THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA

In about a week those of you traveling to TechEd in Los Angeles need to pencil this presentation on your calendar:

http://blogs.technet.com/essentialbusinessserver/archive/2009/04/28/teched-cutting-costs-with-essential-business-server-featured-at-teched-may-11-15.aspx

The reason?  Because I haven't met a mid market business that hasn't has a mess of this server and glop of that one and no real organization or structure in their network.

Now mind you I still say that the name "Essential" sucks because what EBS provides a mid market firm is way more than just the essentials for the firm, but naming aside, if you happen to be down there... BE IN THAT ROOM and meet with the EBS folks.

A Cutting Costs with Windows Essential Business Server 2008 session will be featured at Microsoft Tech·Ed North America 2009, May 11-15 in Los Angeles.  Eric Watson, Group Program Manager on the EBS team, will be presenting. 

You’ll hear updated details on how EBS 2008 can assist you in cutting costs by maximizing user productivity, reducing IT overhead by optimizing administrative tasks, and by consolidating workloads.  EBS, a holistic approach to infrastructure for midsize businesses with up to 300 computers, is freeing time for administrators to focus more on strategically growing and optimizing their companies than troubleshooting issues. 

See how you can cut costs with EBS by:

• Using a simplified management console with a single unified view that’s more secure, conforms to best practices and is extensible. 
• Utilizing at-a-glance health updates, centralized license and user management and customizable reporting that enhances effectiveness. 
• Consolidating workloads, reducing technology management chores and server sprawl and saving on your power and cooling footprint. 
• Benefiting from virtualization support in EBS that is included with Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 Standard.
• Saving time with EBS best practices planning, preparation and installation.  See how to fix your infrastructure by running the Windows Essential Business Server Preparation and Planning Wizards, which performs over 100 infrastructure health checks that commonly break installation or cause operational issues.  Please note that the wizards are freely downloadable and can be used to identify issues in your environment regardless of an actual EBS deployment.
• Learning from constructive and informative video demonstrations of the EBS Planning and Preparation Wizards, the ‘simple to set up’ Update Management Configuration Wizard and a video on using tasks in the Administrative Console.

The following EBS sessions are the ones to attend:

• WSV324  Windows Essential Business Server 2008: Technologies that drive cost out of Midsize Businesses
• TTK13  New Windows infrastructure solutions for midsize companies

Please also visit us in the EBS booth.  EBS team Senior Program Managers Kannan C. Iyer and Chuck Archer will be there all week, along with Mike van de Merwe from our TAP team.  Eric Watson will also be there, so please be sure to stop by and say hello.  We’d love to see you. 

• Microsoft Tech·Ed North America 2009
• Windows Essential Business Server Blog
• Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Home Page

Chuck Archer

EBS Senior Program Manager

The Official SBS Blog : Using Windows 7 BETA With SBS 2008:
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2009/02/06/using-windows-7-beta-with-sbs-2008.aspx

Windows 7 RC is out for those on TechNet and MSDN and remember if you want to use connect to add it to your SBS 2008 box you will need to update the connect code.

Do you live around Las Vegas?  There's something special coming up on May 9th from 9:30 to 4 p.m.  Tim Carney and friends are putting on another SBS 2008 Build Day.

If you are near Vegas and AREN'T signed up for this... you will lose out on a big educational event!

Las Vegas User Group & Microsoft Present:

SBS 2008 Build Day - Partners showing Partners how to Successfully Deploy SBS 2008

Event Code: 137823 (http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=137823)

5/9/2009

9:30 AM - 4:00 PM PDT

New Horizons CLC of Las Vegas

7674 W. Lake Mead Blvd., Suite 250

Las Vegas, NV 89128

United States

General Event Information

The Las Vegas Small Business Users Group is pleased to announce a special event for Microsoft partners – a one-day Small Business Server 2008 build event and technical education opportunity.

Event Cost: In-Person – $25.00 (includes breakfast & lunch) – Cash Only Please
Live Meeting – Please do NOT register using this link, email suzl@microsoft.com to register for Live Meeting only.

This event will showcase a live step-by-step SBS 2008 build, including joining XP Pro and Vista clients to the domain and a review of the other post-installation Getting Started Tasks. Interspersed throughout the build will be discussions of various topics such as:
• Minimum and recommended hardware requirements
• Use of the Answer File
• Network changes from SBS 2003
• The new Management Console
• Other highly useful information
Following the networking luncheon we will discuss:
• Migration tasks, experiences and caveats

• Edge-Security (Amy Babinchak – Microsoft MVP)

• Securing SBS 2008 with AuthAnvil (Dana Epp – Microsoft MVP)
• SBS 2008 Gotchas (Susan Bradley – Microsoft MVP)
• Licensing (Tim Carney – www.basbits.org)

The Official SBS Blog : SBS 2008 Update Rollup 2 Released (KB960911):
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2009/04/29/sbs-2008-update-rollup-2-released-kb960911.aspx

If you, in any way shape or form, touch, work on, breathe near, a SBS 2003 or SBS 2008 server, the one blog site you should look at first before any other site is http://blogs.technet.com/sbs

That site should be where you start to look.  Before you google, before you search, start there.  Read it every day there is a post.  But if you're reading this blog first and then going to the SBS blog.  Stop.  Do it the other way around. 

START THERE.

Start at http://blogs.technet.com/sbs

IEBlog : Prepare for Automatic Update distribution of IE8:
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2009/04/10/prepare-for-automatic-update-distribution-of-ie8.aspx

"Starting on or about the third week of April, users still running IE6 or IE7 on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Server 2008 will get will get a notification through Automatic Update about IE8. This rollout will start with a narrow audience and expand over time to the entire user base. On Windows XP and Server 2003, the update will be High-Priority. On Windows Vista and Server 2008 it will be Important."

If you turn on Auto updates, IE8 will not automatically install.  All that it's doing is offering up.  If you choose 'notify me' or 'download but do not install' it also appears to you that it's being pushed but it's really not.

Internet Explorer 8, now being pushed - isc:
http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=6283

Not pushed, just offered up.

(edit) Let me be really clear on this "Pushed" in patching terms means that it will be shoved out via automatic updates. It is not being shoved or pushed out.  It is up in the high priority.  It will not auto install if auto updates are enabled.

Forgive me Father for I have sinned.  I have a HP server that had an Unknown !(bang)  in the drivers section that was related to an ACPI\HPI0002\  It annoyed me, but I couldn't find the driver on the HP web site.

Tonight I did.... well kinda found it.. but certainly not on the HP web site.

HP ML Series Server - Unknown Devices - K Blog:
http://www.block.net.au/blogs/kieran/archive/2008/06/27/hp-ml-series-server-unknown-devices.aspx

Yes Father, forgive me.  I downloaded a zip file from an unknown location and installed it so that my "!" would go away.

Not the poster child of safe computing I know.

Does it help if I opened it up in Ubuntu first and examined it?

So it's the night of the "other" patch Tuesday and what patches did we get?

First off if you manually MU a SBS 2008 you may get different patches offered up at this time.

First off you'll notice that you get IE8 offered up if you manually MU your system.  Honestly I'm still in testing mode and not ready to give the go ahead to approve that.  IE8 is still in "offer up" not "push out" mode and I'm still testing.  And I'm certainly still in test mode for servers.

Next you'll see that there's SharePoint sp2.  HAVE A GOOD BACKUP FIRST.

Let me say that again about Service packs in general.  THERE IS NO RUSH TO INSTALL A SERVICE PACK.  Have a B-A-C-K-U-P first before you install this.

Last but not least on the manual MU you will see the update rollup 2 for SBS which fixes some issues with the console.

Also on WSUS being offered up to SBS 2008 is the prelim patch for Win2k8 SP2

Which given that SP2 just RTM'd tonight as well... (not yet on MU/WU merely RTM'd) means for more Service pack fun.

Description of Software Update Services and Windows Server Update Services changes in content for 2009:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894199

Tomorrow is the "other" patch Tuesday.  The one at the end of the month that is for non security stuff.  Tomorrow we'll find out what is offered up on the "other" patch Tuesday.

Stay tuned until tomorrow when we'll find out more about what exactly we will be seeing on the "other" patch Tuesday.

Hi All,

Apr 27th, 2009, at 9:00am PST, this Partner Online Technical Support will be
on the new Forum technology. Since then, you will submit new tech issues to
the POTC on Forum whilst the “New” option will be removed from NNTP
newsgroup. If you still have threads in troubleshooting on the previous NNTP
newsgroup, you can continue following them up on NNTP newsgroup until every
thread is solved. The landing page on the partner portal is still at
https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40014662 and the user guide will be
refreshed on time. If you have any questions or encounter any difficulties
when loading the POTC on Forum, please send email to pngfd@microsoft.com.

https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40105809

So funny story.  There was this contest for this bus tour across America that would end up in TechEd in LA.  Honestly it sounded very fun.  The only thing more fun might be a train tour, but since Microsoft only has tech buses not tech trains, it's understandable not to be on a train.

http://blogs.technet.com/mslcommunity/archive/2009/04/13/round-two-you-decide-who-gets-on-the-bus.aspx I was thinking it would be cool if there was someone I knew that would get a spot on the bus.  We'd get cool blog posts and behind the scenes info on how cool the trip was.

Little did I know that last week when Chris cryptically said "you'll find out how I'm getting there" with this hint of something unusual and I was thinking ... what not a plane like the rest of us? 

Guess who has a spot on the bus?  None other than Mr. Training himself but Chris Rue!

welcome to the funcave » I’m Getting On The Bus!:
http://www.chrisrue.com/funcave/2009/04/im-getting-on-the-bus.html

He'll be at Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, Santa Fe, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and finally…Los Angeles!

At each stop, the gang will be delivering tons of technical content—including previews of Windows 7, Server 2008, .NET 3.5, and others—and non-technical content, like career guidance, hiring advice and other things essential for building a successful career in IT.

Very cool.  And very much looking forward to the blog posts along the way!

http://www.cloudsecurityalliance.org/guidance/csaguide.pdf

Interesting read to start building those questions to ask of your Cloud Vendors.

Keeping IT Simple - Infrastructure Choices for the Small Business : John R. Pattison:
http://www.johnrpattison.com/blog/keeping-it-simple-infrastructure-choices-for-the-small-business/

Interesting blog post about the decision making process of upgrading.  Looks like HP will be launching their Foundation Server models starting next week according to this blog post.

"In the end, I decided that the best way to "Keep IT Simple" was to move the client's domain from SBS2003 to Windows Server 2008 Foundation + Microsoft Online Services, and let users do their own workstation backups using the image-level backup tool provided in Windows Vista. While the Home Server was a tempting add-in, I feared that I was introducing too much complexity. Had this been a new business without an preestablished server/domain, I would have gone with Windows Home Server, but in this case, I just couldn't bring myself to kill a domain and then deal with the mess of workstations perpetually looking for a domain controller.

Best wishes to all of the IT Pros out there... Keep that infrastructure simple and fight TCO bloat!"

So what do you think?  Would you make a similar decision?  Would you make a different one?  What solutions are in your menu of options and why are you landing on those as your solutions for small businesses these days?

You know the exact Fry's the Microsoft Laptop ad was filmed at....

So you've installed Quicktime and it now demands that it opens up tif files instead of the document imaging program that you want to open it up?

http://pcmacteks.com/Documents/QuickTime%20tiff%20fix.pdf

Check out that pdf for details.  Be aware that updates to Quicktime may reset the setting -- http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1472225

The Official SBS Blog : SVCHOST May Spike the CPU:
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2009/04/25/svchost-may-spike-the-cpu.aspx

If you saw your SBS 2008 or EBS 2008 spiking in CPU this last week, read this post.

Windows 7 Release Candidate Update - Windows 7 Team Blog - The Windows 
Blog:
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/04/24/windows-7-release-candidate-update.aspx 

"I’m pleased to share that the RC is on track for April 30th for  
download by MSDN and TechNet subscribers. Broader, public availability 
will begin on May 5th."

Thank goodness as the amount of people downloading from bittorrents and advocating the practice has been disturbing.

http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2009/04/24/darren-mar-elia-guru-of-group-policy-will-be-presenting-on-group-policy-in-sbs-2008.aspx

If you missed Darren Mar-Elia on Group policy, you missed a really good webcast.

But never fear, all of the 50w/50 webcasts are recorded and placed up here:  http://www.mssmallbiz.com/training/

It isn't up there quite yet but will be up there soon.

So I received a file in my spammy email box today that had a zip file attachment.  And if I would have opened it, there was about a 65% chance that my antivirus would not catch it.

http://www.virustotal.com/analisis/834ff43c981ec75b04186007074e94d4

a-squared 4.0.0.101 2009.04.24 Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot!IK
AhnLab-V3 5.0.0.2 2009.04.24 -
AntiVir 7.9.0.156 2009.04.24 TR/PSW.Zbot.M
Antiy-AVL 2.0.3.1 2009.04.24 -
Authentium 5.1.2.4 2009.04.24 W32/Trojan3.AMN
Avast 4.8.1335.0 2009.04.23 -
AVG 8.5.0.287 2009.04.24 -
BitDefender 7.2 2009.04.24 -
CAT-QuickHeal 10.00 2009.04.23 (Suspicious) - DNAScan
ClamAV 0.94.1 2009.04.24 Trojan.Agent-98369
Comodo 1133 2009.04.24 -
DrWeb 4.44.0.09170 2009.04.24 -
eSafe 7.0.17.0 2009.04.23 Suspicious File
eTrust-Vet 31.6.6474 2009.04.24 -
F-Prot 4.4.4.56 2009.04.24 W32/Trojan3.AMN
F-Secure 8.0.14470.0 2009.04.24 Trojan-Spy:W32/Zbot.OSM
Fortinet 3.117.0.0 2009.04.24 -
GData 19 2009.04.24 -
Ikarus T3.1.1.49.0 2009.04.24 Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot
K7AntiVirus 7.10.714 2009.04.23 -
Kaspersky 7.0.0.125 2009.04.24 -
McAfee 5595 2009.04.24 -
McAfee+Artemis 5595 2009.04.24 -
McAfee-GW-Edition 6.7.6 2009.04.24 Trojan.PSW.Zbot.M
Microsoft 1.4602 2009.04.24 PWS:Win32/Zbot.M
NOD32 4034 2009.04.24 -
Norman 6.00.06 2009.04.24 -
nProtect 2009.1.8.0 2009.04.24 -
Panda 10.0.0.14 2009.04.24 -
PCTools 4.4.2.0 2009.04.24 -
Prevx1 3.0 2009.04.24 High Risk Worm
Rising 21.26.44.00 2009.04.24 -
Sophos 4.41.0 2009.04.24 Troj/Agent-JQF
Sunbelt 3.2.1858.2 2009.04.24 -
Symantec 1.4.4.12 2009.04.24 Trojan Horse
TheHacker 6.3.4.0.313 2009.04.24 -
TrendMicro 8.700.0.1004 2009.04.24 -
VBA32 3.12.10.3 2009.04.24 -
ViRobot 2009.4.24.1708 2009.04.24 -
VirusBuster 4.6.5.0 2009.04.24 -

Threat characteristics of ZBot - a banking trojan that disables firewall, steals sensitive financial data (credit card numbers, online banking login details), makes screen snapshots, downloads additional components, and provides a hacker with the remote access to the compromised system.

Managing your Desktops using Group Policy in SBS 2008  In this session we’ll look at the new features available in Group Policy in SBS 2008 that enable you to have improved control over your user’s desktop experience and security. We’ll look at the new Group Policy Preferences features that provide capabilities such as USB device control, point-and-click drive and printer mapping and control over your computers’ power usage.

4/24/09 9:00 AM

Register Now

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=259635

Darren Mar-Elia guru of Group policy will be presenting on Group policy in SBS 2008.  You don't want to miss this webcast!