The other steveb - Steve Banks' Blog on SBS, EBS, and other Small Business Technology Topics : SBS 2008

Trouble with "Set up your Internet Address" wizard in SBS 2008?

steveb — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:19:00 GMT

Ran into this earlier today. If you happen to be messing with your SSL Certificates and get your "Set up your Internet Address" wizard into a state that it fails, run the Fix My Network Wizard (FNCW) and you should be good to go.

In my case, the DPCW log (C:\Program Files\Windows Small Business Server\Logs\DPCW.log) was showing in its last two entries "certcoll is null or zero count" and "closing store" with the Internet Address Management Wizard (IAMW) closing out.

Migrating from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008? Update your SBS08 help file first!

steveb — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:31:00 GMT

Thank you Steve Holland for getting the word out on this. Doing a Microsoft migration from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008? Download the latest (as of this blog post) migration help file to your SBS08 box BEFORE you start.

SBS Tech Writer Steve Holland is now on Twitter

steveb — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:11:00 GMT

If you work with Small Business Server, make sure you follow Steve Holland's Twitter feed. I've known Steve since 2003 when he attended our first PSSBS meeting in Seattle. Also check out his team blog on MSDN. He may have moved to southern California, but he's still a good guy. ;-)

SBS/EBS 2008 Remote Web Workplace not working for you?

steveb — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:23:00 GMT

Having trouble getting to your SBS or EBS 2008 Remote Web Workplace (RWW) from your remote computer? Check to make sure you have the certificate package installed on your client computer.

SBS Links to learn more:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd353115(WS.10).aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2008/09/30/how-do-i-distribute-the-sbs-2008-self-signed-ssl-certificate-to-my-users.aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2008/10/03/receiving-certificate-errors-when-connecting-to-clients-servers-with-ts-gateway-or-remote-web-workplace-on-sbs-2008.aspx

EBS Links to learn more at:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc463553(WS.10).aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc463480(WS.10).aspx

How to install Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 on SBS & EBS 2008

steveb — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:58:00 GMT

BEFORE installing Exchange SP2 on your EBS network, read the KB article and the EBS Official Blog post! :-)

For SBS, check out the SBS Official Blog post.

Until you hear otherwise from Microsoft, do not install Exchange 2007 SP2 on EBS or SBS without following the guidance on their respective blogs and the KB articles.

How to Add 32-bit Print Drivers to SBS 2008 & EBS 2008

steveb — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:03:00 GMT

If you are dealing with a 64-bit print server and are looking for 32-bit drivers, this post is for you. Also works if you are on x64 clients and want to add the driver to a 32-bit server (SBS 2003 for example).

Check out the Official SBS Team Blog's post for screen shots and the full text.

Short version, is browse to the server from your 32-bit client PC while logged in with an account that has server admin rights, select the printers and faxes share, and then server properties from the file menu. Drivers tab, then add. You'll have it from there, or jump over to the SBS blog for screen snips and more details.

Terminal Server Access through RWW in EBS & SBS

steveb — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:06:00 GMT

Have had a few questions about Terminal Server through EBS and SBS RWW, so thought I would post a link over to the Microsoft KB on it and include the resolutions from the KB below. While not directly supported by design, here are the workarounds for both EBS 2008 and SBS 2008.

EBS 2008:

EBS 2008 does not support directly connecting to a Terminal Server through RWW. In larger environments, publishing a large number of connections through the Messaging Server's TS Gateway may cause a resource spike on the server.

In environments where it is desired to have connectivity through the RWW page, there are several workarounds available:

1. Publish the Terminal Server's RDP port (3389 by default) through TMG. See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc995085.aspx for more details.

2. Distribute .RDP files configured to use TS Gateway to end users.

3. Add a link for the Terminal Server in RWW. To do this, use the following steps:

Log on to the Messaging Server directly using an account with administrative rights.
Edit %ProgramFiles%\Windows Essential Business Server\Bin\webapp\Remote\App_Data\OrganizationLinks.XML in Notepad
Add a Link tag in the Gadget Section using the format:

<Link DisplayText="TS" Url=https://<REMOTEURL>/Remote/tsweb.aspx?targetMachine=<TSNAME> _locID="useTS" />

Where <REMOTEURL> is the FQDN of your RWW server and <TSNAME> is the host name of the internal Terminal Server you are trying to access. For example:

SBS 2008:

The Small Business Server 2008 (SBS 2008) version of RWW does support adding a registry key to reveal Terminal Servers in the domain (see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc527532(WS.10).aspx). This registry setting has no effect in EBS.

Example OrganizationalLinks.XML:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<GadgetSection Name="Organizational" Enabled="true" DisplayText="">
  <_locDefinition>
    <_locDefault _loc="locNone"/>
    <_locTag _locAttrData="DisplayText">GadgetSection</_locTag>
    <_locTag _locAttrData="DisplayText">Link</_locTag>
  </_locDefinition>
  <Link DisplayText="How to use Remote Web Workplace" Url="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=115334" _locId="UseRWW"/>
  <Link DisplayText="How to configure Outlook to access your email over the Internet" Url="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=115339" _locId="ConfigureOutlook"/>
  <Link DisplayText="TS" Url=https://remote.contoso.com/Remote/tsweb.aspx?targetMachine=MyTS  _locID="useTS" />
</GadgetSection>

Exchange Hanging on your SBS or EBS 2008?

steveb — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:38:00 GMT

If you are running VSS snapshot backups of Exchange 2007, thank the folks over at StorageCraft and Microsoft for working together to come up with a fix. I'd recommend you get it installed sooner than later if you have had your Exchange Server hanging on you and you backup with StorageCraft ShadowProtect, Microsoft DPM, or other VSS based backups.

Microsoft CSS earned their award!

steveb — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:12:00 GMT

You all deserved the award! We were honored to present it to you!

Check out the Official SBS Blog for a picture of the Outstanding Community Supporter Award the SBS MVPs presented to them on behalf of the Small Business Server community. They earned it for the great work they have done over the past year, and past years! :-)

Do not install IPv6 on your SBS 2003 box

steveb — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:24:00 GMT

I owe the .NET team an apology for blaming them as the original cause of the problems described in this post. The pro and con of blog posting is that we can fire off a post and later find out there was a different cause for the effect we were hit with. So sorry guys and gals for coming down on you so hard. Figured with the SBS 2008 issues we've been seeing after 3.5 SP1 that they were spilling over to SBS 2003 as well. - Steve

This post was originally called - .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 when I wrote it last Saturday, the 21st of February. While I still recommend running the .NET family updates mentioned below, the reason the SBS box went into a tail spin turned out to be installation of IPv6 we did while testing an app on the box that happened to coincide within the same week the .NET SP had been applied. Confirmed this today. With the application vendor on the phone, I re-ran their installer and configuration tool and the server decided it was time to restart:

---------------------------

System Shutdown

---------------------------

The system is shutting down. Please save all work in progress and log off. Any unsaved changes will be lost. This shutdown was initiated by NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM. Shutdown will begin in 44 seconds. Shutdown message: Windows must now restart because the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service terminated unexpectedly.

---------------------------

This looked extremely familiar to last week's issue, so now we had a culprit. What we looked at next was that the application (we're in pre-beta testing so can't give out the name at the moment) was using Teredo to tunnel out over IPv6 and would install IPv6 if it didn't see it installed. By going into netsh we were able to remove the protocol. I'm including the command to remove IPv6 from your SBS 2003 if you by chance decide to install it on your box too and need to get it off of there. It broke RPC over HTTP, POP3, and IMAP4 Exchange Protocols in addition to the box "forgetting" it was an SBS box as shown below in the original post. Here's what you need to type to remove it (do not remove from SBS 2008 boxes, you need it on there).

type: netsh <ENTER>

at the prompt type: interface ipv6 uninstall <ENTER>

You will be prompted to restart the server after it completes.

So, again, sorry to the .NET team for the error in placing blame.

For those of us in the SBS world, we have a love/hate, with mostly hate, relationship with .NET Framework updates. Seems they are always causing trouble with our boxes. Turns out the recent .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 is no exception, both on Small Business Server 2008 and Small Business Server 2003. While it is supposed to fix 25+ issues in .NET, my personal SBS 2003 production box reacted so badly with it that the box had no idea it was running SBS anymore. When I attempted to run the CEICW in an effort to bring back my RPC over HTTP / Outlook Anywhere functionality that had died after running with the update for a few days, here's the error it came back with:

I was also having "issues" with POP3 and IMAP4 (we use SSL on each of these for specific tasks at our office) protocols stopping after either an iisreset or a full restart of the server. Strange thing with those protocols was that their respective services were still running. Figure that one out.

I restored the system drive from a StorageCraft ShadowProtect image last night to get the machine back on its feet. I personally have left 3.5 SP1 on our box and added the update patches that are supposed to resolve the problems the Service Pack is causing with our boxes; using our company's server as a guinea pig before putting the service pack or subsequent update suite of three patches into production at client sites. Personally, I will not install .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 without these fixes on any box I touch now. I'd recommend you do the same for any machines you admin and ensure you have a very good back up before playing with these or any updates. ;-)

Steve

EBS Console freezing or needing to restart SBS 2008 once a week or so? Look here for your answer.

steveb — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:58:00 GMT

Thanks to Chris Puckett and his team for working on this to get a resolution. We have seen this primarily with Trend Micro (our primary anti-virus product) but it is happening with any product using TDI, so if you are getting similar behavior from your server(s), get this hotfix! See the SBS blog post.

Caching in on your SBS 2003 Software Assurance benefits to get SBS 2008

steveb — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 08:51:00 GMT

Last Thursday at our monthly Puget Sound Small Business Server User Group (www.pssbs.org) we had the question come up from one of our members who is trying to figure out where his SA benefits are in the Software Assurance world of eOpen. He was only sent part of the full suite of updated software he was expecting from Microsoft. For the definitive answer we went to Eric Ligman (of course, who else do we turn to for all that is licensing and Microsoft). He in turn led us over to his blog for the answer. Check out the two blog posts listed below for the steps involved if you are have SBS 2003 SA benefits and want to get your SBS 2008 bits.

How do we get the SBS Software Assurance benefits such as: Outlook 2007, Entourage 2008, ISA 2006 + additional Windows Server 2003, and Office SharePoint Designer 2007 now that SBS 2008 is out?

Part numbers for the SBS SA benefits media kits you need from my earlier post

Thanks Eric!

5W/50 Webcast covering migrations to SBS 2008

steveb — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:35:00 GMT

Jeff Middleton, Founder of SBSmigration.com

5W/50 Webcast!

LEARN MORE: Join Jeff for the Microsoft webcast! Live today, or the recording after the event.

Presented by Jeff Middleton

Migration Concepts with SBS 2008
Microsoft Partners 5W/50 Series
January 9, 2009
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Time Zone (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)

Register for the Webcast:
https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=259602

Migration projects pose unique challenges for IT Consultants. The goal is to move a customer's server infrastructure into a new product and platform with a process that is both predictable and profitable.
Jeff Middleton will present the concepts of the Microsoft documented "join to domain" approach as well as the options with an updated for SBS 2008 Swing Migration technique. In addition to a technical review of the project path elements, join us for Jeff's insights into the planning strategy concerns on these additional points to be discussed:

* The Transition Timeline & Value Budget
* Establishing Roll-Back, Pause or Completion Goals
* What's implied in Multi-Server Deployments?
* Where is the Automation?
* Including your Value-Add of Quality & Predictability

Presenter:

Jeff Middleton - Founder of SBSmigration.com

Jeff Middleton is well recognized in Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) community worldwide, known as a speaker, author, advisor, and technical community leader. Microsoft has awarded as an SBS-MVP each year since 1999. He's acknowledged for expertise in disaster recovery, domain migration, and a full-range of topics on the SBS and Windows platforms. Based upon 20 years of experience as an SMB consultant and system integrator, he is a consultant to the consultants who have adopted his methodology and support to address server replacement projects. Jeff's name is now synonymous with the "Swing Migration" concept he introduced by establishing SBSmigration.com in 2004 to teach and support the skills and project guides now used in over 60 countries around the world.

Jeff travels constantly as a popular speaker internationally at conferences including the Microsoft Partner Program, Tech Ed, SMBTN, ITA and SMB Nation, as well as the annual SBSmigration.com IT Pro Conference in New Orleans. Jeff has participated in person as a guest speaker to over 50 local IT Pro groups of all sizes in North America, Australia and Europe.

You may reach him through www.SBSmigration.com.

SBS 2008 CodePlex is up and running thanks to Susan Bradley

steveb — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:56:00 GMT

Sitting here in the SMB Nation session with Susan Bradley and Ofer Shimrat discussing EBS and SBS 2008. Susan has set up http://www.codeplex.com/sbs/. If you haven't checked it out, take a look and bookmark it. As we move into SBS 2008 I'm thinking we'll be spending more time in here.

Also, great job Susan and Ofer!

SBS 2008 has been released to manufacturing today!

steveb — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:50:00 GMT

It's official! SBS 2008 has been RTM'd today by Microsoft. Check out the Official SBS Blog for Dean Paron's announcement.

Congratulations to the SBS Dev team! You should all head over to the Puget Sound Small Business Server User Group meeting tonight at the Microsoft Offices in Lincoln Square to celebrate. We're meeting at 6 PM!

Steve