing SBS 2003 occurs here as the application installation process takes off, displayed in Figure 3-23.
Figure 3-22
This is your last chance to make changes to your selections before the heavy lifting commences.
BEST PRACTICE: Those of you who are “old-timers” should recognize that the last few steps of the SBS setup process are much leaner than SBS 2000, where there were several more screens. Some of this has occurred because wizard pages have been consolidated. This also appears to be the case because ISA Server 2000 and SQL Server 2000 weren’t installed by default (this chapter is demonstrating the standard edition of SBS 2003). In the last section of the book, which is dedicated to the premium edition of SBS 2003, I speak to installing the premium applications. Also—my Advanced SBS 2003 text due in mid-2004 will address the premium edition in much greater detail.
Figure 3-23
This is the heavy lifting!
26. When requested, insert Disc 2. Click OK.
BEST PRACTICE: Now go to lunch, friend! Disc 2 in the SBS 2003 setup process is primarily focused on Exchange Server 2003 and the Active Directory modifications can take upwards of 30 minutes in an unattended mode! This is shown in Figure 3-24. See you back here soon.
Figure 3-24
Exchange modifies Active Directory here during setup.
Okay, so you’re back. Note when you return it’s likely that the server machine console was “locked” as a security best practice, because there was no mouse or keyboard activity for a significant amount of time. Perform the logon sequence (Ctrl-Alt-Del) and type in the Administrator’s password of Husky9999!.
27. When requested, insert Disc 3. Click OK.
28. When requested, insert Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 CD (which
is effectively Disc 4) and click OK. This is shown in Figure 3-25. Figure 3-25
This is the fourth disc from the SBS 2003 disc media.
Notes:
29. The Finishing Your Installation page will appear as seen in
Figure 3-26. Click Finish. Figure 3-26
You’re basically finished and just about to start the configuration of SBS 2003.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

SBS 2003 Setup Wizard up to Windows Configuration page (book excerpt)

I am harry brelsford, the author of Windows Small Business SErver 2003 Best Practices (the purple book). I am posting up several pages a day until SBS 2008 ships. Enjoy the read!
harrybbbbb
Harry Brelsford, CEO of SMB NAtion, www.smbnation.com
# # #
17. Complete the Company Information page with the information con­tained in Table 2-4 (prior chapter) for SPRINGERS. Your screen should look similar to Figure 3-14. Click Next.
Figure 3-14
Complete the Company Information screen to match what you see here.
BEST PRACTICE: Complete as many fields as possible on all SBS setup dialog boxes when you set up your own SBS machine. Much of this information, known as metainformation, is used in other places within SBS for the life of the system.
Note that in SBS 2003 the Company Information screen contains telephony information. In SBS 2000, a separate telephony screen would have followed. SBS 2003 has eliminated the Product Information screen at this point, which required you to reenter the registered user name, the company name, and the product key. This is now accomplished in the Windows Server 2003 GUI setup phase.
BEST PRACTICE: You should be aware of the More Information button at the lower part of each page. Click More Information and you are presented a worksheet and a help topic for the screen being displayed. Initially introduced in SBS 2000, this is a big improvement over SBS 4.5, where only a few screens had the More Information button. More important, the More Information buttons help you install SBS 2003 correctly if you are unsure about a setting.
Notes:
18. Be careful on the Internal Domain Information page to overwrite the default naming information to reflect SpringersLTD.local as the internal domain name in the Full DNS name for internal domain field. In the NetBIOS domain name field, type SPRINGERSLTD. Leave the computer name as SPRINGERS1. Your screen should look simi­lar to Figure 3-15. Click Next.
BEST PRACTICE: You may read a doctoral thesis on internal and external domain naming by clicking the More Information button on the Internal Domain Information screen.
Figure 3-15
Carefully complete the fields on the Internet Domain Information screen as you will commit these names in a moment.
19. On the Local Network Adapter Information page, select the net­work adapter card that you want to be the attached to the local area network. This is shown in Figure 3-16. Click Next.
Figure 3-16
Select the network adapter card you want to use for the local area network. The other card is temporarily disabled.
Notes:
20. Accept the default IP address (192.168.16.2) and the Class C
(255.255.255.0) subnet mask on the Local Network Adapter Con­figuration page. This is shown in Figure 3-17. Click Next.
Figure 3-17
Verify your information matches on this Local Network Adapter Configuration page before proceeding.
BEST PRACTICE: Here again I weave in a pocket MBA SBS/SMB consulting best practice that each of your SBS networks should be the same (even if you only have one!). One place to make each network the same is screen in Figure 3-17 where you accept the default IP addressing.


21. Accept the default selection of Log on automatically and type Husky9999! in the Password field on the Logon Information page. Click Next. This allows you to walk away from the two reboots of the SBS 2003 server machine during setup and have the setup process con­tinue automatically.

22. The Windows Configuration page appears alerting you that the next configuration stage may take up to 30-minuntes to complete (Figure 3­18). Click Next.

Figure 3-18
The Windows Configuration approval screen.
BEST PRACTICE: This Windows Configuration stage SBS 2003 replaces the Baseline Scenario stage in SBS 2000. At this stage, you’ve committed the computer name and the domain name on the server
machine. Instead of taking 30 minutes, completing this stage takes closer to 15 minutes. So go get a strong cup of coffee!
Figure 3-19
Observe the progress of critical foundation components being installed for SBS 2003 on the Component Progress screen.
Notes:

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

TEchTalk radio show - tomorrows play times

Hey - you can google the call signs and listen over the Internet:


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6:55:30AM
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10:31:00AM
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6/12/2008
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SBS 2003 Setup Wizard - excerpt from Windows Small Business SErver 2003 Best Practices

SBS 2003 Setup Wizard - excerpt from Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices book
Posted on June 11, 2008 by harrybrelsford Edit
hello - I am harry brelsford, author of the Windows Small Business SErver 2003 Best PRactices book and I am posting up my book a few pages per day for your consumption. Hope to have it all posted by the time SBS 2008 ship
harrybbbb
Harry Brelsford, CEO of SMB Nation, www.smbnation.com
###
15. Additional computer files are copied and installed and more configu­ration activity occurs. The installation is “finalized” as shown in a bullet point on the left in Figure 3-9.
Figure 3-9
The underlying Windows Server 2003 installation autopilots at this points and completes the operating system installation.
16. You are instructed to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete at the Welcome to Win­dows dialog box. The Log On to Windows dialog box appears. After you log on as Administrator (remember the password is Husky9999!), a dialog box will appear advising you that setup files are being copied to a temporary directory, followed by another dialog box communicat­ing that 40 separate installation components are being loaded. A few minutes later, you are greeted by the initial SBS setup screen that is titled Continuing Microsoft Small Business Server Setup, Click Next (but first read and honor the next two BEST PRACTICES).
Figure 3-10
The SBS 2003 installation continues.
BEST PRACTICE: Depending on the hardware you have installed on your system, such as a USB device, plug-and-play device, or PCI-based device, you might see the Add New Hardware Wizard. If such is the case, complete the wizard and return to the screen in Figure 3-10.
BEST PRACTICE: You now need to configure the second drive area (Drive D) for storing data. In order to do this, click Start, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, expand Storage, and click Disk Management. Right click on the D: volume and select Format. The Format D: dialog box appears. Name the volume DATA in the Volume Label field, confirm NTFS as the default file system, keep the Allocation unit size as Default and select Perform
a quick format. Click OK. Click OK on the warning notice you receive. Take a few deep breathes while the formatting completes and then close the Computer Management window.
An interesting historical note for you: In SBS 2000, you had to format Drive D no later than this point (you could have also formatted it back in the character-based phase at the partition screens). But SBS 2003 is more forgiving! I’ve found that you can configure Drive D as late as after the reboot after the Windows Configuration stage (in several steps) and have it be recognized by the Microsoft Windows Small Business Server Setup wizard. That improvement reflects the fact the setup wizard remains much more dynamic (and less static or fixed) in SBS 2003 compared to the predecessor SBS 2000 version. Jolly good show!
So perhaps you’re feeling unwelcome in SBS 2003 at this point. In the step
above in SBS 2000, you received a “Welcome” notice instead of the word “Continuing.” So perhaps SBS 2003 isn’t as warm and fuzzy during setup, but don’t let that prevent you from marching forward! OK—when you see the belated SBS 2003 “Welcome” message, click Next.
Notes:
BEST PRACTICE: At this point, you might well receive an informational, warning, or a blocking message on the Setup Requirements page (Figure 3-11) indicating your machine doesn’t satisfy some SBS setup requirement. First and foremost, understand that such messages appear depending on machine settings, so one SBS setup on a specific machine might vary from another SBS setup on another machine (the point being you might receive a warning or blocking message on one machine and not the other).
Figure 3-11
Messages are displayed which must be addressed.
As a general rule, a warning message does not stop the SBS setup routine and can be cured immediately. A blocking message is typically more severe and will require more extensive remedial action on your behalf. In Figure 3-11, a network adapter isn’t present and the installation can not continue. This must be fixed.
Just for giggles, I show another Setup Requirements screen I encountered that relates to supported processors in SBS 2003 (Figure 3-12). You will recall that SBS 2003 supports two physical processors and that is the configuration on the HP/Compaq ML-350 at SPRINGERS. But the ML-350 server machine also supports hyper-threading, defined in the next paragraph.
Figure 3-12
A warning message communicates to you that only two processors are supported.
Hyper-threading allows a single processor to act as two processors. When you install SBS 2003 on a machine with two physical processors that support hyper-threading (in effect telling the operating system you have four processors), you’ll receive the error message in 3-12. This is unique to SBS 2003 because it uses the standard version of Windows Server 2003 (which natively supports four processors), but then caps the processor support at two. The hyper-threading issue kinda throws SBS 2003 into a mild tizzy and it generates the two processor warning message.
But, just to add fuel to the fire, even though you received a warning message on a two processor machine using hyper-threading (causing SBS 2003 to believe you have more physical processors), SBS 2003 will actually exploit and use the two physical processors and the two “virtual” processors. I prove this by showing you Figure 3-13 where all “four” processors are active.
Figure 3-13
The Performance tab on Windows Task Manager (select from right-clicking Start task bar) shows four busy processors on the SPRINGERS SBS 2003 server machine.
Finally, SBS 2003 has a warning message if you only have one network adapter card installed. That is because Microsoft, in its endeavor to promote security best practices everywhere, wants you to have two network adapter cards to take advantage of the basic firewall capabilities included in SBS 2003. More on that topic in Chapter 5.
And, of course, if you did not receive a warning or blocking message, you will proceed with the setup.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Ramon Ray and Response Point podcast

Listen to a really cool podcast with ramon ray about Response Point on our new radio show in Seattle:
http://www.komonews.com/news/business/techtalk

thanks....harrybbbbb

Darn good - classic match up in NBA: Lakers and Celtics

Isn't competition great!

While the NBA is community - it sure is a competitive finals!

Go Boston!

SBS 2003 GUI Setup (Windows Small Business Server 2003 book excerpt)

Hi - I am harry brlesford, the author of Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best PRactices and I am seeking to post up my SBS 2003 book entierly before the new SBS 2008 ships.
Today we shat about the GUI setup phases. Enjoy!
harrybbbb
Harry Brelsford, CEO of SMB Nation, www.smbnation.com
# # #
8. An autologon occurs and the GUI-based Windows Server 2003 phase commences as seen in Figure 3-3. At this point, user input is not required.
Figure 3-3
You will notice the traditional Windows Server 2003 setup is the same in SBS 2003 as other Windows Server 2003 SKUs.
9. On the Regional and Language Options page, accept English (United States) and US keyboard layout. Click Next.
Notes:
10. On the Personalize Your Software screen, type Bob Easter in Name and Springer Spaniels Limited in Organization as seen in Figure 3-4. Click Next.
Figure 3-4:
Enter the SPRINGERS information taken from Table 2-4 to complete the personalization information.
Notes:
11. Complete the Product Key field on the Your Product Key page (you will need to supply the product key provided on the disc case (it is a 25-character code on a yellow sticker). Your screen should look similar to Figure 3-5. Click Next.
Figure 3-5
Complete the product key field correctly as it is used to hash out a code for activating your server in Chapter 4.
Notes:
12. The Computer Name and Administrator Password screen appears (Figure 3-6). Provide the computer name (SPRINGERS1) for SPRINGERS in the Computer name field and the Administrator password (Husky9999!) in both the Administrator Password and Confirm Password fields. Click Next.
Figure 3-6
You will initially name the server machine here and provide the administrator password.
BEST PRACTICE: You will note that a computer name has been automatically suggested in the Computer name field (e.g., SPRINGERSPA-B3KU6G), but your suggested name may vary. There are several issues surrounding the suggested computer name.
First, the suggested computer name is typically long and difficult to remember. There are still applications that require you to manually type the server computer name during a setup screen or to map a
drive via a uniform naming convention path (UNC). In this case, a simpler machine name is desirable for spelling purposes.
Second, the SPRINGERS methodology used throughout this book demands you name the machine SPRINGERS1 in order to successfully complete the examples herein this text.
Third, while you should put care and thought into naming the computer at this point, you actually have one more chance to change the machine name in the SBS setup routine. This last chance to change the computer name occurs later in what I defined as Phase
C: SBS Installation and Setup (this is just prior to the Windows Configuration screen in the SBS 2003 setup wizard). There is a screen in the SBS setup routine at that time that allows you to modify the computer NetBIOS name.
BEST PRACTICE: Microsoft has eliminated a screen right here in SBS 2003 that appeared in the SBS 2000 product. The screen was titled Windows 2000 Components and allowed you to select server-side components before continuing.
13. Assuming you are adhering to the SPRINGERS story line and have a modem attached (as specified earlier in the chapter), the Location screen appears (Figure 3-7). Complete the What country/region are you in now? drop down box (for SPRINGERS, select United States of America), the What area code (or city code) are you in now? field (for SPRINGERS, enter 206), and the If you dial a number to get an outside line, what is it? field (for SPRINGERS, leave blank). Select between Tone dialing or Pulse dialing under The phone sys­tem at this location uses: and click Next. I am, of course, assuming you can find out all of the answers to the questions above relatively easily for your own real-world use (for example, many businesses dial “9” to reach an outside line and use tone dialing). If you don’t have a modem attached, the Location Information screen will not appear and you will go immediately to the next step for date and time settings. Remember that the SPRINGERS methodology assumes you
have a modem attached. It’s not a true showstopper if you don’t, but understand the faxing chapter (Chapter 9) will play out slightly dif­ferently for you without a bona fide modem attached.
Figure 3-7
Completing the modem setup via the Location Information screen. Note this assumes you are using a modem that has been automatically detected and installed, which is the usual case.
BEST PRACTICE: Note that SBS 2003 supports multiple modems if you have busy, active faxing needs. Perhaps one modem would be for executive usage and the other modem for faxing activity generated by the worker bees.
Also, you get what you pay for with modems and if you’re serious, consider the V.Everything modem from US Robotics/3COM.
14. Select your date, time, and time zone when presented with the Date and Time Settings screen (Figure 3-8). For SPRINGERS, select (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada), Tijuana in the Time Zone drop-down field. You can enter whatever day and time you desire (and this can be changed via the Control Panel when the server machine is up and running after setup) in the Date & Time drop-down fields. Click Next. Note that for SBS sites in the United States, it makes sense to select the Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes checkbox to automatically adjust your server time in the spring (ahead) and fall (back).
Figure 3-8
Complete the date and time configuration.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Under The Stairs: Number of Microsoft Certified Professionals Worldwide

Remember when we used to sit around and chat about the number of MCSEs (too many, paper MCSEs, etc.). Here is an interesting follow-on datapoint to that conversation :)


Under The Stairs: Number of Microsoft Certified Professionals Worldwide

SBS 2003 Setup Steps - excerpt form Windows Small Business SErver 2003 Best PRactices book

I am harry brelsford, the author of Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices, and my goal is to post up a few pages per day of my book for your enjoyment. I hope to have the entire book posted by the time SBS 2008 ships.
thanks...harrybbbb
Harry Brlesford CEO of SMB Nation www.smbnation.com
# # #

SBS Setup
Ladies and gentleman, it’s time to rock and roll, SBS 2003 style!
1. Insert the Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Disc 1 in disc drive and turn on your computer. Boot from the disc (typically pressing any key will do) to do this. The POST stage will complete and the setup character-based setup phase commences (numerous setup files will load for several minutes).
BEST PRACTICE: Immediately after the character-based setup commences at this step, you will note language at the bottom of the screen that asks you to “Press F6 if you need third-party SCSI or RAID driver.”
There are several issues concerning this message. First, if you are using an unsupported SCSI or RAID disk controller, you would indeed press F6 at this point and provide the manufacturer’s driver on a floppy disk. This is straightforward enough. However, I’ve installed SBS 2003 on HP/Compaq systems which had SCSI and RAID controllers without having to hit F6. How can this be, you ask? Easy. The SCSI or RAID controllers were supported by the
underlying Windows Server 2003 operating system with its native drivers (many of which were supplied by leading hardware manufacturers and burned on SBS CD Disc 1). This can also be a function of the OEM setup process used by major hardware manufacturers such as HP/Compaq.
Also note that I assume you have configured the hard disk to be used by the RAID subsystem as I discussed earlier in the chapter. (This is where you add the hard disks to the array using the steps provided by the computer manufacturer during the POST startup in the computer boot phase.)
Note when I installed SBS 2003 on the HP ProLiant ML-350, it had native support for SBS 2003 and pressing F6 was not necessary.
2. On the Welcome to Setup screen press Enter to setup the server for SPRINGERS.
Welcome to Setup. This portion of the Setup program preparesMicrosoft Windows to run on your computer.
To set up Windows now, press ENTER.
To repair a Windows installation using Recovery Console, press R.
To quit Setup without installing Windows, press F3

3. The Windows Licensing Agreement screen appears. After reading this license agreement, press F8 to agree to the license and continue. If you don’t agree to the licensing, the setup will terminate.
BEST PRACTICE: At this point, if you are installing on a machine that has a previous edition of Windows Server 2003 installed on it, you would receive a message that you could quit the installation (by pressing F3,) repair the Windows installation (by pressing R), or hit the escape key (ESC) to not perform a repair and proceed.
In the case of SPRINGERS, you would not be confronted with this screen as I assume you are starting with a new server machine that had not previously had Windows installed on it.
4. Assuming you have a new hard disk, you see the following hard disk partitioning screen. The actual space value (MB) varies depending on how large your hard disk is. In this case with SPRINGERS, the hard disk is a 34 GB RAID array. You will create two partitions based on the configuration information from Chapter 2 (see Table 2-4). The partition for the operating system and core applications will be 10 GB and denoted as Drive C. The data partition (Drive D) will be 20 GB. As you religiously follow the SPRINGER methodology, note how you can vary the partition sizes to reflect your hard disk capac­ity (which might be different from my setup). Also – later on after you’ve completed this book and the SPRINGERS methodology, you’ll want to evaluate that partition sizes work best for you in the real world. I’d always have a 10 GB system partition or larger to accom­modate growth, service pack installations and so on. Meanwhile, back at the SPRINGERS methodology, click C to create a partition (you will first create the 10 GB system partition).
The following list shows existing partitions and unpartitioned space on this computer.
Use UP and DOWN ARROW keys to select an item in the list.
To install Windows on the selected item, press ENTER.
To create a partition in the unpartitioned space, press C.
To delete the selected partition, press D.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 34493 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on scsi (MBR) Unpartitioned space 34493 MB — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
5. On the screen below, enter 10000 (that is ten thousand) in the Create partition of size (in MB): field. Press Enter.
You have asked Setup to create a new partition on 34493 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on scsi (MBR).
To create the new partition, enter a size below and pressENTER.
To go back to the previous screen without creating thepartition, press ESC.

The minimum size for the new partition is 8 megabytes (MB). The maximum size for the new partition is 34493 megabytes (MB).Create partition of size (in MB): 10000


6. On the screen below, press C and create a 20 GB partition which will be the DATA partition (basically repeat the step above to do this). Upon returning, select the new C: drive partition and press Enter to install Windows Server and (in several steps) SBS on the newly cre­ated 10GB (approximately) system partition.
7. Select Format the partition using the NTFS file system on the screen that appears and press Enter. The formatting process will com­mence and take several minutes. Setup files are then loaded, a reboot occurs, and the character-based phase of the setup commences.
The partition you have chosen is not unformatted.Setup will now format the partition.
Use the UP and DOWN ARROW keys to move the highlight to the file system you want and then press ENTER.
If you want to select a different partition for Windows,press ESC.
Format the partition using the NTFS file system(Quick). Format the partition using the FAT file system (Quick).Format the partition using the NTFS file system. Format the partition using the FAT file system.
BEST PRACTICE: Because you are following the beloved SPRINGERS methodology, you will indeed have seen the screen in step #7 above. However, if you were installing SBS in a scenario where you installed to an existing formated hard disk partition, you would not see the screen in step #7 because it would not be necessary to format the partition.
Setup now formats the hard disk partition you have just created. This formatting process takes several minutes. Feel free to get a cup of coffee to pass the time. After the formatting is complete, the computer’s hard disks will be inspected for hard disk errors.
After the initial partition formatting has been completed, numerous Windows Server 2003-related files (.inf, .exe, .dll, .wav, .sys, .fon, .hlp) are copied over to the newly NTFS for­matted partition. A screen will appear briefly, communicating the newly copied files are bein initialized.