This morning, Microsoft announced that Essential Business Server 2008 development will stop in June 2010. Announcement on EBS website Support will continue for the next 5 years, so no need to panic! Existing customers will be able to trade-in EBS licensing for Standard versions of the products that make up EBS including CAL’s e.g. 3 x Standard Windows Server 2008, 1 x Exchange, TMG, Forefront … Continue reading The end of Essential Business Server
It is no secret that I am a fan of Essential Business Server 2008 (EBS 2008), but that doesn’t mean I can’t have a wish list of features and changes for the next version. Here is my short list of features I would like to see in the next version of EBS. I am interested in other peoples thoughts, so why not post a comment … Continue reading Essential Business Server Wish List
Essential Business Server 2008 (EBS 2008) is more than just Windows 2008 server with a bundled applications. Under the covers Active Directory is used to store configuration data used by the various EBS roles (management, messaging and security). Changes to configuration after installation should be made using the utilities like “ChangeIPAddress” rather than manually to avoid unwanted side-effects. It is however nice to understand a little bit of what … Continue reading EBS 2008 Configuration Data Introduction
Last weekend I received a call for help from a mate who was having trouble with his first Essential Business Server 2008 (EBS 2008) installation. He was upgrading and existing Small Business Server 2003 site to Essential Business Server. The EBS 2008 environment is virtualized and installed with SBS 2003 still in place. Their are many good reasons to consider EBS 2008 when choosing and … Continue reading Upgrade fun: SBS 2003 to EBS 2008
I recently had an issue with the System Centre Essentials on the Management Server of an Essential Business Server (EBS08). One of the catches with EBS08 is that you can’t easily reinstall the SCE component, you actually need to reinstall the server it is on. This is of course worst case scenario. I found this article on Technet which explains how to do a “Replacement … Continue reading Essential Business Server Replacement Mode Install
Essential Business Server 2008 (EBS 2008) automatically installs and configures most of the components required to provide remote access. Details can be found in my EBS 2008 Remote Access article. Forefront TMG is automatically configured during installation to allow the ports listed below to access services in the EBS 2008 environment. If you have an external router or firewall you will need to forward the … Continue reading EBS 2008 Firewall Configuration
Essential Business Server 2008 (EBS 2008) has in my experience been a very stable environment, but I have struck a few interesting issues. Here are solutions to some of the issues I have encountered: Outlook prompts for authentication every few minutes I found the solution to this was to change authentication on “AutoDiscover” in IIS on the Messaging Server. Details can be found on the … Continue reading Recent EBS 2008 issues and solutions
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