The Vista ISA 2004 Firewall Client Update

Wow, I've had an overwelming comments or emails from my Vista Update for SBS 2003 about when the ISA 2004 Firewall client will release.

Asking around internally, you guys are in luck! The Vista Firewall Client is targetted to ship around the same time as the consumer Vista's and the Small Business Server Vista Update. So, come January sometime, you'll have all three in your happy little hands. :)

Hope this helps with your planning, now you can at least target a date!

Oh, and just for completeness, here is the Updated Firewall client for 32 and 64 bit hardware running on Windows XP.

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Microsoft's new Reality TV show?

Poking around on MSNBC.com, I found an interesting article about Carolyn, The Donald's peer in the TV series The Apprentice was recently hired as a judge on Microsoft's reality TV show.

According to This Article, Microsoft is using the competition to promote a new version of its Microsoft Office Accounting software and services for small businesses.

I wonder if my idea to sell server solutions into small business will ever take off?

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The Vista Update for SBS 2003

I've had a lot of questions about the Vista update that's coming to fix client deployment to work for Vista clients. Everyone by now has seen the How to run Vista RC1 on SBS. This post applies to Vista RTM (The final release bits) as well.

Unfortunately, the Vista Update for SBS 2003 (code named "RipCurl") won't be ready until Vista ships to consumer customers. Yes, I'm aware that Vista RTM is available to MSDN and other package subscribers today. In addition, volume license customers (enterprises, etc) will be able to get it within the week (November 30th is the date I've heard rumors of, no holding me to it though!). And In Jan/Feb of next year is when Vista and the Vista Update for SBS 2003 will be available to all customers.

I appologize for those SUPER early adopters (hey, because you're exactly like myself!).

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Wanna Run Windows SharePoint Services v3 on SBS 2003?

Tomorrow Windows SharePoint Services version 3 will be available. If you're a geek and have to have the latest, then this one's for you, or if you think you could use some of these features, you might want to install it at your small business

My two favourite features are:

• A recycle bin. A what? Recycle bin! You mean I can actually un-delete stuff? Oh yeah!


• Offline folder storage (requires Outlook 2007)

Well, the Small Business Server Business Productivity feature team has been working their butts off to help you get this up and running, side by side with your existing SharePoint version 2 site.

To get started, you'll need the following:

• The whitepaper on how to install WSS v3 on SBS 2003


• Windows SharePoint Services version 3

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How to "White List" the Senders to a Distribution Group

I run a jokes list through my home server. I mean really? what is the Internet for? work! buh! Jokes is where it's at!

Unfortunately the email address of the DL got out to our neighbourhood spammers, and now folks are getting more spam than jokes on this list. I had to do something, and I wasn't going to let a spammer force me to change the email address, so I created a whitelist of email addresses that could send to that Distribution list.

Here's how

1. On the server, click Start, Server Management, and select Distribution Groups


2. Right-click the group on the right you wish to add a sender white-list to and choose Properties


3. Switch to the Exchange General tab


4. Select Only From in the Message Restrictions section, and choose the Add button as many times as neccessary to add all the people who can send from this list.

The cool part here, is you can also add Contact objects into this white list. Since I already had contact objects for each person on my Distribution list, I just added them all in.

Now any email that comes to that Distribution List is checked against that list of email addresses, and rejected with the error:

You do not have permission to send to this recipient. For assistance, contact your system administrator.

(i.e. the sender gets an NDR, and the message is not sent to the DL)

In addition, you can create a Black List by simply inverting the "only from" to "From Everyone Except".

And while I realize this isn't optimal for groups that change frequently, it's perfect for groups that don't.

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A Cry for help from Centro

I personally have a fondness for Small Business Server, but I understand that businesses grow (heck, if I had one, I'd want it to grow). So now is the time for you to step up and help out.

Kevin, the SBS and Centro community lead, is calling out all stops to get some Centro Beta Testers.

We are looking for a few good testers to help influence the direction of this new Microsoft® Windows Server Solutions Product. Do you have three 64 bit machines that you can spare to test some of the most exciting technology Microsoft is working on? I know the system requirements are a daunting one, but this is the only way we can test "Centro". So, if you are already on the Longhorn Beta or the Exchange Beta, then you are already two thirds of the way there.

Details:
If you are interested in joining the "Centro" Beta please go to http://connect.microsoft.com click on Invitations sign in with your Windows Live ID (Passport ID) and enter the following invite ID; Extr-GHBC-JCJM. You will be asked to take a short Survey. Once you complete the survey look for an email from MsftConn@microsoft.com. If you don't already trust this address, please add it to your trusted email addresses.

Microsoft MVPs:
Please contact me directly about this techbeta. I have a different invite ID to the Beta for you.

If you are really serious and would like to do the TAP, here is a message from Mike van de Merwe who is running the TAP for Centro:

You know you want to be more involved in Centro. You even want to start using it to run your business! Techbeta doesn’t let you do that but TAP does! We are looking for more people to nominate themselves for the Centro Technology Adoption Program to do exactly what you want to do: run Centro in your production environments. Why would you do something like this? You get access to product support once you deploy Centro in production; you will have an assigned program manager from Microsoft who will work with you to mitigate risks in deploying and maintaining Centro; and you will be invited to participate in 1-2 onsite training sessions in Redmond.

If you have any questions what so ever, please post a comment here or send me an email direct, Kevin.

Centro Press Release

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Troubleshooting Mobility - Another reason why it won't sync...

This weekend I went to the seahawks game, and it was about as depressing as my ActiveSync on my phone. Friday night it was working perfectly, Saturday morning, it wouldn't sync. Usually my phone is the first thing to tell me that the server is down.

I saunter out of bed. OWA works, what's up with that? My phone won't sync. One of the messages in my inbox was "Mailbox is over it's size limit". Being the administrator, I could easily go in and give myself a bigger mailbox, but what kind of corporate citizen would I be if I did that?!

So, to make a long post short, if your phone is having trouble syncing to the server, make sure you're not over your quota limit on the server.

I'm off to delete more email so this doesn't happen again.

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Running Vista with SBS Premium (i.e. w/ ISA?)

Hey Folks,

A little while back, I posted the Looking to run Vista RC1 on SBS 2003? blog post. Those step didn't include how to configure the network if ISA 2004 was involved.

Becky has provided me again with more steps, here they are:

Add this after the section for “Create your user and computer account on the SBS Server”

Before joining a client if ISA Server is running

1. Ensure your Small Business Server has the ISA 2004 SP2 installed and running


2. If you have x64 Vista clients, install the ISA 2004 hotfix from KB 917902. As stated in the KB, you need to call PSS to obtain this hotfix. (note, there isn’t a charge for the PSS incident to get this hotfix)

Note, if you are running the Premium version of SBS w/ ISA 2004, the ISA Firewall Client currently has compatibility issues w/ Vista. See KB article 911077.

• Several of our most excellent SBS MVPs (thanks Cris and Susan!) have suggested running ISA Firewall Client in XP compatibility mode. It’s not a perfect solution, but does give you a temporary workaround. See Susan’s blog post for more info.

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Vista Tip - Copy as Path!

So this is pretty cool. In some cases, it's important for me to copy the path of a file into a program, like the command prompt. Vista has a new feature where you can Copy As Path, which will copy the fully qualified path to the file into the clipboard, but not the file itself.

To do this simply:

• Click on the file once


• Hold the shiftkey down and right-click on the file


• Choose the Copy As Path from the list


• Paste anywhere you like, and the fully qualified path will be pasted

Pretty neat. And yes, this is my first Vista tip with many more to come as I install Vista on all my PCs.

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5 Years Today

Today is October 1st, 2006. It was exactly 5 years ago today that I walked into NEO (New Employee Orientation) at Microsoft. At the time we were in the beginning development phases of Small Business Server 2003. Since then I've owned feature areas such as:

• The Import Files Wizard


• The Fax Configuration Wizard


• The Backup feature area (wizard and functionality)


• The Service Pack 1 XP SP2 Firewall Changes


• ... and now, core networking

It's been quite a ride here at Microsoft, where I've gone from my own window office as an intern, to a doubled up internal office as a full time employee (shows you how many people Microsoft has hired in the past 5 years :o) ). I'm looking forward to the next 5!

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Apparently I was ahead of the fad?

It's amazing to see that I've been running SBS 2003 at my house for almost 5 years now, and just now is it becoming a fad! Check out the Tech Net Geeks are running SBS at home.

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SBS UG Tour - Thank you Tampa!

My departure from Tampa ended the 2006 Small Business Server User Group Tour. I've had a great time travelling down the coast and talking to all of you. We really do appreciate the attendance levels we've hit. I hope you've enjoyed checking out the latest Vista and Office demos, learning about the "ribbon" and full text search. I also hope you've learned something about how Small Business Server 2003 R2 works. Again, if I can answer any questions, please feel free to drop me a comment on my blog, I'll reply to your comment with an answer (usually within a few days).

Let's see if I can recall some of the questions the Tampa croud asked:

Q: Can Vista's new Meeting Space be used from the Internet?
A: I don't believe so, it has to be the same network. We believe it will work over a VPN connection, although performance may very here.

Q: Can you revert back to the old toolbar in Office 2007?
A: Unfortunately, not. Although we believe the new ribbon will be more intuitive than the previous tool bars, and education will most likely only be needed for saving.

Q: Where did the Run command go from the start menu in Vista? How do we launch the command prompt?
A: you can simply type "command" or "cmd" into the search bar and it will run the command, or search the start menu and show you the link. You can also still press WIN+R to pop-up the old fashioned run dialog.

---

So now the tour is over, I can share with those of you who didn't attend, some of the great things you missed.

Office 2007

• A new navigation toolbar called "the ribbon" helps you use more features in Word/Excel/PowerPoint without having to search forever to find them.


• What you see *before* you get it, mousing over features changes the actual item on the page prior to you clicking so you can get the right formatting/feature everytime


• The hover menu. Save mouse movement by having common text tasks show up next to highlighted text in Word.


• Improved pictures/Graphics. No longer neccessary to import graphics to get a professional look and feel


• Integration with SharePoint v3. Link document libraries to Sharepoint for offline access, documents will sync up when you're back online. Overlay calendars and pick free/busy time, edit sharepoint calendars simply from within Outlook.
  
• SharePoint v3 - templates! Version Tracking! Recycle bins!


• Sharepoint Designer, a vastly improved environment for editing SharePoint replacing Frontpage

Windows Vista

• Full text search, everything


• Enhanced security using bitlocker
• 
  
• ReadyBoost to speed up your system with common tasks using a simple flash disk


• Aero "glass" UI, and the WIN+TAB 3D task switcher
• 
  
• The transparent sidebar with endless gadgets

Small Business Server 2003 R2

• Updated Server Status reports -- no more scrolling!


• Simplified patch management, critical patches are automatically approved!


• Customizable update management, reboot your PCs when it's convenient for you!


• Ehanced security and performance around Mobility


• Expanded CAL rights, use SBS CALs to cover additional SQL/Exchange boxes in the network


• File System Resource Manager. Get reports on disk usage, block file types (*.mp3, *.wma) from being stored on the server, directory level quota management

... and much much more

Remember, if you're not an SBSC, it's definately something to consider. I believe for a short time, contact your user group lead for discounts on obtaining this qualification.

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SBS UG Tour - Thank you Charlotte!

Well, we're past the half way point of the last leg of the SBS User Group Tour. I wanted to give a quick shout out to the folks in Charlotte for making me fell so welcome (especially MVPs Grey, Andy & the User Group lead, Marc)! If you're not a member of a user group, the Charlotte User Group is great bunch of guys n' gals.

So let's see if I can recall some of the questions we talked about last night:
Q:I use the SBS 2003 backup wizard, what's its deficiencies?
A: The SBS backup wizard was designed primarily for a single box backup solution. If you have additional servers in your network that you wish to backup, another solution may be in order. In addition, the Restore to new hardware, while it works if the hardware is similar (i.e. Dell-->Dell, HP-->HP) if you're moving to completely different hardware, the restore process is not optimized for this. Another solution was mentioned, but I can't recall it.

Q: Does SBS Backup use compression?
A: SBS backup is configured to use hardware compression. If the device the backup is going to supports it, the data will be compressed. In most cases, this means that the tape backup is compressed, but the hard drive backup is not.

Q:Are there any plans to include DFS (Distributed File System) in SBS for branch offices?
A: No. SBS is designed for smaller businesses, you'll want to keep your eye on Microsoft's Mid Market Solution, Codename: Centro. I can't disclose any more information at this time.

Q:Is there a way to upgrade my Windows Mobile 2003 device to Windows Mobile 2005?
A: You should check the website of the manufacturer, or the website of your cellular service provider, if an update is not provided for your device on these sites, chances are one is not available.

Q:Can I Upgrade to R2 and not upgrade SQL 2000?
A: No, all components must be upgraded, it's in the Microsoft SBS FAQ. For a little bit of more information, I started a thread with our marketing folk to see why this was the case.

That's all I can remember, again, thanks to all who attended, the SBSC private sessions as well as the actual event. And thanks to Grey who went out of his way to drive me around! (PS. Grey actually has a voice, I don't think I've heard him say more than 5 words at a time before! ;o) )

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SBS UG Tour - Thank you New York!

We just wrapped up the NYC event, I think it was a great success! Thanks to "Jonny Cash" for hosting the event in his user group. Thanks to the Microsoft folk who helped present and facilitate. Here are some of the questions we had in the room.

Q: When is R2 going to be available?
A: I thought it was, but I've heard this now in multiple places, so I went back to our release management for the story. R2 will be in the October Action Pack, it's available via open license today, Retail it varies by distributor, and there are no guaruntees as to when it will be available, and major OEMs are distributing it already.

Q: Does R2 have the ability to purchase 1 CAL at a time?
A: Single CAL is available only through a bundled offering for Open Value licensing (ie. a purchase of XP, Office, and SBS together). Everyone who knows *how* you can get this is off traveling around the world. I'll try to update this post when I get the answser, if someone knows, please reply to this post for the benefit of others.

Those are teh questions that I recalled, if there was one (or another one) that you wanted answering, please feel free to post it as a comment, it will get answered.

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