Now many of us are using Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. In many cases, there are some problems updating these operating systems with WSUS 3.0. The first symptom is, that these systems are reported in WSUS as Windows XP pro, not as Windows 8. It seems that the problem is in WSUS service. To solve the problem you must install WSUS SP2, which is downloadable from http://www.microsoft.com/en-za/download/details.aspx?id=30747 (64bit) or from http://www.microsoft.com/en-za/download/details.aspx?id=30748 (32bit).
After installing this update, you will be able to update the Windows 8 and Server 2012 operating systems..
Category: Windows SBS Server
Essentials and SBS Server RWA Security
I have to say that I have reported the same problem in Windows Server 2012 Essentials as I had reported it two years ago for SBS Standard 2011 and SBS Essentials 2011. Unfortunately also in this case I had from Microsoft people the answer, that this is »feature by design«.
The explanation of the problem is simple. In any Microsoft environment, administrator does not have the access to other users’ redirected folders. For me, this is a right approach (of course the user can have in this folder some private data and we must leave them as that). The same thing is in Essentials server; administrator, in the way of browsing on server, is not able to access to other users’ folders.
We can see, that this is the same approach like in other products and is the same approach as is in server environment at least since Windows server 2000. It gives privacy and confidence to all users for their data, because they are secure.
In other way,if you try to access to the same data true RWA,you will get a surprise. You can access to all users’ folders, and also to any shared folder.
It does not depend on security settings, it is simply accessible. Do you think, that this will help to inspire confidence in users? I don’t think so.
What does Microsoft say? They are sure, that this is a small environment, where administrator must have access to data for support reason (OK, but to private files?). I might try to understand them, but this state as is now, sounds like “Sorry Mr. User, I cannot help you from your office. If you like my help, I can do this from home.” This is not a clear situation. In most cases you cannot access to personal data like in “real systems”, but it exists a work around (which is not a trusted computing approach). We have two very different types of understanding what are and how to secure users personal data. This is not the right way and I think that is not clearly defined what administrator can do and what he can’t do.
So once again, please let me know what do you think about this and also tell the same things to Microsoft people via connect site or forums. It will be the best thing for us and our customers..
SBS Competency update
A voice from Microsoft confirmed that the Exam 70-323 is not obligatory any more. At the end of August, it will be added the exam 70-324, which is the “light version” of 70-323. It is especially developed for small businesses and it will not have complex questions about hybrid and big enterprise environments.
I suggest you, that if you are interested in doing this exam, to join Jump Start.
More on: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mssmallbiz/archive/2012/08/07/announcing-the-administering-office-365-for-small-businesses-jump-start-for-the-74-324-exam.aspx.
What are thinking SBS professionals about the future in the SMB segment
Few days ago SMB Nation did a survey about the SBS and SBSC in the future. I was also a part of this survey and actually I saw that no one is happy with the SBS end of life decision. The second thing, that is visible from the survey, is the clear way of partners to go to the market with third party solutions, more then with Cloud. We can also see, that the SBS Competency is not very popular, or maybe it loses the right value with the SBS end of live.
You can read a complete article about the survey here. I suggest you also to read the blog posted by Harry Brelsford about SBS product clarifications..
Windows SBS is now Windows Server 2012 Essentials only
As a lot of us probably heard in the last days, Microsoft declared that Windows SBS server is out. They told us this is because we are entering in new era of Cloud computing and this is definitely the way where companies in SMB segment will go.
I don’t completely agree with this statement, but this is the way where we go… Maybe in the near future the Cloud will be really the best solution, but now there are still a lot of small companies who don’t have a good internet connection or just don’t want to go in the Cloud.
We have to remind that it was a day when SBS appears on market and now it is the day when it disappears. The only thing that remains from this project is Windows Server 2012 Essentials. Let’s take a short look on it:
This is a very similar project to Windows SBS 2011 Essentials and it has more or less the same functions. It is designed for very small businesses with a maximum of 25 users (and also a maximum of 50 devices). It has a very easy to manage SBS console and a similar remote web access as the previous version. Of course the synchronization with Office 365 is natively supported, but the new thing is the support to on premise Exchange on the second server. In this case, of course, you have to buy Windows Server 2012 Standard and Exchange Server + CALs. A new feature in this version is also Online Backup, which is used to back up your system in the Microsoft Cloud. The good news is,that 100GB of space are included with any installation of Windows Server 2012 Essentials for free (in Beta version,I’m not sure about the amount of free storage in the release version).
It will be available also the “transition pack”, which is the way to “upgrade” Essentials version to Standard. It removes all limits, except the limit for the number of backups for the client computers (the maximum is 75 PCs). After the transition there will still remain some functions like RWA and SBS Console (but I am not sure if Console will be useful with a large number of users). At transition I’m also worried how we will manage or convert the users. In Essentials version they have permissions in file system and in AD established on principle user by user. This is practically impossible to manage in large environments like the new one will be.
Anyway, like it or not, I invite you to download and try Essentials version from here, to be prepared when it will come on the market..
