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
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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: