[There's a reason that Yoda is the unofficial mascot of SBS. Size indeed matters not.] What's New in Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 - THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA
Thu, Feb 23 2006 19:30 bradley

What's New in Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 

Webcast (recorded)

What's New in Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2
http://www.msreadiness.com/WS_abstract.asp?eid=15003854

I think this should be manditory viewing for anyone wanting to know about
the R2 release or thinking about SBS for potential clients.

(and for the record I'd like to do a preemptive post here just in case
anyone asks or comments.. there's a lot of things in here that were new to
me and are the very very first time I've heard of them especially some of
the SQL stuff)
Take the hour .... carve out the time and watch this webcast.  
It's that important.
If you are from Overseas, just "pretend" you are from the US or Canada in order to watch this.
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# Those CAL rights

Friday, February 24, 2006 1:08 AM by E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva"

The other day someone asked if the cal rights in the R2 that allowed you to have and SQL 2005 workgroup...

# Those CAL rights

Friday, February 24, 2006 1:09 AM by E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva"

The other day someone asked if the cal rights in the R2 that allowed you to have and SQL 2005 workgroup...

# re: What's New in Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2

Friday, February 24, 2006 9:03 AM by David

Any reason these webcasts are restricted to USA / Canada residents only??

# re: What's New in Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2

Monday, February 27, 2006 3:09 PM by Greg

Susan,

We were not impressed with this webinar. Is there a compelling reason for a client to upgrade to R2??? Why would a client pay money to upgrade software yet get less capability? If I'm running WSUS and can report on patch deployment, why pay for R2?

Yes, this is your MS Partner that actually uses the SBS platform to provide business solutions using SQL server. The version of SQL that comes with R2 has less in it functionally than the current SQL 2000. The only other time I can remember something like this happening was with the upgrade of Exchange 2000 to 2003. Exch 2000 had Instant Messaging built in. With Exchange 2003 you need Live Commuincations Server.

We attended the live webinar event. The question and answer session left very little answered. No input about pricing; nothing other than "the integration" was spoken as a benefit of R2. The fact that R2 for SBS does not have all of the capabilities of R2 for W2k3 makes me makes me think this is much ado about nothing.

In terms of the integration, here's a question and the answer from the live webinar. "So, if we have kept up with all SPs and installed WSUS, then what is additionally offered by R2?" Answer: "Good question. You won't have the level of integration that we offer in R2. But you will have all functionality." Here's actually a better answer to a similar question (you can tell that others are questioning what the advantage is for "integration"): "Windows SBS 2003 R2 Update Services has a management snap-in that is integrated into the Server Management console. The standalone version of WSUS has its own web interface and is not integrated into the Server Management console."

OK, so R2 automatically increases my Exchange DB size to 18GB. Well, so does installing Exchange 2003 SP2. After installing R2, I still need to modify the registry to increase Exchange beyond this.

Sorry, but I can't ask my clients to pay for that!

My business clients don't have a problem spending money. Not that they're spending it frivously, but if the thing they're buying will have a real benefit, more often than not, they'll buy it. I can't tell them that paying for R2 is going to benefit their business.

If integration is all I'm getting, why not make this a Service Pack? Why would I pay to get less capability?

I really think Microsoft is missing the boat here.

Ok, so I'm a little pumped about this whole R2 thing, but I'm interested to know what other people think.

Thanks,

Greg