Review: A Sneak Peek At Microsoft SBS 2008 RC1

Unmistakably, Microsoft has done it again with Small Business Server 2008. In fact, Small Business Server 2008 might just shake up the managed service provider landscape, and not just with market muscle but with many great features all built into one product.

Almost from its inception, SBS has been about centralizing and simplifying server management. The idea is still there. With SBS 2008, small VARs can take advantage of Windows 2008 server features without having to deal with many of its advance features. Microsoft's push for 64-bit in Windows 2008 server shouldn't scare you either. The new 64-bit OS won't affect any of the functionality of existing network devices or applications running on it.

SBS 2008 is offered in two versions. The main difference: one comes with SQL Server and the other without it. With SQL Server, VARs can develop or integrate line of business applications. Customers with applications that use SQL Server can benefit as well. Porting over applications into a SBS box allows small businesses to consolidate servers and simplify management over time.

Installation is far simpler now in this edition. Microsoft developers automated many settings during installation by using Windows Server 2008's method of providing easy-to-install roles, features and command scripts and tools. We only needed to enter basic networking options to get up and running. The rest was done automatically.

The Windows 2008 Server Manager says it all. SBS installs with many out-of-the-box server roles like DNS server, Network Policy and Access, including a group policy management feature and many other server configurations. Without a doubt, SBS takes advantage of many great new features in Windows 2008 server.

The new SBS Console has lots more information and it's much more interactive than SBS 2003. But Microsoft has done more than revamped the UI. The console provides key actionable information that helps VARs identify many problems at customer sites in real time.

For instance, VARs can receive security information from the Windows Server 2008 firewall. Microsoft offers Windows Live OneCare in SBS for detecting malware. With OneCare, VARs can also receive information about malware detected on a network.

A new reporting tool simplifies combing through logs and event messages. SBS generates reports on the fly as well. The information comes from the underlying technologies used by Windows Server 2008. SBS combines the information into easy to read views.

Adding and configuring users is more intuitive than using the AD interface. All of the features are in a role as shown on a Task pane on the right side of the workspace. Just by looking at the tasks, even VARs new to SBS will be able to figure out what they can and cannot do with a feature.

Some of the more advanced network features have been automated as well. VARs can add self-issued Web server certificates, turn on VPNs and configure printers and other network devices from the Console.

Backup is also a lot simpler to manage. There's no need to do long tape backups anymore. The entire backup process is completely automated. The new technology looks at all the disks and copies files block by block to an external drive much faster than its predecessor. By default, the backup tool is scheduled to backup twice a day.

Setting up file services is straightforward and doesn't require any knowledge of Windows server. What's more, SBS 2008 arrives with Exchange 2007 and Forefront Security for Exchange. However, the Exchange console is still the same. Configuring the email server is just as complex.

Overall, SBS 2008 is a good product, but we wanted more.

Integrating tool and server UIs into SBS would make the product far superior and more competitive with MSP platforms. Vendors like N-Able, Level Platforms and Kaseya already integrate many enterprise features into a single UI. With SBS, VARs have to jump between the SBS Console and other server products to manage customers' infrastructures.