Windows Essential Server Solutions At a glance: The need for a new family of server products for small and midsized businesses Small Business Server 2008 Essential Business Server 2008 Setup, management and licensing Windows Essential Server Solutions There is an argument that commissioning designed for use in small businesses with and managing servers in a small or between five and 75 users, while Essential Business Server has the features needed for midsized business is harder than in larger medium-sized companies with between 25 and 300 users. companies. The main reason for this is Windows Small Business Server 2008 Windows Small Business Server 2008 comes that the IT team in a small business may con- in two editions: Standard and Premium. sist of just one or two people, who will com- Standard Edition is based on Windows mission and manage far fewer servers, so they Server 2008 Standard Technologies. The serv- don’t get the hard-won experience of the IT er includes Exchange Server 2007 Standard specialists in larger companies. Edition, Windows SharePoint® Services 3.0, To make life easier for these IT staff, and Windows Server Update Services 3.0, 120- to ensure servers are correctly commis- day trials of Microsoft Forefront™ Security sioned and managed, Microsoft is introduc- for Exchange Server and Windows Live ing a new family of server solutions built OneCare™ for Server, and integration with specifically for small and midsize businesses Office Live Small Business. – Windows Essential Server Solutions. Based The Premium edition includes everything on Windows Server 2008 technology, they from the Standard Edition, plus Windows also provide Microsoft server products for Server 2008 Standard technologies for SBS e-mail, collaboration, PC and server manage- Premium, and SQL Server 2008 Standard ment and security, all simplified to deploy, Edition for Small Business. Windows Small manage, license and use. Business Server 2008 Premium Edition be- The range consists of two products: Small comes a second server solution. Standard Business Server 2008 and Essential Business Edition will run on one hardware server Server 2008. Small Business Server 2008 is and Premium Edition will run on two hard- 30 To get your FREE copy of TechNet Magazine subscribe at: www.microsoft.com/uk/technetmagazine 30-33_WinEssentials_des4ar.indd 30 13/8/08 15:41:53 ware servers, with the second server running Windows Server and SQL Server for line-of- business applications. Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Windows Essential Business Server 2008 is designed for medium-sized businesses, but like Small Business Server it is provid- ed as an all-in-one integrated solution. As medium-sized businesses need more serv- er applications, Essential Business Server is a multi-server product. In addition to Windows Server 2008, Essential Business Server combines software for management, messaging, and security features. Essential Business Server Standard is based on the use of three servers – a management server, a messaging server and a security serv- er. The Management Server runs Windows by 75 per cent over doing the same tasks on Figure 1 The Small Server 2008 Standard with System Center standalone servers. Business Server Essentials 2007. The Messaging Server runs There’s also a unified console for manage- management console Windows Server 2008 Standard, Exchange ment of key IT workloads. In the case of Small makes it easy to perform common tasks Server 2007 Standard Edition, and has a one- Business Server, when you view system infor- year subscription to Forefront Security for mation, you’re shown a matching set of tasks Exchange Server. The Security Server runs relevant to that information (Figure 1). The Windows Server 2008 Standard, Exchange tasks are the ones you’re most likely to need, Server 2007 Standard Edition, and a one- and most have been streamlined so they can year Web AntiMalWare subscription for be completed quickly and easily without the Forefront Threat Management Gateway, need to make complex decisions. For exam- Medium Business Edition. ple, adding a new user to the Windows Small Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Business Server 2008 network requires a small Premium has all the above, with the addi- set of user-specific information and three tion of a database server based on Windows clicks in a wizard. Windows Small Business Server 2008 Standard, with SQL Server 2008 Server 2008 handles the rest, automating user Standard Edition. account creation – creating the user e-mail alias, providing permissions to server resourc- Ease of setup and management es, and building the user’s root directory. Both products in the Windows Essentials The administration console installed as range are designed to simplify the setup and part of Windows Essential Business Server ongoing management of IT. Starting with 2008 also provides a unified view of all the in- setup, the servers are preconfigured with frastructure components that have been de- built-in best practices. This means that if IT ployed (Figure 2). You view the information administrators leave the system settings un- as a dashboard view, and can see the configu- changed, they won’t be exposed to potential ration, execution and historical performance security risks, or have their servers running of their workloads. You can also manage in a badly optimised manner. Deployment common tasks like adding users, managing of the servers has also been streamlined, groups, and resolving critical alerts. A range with a setup wizard to guide you through of third-party add-ons have been modified the process of setting up the server or serv- so they can also be managed from the ad- ers that make up the version you’ve chosen. ministration console. For example, if a com- In the case of Windows Essentials, the esti- pany uses Computer Associates ARCserve mate is that this reduces configuration steps Backup, they will discover they can manage TechNet Magazine September 2008 31 30-33_WinEssentials_des4ar.indd 31 13/8/08 15:42:15 Windows Essential Server Solutions Business Server gives you a single location to view the health of your network. The console shows the up-to-date network information gathered through the automated collection of hardware inventories. Essential Business Server aggregates information from all its se- curity components, providing an overall as- sessment, detailed threat information, and the tools to manage the security. If a problem occurs, you are notified immediately, and the console helps you diagnose and repair the problem. You can choose between manual or automated deployment of updates for the operating system, hardware devices, system drivers and Microsoft applications, and you can pre-package applications and automati- cally deploy them to client computers and servers on your network. Managing remote users is another poten- Figure 2 The Windows it from Essential Server’s unified manage- tial problem area for administrators of small Essential Business Server ment console. Similarly, users of Citrix Access and medium networks. Both servers come administrator console Essentials (used for providing network access with remote connectivity features includ- provides a unified view for offsite workers) can be managed from the ing Remote Web Workplace. This gives re- of all the infrastructure console. Many third-party security and back- mote browser-based access to e-mail, files components deployed up products can be managed in this way, and and folders on the network, and desktop PCs hardware manufacturers including HP, IBM from any Internet-enabled PC. Remote Web and Intel make their hardware management Workplace is a dynamically updated web site software available as add-ins for Windows that provides a single, simple, consolidated, Essential Business Server. and highly secure entry point into a small business network, including a fully config- Network management ured internal web site managed by Windows Both products are designed to make network SharePoint Services. management as simple as possible. Windows Windows Essentials Business Server also Small Business Server 2008 shows you the comes with preconfigured Perimeter Access, network status through real-time status so that the firewall is enabled to allow pass- icons. You also get daily health reports so you through for secure remote access tools, in- can see what’s been happening. It’s also pos- cluding Remote Desktop, Outlook Web sible to have automatic updating of signature Access, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and files for integrated antivirus and malicious Outlook Anywhere. software technologies, automated data back- ups, and centralised update deployment. Dealing with the Web The network management doesn’t ignore No matter what size of company you work the rest of the network, either. You can see in, or what type of product or service it pro- which client computers are missing critical vides, your customers probably expect you protection technologies and prevent the cli- to have a web site that looks profession- ents from joining the domain until the nec- al and that works well. Medium-sized busi- essary requirements are met. The clients are nesses have enough resources to create and monitored for antivirus status, update compli- manage a web site, but small businesses can ance and overall security health. find it difficult. To overcome this difficulty, Window Essential Business Server 2008 Windows Small Business Server 2008 offers also provides consolidated network manage- integration with Microsoft Office Live Small ment. Like Small Business Server, Essential Business, an Internet-based set of tools that 32 To get your FREE copy of TechNet Magazine subscribe at: www.microsoft.com/uk/technetmagazine 30-33_WinEssentials_desFIN1.indd32 32 14/8/08 15:55:42 help small businesses quickly and easily cre- Suite grants the right to access the products ate a professional Web presence. in Essential Business Server 2008 and oth- er servers running Windows Server 2008 or Licensing Exchange Server 2007 on the network. The A key driver behind both products in the CAL Suite for Premium Users or Devices adds Essentials family is to provide simple licens- the rights to access the Premium Edition tech- ing.