Server 2003 vs. SBS 2003

Could someone confirm for me the differences between Windows Server 2003 and Windows Small Business Server 2003?

From what I can tell Server 2003 is just the basic server OS, while SBS is Server 2003 and Exchange.

For an organization with 20 users and the need to tie not only database programs but individual files, calendars and such together would SBS 2003 be the route to go?

You are basically correct in your assumption. SBS is different only in that you cannot configure more that one Active Directory Domain in your Active Directory tree. For a 20 employee company, this should not be a problem.

In its infinitely wise ways, Microsoft has produced two (count 'em, 2) versions of SBS 2003; Standard and Premium. The difference between these is that the Premium edition includes SQL Server 2000, MS Frontpage 2003, and ISA Server 2000. If you do not need any of these options, the Standard edition will work just fine for you. Both editions include the basic server components, Exchange Server, Outlook 2003 and Share Point Services. Both will support up to 75 users, and both come with 5 client access licenses. The Premium version at retail is more than twice the price of the Standard version. I have not checked TechSoup pricing on either of them.

Well, a question that really hits me where I live. I've been designing, installing and maintaining Small Business Server networks for Chicago not-for-profits for the past 8 years. I'm also a founder of the Chicago Small Business Server Users Group, which now has over 65 members (mostly consultants with a few end users.)

For less than 50 computers (actual limit is 75 concurrent connections) SBS is definitely the way to go, IMHO.

SBS is NOT just Server plus Exchange. It is one unified, easily configurable package that offers much more than the sum of its parts!

First, at TechStock the $$difference between SBS Standard and SBS Premium is $20, so that's a no=brainer! Always go with Premium, which includes ISA (Internet Security and Acceleration) Server and SQL server. Second, I always order USER CALs (Client Access Licenses) not DEVICE CALs.

Some of the "bonus" features of Small Business Server vs ordering just Windows Server.....

- Single server box - a huge plus IMHO, though some see this as a detriment (most of those guys have an "Enterprise" mindset, are "paper MCSE's" and know Windows Server, and nothing else, and especially know absolutely nothing about SBS. My SBS colleagues and I have had to come in and clean up really terrible SBS installations after them, so we have seen their work first hand!) So, you buy one really good box for your server. (And hire a consuotant with solid SBS experience!) See server recommendations below.

- Unified setup of users. Set them up once, and the info flows to all of the server products.

- Remote Web Workplace, which is only available with SBS. Probably the biggest new feature, according to my NFP clients. They can work from any IE browser on any PC anywhere, and get right to their desktop PC at work - securely!

- Shared Fax Server - I have several clients who use this a lot - especially for "blast faxes" to local nedia and other organizations about special events. Almost all are using it for outbound only.

- ISA Server 2000 (noite: this will be free upgraded to the new ISA 2004 in a couple of months. This is VERY robust and very good firewall product that sits between the network card you have atached to your DSL router, and the network card that attaches your fileserver to the rest of your internal network. It is very easy to configur3e, but also can be tweaked to do just about anything that a $500 external router/firewall would do. I don't want to start another round of the holy war about hardware vs. software firewalls - but let me just say that I have this setup in 17 clients, and I have never had a single security breach incident, and I have been putting SBS in my clients since 1997!

- Easy-to-use Sharepoint Services to set up aninternal web site. This will revolutionize the way you handle information inside your organization!

Finally, I always add Trend Micro's Client/Server/Messaging Suite for Small to Medium Business ("CSM for SMB.") Trend will allow NFPs to order the "Academic" version at around $30 per license, and $9 per year renewal. More expensive than Symantex Enterprise, but blows it away in ease-of-use and features. Handles server, workstation and email anti-virus protection as well as SPAM control. (Most of my small NFP users average 400 blocked spam messages a day!)


Though you didn't ask for it, here are some examples of my server recommendations:


- a DELL Poweredge 1600SC (I always buy DELL Refurbished - with same three year warranty as new. www.delloutlet.com. Keep looking as the inventory changes by the minute.)

-with RAID Controller and

-RAID 5 configuration with three 36 GB SCSI drives minimum (one more as a hot spare if you can afford another $150.) New SATA IDE drives are worth a look, and can be set up RAID, but I would not use cheap IDE drives unless you are in really tough budget situation, and then only if you run RAID1 (mirroring) with a Promise RAID controller.

-Add enough RAM (between 1.0 and 2.0 GB; start with 1.0 and you can always add more. I buy all my extra memory at www.crucial.com. They make most of the memory for DELL, IBM and HP servers, though you won't ever find out unless someone forgets to take off the Crucial label - which I see sometimes!)),

-two NIC cards total (most servers have one built-in). I always buy 3com or SMC cards in the $40 range. I have replaced too many of the cheap $15 Netgear and SMC cards!

- Decide if you want to use removable tape or multiple USB hard drives for backup.

That's just my quick two cents. I've also seen the recommendations of 30-40 other local SBS consultants, and they are MOSTLY in agreement with the above.

Bob Hood
Hood Consulting Group

Howdy- Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here. We migrated from NT4.0 to SBS 2003 last year, and I have to say it was a breeze. Really easy to configure and get up and running, including all the data migration (which included migrating our proprietary client tracking system from SQL server 7). Couple of bumps, but by and large it was easy. The only significant setback I've had was that we wanted to implement Terminal Server and we can't do that with SBS (other than the 2 admin accounts). If we go ahead with it we need to install a second server with Windows Server 2000 or later and have it be a Terminal Server.

Bob,
Thanks for your comments on SBS 2003. Do you have any suggestions for planning a migration from Windows server 2000 to SBS 2003?

Dave

Thanks for all the great detail, already you have influenced the decision on what software to get. One additional question though.

Most of our computers are running XP Home edition... are there going to be any significant progoblems using them with SBS 2003?

You'll need to upgrade your computers to XP Pro (Or Windows 2000) Xp Home does not have the ability to log on to the domain. So you could get to shared folders with out the domain but you'll not have Exchange access, group policies, central management of desktops and users, and the other features the domain login provides. Tech stock use to offer XP pro upgrades for a very reasonable fee.

As dwelp pointed out, you will have to upgrade to XP Pro. The TechStock licenses are $8.00 @, not a budget-killer! The recommended method is really to flatten the PC and do a clean install. However, if you are satisfied with the current setup, and your users have really convoluted special desktops, programs, etc. you can do an in-place upgrade.

Please note: if you do the in-place upgrade you will lose the ability to connect to the upgraded desktop remotely using Remote Web Workplace. However, there is a fairly simple registry fix that will take care of this. Let me know if you want this posted later. The plus-side of inplace is that you don't have to reload local PCX programs.

Dave: I thought that I had sent a fairly long reply on 2000-2003 migration, but I don't see it posted here. Did you get it?

First off...thanks for posting such a thorough write up of SBS, Bob. It is very helpful...even if there is an underlying motive to market your services and the products you support :smile;

I come from a large "enterprise" environment but have recently joined a smaller NFP. I am currently working on sort of a "Strategic Plan" for technology and investigating some of the options for setting up an Active Directory environment to replace out NT 4.0 domain and enable us to provide/support more services (i.e. SQL server, Exchange, etc.) We have roughly 50 users so I am obviously considering SBS and your post answered many of the questions that I had, though I am still largely unfamiliar with the product and there are a few other questions that I have.

1. I don't fully understand the degree to which the products in SBS are "integrated". What I mean by this is: If I obtain SBS and have a license for SQL, Exhange, and 2003 Server, do they all have to be installed on the same physical server? or do I still have the ability to install, say, SQL on a separate physical box?

2. I understand the single AD domain limitation but if can you overcome that limitation by having your SBS server as a member server on an AD domain? Not that I'm all that concerned with the limitation but we are a NFP with a wholly owned subsidiary and I can envision leaving such room for flexibility.

3. If you can have your SBS as a member server in an AD domain that is running on a regular 2003 installation, I'm know that you would still be limited by the 75-user limit but would such a configuration have any effect on accessing the SBS server through a domain trust?

4. I seem to recall reading somewhere that you cannot apply the standard Windows Service Packs to a SBS installation...that MS actually releases separate versions of their Service Packs for SBS, a while after the intial releas. Is this true?

Thanks to anyone that can provide insight into the questions I have.

Scott

Thanks for the detailed posting on SBS 2003. I am right in the middle of final stage of workup for install of Server 2003 and SBS 2003.

You answered my lingering question for ISA. I will definitely put that to work.

Q: will the ISA cover the other server in the group as well as the down stream client work stations or only the IP in the SBS 2003 box?

Q: regarding Exchange?

Is it a good practice to run the Exchange server with SQL for serving up data and mail via our Web Server which uses a lot of form mail via Cold Fusion Server?

I have not done an Exchange or SBS install previously.

Finally, we have been considering a hardware appliance firewall like the Symantec 300 series. Looks like I can accomplish my goals with ISA per your posting.

In SBS all of the products must remain on the same box this is a license requirement from Microsoft. There is a migration product that will allow you to split the products off to seperate servers and maintain some of the integration features, but there are a couple of integration features you loose in this environment. The Exchange and SQL will play together on the same box just remember the user count is limited to a max of 75 users. Be sure to size the hardware of the server to get the most performance. If you are pushing the user count to begin with you would be better getting the seperate products on seperate servers and not mess with SBS.

I am looking to upgrade one of my sites with SBS as they have 35 users and this will allow me to get exchange and the share point services. My other site is sitting at 75 users and I will not even consider SBS there.

Dave

While upgrading from SBS 2000 to 2003, I discovered the hard way that Microsoft has removed the SBS Modem Sharing service in 2003, which allowed clients to dial-out using a modem pool located on the server.

I ended up installing a third party solution from http://netmodem.com which resembles the modem sharing service in SBS 2000, and includes some additional features such as user authentication, inbound call blocking, and logs every phone number called.

While this solved the problem, I am very surprised that MS would remove such an important feature from SBS, which thereby caused me to spend and additional $150 on a third party solution in addition to the price of my SBS upgrade.

I assume that MS feels that dialout access is now obsolite, but as a healthcare provider our users need to make a direct dialed modem connection. I feel that MS dropped the ball on this one.

-James

Imscoop22--

1) As mentioned, all SBS products must be installed on the same box. Just get a box with enough horsepower to run what you want.

2 & 3) SBS must be at the root of the domain forest. It is the domain controller, and it does not "trust" other domains. (After all, it is designed for small businesses that tend not to have multiple domains.) However, you can have member servers in the SBS network, just not as a domain controller. If this condition is met, trusted shares work just fine.

4) It depends on the service pack. SBS is based on Windows 2003, so you can apply regular hotfixes and patches. Windows 20003 SP1 was released a few weeks ago, but SBS users were advised not to apply it since SBS SP1 is set to be released very soon with some cool extras.

Always read the hotfix and patch release notes, and when in doubt, ask SBSers like Bob who is well respected in the SBS community.