The SBS console: lower barriers to entry
You cannot go far without encountering Microsoft’s Small Business Server (SBS), a one-box solution that provides services such as email, contact management and shared documents for up to 75 users. On November 12, the company is releasing SBS 2008 — the first completely new version since SBS 2003. The concept is the same as before: take Microsoft’s key server products and configure them to run on a single PC. “These are enterprise technologies and we build integrated tools so that they fit in the small-business space,” says Dean Paron, group program manager at Microsoft.
SBS 2008 is based on the 64-bit version of Windows Server 2008, released earlier this year. It includes Microsoft’s email server, Exchange 2007, and handles duties including authenticating users, hosting shared documents, and running an internal website. The previous version did the same thing, so what’s new?
“We wanted to lower the barriers to entry” says Paron. “We’ve built a new administrative framework, so you think about what you are trying to accomplish rather than the underlying technologies.” He is referring to the SBS console, which presents common tasks in a user-friendly tabbed window.
There are other changes. Anti-virus and anti-spam management is now deeply integrated, both for the server and for connected computers. “We can tell you if there is anti-virus software installed on a client and what its status is,” says Paron. Third-party security vendors can plug into the system, but Microsoft also supplies trial versions of its own products, Forefront for Exchange and OneCare for computers. The backup system now uses external hard drives instead of tape. Backup is also quicker, because it looks only at what has changed, rather than recopying everything.
Partner feedback
What about the internet? This is a traditional on-premise server, but there some changes in this area, too. The old SBS encouraged users to run a public website on their own server. “We got a lot of feedback from partners that it wasn’t the way they wanted to do it,” says Paron. The wizards now integrate with Microsoft’s Office Live Small Business, a hosted service that provides a public website as well as internet-based document sharing. SBS also allows internal users to log on over the internet. You can collect email, access documents, or even connect to your own computer desktop using a feature called the Remote Web Workplace, which is enhanced in this version.
Some of the changes are controversial. SBS 2003 included a firewall and proxy server called ISA (Internet Security and Acceleration), which has now been dropped. This means SBS 2008 requires an external firewall device and loses some advanced features relating to filtering web traffic and publishing hosted services. “For one or two clients I’ve got, that will be a problem,” says Neil Beswick, an SBS consultant based in Nottinghamshire. Paron insists that few customers used ISA. “Customers preferred the configuration with an external firewall box. The solution for customers who still want ISA is to move to a different place in the Essential Server solutions family.” Essential Server is based on a suite of servers, rather than just one, but as Beswick points out, “that increases cost”.
SBS 2008 may be easier to use than its predecessors, but can it be run by non-specialists? Opinions vary. “We’re going to see large numbers of small businesses using this without a consultant maybe some to most of the time,” says Paron, though he suggests that specifying the right system is still a job for a specialist. Susan Bradley, an SBS consultant in Fresno, California, is more cautious. “A small firm is not doing themselves any favours by thinking that they can take time away from what they should be focusing on [running their business] and focusing instead on IT. To identify, deploy and manage a network is not something that a business owner should consider as a DIY project.” The inherent problem is that no matter how good the user-friendly tools become, the complexity underneath sometimes spills out, perplexing non-technical users.
Little competition
For small businesses that need a server, SBS has little competition, but is it worth upgrading? “The biggest competition to SBS 2008 is a well-run SBS 2003 server,” says Bradley. Unfortunately there is no direct upgrade, because SBS 2008 is a 64-bit operating system. The answer may be to wait until the hardware needs replacing.
SBS 2008 comes in a standard or premium edition, which adds a licence for a second server along with the SQL Server database manager. The second server lets you run additional applications without clogging up the main server, which is already burdened with Exchange 2007. That makes sense, though the price is substantially higher. UK prices are not finalised, but in the US, standard is $1,089 (around £617) including the first five users, and $77 (£44) for each subsequent user; while the premium is $1,899 (£1,076) for the first five users and $189 (£107) for each subsequent user.