EBS 2008 Click Through Demo

If you read this you’ll probably be interested in EBS 2008. However, not everyone has 3 spare servers or a big machine with Hyper-V or VMware lying around to test it on. To make sure even you can get a hands-on experience with the new product, Microsoft created a click through demo. You can find it here. They did the same thing for SBS2008 btw, so you can prepare for the beta exam (see below).

If you want to run EBS2008 on a Hyper-V (or VMware of course) machine you’ll need at least 8GB of RAM, and something like 100GB of disk space. Especially the Management server (the first to install) requires a lot of space for the WSUS downloads. Unfortunately, you cannot set it to leave the updates at Microsoft so it will download up to 30GB of updates, depending on your products and language settings and approvals.
Also, you have to create 2 seperate networks in you virtual enviroment, because the Security Server (server #2) requires 2 NIC’s on different subnets. When using Hyper-V, be sure to use the Legacy Network Interfaces. I had my networks connect with RRAS on the host to my wireless home network. Not the best solution (I have to reconfigure RRAS after every reboot) but it works.

EBS2008 Technet website
SBS2008 Technet Website

Another Beta exam, SBS2008 this time.

I will not be doing this one, but you can if you want to. The day after Microsoft announced that Small Business Server 2008 is RTM, comes the announcement of the SBS 2008 Beta exam. Running until the 12th of September, you can earn the SBS 2008, Configure certification. If you have previous experience with SBS 2003, or perhaps you are certified on SBS 2003, this will probably be an easy exam for you. So download the SBS 2008 Click through demo and plan your exam. Good Luck!

Who needs a mouse?

RUN/CMD shortcuts for AD management

ADFS.msc	AD Federation Services
CERTMGR.msc	Certificate Management –Current User
CERTSRV.msc	Certification Authority
CERTTMPL.msc	Certificate Templates
COMPMGMT.msc	Computer Management
COMEXP.msc	Component Services  C:\windows\system32\com
DCOMCNFG.exe	Component Services
DSA.msc	ADUC (AD Users and Computers)
DFSGUI.msc	DFS Management
DFSMGMT.msc	DFS Management R2
DNSMGMT.msc	DNS Management
DOMAIN.msc	Domains and Trusts
DSSITE.msc	Sites and Services
EVENTVWR.msc	Event Viewer
GPEDIT.msc	Local Policy
GPMC.msc	Group Policy Management Console
PKIVIEW.msc	PKI management
RSOP.msc	Resultant set of Policy
SECPOL.msc	Local Security Policy
SERVICES.msc	Services
SCHMMGMT.msc	Schema Management
TASKMGR.exe	Task Manager
TSCC.msc	TS Configuration
TSADMIN.exe	TS Administrator
LICMGR.exe	TS Licensing
The following are contained within the WINDOWS 2003 ADMINISTRATION TOOLS PACK
*Installed from the Windows Server 2003 CD
ADMGMT.msc	AD Management –Domains, Sites, DNS and ADUC
PKMGMT.msc	PKI Management – Authorities, Templates
IPADDRMGMT.msc	WINS,DNS and DHCP in one console
2008 SERVER
SERVERMANAGER.msc	Server Manager
NAPCLCFG.msc	Network Access Protection Client Configuration
STOREXPL.msc	Storage Manager
TSCONFIG.msc	TS Configuration
WBADMIN.msc	Windows Server Backup
WF.msc	Windows Firewall + Advanced Security
RUN shortcuts for Windows OS management
NCPA.CPL	Network Properties
APPWIZ.CPL	Add remove programs
DEVMGMT.msc	Device Manager
FSMGMT.msc	File Share Management
SYSDM.CPL	System Properties
FIREWALL.CPL	Firewall applet
DESK.CPL	Display Properties
CONTROL.exe	Control Panel
MMSYS.CPL	Sound Properties
SYSDM.CPL	System Properties
ACCESS.CPL	Accessibility Options
APPWIZ.CPL	Add/Remove Programs
TIMEDATE.CPL	Date/Time Properties
DESK.CPL	Display Properties
FINDFAST.CPL	FindFast
FONTS.CPL	Fonts Folder
INETCPL.CPL	Internet Properties
JOY.CPL	Joystick Properties
MAIN.CPL	Keyboard Properties
MLCFG32.CPL	Microsoft Exchange
WGPOCPL.CPL	Microsoft Mail Post Office
MAIN.CPL	Mouse Properties
MMSYS.CPL	Multimedia Properties
PASWORD.CPL	Password Properties
MAIN.CPL	PC Card
PRINTERS.CPL	Printers Folder
INTL.CPL	Regional Settings
STICPL.CPL	Scanners and Cameras

Courtesy of the Directory Services Team.

EBS2008 – core technical webcasts

If you’re a Microsoft Partner (or registered as one) you can enjoy some online webcasts. Find them here (requires a Live-ID, only accessible to partners).

Essential Business Server – pt1

This will be the first part of (hopefully) a series on EBS2008. And as all projects, it starts with the preparation and planning phases.

EBS 2008 comes with two wizards, that must be downloaded from the Microsoft website. To install them, you need the standalone installlation of the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer, also available from the Microsoft website. If you have the Exchange 2007 Management Console installed, it will not work.

The first wizard is the preparation wizard. It starts of with a timeline and then wants to download some updates.

After it is updated, it wants to know if you plan on creating a new domain or join an existing one.

Then is wants to know your network’s gateway address. From that, it will derive your networkaddress.

On the next screen, you can add additional subnets to scan if you have any.

Next you can start the scan. It will run a comprehensive test on your network to check for problems that might prohibit a succesfull migration to EBS 2008. Depending on your answert to the domain question, these tests include AD issues such as replication, time synchronization, network bindings and DNS issues. And thanks to the Exchange BPA you also get info on Exchange like the installed Servicepacks, the operational mode (mixed/native) and the infamous link state suppression registrykey.

Once the scan is done you get a screen with the results. If you have any errors, you can not click Finish, only cancel. Luckily Microsoft provides links to articles on how to correct any problems.

Once you have corrected the problems, you can run the scan again to check your work. If your satisfied with the results and have no more errors, you get the timeline again, pointing you to the next step.

The planning wizard will be covered in the next part.

Please note that, because you can download the wizards, you can use them even if you’re not planning on migrating to EBS2008. I used them at home to check the general health of my own network. Turns out I had some minor issues which we’re easily corrected. One test that was obviously missing was the backup test for Exchange. As a true IT Pro, i never make backups at home of course, but the Exchange check found no issues with that. I would strongly recommend taking backups before making any changes to your environment, never mind a full-blown migration.

Essential Business Server 2008

Well, as promised some more info on EBS2008. I took the beta exam this afternoon. It wasn’t a very easy exam, although not the most difficult one I did this year either (the 70-238 exam is a lot harder). The difficulty is in this exam can be found in the wealth of subject matter Microsoft has for this exam:

• Windows Server 2008
• Exchange Server 2007
• TMG
• System Center Essentials 2007
• SQL Server 2008
• Forefront Client Security for Exchange
• Outlook connectivity and mail access
• Migration scenarios such as from SBS2003
• EBS 2008 system requirements
• Installation and configuration
• Backup and recovery
• General networking techniques such as DNS, DHCP and IP configurations
• Monitoring and configuration of client computers and servers
• Deploying applications and updates
• Licensing

If you study for these items, the exam shouldn’t be too difficult to pass. I do wonder though how big the Training Kit for this exam will be, considering the number of programs EBS 2008 contains. But I never read the SBS2003 book, or took the 70-282 exam, so I don’t know how well the various parts of SBS2003 were covered in comparison to this.

If all goes as planned, I will receive my (passing?) score in about 8 weeks, although it could take longer. I’ll post it when I get it of course.

SQL Server 2008 Beta exams

Microsoft announced two new beta exams for SQL Server 2008 on friday:

SQL Server 2008 Exam Beta: 71-450: PRO: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Designing, Optimizing, and Maintaining a Database Administrative Solution

SQL Server 2008 Beta Exam: 71-452: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008

71-450 is a new exam which, judging by the title, replaces the 70-443 and 70-444 exams. Links to info on SQL Server 2008 can be found here.

Microsoft Essential Business Server 2008

EBS2008
As you may know, EBS2008 is a new product by Microsoft, aimed at companies from 75 to 250 (max 300) users. It is positioned above SBS2008, which is aimed at companies with up to 75 people.  The official launch is scheduled for November 12th but, as is usual with Microsoft, you can already download the public preview version.

I have been playing with the software since Tuesday in preparation of the beta exam (see below). First impression is that it is very heavy on the wizards. The entire installation, both pre and post tasks, is done through the now familiar Server 2008 type of screens. However, some knowledge of networking is required so it is not something to leave up to a monkey. The entire suite consists of 3 Windows 2008 servers, Exchange Server 2007, the new Threat Management Gateway (formerly ISA) and System Center Essentials. Everything is taken care of, so after setup is complete you have a fully functioning environment complete with a published OWA, Exchange Anywhere and Remote Web Workplace. On funny thing:the TMG Server (called the security server) also has the Exchange Edge Transport role installed. This may not seem strange, but when deploying the full Exchange product the ET role can not be installed on a domain computer. Apparently some changes were made for EBS2008.

As with SBS2003, there is a central management console to control, monitor and configure everything. New Windows 2008 technologies like RemoteApp are used in a surprising way. Managing Exchange from this console, starts the Exchange 2007 Console as a RemoteApp on the Exchange machine. Also the options from this console are quite extensive, from controlling windows updates centrally or on a specific machine to rebooting everything remotely.

EBS2008 looks nice, and is probably not very hard to administer. It does contain some pretty big applications though, and getting to know them well may take some time. Hopefully the F1 content will be very extensive and easy to read.

Expect more info on EBS2008 in future posts.

BETA exam
If you’re an IT Pro you can also participate in the Beta exam program for EBS2008. Sign up info. I have mine scheduled for 15.30 next Tuesday, August 12th. I’ll post my opinion and some highlights afterwards, without violating the MS NDA of course

Ooohh, look at the pretty lights…

This is a video I picked up on the Net. It shows Admins desperately (or should that be dutifully?) patching their DNS servers against the so-called Kaminsky DNS bug. It also shows that large parts of the world have little use for DNS, like the dark innards of Africa and Siberia. Makes me grateful for being born in a western European country. Anyway, the video reminds me of WarGames, that famous geek movie from the 80’s with Matthew Broderick. Just more colors…

Red — Unpatched
Yellow — Patched, but the NAT is screwing things up
Green — OK

First!

Right, the first post. Nothing special, just a Hello World to everyone! This blog will be about stuff I like, find interesting, funny stuff on ther Internet, or that is related to my work as an IT Pro. Hopefully there is someone who shares my interests