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