Windows Home Server for Small Business

(Business Wire) LPI Level Platforms Inc, the global leader in remote monitoring and management software for solution providers and managed services providers today announced that the Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) market is now “open for business” with Microsoft’s Windows Home Server.

While the millions of SOHO businesses have the greatest need for outsourced IT, cost and technology limitations have made this an elusive target for managed services providers.

With Level Platforms award-winning Managed Workplace installed on a Windows server, solution providers can now deliver end-to-end remote management of workgroup networks including monitoring of all devices (servers, PCs, network devices, printers, IP telephony, etc.), all applications running on Windows devices, alerting, full asset management, remote control, patch management, back up and security, extensive reporting, local storage and much more at a very low cost easily affordable to SOHO businesses.

“With this announcement we are radically expanding the size of their available market and bringing the benefits of managed services to millions of businesses that were not previously accessible to the service provider community.” said Peter Sandiford, CEO Level Platforms.

“By adding the Windows Home Server as a supported platform for Managed Workplace, Level Platforms has opened the doors to a hugely underserviced and important segment of the business market.” said Aaron Booker, President of Hardlines, a Washington-based solution provider focused on the small business market.

“We are excited to work with Level Platforms to extend the value of Windows Home Server to the Small Office/Home Office market,” said Charlie Kindel, General Manager, Windows Server Solutions Group, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). “This solution will help Microsoft Partners introduce the benefits of Windows Server technology to a large and important market segment establishing a solid foundation for improved performance and reliability today and growth for the future.”

Source: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/windows-home-server-for-small-business,697081.shtml

Data Recovery Options in Windows 2000 Server

If your Windows 2000 Server crashes, you may not have to take the long way back to data recovery. Jim Boyce explores several options that may be able to solve a server problem in a fraction of the time.

Backup in Windows 2000 Server is the first and the strongest line of defense against data loss.

But server crashes happen anyway, and when they do, you don't want to spend hours restoring your server for an error that could be fixed in five minutes. Here are some tools and methods you can use to restore a crashed server as quickly as possible.

If the computer won't boot, try to start it in Safe Mode. With Safe Mode, the operating system loads only the basic set of drivers and services needed to boot. Once you're in Safe Mode, you can check the logs to get an idea about what's preventing a normal boot.

If Safe Mode isn't working, you can use Last Known Good configuration. When Windows 2000 boots successfully, the operating system creates a copy of the registry keys under HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet, which are involved in that boot process.

If neither of these methods work, take a look at the Recovery Console. Recovery Console is a command prompt mode from where you can copy and replace missing or corrupted files. The Recovery Console mode can also help you fix master boot record problems.

Before you return to the backup method, try the Emergency Repair Disk, which stores a backup copy of the Boot.ini file and some critical registry keys. This may be very useful if administrators have made regular updates.

Source: zdnetasia.com/techguide/windows/0,39044904,39380334,00.htm

Microsoft Rolls Out New Small Business Server Options

Microsoft has announced new server software that it said provides small and medium businesses with enterprise-quality capabilities while helping them to save money, increase productivity and grow their businesses.

While designed specifically for small and midsized companies, Windows Small Business Server 2008 (SBS 2008) and Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (EBS 2008) include Microsoft's high-end server technologies delivered in a way that smaller companies can make the most of them.

“Around the world, small and midsize businesses are the engine that drives economic growth and opportunity,” Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, said in a company statement. “To help these businesses succeed, Microsoft has focused on creating integrated, affordable server solutions that are optimized to meet the needs of companies with limited IT resources. Small Business Server and Essential Business Server deliver a comprehensive set of capabilities that will help small and midsize business thrive and grow.”

Designed for small companies with up to 75 people/computers, SBS 2008 server software integrates a variety of Windows functions to help small businesses better secure data and increase employee productivity regardless of location.

Based on Windows Server 2008 Standard technology, SBS 2008 incorporates:-

• Exchange Server 2007 Standard Edition for messaging and collaboration
• SharePoint Services 3.0 for online collaboration workspace and productivity tools
• Forefront Security for Exchange Server to handle e-mail security
• Windows Server Update Services 3.0 for network updates and protection
• Windows Live OneCare for Server to manage viruses, hackers and other digital threats
• Microsoft Office Live Small Business to help take your business online
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard for Small Business, a database available in the Premium edition

The server software offers a range of features including anytime/anywhere access to your PC and its data, including e-mail, files, business applications, and more. It's also designed to let your employees share Internet access, printers, fax machines and other network resources. Click here for SBS 2008 pricing information.

Microsoft designed EBS 2008 for midsized companies with up to 300 people or computers. It's meant to simplify and automate common IT tasks, and a unified administration console gives IT managers more control over an integrated network infrastructure.

Windows Essential Business Server 2008 also incorporates the applications found in SBS 2008, and Microsoft said it provides the following features:

• Significant costs savings compared to buying stand-alone products.
• Remote access, anti-spam, antivirus protection and improved messaging technologies improve productivity both in and away from the office
• An integrated setup saves time and reduces installation steps from days to hours Simplified licensing with a single server license and Client Access for all included products.

Steven VanRoekel, senior director of the Windows Server product group, noted that both server products help small and mid-sized companies compete in tough economic times.

"Small companies have the same needs and face the same challenges as big business, but they lack the staff, resources and time to manage IT environments," VanRoekel said. "The new EBS 2008 and SBS 2008 products are an integrated, affordable, enterprise-quality solution that can help small and midsized companies become more productive, cut costs and be more competitive." Click here for EBS 2008 pricing information

Via: itmanagement.earthweb.com/entdev/article.php/3785346/Microsoft+Rolls+Out+New+Small+Business+Server+Options.htm

Four Windows Server 2008 Storage Improvements

With the release of Windows Server 2008, Microsoft is making a number of improvements to the server's underlying storage mechanisms.

Here are four of these improvements and what they mean for the typical IT organisation.

SMB 2.0

First shipped with Windows Vista, SMB 2.0, alternatively known as the Common Internet File System (CIFS), is also included in Windows Server 2008 and sports a number of improvements over its predecessor.

To work with older systems, Windows Server 2008 supports both SMB 1.0 and SMB 2.0 and automatically uses the version most appropriate for communication. SMB 2.0 is used only between Windows Server 2008 systems and with Windows Vista systems. SMB communication with all other operating systems uses SMB 1.0.

BitLocker Drive Encryption

Included in Windows Server 2008 is Microsoft's BitLocker Drive Encryption software. BitLocker is also included in Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate editions but, for Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has made improvements to the technology (which are likely to be extended to Vista when Service Pack 1 is released).

Under Vista, BitLocker can be used to encrypt the contents of the operating system volume. If you have multiple volumes of data on your desktop computer, however, BitLocker — at present — cannot be used to protect anything except the operating system volume. In Windows Server 2008, this limitation has been removed and all server volumes can be protected via BitLocker.

Full-disk encryption is usually considered primarily for mobile computers that can be easily stolen, but this technology should also be considered for use in branch offices or areas in which physical security cannot be guaranteed.

Self-healing NTFS

It's a bad day when you have to reboot a file server just to run chkdsk.exe to correct a minor corruption in NTFS. You have to schedule downtime for a server, maybe come in after hours or, in a worst-case scenario, interrupt your users while you perform this task during the day. But no more: with Windows Server 2008 comes an online NTFS corruption repair tool. While it is not a silver bullet for volume repair, it does correct many problems without having to reboot the server to run chkdsk.exe. Self-healing NTFS is enabled by default in Windows Server 2008 installations.

Symbolic links

Earlier, I mentioned that SMB 2.0 supports symbolic links. The fact that SMB 2.0 has this feature is great but it would be utterly useless without the same feature being included in the operating system. As such, symbolic links have been added to Windows Server 2008 — a feature that is long overdue. A symbolic link is simply an object in the file system that points to another object in the file system. A symbolic link appears as a normal file or directory object and can be used by an application as if it were the actual object.

Unix and Linux users have been able to use symbolic links for a very, very long time, and this feature can make it much easier to administer a system and share data.

Source:resources.zdnet.co.uk/articles/0,1000001991,39292799,00.htm