SBS 2003 to 2008 or 2011?

Hello,

I manage my wife's company SBS2003 Std server which is currently at 5
users. We have it kept it very simple, so I'd like to know how
migrating to 2008 or 2011 may affect the handful of tasks we do.
1) Exchange: We host the email on our SBS server. We use direct
connection or web interface. (No POP3 connector)
2) Software VPN support: handy for users to connect from home.
3) File sharing: There are a couple of shared folders on the server.
4) Backup: I've been using NTBackup to daily back up onto portable
hard drives, with the odd forced shutdown and full disk image backup.
Right now the NTBackup files are under 50GB, to give you an idea of
size. Is it true I should plan for a 3rd party backup software?

As you can imagine, with such a simple setup I'm concerned with
reliability and cost. So while it would be unfortunate to upgrade to
2008 and then later to 2011, the hardware requirements for 2011
currently are double our budget and may force the matter.

On a related note, if 2008 and 2011 are relatively similar, why are
the hardware requirements radically different?

On 2011/08/01 08:04, wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I manage my wife's company SBS2003 Std server which is currently at 5
> users. We have it kept it very simple, so I'd like to know how
> migrating to 2008 or 2011 may affect the handful of tasks we do.
> 1) Exchange: We host the email on our SBS server. We use direct
> connection or web interface. (No POP3 connector)
> 2) Software VPN support: handy for users to connect from home.
> 3) File sharing: There are a couple of shared folders on the server.
> 4) Backup: I've been using NTBackup to daily back up onto portable
> hard drives, with the odd forced shutdown and full disk image backup.
> Right now the NTBackup files are under 50GB, to give you an idea of
> size. Is it true I should plan for a 3rd party backup software?
>
> As you can imagine, with such a simple setup I'm concerned with
> reliability and cost. So while it would be unfortunate to upgrade to
> 2008 and then later to 2011, the hardware requirements for 2011
> currently are double our budget and may force the matter.
>
> On a related note, if 2008 and 2011 are relatively similar, why are
> the hardware requirements radically different?


There is NO such thing as a simple M$ "Small Business Server"
SBS2008 is Vista Based Crap, needs 64bits and **** loads of memory.
SBS2008 is easier to use than 2003, but still not for a SMALL Business.
2011 is Win7 Based, so it has to better than Vista, but it's not that
much different to 2008.

<> wrote in message
news:a3028301-880d-4268-a87f-...
> Hello,
>
> I manage my wife's company SBS2003 Std server which is currently at 5
> users. We have it kept it very simple, so I'd like to know how
> migrating to 2008 or 2011 may affect the handful of tasks we do.
> 1) Exchange: We host the email on our SBS server. We use direct
> connection or web interface. (No POP3 connector)

Exchange management has changed. You can do everything you did before but it
looks like almost a total rewrite as the interface is totally different.

> 2) Software VPN support: handy for users to connect from home.
> 3) File sharing: There are a couple of shared folders on the server.
> 4) Backup: I've been using NTBackup to daily back up onto portable
> hard drives, with the odd forced shutdown and full disk image backup.
> Right now the NTBackup files are under 50GB, to give you an idea of
> size. Is it true I should plan for a 3rd party backup software?

I'd still stick with the windows backup, but it isn't ntbackup any more.
Also it insists on backing up all of your system disks, so expect your
backup images to be much larger.

Otherwise, everything you could do before you should still be able to do.

> As you can imagine, with such a simple setup I'm concerned with
> reliability and cost. So while it would be unfortunate to upgrade to
> 2008 and then later to 2011, the hardware requirements for 2011
> currently are double our budget and may force the matter.
>
> On a related note, if 2008 and 2011 are relatively similar, why are
> the hardware requirements radically different?

I'm using 2008 (used 2003 before that), but can't comment on 2011.
My 2008 SBS server (again only 5 users) has 8GB of RAM in it of which 6GB+
is regularly used, so I suspect the box would run better with 16GB. So
whatever you eventually get be sure that the motherboard will support 16GB
or more of RAM even if you put less in it to start with.
--
Brian Cryer
http://www.cryer.co.uk/brian

I would choose SBS 2011 Standard, since you host your own Exchange. You will
be able to do what you're currently doing, though I would strongly urge you
to leverage Remote Web Access (RWA) instead of VPN. There are significant
security concerns with any VPN solution, since you are allowing unmannaged
machines onto your physical LAN.

For Exchange, you will lose your built-in Outlook license, but you gain a
FAR more capable OWA interface. Overall, Exchange is much changed, but
ultimately has a similar feature set you're likely to care about.

One feature you may care about is Shared Folder access from RWA. I find it
really useful when I'm on the road and don't have a file I need. I don't
have to fully log on to my desktop in the office, I can just grab the file
from the Shared Folder.
--
Charlie.
http://blogs.msmvps.com/russel


<> wrote in message
news:a3028301-880d-4268-a87f-...
> Hello,
>
> I manage my wife's company SBS2003 Std server which is currently at 5
> users. We have it kept it very simple, so I'd like to know how
> migrating to 2008 or 2011 may affect the handful of tasks we do.
> 1) Exchange: We host the email on our SBS server. We use direct
> connection or web interface. (No POP3 connector)
> 2) Software VPN support: handy for users to connect from home.
> 3) File sharing: There are a couple of shared folders on the server.
> 4) Backup: I've been using NTBackup to daily back up onto portable
> hard drives, with the odd forced shutdown and full disk image backup.
> Right now the NTBackup files are under 50GB, to give you an idea of
> size. Is it true I should plan for a 3rd party backup software?
>
> As you can imagine, with such a simple setup I'm concerned with
> reliability and cost. So while it would be unfortunate to upgrade to
> 2008 and then later to 2011, the hardware requirements for 2011
> currently are double our budget and may force the matter.
>
> On a related note, if 2008 and 2011 are relatively similar, why are
> the hardware requirements radically different?