MICROSOFT WINDOWS SMALL BUSINESS SERVER 2008 AN OVERVIEW OF MICROSOFT WINDOWS SmaLL BUSINESS SERVER 2008 ON DELL SERVERS By Perumal Raja P. Designed specifically to help meet the needs of small Manjunath Narayanan businesses, the Microsoft® Windows® Small Business Server 2008 platform provides an all-in-one server solution that incorporates many key features used by large organizations while offering cost efficiency, simplified data security, and enhanced productivity. icrosoft Windows Small Business Server x64 Edition OS, and is available in Standard and 2008 is the latest release in the Windows Premium Editions. The Standard Edition can be used MSmall Business Server family, and intro- with a single server; the Premium Edition requires duces multiple enhancements designed specifically two servers. for small businesses. It provides many of the features Windows Small Business Server 2008 Standard used by large organizations—including e-mail, Edition includes the following: Internet connectivity, Microsoft Windows SharePoint® Services software, internal Web sites, remote access, ■■ Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard x64 mobile device support, file and printer sharing, Edition backup, and restore—and is designed for cost effi- ■■ Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Standard ciency, simplified data security, and enhanced Edition Related Categories: productivity. ■■ Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 ■■ Microsoft Dell supports Windows Small Business Server 2008 Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0 ™ ■■ ™ Microsoft Windows Server 2008 on an array of eighth-generation and later Dell Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server PowerEdge™ server platforms. To help continue meet- security and management services1 Operating system (OS) ing the needs of small businesses, Dell has also added ■■ Microsoft Windows Live™ OneCare™ for Server pro- Visit DELL.COM/PowerSolutions 2 for the complete category index. support for rack-mounted servers. This article dis- tection software and services cusses the available options for Windows Small Business Server 2008 preinstallation on Dell Windows Small Business Server 2008 Premium PowerEdge servers, processes for migrating to Edition includes all of the Standard Edition compo- Windows Small Business Server 2008, and integration nents as well as the following: with the Dell OpenManage™ suite. ■■ Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition MICROSOFT WINDOWS SMALL BUSINESS or Standard x64 Edition for installation on the SERVER 2008 EDITIONS second server Windows Small Business Server 2008 is based ■■ Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 Standard Edition on the Microsoft Windows Server® 2008 Standard database platform 1,2 Forefront Security for Exchange Server and Windows Live OneCare for Server are trial versions with a 120-day grace period. If administrators decide to activate the software, they must purchase the appropriate licenses from Microsoft. 1 DELL POWER SOLUTIONS | November 2008 Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, November 2008. Copyright © 2008 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. helps save time on OS installation and Preinstallation helps ensure that driver updates, and helps ensure that the “ deployment includes the latest Dell- the deployment includes the latest approved drivers and Microsoft security Dell-approved drivers and Microsoft and performance updates. security and performance updates.” The Dell Small and Medium Business (SMB) Advisor tool, available at DELL.COM/ SBS2008, can help organizations select the appropriate server and OS based on ■■ Microsoft Hyper-V™ virtualization sup- Standard Edition software preinstalled, a series of questions about their environ- port on the second server administrators can use the Premium ment. The tool also enables them to order ■■ Microsoft Terminal Services in Edition DVDs and the Dell Systems Build the recommended system to help simplify Application mode on the second and Update Utility to deploy the Premium the purchase process. server Edition OS on the existing server. With the third option, organizations WIZARD-BASED MIGRATION PREINSTALLATION OPTIONS can order both servers preinstalled with AND MANUAL MIGRATION FOR DELL POWEREDGE SERVERS the OS. Dell factory installs the first server Windows Small Business Server 2008 Dell provides three options for ordering with Windows Small Business Server 2008 does not support in-place upgrades from Windows Small Business Server 2008 with Standard Edition and the second server legacy operating systems; instead, admin- Dell PowerEdge servers: with Windows Server 2008 Standard x64 istrators must perform a migration to Edition, and includes the 32-bit Windows Windows Small Business Server 2008. ■■ PowerEdge server with Windows Small Server 2008 Standard Edition DVD. Windows Small Business Server 2008 Business Server 2008 Standard Edition Organizations running 32-bit applications supports two methods for migration: preinstalled can use the 32-bit Windows Server 2008 wizard-based migration and manual ■■ PowerEdge server with Windows Small Standard Edition OS on an additional migration. Business Server 2008 Standard Edition server as part of a premium stock-keeping Administrators planning to migrate preinstalled on a single server with unit (SKU), which is included as part of from an existing Windows Small Business included Premium Edition DVDs the second and third options. Server 2003 deployment to a new ■■ PowerEdge server with Windows Small These preinstallations offer several PowerEdge server preinstalled with Business Server 2008 Standard Edition advantages. For example, preinstallation Windows Small Business Server 2008 preinstalled on the first server and Windows Server 2008 Standard x64 Edition preinstalled on a second server as part of the Premium Edition The first option is typically suitable for environments hosting the Microsoft Active Directory® directory service, e-mail systems, internal Web sites, backup and restore systems, and other features that are part of Windows Small Business Server 2008 Standard Edition. The second and third options are typically suitable for environments that require SQL Server and a separate server to host a line-of- business application. The second option is also useful for organizations that have an existing supported server that they can use as a second server with Windows Small Business Server 2008 Premium Edition. After receiving the server with the Figure 1. Answer file creation for wizard-based migration to Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008 Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, November 2008. Copyright © 2008 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. DELL.COM/PowerSolutions 2 MICROSOFT WINDOWS SMALL BUSINESS SERVER 2008 restore the backup on Windows Small Business Server 2008. However, because of significant design and architectural changes in Windows Small Business Server 2008, administrators cannot use this utility to restore the system state, Microsoft Active Directory database, or Exchange Information Store on Windows Small Business Server 2008. Windows Small Business Server 2008 uses the same Dell driver set as Windows Server 2008. Administrators can down- load these drivers from the Dell support Web site at support.dell.com. INTEGRATION WITH DELL OPENMANAGE Windows Small Business Server 2008 is supported with Dell OpenManage 5.5. Administrators can use Dell OpenManage to perform proactive monitoring of the Figure 2. Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008 Migration Wizard system state, generate notifications, and provide remote access for Dell systems, can take advantage of the Migration During manual migration, administra- as well as to upgrade drivers and firm- Wizard included as part of the installa- tors can use the Microsoft Windows NT® ware, run diagnostic tests, and perform tion media. This tool first creates an Backup utility—included with Windows other systems management tasks. interactive answer file (see Figure 1), Small Business Server 2003 and available Windows Small Business Server 2008 then migrates information related to from the Microsoft Web site—or a third- introduces a feature that enables critical Active Directory, Domain Name System party backup application to back up appli- OS and application error events to be (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration cation and user data. If they use the NT retrieved from the system event log Protocol (DHCP), and user settings to Backup utility, they must download the and included in a consolidated report. the new server. With minimal interven- Windows NT Backup – Restore utility to Administrators can periodically generate tion, administrators can also migrate Exchange mailbox, SharePoint, and user Existing OS Minimum component requirements in existing environment data to the new server as well (see ■■ Figure 2). Figure 3 lists the prerequisites Windows Small Business Windows Small Business Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) Server 2003 ■■ Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for wizard-based migration from differ- ■■ Exchange Server 2003 with SP2 ■■ 3 Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 with SP3 ent existing platforms. ■■ Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML) 6.0 with SP1 To perform a manual migration, admin- ■■ .NET Framework 2.0 ■■ SQL Server Management Studio Express with SP2 istrators must create a backup of user and application data from Windows Small Windows Server 2003 ■■ Windows Server 2003 with SP2 Standard Edition without ■■ MSXML 6.0 with SP1 Business Server 2003, then restore it after Exchange Server 2003 ■■ .NET Framework 2.0 they have completed a clean installation of in the domain