Search results for 'app:weblogs' matching tag 'SBS'

Moving past 25 Users with Windows Server 2012 Essentials

NickWhittome — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 05:00:00 GMT

OK, I have to admit that I obviously completely missed the memo on this. Trust me, if I have then so have a ton of you....

Windows Server Essentials 2012 will allow you to migrate past 25 users and keep (almost) all of the toolsets you need. Taken directly from the Official SBS Blog:

Hi, I’m Cristian Molina, Lead Program Manager on the Windows Server Essentials team, and today I want to share with you more information around our growth story for moving past 25 users in Windows Server 2012 Essentials (Essentials).

One of the major pieces of feedback about the previous version, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, was that after a customer had grown beyond the 25-user limit, they had to migrate to Windows Server Standard. After the migration, key Windows SBS-specific features that they had come to depend on (such as client backup, Remote Web Access, and the Dashboard) were no longer available. We wanted to address this issue in Windows Server 2012 Essentials, so now we enable customers to do an in-place license transition to Windows Server 2012 Standard.

The process for performing the transition is documented on the TechNet page, Transition from Windows Server 2012 Essentials to Windows Server 2012 Standard. Customers need to purchase a copy of Windows Server 2012 Standard, and because Essentials does not have any client access licenses (CALs), they will also need to purchase the appropriate number of Windows Server 2012 CALs for their environment (these can be either Per User or Per Device CALs, but Per User CALs are more common). For example, if an organization with 26 users is performing the transition, they will need 26 Windows Server 2012 Per User CALs to be license-compliant.

After you have transitioned to Windows Server 2012 Standard, the Windows Server 2012 Essentials limits are removed, including restrictions on user accounts, number of devices, the Hyper-V role, and Active Directory. Instead, you will be subject to the limits and restrictions of Windows Server 2012 Standard. The Essentials features will still be there with the exception of the media features, which no longer work due to technical limitations. The removal of media functionality means that media features in other parts of the Essentials experience will be removed (for example, the ability to access media via Remote Web Access, media settings in the Dashboard).

After an in-place license transition to Windows Server 2012 Standard, the Windows Server 2012 Essentials features can support up to 75 user accounts and 75 devices. Note that there are no restrictions placed on the number of users and devices that can be added to a Windows Server 2012 Standard environment. For the Essentials features to function properly, the Windows Server 2012 roles and the features they depend on must not be removed or reconfigured, such as the Active Directory Domain Services role, the Web Server role, or others. Our goal is for Essentials features to work after the in-place transition for up to 75 user accounts and 75 devices. We used this goal to help scope our testing effort as well as our support statement. Customers can, of course, make any number of changes to their systems, but we had to strike a balance here of enabling customers to grow while also having a stable and supported system.

In the event that you grow beyond 75 user accounts or 75 devices, or you want to move to a different solution for specific pieces of Windows Server 2012 Essentials functionality, the Essentials features can then be turned off, which is also documented on the TechNet page. After the Essentials features are turned off, it is not possible to turn them back on.

Summary

Windows Server 2012 Essentials enables customers to grow beyond 25 users by doing an in-place license transition to Windows Server 2012 Standard. After making this transition, you will be able to continue using Essentials features with the exception of media features. Essentials features are supported for up to 75 users and 75 devices. If you grow beyond 75 or want to change the configuration of the server, we recommend that you turn off Essentials features.

If you haven’t already, please download the beta and give us feedback via the Windows Server 2012 Beta Essentials forum. We’d love to hear from you!

HP & Microsoft Coffee Coaching Session on HP's Server offerings with SBS 2011

steveb — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 05:00:00 GMT

If you are a Microsoft Partner currently working with Windows Small Business Server 2003, SBS 2008, or SBS 2011, be sure to tune in to this Wednesday morning at 8:00 AM PDT, July 18, 2012. Details are below:

During Microsoft WPC 2012 in Toronto, Microsoft announced the release of Windows Server 2012 Essentials edition beta.

On July 18th, 2012 at 8:00 am US Pacific Time join Lucy Ellis (HP) and David Fabritius (Microsoft) for a live webcast that will cover Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Essentials features and benefits, customer scenarios, HP Product portfolio and transition plans.

We’ll do a Q&A session for 20 minutes. We hope you can join us.

Here is the information for the meeting:
https://join.microsoft.com/meet/v-jatake/WY9LK1DN

Join by Phone
+14257063500
+18883203585
Conference ID: 25291428

Like Mark Twain before it the news of the death of SBS has been greatly exaggerated!

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 05:00:00 GMT

What Microsoft actually said was there would not be another version of the on premises version of SBS developed. SBS 2011 is the last one, but it is not dead yet. It will be available for a year through most channels and a year and a half through the oem channel. It will be supported [...]

TRUSTED IDENTITY Faith in a Technology World

Anonymous — Mon, 07 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Just got this note from Jeff and thought I would share with y’allAn invitation from Jeff Middleton, SBSmigration.com Founder and host of IT Pro Conference 2012. Our conference is a month away, and last week we announce the blend of 17 MVPs plus 6 respected technology experts who are the speaker for the conference. These are [...]

September 17, 2011 SMB MVP Community Roadshow

steveb — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Join us at Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters for the “home-field” event of the SMB MVP Worldwide Roadshow. This is one you will not want to miss!

We’ve joined forces with our friends to the south in Portland, The Technology Wizards (www.technologywizards.com), to bring in nine Microsoft MVPs for two power-packed days, Friday in Portland, and Saturday in Redmond. For the Redmond event, arrive at 9 AM for coffee and pastries and a chance to mingle with the MVPs before our 10 AM event start time. If you’re feeling the need for travel, sign up for Portland and Redmond’s events and join us for the train ride Friday evening back to Seattle!

Presentations will cover:
SBS 2011 Essentials
SBS 2011 Standard & Premium Add-on
Windows MultiPoint Server 2011
Windows Storage Server 2008 R2
Migrations (Jeff Middleton is in the house!)
HP Servers & PCs
Expanded discussion and Q&A time!

Continental breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks will be provided. The Redmond event is sponsored by PSSBS, HP, Microsoft, and SBS Migration. Admission is free. Registration is limited to 125, so register today!

http://www.smbmvptour.com/register

Scheduled to present:
Steve Banks
Susan Bradley
Dana Epp
Cliff Galiher
Andy Goodman
Russ Grover
Jeff Middleton
Kevin Royalty
Charlie Russel

The event will be at Microsoft’s Redmond Campus - Redwest Building E Emerald Auditorium - 5600 148th Avenue N.E.REDMOND, WA 98052. This is the same building we were at for Mark Russinovich’s Zero Day Malware Cleaning with the Sysinternals Tools event in July.

We will have a person at the main entrance of Redwest E to direct you to the Emerald Auditorium. For Bing directions to Redwest E Building, use the following link: http://binged.it/olOevZ

This event replaces our September 15th meeting.

SMB Nation What Does Your Inner Geek Need

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:00:00 GMT

After the last SMB Nation I sat in on the town hall meeting. The overwhelming request was for more technical content. Well here is your chance to help shape the upcoming SMB Nation Fall Conference. Harry has left 5 slots open for us to to tell him what we want to see. He has put up [...]

A Fine Day for Installing Exchange 2007 Rollup 4

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 05:00:00 GMT

A few days ago Microsoft released Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 Roll-up 4 and after kicking it’s tires on in my test lab, I decided today was a good day to roll it out. Thought you might like to come along on the journey. First because it is a very good practice, reboot the server before you start [...]

SMB MVP Community Roadshow Triad Stop

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 05:00:00 GMT

I am excited to announce that the International SMB MVP Community Roadshow will be making a stop at my IT Pro Group “The Triad SBS Group” on August 2nd. This is a different kind of IT event although it is sponsored by HP & Microsoft the content is totally under control of the MVP’s and [...]

Some Tips on Configuring IFD for CRM 2011 in an SBS Environment

LarryLentz — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 05:00:00 GMT

I have just spent several days working through getting Claims Based Authentication and Internet Facing Deployment working on my CRM 2011 system. It was a bumpy road and I thought that I might help smooth the road a bit for others by posting a few tips from the lessons I learned in the process. This is not a set of instructions for doing so, those can be found in the CRM 2011 Implementation Guide and specifically in the accompanying Word document “Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Claims Based Authentication.doc”. All can be downloaded from here.

ADSF Install

The first step is to install and configure ADFS 2.0 (Active Directory Federated Services). This must be installed in the default web site of the server ADFS is installed on. If you are using Small Business Server, as I am, you will need to install this on another server. No problem. I’m running CRM on its own virtual server on port 5555 so I added ADFS on this server. ADFS must be configured to use SSL. The default port for SSL is 443. The SBS server uses port 443. My router points port 443 to my SBS server. Need to use another port. No problem, port 444 is free. You must bind the port to the default web site before you install ADFS.
2. Tip 1 – Bind your port to the default web site BEFORE you install ADFS. Don’t forget to have your router forward the port to your ADFS server.
4. Tip 2 – If you miss Tip 1 and install it to port 443 and need to change it, you will have to uninstall ADFS to do so. ADFS does not show up in Control Panel/Programs and Features unless you click on “View installed updates” and look under Microsoft Windows.

DNS

You will need several DNS entries pointing to your server, assuming CRM and ADFS are on the same server. If not, you will still need several pointing to ADFS and CRM. These are external names pointing to your internal addresses. For instance You’ll need one for crm.mycompany.com with an address of 192.168.1.5 and another for sts1.mycompany.com with an address of 192.168.1.5. If you are running SBS, your internal domain name is likely mycompany.local so you will need to create a new zone in DNS for mycompany.com. You also probably also have an separate zone for remote.mycompany.com pointing to your SBS server. Be sure your external DNS points appropriately as well. In my case everything goes to my one public IP and the router sorts it out.

Tip 3 – Create a separate zone for mycompany.com to put your addresses in. Don’t bother adding entries in the .local zone.

Firewall

Before you get too far in trying to make things work, especially from a browser on another computer, such as your workstation, be sure to open the firewall on the ADFS server for your SSL port. Hopefully you’ve already done so for your CRM port.

Tip 4 – Use Windows Firewall with Advanced Security to permit your SSL port (443 or 444 or whatever).

Timeout

When you run CRM with Claims Based Authentication, you will find that it will periodically log you off! Even while you are in the middle of updating a record! Especially if you have configured IFD! This is not fun. The default timeout is 60 minutes but it will start messing with you after just 20 minutes. You can extend this time out period by following these instructions and using PowerShell.

Tip 5 – Check out the Technet article “Claims Based Authentication and security token expiration” and proceed accordingly.

This is by no means an exhaustive list but I think I could have saved myself a lot of time if I’d only written this before I started trying to configure IFD on my system. I hope it helps you. Be sure to also check out my article on how to reconfigure your Outlook client to use the newly configured IFD.

Wondering what a SBS DSRM System State Restore looks like

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 05:00:00 GMT

So I am starting to think my server does not like me leaving town. The day after returning home from SMB Nation she crashed. CHKDSK got it to boot but lost a few thousand files in the process. Decided to do a System State Restore as too many services were just not happy. A number of folks [...]