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David Overton's Blog » Answers to some of the questions about SBS 2008 (32-bit 2nd server, SCE, beta upgrades, migrating users
Answers to some of the questions about SBS 2008 (32-bit 2nd server, SCE, beta upgrades, migrating users

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[updated 23rd Feb 2008] After posting on SBS 2008 the other day I've had a few questions, so here are some answers

  • Can the 2nd server be x64 or x86 (32-bit) and can it be used for Terminal Services / Hyper-V / a.n.other purpose
    • The 2nd server can be 32 or 64-bit.  It is essentially Windows Server 2008 Standard edition, however it does check it is part of a SBS domain.  Therefore it can be used for almost anything a Windows Server can be used for (and SQL can be loaded on it too)
  • Why was System Center Essentials removed from SBS 2008
    • The short answer is that this was not the right product for SBS owners, however SBS can be used / works with SCE.  For this reason SCE can, for example, be loaded on the the 2nd server
  • Can I install SBS 2008 beta (cougar) in my production environment and upgrade to RTM when it releases
    • The answer here is one about the fact that betas are betas and have bugs, so there are risks.  Officially the answer is “don’t consider using Cougar beta in your production environment unless you are on the TAP as any problems / migration / upgrades will be unsupported.  Should you do so, your only access to any support and guidance will be via the newsgroups”
  • If someone has recently purchased hardware for SBS 2003, can they move to SBS 2008
    • SBS 2008 has migration wizards that will enable the move from one machine to another.  For those where they wish to use existing hardware there is NO in-place upgrade, however you should be able to do the following (assuming the hardware is x64 capable):

      • 1) Copy their existing setup to a virtual machine

      2) Install SBS 2008 onto the original hardware and use the migration tools to move SBS to the same box

      or

      1) Backup their SBS 2003 system

      2) Install SBS 2008 on the existing hardware

      3) Add data back from backup (this is a manual process)

  • Can SBS 2008 be used with Hyper-V
    • Yes, we’re in the process of testing which virtualization scenarios SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 will support, and will provide more information in the future.
  • Can SBS 2003 CALs be used with SBS 2008
    • No, SBS 2008 has a different CAL model - there is now a standard and premium CAL
  • Can I upgrade / transition from SBS 2008 to EBS 2008 (Essential Business Server) from Andy's blog at http://parkesy.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/sbs-2008-officially-essential/
    • We are working on this as a desired outcome, but are not releasing any details yet

 

Keep the questions coming!

 

ttfn

David

Posted Sat, Feb 23 2008 10:42 AM by David Overton
Filed under: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments

David Overton's Blog wrote More information on SBS 2008
on Fri, Feb 22 2008 9:41 AM

I was reading over at Sean Daniel's blog about more info on SBS 2008 and realised there are a couple

Tyler wrote re: Answers to some of the questions about SBS 2008 (32-bit 2nd server, SCE, beta upgrades, migrating users
on Fri, Feb 22 2008 4:12 PM

Hey David, do you know if the CALS for SBS 2003 will work for SBS2008 or do they have to have Software Assurance on the CALS?

Paulie wrote re: Answers to some of the questions about SBS 2008 (32-bit 2nd server, SCE, beta upgrades, migrating users
on Sat, Feb 23 2008 5:37 PM

Presumably the 2nd server could be used a domain controller and therefore be of assistance if you wanted to migrate the system back to the original hardware.

I think the addition of the secondary server license adds a lot of flexibility, quite excited about it! :)

Marcelo wrote re: Answers to some of the questions about SBS 2008 (32-bit 2nd server, SCE, beta upgrades, migrating users
on Mon, Feb 25 2008 8:49 PM

Hi Dave,

"1) Copy their existing setup to a virtual machine

2) Install SBS 2008 onto the original hardware and use the migration tools..."

Does 1) not need ADS, Ent.Server to "VMize" a "live" server? Or is there some resource to read at how do that to "VMise" a SBS2k3 box? I appreciate some link on how to do that :) Regards!

David Overton wrote re: Answers to some of the questions about SBS 2008 (32-bit 2nd server, SCE, beta upgrades, migrating users
on Mon, Feb 25 2008 9:29 PM

Paulie,

the 2nd server is a 2nd server, so can be used as a DC.

thanks

David

David Overton wrote re: Answers to some of the questions about SBS 2008 (32-bit 2nd server, SCE, beta upgrades, migrating users
on Mon, Feb 25 2008 9:31 PM

Marcelo,

1) Using current tools from MS does requires ADS (which requires WS EE)

2) I don't expect to see too many people doing this - I think many will go for clean upgrade

3) You could look at an eval of WS EE

4) You could look at non MS tools such as www.stalltheball.com/.../how_to_migrate_a_server_from_physical_to

5) None of the above are necessarily supported by Microsoft - these are my opinions, not MS gospel

thanks

David

John wrote re: Answers to some of the questions about SBS 2008 (32-bit 2nd server, SCE, beta upgrades, migrating users
on Mon, Apr 7 2008 10:25 AM

thanks for the reference to stalltheball.com :)

We have had great sucess using SCVMM on W2K3 server to Virtualise servers.

Benefits are that you can take a virtual image complete with all required VHDs etc and either just store it in the library or tick the box to fire it up on a virtual host after shutting down the original physical server.

We use the P2V process detailed above (www.stalltheball.com/.../how_to_migrate_a_server_from_physical_to)  in reverse if we need to do a P2P where you want to move a server from one bit of hardware to another.

technet.microsoft.com/.../bb871026.aspx

SCVMM FAQ - - technet.microsoft.com/.../bb740760.aspx

Specific requirements vary by Virtual Machine Manager component. For example, you can install the following components on separate servers or on a single server:

   * Virtual Machine Manager server

   * VMM database

   * VMM Administrator Console

   * Virtual machine hosts

   * Library servers

   * VMM Self-Service Portal

For specific software and hardware requirements, see Virtual Machine Manager System Requirements (go.microsoft.com/fwlink).

Software Requirements

technet.microsoft.com/.../bb740967.aspx

Using W2K8 with HyperV running a console only, is a pretty amazing bit of kit.

Michael wrote re: Answers to some of the questions about SBS 2008 (32-bit 2nd server, SCE, beta upgrades, migrating users
on Mon, May 19 2008 11:09 AM

Does the licence for the new SBS 2008 Premium allow you to host multiple web sites with SQL Server

as the backend database for publishing database driven web sites?

Thanks

Michael

Brian wrote re: Answers to some of the questions about SBS 2008 (32-bit 2nd server, SCE, beta upgrades, migrating users
on Sat, Jan 24 2009 8:00 PM

Hey David,

I have a dell poweredge 830 w/ a pentium D 3.0 GHz 32 bit processor. The machine has 4 Gb's of RAM.  Hard drives = 2-160gb drives on mirror partition and 2-500gb drives on mirror partition.

Question is will it run SBS 2008  ?

Thanks,

Brian

David Overton wrote re: Answers to some of the questions about SBS 2008 (32-bit 2nd server, SCE, beta upgrades, migrating users
on Sat, Jan 24 2009 10:20 PM

Brian,

I'm not familar with any of the hardware manufacturers product numbers.  If the particular Pentium D supports x64 then it should work, but I can't answer for the RAID controller etc.  Dell should be able to tell you if this machine can run Windows 2008 x64 edition and if it can, it should be OK for SBS 2008.

Thanks

David

Hakim wrote re: Answers to some of the questions about SBS 2008 (32-bit 2nd server, SCE, beta upgrades, migrating users
on Wed, Dec 9 2015 9:19 PM

this worked, didn't even rielaze there was a problem until we added a win 7 64 workstation to sbs network, then trying to get sbs to update windows update services started giving the above mentioned error.thanks again.

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