THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA

Tony reminded me that I didn't blog about one major change in R2.

Cal licensing.

Okay I'm going to put my own spin on it, okay?

Let's review what we get as per this page:

• Automated patch management... okay yeah it's WSUS and you can download it for free ...but it's more than WSUS as it is SBSized for us.  Now you can call me a koolaid drinker here but I still think that just the fact that SBS boxes will have integrated patch management and we will be the first to be set up to protect the network underneath of that box, I still think is a milestone that we should just step back a bit and realize that the journey to this spot has been a long painful one for us SBSers.   When I started getting paranoid and patching my SBS 2000 box in the code red/nimda era, we had absolutely nothing to help us keep our boxes patched.  It was so manual and so convoluted and so ridiculous with each product having their own patch engine and each patch haven't requirements before patching, that it was enough to make me go screaming for Shavlik to help me patch.  We had nothing.  SUS was not even supported on own domain controllers and WSUS wasn't even announced.  To now come to this moment where under the hood of every SBS 2003 R2 will be patching ready to go.... indulge me please as the patchaholic that I am and just let me have another sip of Tropical Punch koolaid and just glow in the moment for just a smidge okay?
• Mailbox limits from 16 gig to 75 gig - due to Exchange 2003 sp2 which is fully supported NOW on any SBS 2003 sp1 box you can go up to 75 gigs (just make sure you read the articles at www.vladville.com first please?).
• SQL Server 2005 workgroup.  Don't ask me if the inclusion of non inclusion of business intelligence in SQL 2005 workgroup is going to affect you or not.. I personally just use SQL 2000 for Sharepoint/Companyweb and all of my Line of Business apps don't run on SQL anyway.  Will your clients be affected by the fact that it's the 2005 "workgroup" versus "standard" (which went up in price as compared to the 2000 "standard" version), I really don't know.  I personally think that we're a big enough marketplace that software makers will code to the platform they want to sell to and I think they'll have versions on both the "Workgroup" and the "Standard", but that's just my thoughts.
• Expanded CAL rights.  Here's the thing that I glossed over...the change in Cals.  First off there's no change in Terminal server cals.  If you want to host a TS box to host desktops in your network and you plan to put in a TS box rather than just stick some spare XP pros around the office, no there's no change in the Cal needs for this.  You still need to buy a Windows 2003 server license, you still need TS cals and Office licenses and SBS cals for the number of users that will be on that TS box. What you don't need is Window Server cals as those licenses are covered by the SBS cal.  The break even point is about 3.5 to 4 remote users.  Remember that an XP box can ONLY be used by one user at a time so don't be using one machine and having user number two remote in and bump off user number one.  Either buy extra OEM XP Pro machines on the cheap side, or invest in a member server and TS cals.  The Cal rights we do get are the rights to install an Exchange server (Windows Server+Exchange) or SQL 2005 workgroup (Windows 2003 server+SQL) and the users that we have SBS cals for will automagically be licensed for those additional servers we have.  Now then...why you'd want another Exchange server?  Except for maybe a branch office setup?  Because you really don't want to use that Exchange in a front end/back end setup as the wizards will break.  The biggie for most folks is that you can add a member server with a Windows 2003+SQL 2005 workgroup and not need separate SQL cals.  Thus if any vendor demand that you put SQL on another box, it won't break the bank on the deal.

Starting March 1st, there's a technology guarantee so if you aren't putting these guys on SA now.... I'd wait a week before buying SBS 2003 if I were you.