August 2008 - Posts
There has been a recent discussion in one of the mailing lists about Microsoft's new callback support model for SBS. This model went into effect on August 1, and was announced on the Official SBS Blog on July 2, 2008. Over the weekend, I had an opportunity to make use of the new callback model, and wanted to share my experiences with it here.
Caveat: as you may or may not know, I used to work in PSS (now CSS) on the SBS team in Las Colinas, and still keep in touch with several of the folks there. I was present on the lines when the switch to have first-level calls get routed to India went into play. While I have my own thoughts about the process, I have to admit that I get a bit frustrated when calling in and dealing with a first-level tech (no matter where they are located) who doesn't have the experience and background that I do. When I do call in, I have to be patient with the process and let it work, because trying to get around the process, in my experience, has just caused more problems. That said...
Over the weekend, I went into a customer's server to install the August security updates. As per our normal practice, I did a full restart of the server before installing any of the updates. Only the server did not come back up. I'm in Texas, the server is not. Once my client got on site, we saw the dreaded "Cannot load operating system" message on the screen. While I had him track down the install media to boot into Recovery Console, I placed a call to the Partner Business Down support line.
I placed the call at 12:15pm. Within 5 minutes, I was speaking with a call router. Even though the core problem was an OS load issue and I knew I'd get the best support by talking to someone in the Setup team, I could not bring myself to outright lie about the OS, and agreed to the callback plan for SBS support. We went through the severity assessment at length and she eventually agreed that this was a business down case. I provided my partner ID for the case, and even though I renewed my partner status on 8/21, that update did not reflect in their system. I spent 5 minutes on hold while she tracked down my partner status, and eventually came back indicating that she had updated my partner status in their system (even though my expiration date of 2009 shows on the partner web site), and she gave me the case number at 12:36pm. Longer than I would have liked to get to that point, but I can't really complain. She then advised that I could expect a callback in the next one to two hours, and I got ready to work on issues while waiting on the callback.
To my surprise, an SBS engineer called at 12:40pm, just 4 minutes later. I hadn't even had time to get my client through the next part of the Recovery Console troubleshooting. I was fairly impressed, no, let me be honest, I was completely surprised at how quickly I received the call back. I have to say that the call router did a good job of setting expectations, but I never expected to get the call back so quickly. I was very, very impressed at that point.
And that's where the good impression stopped. Over the next few hours, I got pretty much what I expected from first level support. Without going into detail on the problem or the troubleshooting or the resolution, I can only say that the MS tech provided exactly one valid suggestion towards an identification of the problem. He offered several red herrings that I refused to follow, because I knew they would go nowhere. I have to acknowledge that he did at least consult with someone on the Setup team (which is where I really wanted to go in the first place) to make some recommendations that I already had documented on my own to-do list.
As it turned out, I ended up not really needing the support from MS after all, as the problem didn't end up outside of my area of expertise, but when dealing with a non-booting system, especially one that I cannot get my hands on, I know what my limits are and when I will need the assistance of someone from MS. I don't know if I would have had trouble escalating that call to a higher level or how long it would have taken to do so, and fortunately I did not have to find out.
So my first foray into SBS callback support was a mixed bag. I ended up not having to call in as early as I did, because I got a callback immediately. But I still ended up with the same caliber of front-line support that I've unfortunately come to expect from Microsoft. I'm quite glad I didn't just turn my customer over to the MS support tech and walk away, which was an option, because the MS tech would have had him perform tasks that would have put the server in more jeopardy, not less.
Anyway, for those of you who have been complaining about the length of time it can take to get a callback from MS for SBS support, here's an example of when it can take very little time at all to get a callback. I'm not expecting that should I have to call in again any time soon that I'll get anything resembling that kind of turnaround, but it is nice to know that it's at least possible.
Folks, in case you haven't heard by now (and if this is the first place you've seen/heard this, then I probably have a few other blog suggestions for you to follow), the SBS Development Team released SBS 2008 to Manufacturing today. This means that the product will be in the channel in some form in the next 6-8 weeks. This marks the end of several years of development by Microsoft, and nearly two years of testing that I've been involved with, along with a lot of other people.
I think the development group has done an amazing job with the product given the circumstances. Is the product solid? Based on what I've seen, I think so. Does it have some holes? Without a doubt. But given that the team was essentially developing against a deadline and not against a feature set, this is understandable.
What does this release mean to you? If you're a small business IT consultant (or at least play one on TV), it's time for you to get off your duff and work with the product so you get to know it and, therefore, develop your ability to support it for your clients. If you are a business owner, it's time to start thinking about if the upgrade makes good business sense to you.
I've already been seeing the arguments pro and con for the product out in the community, and for those that have asked about my take on it, my standard reply still stands - whether it makes sense to upgrade now or later depends entirely on the specifics of the client. Some people will need/want to move as soon as they can get their hands on the product. Others will wait until they have a clearer need for it. In my general conservative approach, I'm going to be taking a "wait and see" attitude for most of my clients. However, I have one that will be migrated pretty much as soon as we can get our hands on the software. It just depends.
Through this process, I've made some good friends on the Dev team, and I've been privileged to be involved in parts of the process that many people never get to see. I know they're all relieved to have finished this product, and they deserve whatever celebration is in store for them. The folks that have worked countless hours to bring you SBS 2008 definitely deserve major kudos - this was not an easy product to produce, and those of us on the testing team were not the easiest people to work with. But in the end, I think we're getting the best product that could be released at this time.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be talking more about my observations about SBS 2008 both here and on eOnCall. I'm also in the last stages of working on SBS 2008 Unleashed for Sams, due for release in November of 2008. But if you really want to know what the product is about, you have no choice but to get your hands on it and start working with it. No amount of reading blogs or sitting through web seminars or watching demonstration videos will give you the experience you need to run or support this product. Get out there and get after it!
In the last few weeks, I've had an opportunity to give a presentation about the Migration options with SBS 2008 to a couple of different groups, one in Dallas and one in Detroit. As I went through the presentations, it became clear that the majority of folks in both rooms had not looked at the SBS 2008 migration document that's been produced by Microsoft, mostly because they didn't even know it was out there. So even though I will be giving the presentation at a few more groups over the next few months, I wanted to get my key point about Migration and SBS 2008 out there for those people who won't be able to hear about it from one of these presentations.
My talk focused on the MS Migration story for a variety of reasons. One, I know Jeff Middleton isn't ready with the Swing Migration process for SBS 2008 (but I also know he's working on it), and I really can't speak to a process I haven't seen. Plus, I'm not trying to take the thunder from Jeff about Swing when he does release the SBS 2008 edition. But I have gone through the MS migration process several times as part of the research for the SBS 2008 Unleashed book and the beta testing for the product, and doing the migrations uncovered for me what I believe is the most important thing you can do as a consultant to get ready for SBS 2008:
Learn the migration process. Period.
Whether you use the MS process or Jeff's Swing Migration, you will benefit greatly from starting to work with the migration process now. Don't wait until you get in front of your first migration for a client and try to review the white paper the night before. Don't download the Swing docs on the way to the client site. In fact, don't even schedule time with a client for migration until you've spent time learning how to do a migration.
There will be benefits and drawbacks to both migration processes. Learn what those are and understand why you are choosing one migration process over another. There will be times that a Swing will be the best migration method. There will be times when the MS process will be the best migration method. If you don't know both processes inside and out, you will not be able to make the correct decision for your client, which could end up being very costly for both of you.
We have what is supposed to be the final version of the Microsoft white paper on migration (in both web form and CHM (compiled help file) form) already available, so there is no reason you cannot start reading up on migration right now. You should, in fact. Then when Jeff releases the SBS 2008 version of the Swing Migration process, you can read through that and get familiar with it as well. Then you'll be well-versed in how to get your existing SBS 2003 customers onto SBS 2008 in the best way possible.
The other key reason I believe it's important to learn about migration is that it is the best way to learn about SBS 2008 in general. If you just join the beta and download and install the product, you'll get to see the surface of what's going on. But the migration process touches on every aspect of SBS 2008 - from Active Directory to Exchange to SharePoint to Group Policy and so on - so when you go through the migration process, you will learn about each of those apects of SBS 2008, and if you have not seen SBS 2008 yet, this will be a good way to get your hands dirty.
I will be up front, though. This will take time and effort on your part. The migration process is not easy, and not fast. If you try to skim through the docs or speed throgh a few trial runs,you WILL miss key aspects of the process and could run into problems down the road.
If you plan to be serious about supporting SBS 2008 as part of your business venture, start now to learn about migration so you'll be in a position to succeed when you are ready to move your clients, not in a position to fail miserably.