Re: Why upgrade to SBS2008

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Just to comment on a minor part of your post - IMO the winding down of SBS 2003 support is a valid consideration in your scenario. You're getting ready to put a major time investment into moving to new hardware, and in my opinion, you'll get more mileage out of the installation if you use the currently shipping version. This isn't SBS-specific thinking - my advice would be the same if you were talking about any other OS, even something non-Microsoft.

I'm not rushing to upgrade my perfectly functioning SBS 2003 before my normal hardware refresh cycle, but if I were replacing hardware anyway, it would never occur to me to stand up the new server with an old platform version. It's not only the end of support, but also security, and that as time passes, fewer applications, peripherals, etc. will be friendly to the obsolete OS. Nobody's developing for SBS 2003 or Windows Server 2003. Another thing to consider is that the MS migration path from 2003 to 2008 doesn't support using the same hardware, so if that's the upgrade route you'd take, now is the perfect time to upgrade.

Here's a story you may not like to hear. In 2004, my SBS was becoming unresponsive every 7 days, +/- a few hours. Within minutes, it would be to the point where nothing less than a hard reboot would fix it, after which everything was rosy for another 7 days. Extensive troubleshooting - weeks with MS support doing performance monitoring, etc. - went into this, and my boss was furious. He eventually told me to replace the hardware and start over again. It turned out to be a rarely seen issue with a faulty antivirus driver. If I'd replaced the server, I would have installed exactly the same driver on the new hardware, making it very possible that a complete hardware replacement would not have solved the problem.



"jdc" <jdc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:6FBF484D-5C42-4087-A606-728F5A4262C6@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks for your reply Chris - I was beginning to wonder if any MVP could give
any other reason other than future SBS2003 support
discontinuation.

A few more questions.

1. We do have the Installation disks. So I assume I can order the SBS2008
upgrade? Can I use the 2003 CALS with SBS2008?

2. Currently we use ISA, I have never found it to be difficult to configure,
but we also have a Cisco router with firewall. If we go with 2008, do we
still use a multi home with two NICS or only one?

3. You mention Mobile devices improvement. What is it that's been improved,
Is OMA improved?

4 We are using the SQL module in Premium to support both our Veritas Backup
Exec 12.0, and our Blackberry Enterprise Server databases. I know our
Veritas comes with an SQL manager that can be installed - do you know whether
I can get SBS2008 without SQL and use the Veritas to support the Blackberry
database?

Thanks.

"Cris Hanna [SBS - MVP]" wrote:

Did your SBS 2003 come pre-installed on your current server? In other words is it the OEM version? If so, it cannot be moved to the new hardware
For me there are huge improvements in Exchange 2007 vs Exchange 2003, especially with OWA!
Do you have Windows Mobile Devices? They will appreciate Exchange 2007 as well.
RWW is bettter too in my opinion.

But the other issue to consider is firewall. Are you using ISA now? Then you don't get that with 2008.
If you already have a hardware firewall in place, then you should definitely consider 2008

--
Cris Hanna [SBS - MVP] (since 1997)
Co-Contributor, Windows Small Business Server 2008 Unleashed
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Small-Business-Server-Unleashed/dp/0672329573/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217269967&sr=8-1
Owner, CPU Services, Belleville, IL
A Microsoft Registered Partner
------------------------------------
MVPs do not work for Microsoft
Please do not submit questions directly to me.

"jdc" <jdc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:70B5960A-0E29-4696-8965-F0B16B7A6A94@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
we have an SBS2003 premium server that's been installed and running since
2006. In the past couple months our server has frozen 5-6 times, where all
files and folders are unavailable, yet internet access and Email continue to
function. When this happens, there are no event log entries other than
service control failures, and I cannot log on to the server at the console or
via RDP to try and recover and therefore must cycle power to restore the
server. We have decided to do a complete reinstall on new hardware. Our
needs are met with SBS2003, so i am wondering if there are any compelling
reasons for us to upgrade to sbs2008. Please advise - thank you.

.

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