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June/July 2008
3
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Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:28 PM Page 4

EDITORIAL SMB Partner

Community
By Harry Brelsford, CEO JUNE/JULY 2008 | Vol. 3 I Issue 1

Flying Faster and Farther Into SMB PUBLISHED BY

Happy Birthday to us! We are just starting our SMB Nation, Inc.
third year of publishing this magazine in an industry Bainbridge Island, Washington
where the vast majority of journals never see a second
issue. We could not have done it without you readers Harry Brelsford, Publisher
and our loyal advertisers! There is much news to share. Editorial Staff

EDITOR
Blast From the Past to Blast Off! Vicki McCown
Three years ago, this magazine was
conceived to be only for Microsoft Small CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Business Specialists. However, we Mikael Nyström, Sweden
quickly realized this magazine had a Eric Steinberg, USA
much larger audience of SMB consulting
community members ranging from LAYOUT
SBSers to sponsors. In effect there was a Al Alarakhia
huge SMB ecosystem driving partner
success. At last count, we have 27,000 COVER ART DIRECTOR
readers of this magazine. More
Michael Young
importantly, there are millions of small
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
businesses seeking the help that you, the
Phil Elder
Visit and bookmark reader, can expertly provide!
Charles Van Heusen
http://smbpcmagazine.wordpress.com/ which is If you would like to learn from the
updated daily. You will get the inside scoop on what past, please click over to the SMB
articles are coming and how the articles are being Nation’s site at www.smbnation.com
written. For example, I posted my observation on a and download all back issues (PDF BUSINESS STAFF
concall between writer Phil Elder and SBS PM format) under Publications, Magazine. Harry Brelsford, CEO
Sean Daniel as these two collaborated late one
night on the SBS 2008 cover story. Be sure to
If you want to future trip, go to our new Cyndi Moody, Director,
LEAVE A COMMENT when you visit and cross- magazine blog (seen below) that is WW Operations
link to your blog. (It’s an SEO thang!) updated daily AND also hosts all issues Patti Passinault, Accounting Manager
of my bi-weekly SMB Advisory e-mail Jennifer Hall, Events Manager
newsletter (which I have been writing for nearly ten years in different formats). You will be in
Sandy Bettenhausen,
good company as 15,000 folks receive this e-mail rant and rave.
Office Administrator
Chris Bangs, Inside Sales/
On the Air 12 Times a Day! Business Development
June/July 2008

My esteemed colleague and fellow

SBSer David Gerhart approached me a few Van AuBuchon, Outside Sales/
months ago about teaming up on a daily Business Development
technology radio show in the Seattle area.
The intent of the radio show is to educate
2
small business owners, during drive time, SMB Nation, Inc.
about small and medium business PO Box 10179
technologies and the important need to Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 USA
SMB Partner Community

engage with a SMB consultant, SBSer, or

Small Business Specialist. I liken it to over-
Harry and David recording a TechTalk Tel: 360-779-1140
the-airwaves evangelical outreach! The
show is titled TechTalk.
radio show segment. Fax: 360-824-6042
Fast forward to June 3, 2008, and we E-mail: sbs@smbnation.com
are playing on three major Fisher Communication stations in the Seattle SMSA (15th largest
radio market in the USA with 3.8 million potential listeners): KOMO (1000AM in a news talk
format), KVI (570AM in a conservative political talk radio format), and KING-FM (98.1 FM in © Copyright 2008 SMB Nation Inc.
a classical music format). We appreciate the launch sponsorship from Microsoft Response All Rights Reserved
Point and the fantastic team at Fisher who edited, sliced, and diced to make the Harry and
David show sound professional. Please contact us for reprints and
If you would like to listen to the show and learn more, visit our show blog at:
reproduction of content.
http://techtalkradioshow.wordpress.com.
ISSN 1933-8899
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Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:28 PM Page 5

Welcome to WPC and Looking Forward to Fall! SMB Advisory Newsletter Online
Many readers are perusing the magazine while attending the Maybe you were there.
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Houston in At the Microsoft Fusion
early July. Welcome! Hopefully you will find the time spent in conference in 2001 in
Texas to be rewarding, profitable, and intellectually enriching. You Anaheim, CA, I released my
might even have yourself a bit of fun! I will be working the show online regular SBS
as a press member and photographer, so please walk up, shake newsletter on stage with
hands, say “Howdy,” and tell me what you really think. Who early SBS program manager
knows? You might just end up in print in the next magazine issue! Jerome Stewart. On that first
Looking fast forward to SMB Nation 2008 in early October in day, I had a whopping 50
Seattle, I can say we are right in the time zone for the release of subscribers—which
the SBS 2008 and Essential Business Server (EBS) products. Look amounted to everyone in Whereas we keep in touch bi-
for Microsoft Response Point to play in our sandbox along with the room. Today I have over monthly in print, we can now
keep in touch bi-weekly online!
supporting vendors in that telephony ecosystem. Our 15,000 online readers for
BusinessSpeak track has tried and true topics including managed my bi-weekly newsletter
services. Our How To track has bona fide tangible takeaways that that alternates between BusinessSpeak and GeekSpeak editions.
you can utilize the next day. You can receive this e-mail newsletter by joining the SMB Nation
tribe at www.smbnation.com and providing your e-mail address.
Harry’s SMB Dude Blog You can view back issues at the blog site dedicated to this
I have a new legal addiction: magazine: http://smbpcmagazine. wordpress.com.
blogging! I’m posting a few And did you know the above-referenced Microsoft Fusion
pages per day of my purple conference was the predecessor event to the Microsoft Worldwide
book, Windows Small Business Partner Conference? It’s true and that’s no Texas Tall Tale. See you
Server 2003 Best Practices, free in the hallways, alleyways, and byways at WPC Houston. Have a
at my SMB Dude blog: great show!
http://harrybrelsford.
wordpress.com. My intent is to
post the entire 750+ page Harry Brelsford
book by the time SBS 2008 hits CEO, SMB Nation
the streets—or I will eat a Publisher, SMB Partner
floppy disc! Community magazine

June/July 2008
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Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:28 PM Page 6
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Hear That Cat Roar!
A
fter a lengthy wait, the much-
anticipated new version of the
highly successful Microsoft
Windows Small Business Server product
line will be released sometime this fall.
This new version, once code-named
Cougar, will carry the name: Microsoft
Windows Small Business Server 2008
(SBS 2008).
This article will highlight some of my
experiences working with the new SBS
2008 product. I have organized the article
around SBS 2008’s installation,
administration, and advanced
configuration needs.
Installation Experience
I was able to run through the install
routine to see how the OS behaved on the
various hardware platforms the beta
testers had to offer. As of this writing, I
am currently working with the Release
Candidate 0 version of the prerelease OS.
In comparison to SBS 2003, SBS 2008
has a significant decrease in the amount
of time it takes to install the OS from
scratch. Using the new Answer File Tool
found on the DVD (X:\Tools\SBSAfg.exe),
we can generate an Answer File, place it
on a USB flash drive, plug that drive into
the server, and essentially walk away
after answering the first few setup
questions such as what partition and size
do you want?
By default, SBS 2008 will look for an
Internet router in subnet 192.168.x.0/24
(where “x” is any number between 0 and 254)
if no Answer File is used. To save some
time, if there is a need to use a custom IP
range such as 192.168.88.0/24, then use
the answer file to tell SBS 2008 setup that
the server should be at address
192.168.88.2 and the Internet router
should be at 192.168.88.1. This will enable
the SBS 2008 setup to connect to the
Internet and pull any relevant updates
without having to search for a router.
In the off chance that the SBS 2008
setup routine does not find the Internet
router: The Connect to the Internet
Wizard in the Getting Started Tasks (SBS
2003 lingo: To Do List) will correct that.
I like the fact that we can walk away
from the install. This freedom from
swapping CD disks gives us a huge boost
in the efficient use of time. So far in my
experience, the setup times can vary from
30-90 minutes depending on whether the
Answer File is being used or not and the
capabilities of the hardware.
COVER STORY
As far as I can tell, a single 3000
series Quad Core Xeon with at least 6GB
of RAM would be a good starting point
for smaller clients. For the more
advanced client with a heavier data
requirement an add-in RAID controller
and hot-swap are options. Once the client
size reaches in the neighbourhood of 15-
20 seats or more a dual 5400 series Quad
Core Xeon setup, 10-12GB RAM with
RAID enabled SAS along with a hot-spare
is the direction I would take.
A Successful SBS 2008 Install
Once the OS has completed its setup
routine the default administrator account
is disabled. Having the default
administrator account disabled has been
a Microsoft security best practices since
Windows Server 2003 was introduced.
Adoption of the practice was slow, so this
security best practice was implemented
out of the box with Windows Vista and all
subsequent Windows operating systems.
I will be using the designated
username and password I specified in the
Answer File (or at mid-point during the
setup questions) as my domain admin
account. Something to keep in mind is
that the Answer File is a vanilla XML file
with no security on it. The USB flash
drive will also be password and
encryption free. It is a good idea to
change that domain admin password as
soon as possible!
Once I have a completed setup, my
next steps are to install things like the
hardware drivers, setup additional RAID
arrays and partitions, install and
configure the server vendor’s
management utilities, and customize the
desktop experience to my liking.
If there are products such as vendor
management software or other line of
business (LOB) applications that require a
SQL 2008 database, then I will need to
setup the Premium Edition’s second
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by Phil Elder
server and Windows 2008 Server x86 or
x64 edition prior to installing those
utilities on the SBS box.
Another option for is to install SQL
2008 on the SBS box itself and install the
Premium Edition’s second Server 2008
Server with Server Core and the Hyper-V
(x64 only) role to virtualize any additional
server needs. This flexibility enables me
to provide a very specific role for that
second server whether that is for
virtualization or Terminal Services tasks.
For line of business application
compatibility if the second server is to be
specifically tasked in this manner, I will
need to keep in mind whether the LOB
app will work with a 64bit version of
Windows Server 2008.
SBS 2008 Administration
SBS 2008 administration, just as it
was in SBS 2003, begins as soon as I log in
for the first time. In SBS 2008, I am
greeted with the Getting Started Tasks in
the new Windows SBS Console. That
discussion follows next.
Windows SBS Console
June/July 2008
The New Windows SBS 2008 Console
After the SBS OS install completes
and I have logged on, you are greeted with 5
the new Windows SBS Console. From
SMB Partner Community
there, the Getting Started Tasks list that
contains help and information items,
setup wizards, and a link at the bottom for
Frequent Tasks and Community Links.
The new Windows SBS Console is
very task oriented. From the buttons
across the top, to the actual links within
each Console section, I am able to manage
pretty much all of the basic to somewhat
advanced SBS 2008 configurations.
On the Home tab, the right hand
column gives a frequently refreshed big
picture view of the SBS 2008 components
status. When I have clicked on one of the
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tabs other than the Home tab, the right
hand column will always have links to the
various wizards and management tasks.
Besides the overall look and feel of
the new Windows SBS Console, there are
no longer any “Advanced Management”
elements available. Click on Start à
Administrative Tools to find the Windows
SBS Console (Advanced Mode). The
primary difference between the Windows
SBS Console and the Advanced Mode
Console is the availability of links to some
server management MMCs for server
roles such as DNS and DHCP.
To get into the depths of the server
setup, it is necessary to use the Windows
SBS Native Tools Management Console
found under All ProgramsàWindows
Small Business Server. This console is
setup much like the SBS 2003 Advanced
Management section of the SBS 2003
Console. At this point in the SBS 2008
build cycle, the GPMC is not included in
the SBS Native Tools Management
Console so I need to add it manually and
save the console to have future access.
As with SBS 2003, in SBS 2008 there is
a Getting Started Tasks List (SBS 2003
Lingo: To Do list)! Among the various items
presented are a number of wizards. There
are a number of significant changes in the
wizards between SBS 2003 and SBS 2008.
One is the Configure Email and Internet
Connection Wizard from SBS 2003 has
been split up into a number different
wizards. A short description of the wizard
based Getting Started Tasks follows.
To Do: Connect to the Internet
The first task on the list is the
Connect to the Internet Wizard. This
particular wizard is unique in that it is
also a part of the SBS 2008 setup routine.
Therefore, if the Internet router is found
and the router’s DHCP server is off
during setup there is no need to run this
wizard again.
Connect to the Internet Wizard
If for some reason the router was not
found during setup, this wizard makes the
necessary OS configuration changes to
enable SBS 2008 to communicate with the
Internet. It is important to note that SBS
2008 is supported in a single NIC setup only.
RRAS no longer has the basic firewall setup
tied into it so no more two NIC setups.
To Do: Customer Feedback Program
The next option on the To Do list is
the Customer feedback options wizard.
As Microsoft Partners, it is a good idea to
enable the Customer Experience
Improvement Program on any Microsoft
product we use. The information
telemetry sent to Microsoft is inert. That
is, no user identifiable bits are sent across
the wire. With my clients, I discuss the
option prior to configuring any new
server or Microsoft product.
Since I make sure to enable the
Customer Feedback on the Microsoft
products used in-house, and I am
confident in the CFP, I recommend that
our clients allow the same with their
installs. Ultimately, the more companies
that are on the program, the better the
feedback Microsoft gets.
To Do: Set up your Internet Address
The Set up your Internet address
Wizard follows. This wizard has
essentially three initial options:
1. Purchase a new domain name and
manage the configuration via the SBS
wizard. A domain registrar listed in
the wizard needs to be used to make
the system work.
2. Provide an existing mysbsdomain.com
to the wizard and allow SBS 2008 to
manage it! Again, you will need to
transfer that domain out of the current
registrar to any of the listed registrars
in the wizard.
3. Provide an existing mysbsdomain.com that
will remain with the existing registrar. In
this case, you are responsible for the
registration information, the renewal of
the registration, and any DNS related
information.
The Set up your Internet Address Wizard
Once you have chosen your options,
the wizard will also attempt to connect to
the Internet router and configure the
necessary ports to forward from the
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Internet to the SBS 2008 box using
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP). If UPnP
is configured to stay off in the router, this
portion of the wizard setup will hiccup.
It is important to note that once the
Setup up your Internet address Wizard
has finished, users will use the following
URLs to connect to the SBS server either
internally (SBS 2008 uses a split DNS
setup) or from the Internet:
• Companyweb: http://CompanyWeb
• Connect a computer: http://connect
or http://SBSConnectComputer
• Remote Web Workplace:
https://remote.mysbsdomain.com.
• Outlook Web Access:
https://remote.mysbsdomain.com/
owa
• Outlook Anywhere (Exchange
RPC/HTTPS):
https://remote.mysbsdomain.com
• Username:
mysbsdomain\UserName
• Password: My P@ssw0rdz!
• SharePoint V3 Companyweb via
Internet:
https://remote.mysbsdomain.com:
987
• Username: Username
• Password: My P@ssw0rdz!
To Do: Configure a Smart Host for
Internet e-mail
How many of us have had to finagle
our way through the Exchange 2003
setup to configure a Smart Host? A Smart
Host is an SMTP email server that resides
with either the client’s ISP or their
Reputation Services Provider (RSP).
With an RSP setup, the Internet
appliance protecting the SBS 2008
network will only allow inbound SMTP
communication from the RSP’s servers. In
turn, SBS 2008 will send all outbound
SMTP communication strictly to the
June/July 2008
RSP’s servers thus protecting the client’s
email domain from Black Lists.
I would use a Smart Host setup in
situations where black listing is common
for client’s IPs. Depending on the ISP
setup, you at the least need the SMTP 7
server’s URL or IP address. If required,
the wizard allows a username and
SMB Partner Community
password for authentication with the
SMTP server.
To Do: Add a trusted certificate
Certificates for RWW, OWA, and
other SSL based tasks have changed
significantly in SBS 2008. SBS Admins are
currently used to being able to run with
the self-issued SBS certificate and all that
entails for configuration in Windows XP
Pro, Windows Vista, and Outlook 2003/7
for RPC/HTTPS.
The SBS 2008 self-issued certificate
necessitates bringing home a USB flash
Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:28 PM Page 10
drive with a small zipped folder that
contains the certificate and an installation
utility. Obviously, it is not a good idea to
have that zipped folder available to the
Internet or emailed home for security
reasons.
Given the fact that a quick SSL
certificate can cost as little as $50 per year,
it should be a standard practice to have
one in the client’s quote. Managing the
certificate is one more item to place into a
Managed Services repertoire and can be a
part of the up-level services package.
To Do: Configure server backup
The new backup system in SBS 2008
is not based on NTBackup! I can hear those
sighs of relief! ;)
The new SBS 2008 backup is USB
external hard disk based. That is, no more
tape. I think this is an awesome decision.
For those who require some sort of
compliance for their backups, it is not a
lot of money and effort to store a number
of USB hard drives off-site. The SBS 2008
backups are encrypted and the drives
themselves do not receive a drive letter
from the OS. Plug the SBS 2008 backup
USB HDD into another system and it will
want to format it.
Make sure that there is a USB HDD
plugged into the server and powered up.
Once this is done, run the wizard to
capture the USB HDD as a backup
destination and set a backup schedule.
After the first USB HDD is configured
with the backup, adding subsequent
drives is a matter of running the Add or
remove backup destinations wizard. A neat
feature of this wizard is the display of all
USB HDD labels when asked to set a label
to the new USB HDD. It makes it easier to
manage that particular client’s backup
drives.
June/July 2008
8 user configurations that utilize Security
SMB Partner Community
Label the backup destination drives
Depending on the amount of storage
on the server, a general rule of thumb is 2-
2.5:1 for the backup storage volume to the
amount of storage on the server. If there
were 500GB of storage on the SBS 2008
box then I would implement a device
such as the Drobo with 1.5TB of storage
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on it to manage the backup volume.
This type of backup system gives the
opportunity to implement an off-site
backup rotation scheme into a high-end
Managed Services offerings too. Believe
me, there is nothing worse than seeing
that doe eyed look in the person’s face
who was supposed to be rotating the
tapes when there is a catastrophic failure.
In my experience, clients are actually
relieved that I am taking care of the
backups. They can rest assured that the
backups are being properly rotated and
grandfathered in a secure off-site location.
To Do: Add a new user account
This is the final wizard based task on
the Getting Started Tasks list. The link
presented to us in the Task is for adding a
single user only. The Add multiple user
accounts Wizard is under the Users and
Groups tab in the User Tasks bar in the
right hand Tasks column.
Whichever method used to add
users to the domain, there are three User
Roles (SBS 2003 lingo: User Templates) that
I can choose to assign:
1. Standard User
a. SBS Admins now have the ability
to assign a user to a Windows
Vista machine with Standard User
rights! The neat thing is, even with
Standard User rights, we can still
give them Remote Desktop access
and a separate Local Admin
account to use for UAC prompts
when needed!
2. Network Administrator
a. This one is self-explanatory.
3. Standard User with administration
links
a. This one is along the same lines as
the Power User Template in SBS
2003. This user will receive some
basic domain management
abilities such as user management.
The SBS 2008 Add User Wizard
maintains the flexibility I have come to
enjoy with SBS 2003 for creating custom
Groups tied to Group Policy Objects
(GPOs). This flexibility allows me to
manage the user’s desktop experience
and security environment with a relative
simplicity.
The same cannot be said for the Add
Computer Wizard I came to know very
well in SBS 2003. There is no longer an
Add Computer Wizard in SBS 2008! As a
result, the ability to control which OU the
computer will end up in after the user or
domain admin ran the SBS 2008 Connect
Wizard is now lost. This means that I
must manually move that computer, or
computers, into the appropriate OU after
they have joined the SBS 2008 domain.
In SBS 2008, adding a computer to
the SBS 2008 domain is taken care of
when you logon to the workstation, open
IE, and browses to http://connect. The
Connect Web page contains a link to
initiate the Connect Wizard. You choose
to either logon to the Connect Wizard as
the workstation’s designated user, or
using domain admin credentials when
adding more than one user to the
workstation. Once the computer setup
routine has completed its reboot, it will
automatically logon and lock the
workstation using the user credentials
that initiated the Connect Wizard.
Advanced Configuration
This section speaks towards
advanced configuration topics in SBS
2008. With every SBS 2008 setup, there are
going to be extra steps to take so that the
setup works with a client’s particular
situation. In most cases, the Internet
router or gateway appliance will not have
Universal Plug and Play enabled. Thus,
there are a number of ports that will need
to be forwarded to the SBS 2008 box.
Router Configuration for SBS 2008
Services
On the Internet router or gateway
appliance, you will need to configure the
following ports manually:
• SMTP: port 25
• Web: port 80 (optional for redirect to
HTTPS)
• Remote Web Workplace (RWW) and
Outlook Web Access (OWA) SSL: port
443
• SharePoint V3 SSL: port 987
• PPTP: port 1732 (optional if hardware
VPN is used or no VPN is required)
One of the neat new options
presented to you by the Set up your
Internet address Wizard is the ability to
configure a Dynamic DNS configuration
for access to SBS 2008 features from the
Internet. This is great for those clients that
do not need the extra expense of a static IP.
Remote Desktop Protocol
The Remote Desktop 6.x Protocol no
longer requires a proxy port (4125) as was
the case in SBS 2003. You need not forward
port 3389 to the SBS box as the most secure
method for connecting to the server is via
the SSL secured Remote Web Workplace.
TSGrinder convinced me of that.
The exception to forwarding the RDP
3389 port to the SBS 2008 box would be in
the case where you ship a USB flash drive
containing a preconfigured Answer File
to a remote client who has the server
hardware and SBS media at hand. Since
the initial setup steps are straight
forward, there would only be a need for
Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:28 PM Page 11
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15-30 minutes of phone coaching with the
on-site user.
With the RDP port 3389 forwarded to
the server, you would be able to log on
remotely, change that admin password,
and run all needed SBS OS post install
configuration tasks and the To Do list. A
quick connection to the firewall appliance
to disable the 3389 port forward once
logged onto the SBS 2008 box via RWW
and everything is good to go.
Fix My Network Wizard
One of the new SBS 2008 wizards is
the Fix My Network Wizard. It can be
found under the Network Tab in the
Connectivity section. In SBS 2003, I
would rerun the Configure Email and
Internet Connection Wizard when
experiencing network difficulties not
necessarily knowing the cause of the
problems yet. The Fix My Network
Wizard will run through all of the various
network configurations on the server to
verify their settings. If any issues were
found, they would be listed in a Potential
Network Issues window after the scan.
Note that the Fix My Network Wizard
does not see a teamed load balanced NIC
set and any “fixes” that may be run on a
teamed NIC set could actually cause
more problems.
June/July 2008
10
SMB Partner Community
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IPv6 DHCP fixed, UPnP on the Router is
disabled by default
In SBS 2003, there was the Change Server
IP Address wizard when I needed to
move the server’s IP. In SBS 2008, the
supported method to change the server’s
IP is as follows:
1. Change the IP on the physical NIC
2. Run the Fix My Network Wizard
3. Accept the recommended fixes for
DHCP, DNS, and others.
Conclusion
SBS 2008 Rocks! I have come to this
conclusion because of the amount of time
invested in working through the current
SBS 2008 release candidate. SBS 2008 is
jam packed with new features to greatly
improve my client’s remote connectivity
and network infrastructure!
The installation and setup times for
SBS 2008 are incredible. In fact, the time
savings is so great, I can see that there is a
realistic opportunity for the small 3-7 seat
companies to invest in a server based
infrastructure.
The new wizards make the post
install configuration of SBS 2008 a breeze.
Between the new Answer File for the
initial setup and the post install
configuration wizards, I have an added
ability to maintain very consistent installs
across many different client
infrastructures.
Finally, the Windows SBS Console
makes managing the server quick and
simple. Every section of the Console
gives at-a-glance status indicators for all
aspects of server and workstation health,
security information, backup status, and
more. In addition, while space did not
permit, the new SBS 2008 Summary
Network and Detailed Network Reports
provide a huge wealth of information at
my fingertips.
Head to http://www.microsoft.com/
sbs and click through to the new SBS 2008
site. Register for the Public Beta program,
download the product, and install it. Get
to know it. It is definitely the wave of the
very near SMB SBS future! I
Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:28 PM Page 13

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Q How can solution providers learn more about StorageCraft programs and
get on the road to increased profits today?
For more information about the no-cost StorageCraft Reseller Partner
A Program and information about how to become a StorageCraft partner
today, visit: http://www.storagecraft.com/Partners/PartnerPrograms/

Q What are StorageCraft partners saying about us?

A “Partnering with StorageCraft has saved us and our clients time, money,
and headaches — and, more importantly, it has greatly reduced service
calls for everyone. We use ShadowProtect every day on all our systems.
Now my team and our customers are able to get some sleep at night.”

~ Jeff Wood, CEO, Wood Networks

(www.woodnetworks.com)
Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:28 PM Page 14
MANAGED SERVICES
Selling MSP Services
Transitioning Current Clients and Engaging New Ones
W
hen discussing adding
managed services to their
offerings, most resellers tell me
they’re not sure where to start. The
question I ask them is “What about your
current clients?” The answer to this
question falls into two camps. The most
common answer is “Okay, but how?” The
second answer is “No way. I don’t want to
risk losing any of my good/current
clients.” These two answers come from
very different places—the need for more
information and the concern about losing
existing clients.
Let me first address the second
answer.
When resellers tell me they don’t
want to risk any of their current clients by
moving them to “something new and
unproven,” I ask them what they’re afraid
of. The most common response is that they
worry about introducing services with no
track record. While I can empathize with
their concern, I come at this with a
completely different perspective. Your
current clients tend to be your most
forgiving clients. They’re the ones who’ve
been with you the longest and with whom
you have the best relationship. Now, I
would never suggest moving one of these
clients to anything new without setting the
proper expectations, but once they’re fully
informed of what you’re suggesting and
what they can look forward to, the right
June/July 2008
clients will present themselves to you. If
you think about it for a moment, you no
doubt know of at least a couple of current
clients you can approach for your
managed services beta program.
12
Once you identify these clients,
approach them with all the business
SMB Partner Community
benefits that managed services can offer
them, such as fixed, budgetable costs,
increased user productivity through
proactive monitoring and management,
etc. If you’re still not convinced that you
have at least one or two clients who would
be great beta prospects, you can choose the
approach of going after only new clients.
After all, as the belief goes, if you blow it
with a new client what have you really
lost? But this will be a much tougher
approach and in turn the least successful—
Check out our blog: http://smbpcmagazine.wordpress.com
in fact, so unsuccessful you will likely stop
all efforts to sell managed services.
Moving on to the broader group that
thinks approaching existing clients first is
a sound strategy but are unsure how to
proceed, remember it is always easier to
acquire new clients when you have a
referral base. Think back to when you first
started your business and someone asked
you for a referral. When you select an
existing client, you already have trusted
advisor status. This along with correctly
positioning your services as new, beta
services (which you should consider
discounting during the testing phase)
gives the client who opts in the proper
expectation.
Some of the selection criteria for
identifying which of your existing clients
to choose should include:
• They have been a client for at least 12
months.
• They have a history of utilizing your
services on a monthly basis.
• The principle/CEO of your firm has a
relationship with the principle/CEO of
the client’s firm.
• There is a solid track record of success
and open communication with the
client.
• The client has shown an interest in new
technologies and products you have
exposed them to in the past.
• The client understands the realities of
what trying your new services are, i.e.,
they have been in a beta program before
or at least understand the beta process.
Make sure you have correctly set
expectations and that you understand
you will be tweaking things along the
way as well.
• The client is willing to be a reference
account and write a testimonial.
• If possible, choose clients who are
already outsourcing a service, such as
payroll.
• If you will be covering hardware
and/or software in your managed
services, make sure hardware is covered
by the manufacturer’s support plan and
is under two years old. For software
make sure there is no upgrade coming
during the next 12 months.
by Eric Steinberg
Once you’ve selected the clients to
approach for your new services, you will
want to develop a plan to transition them
from break/fix to managed services. The
steps to accomplish this include:
• Calculating the fees the client has paid
during the previous 12 months.
• Verifying the condition of all hardware
to be covered.
• Determining what services you will
offer. The easiest and best place to start
is with monitoring and management.
• Building a service offering around this
to present to your client. Make sure you
are clear about what is covered and
what is not.
• Illustrating how the new service covers
most of what you’ve had to reactively
fix in the past.
• Pricing the offering at no more than
1/12th (per month) of what they paid
you during the previous year. I’d
suggest that you price it at 10%-20%
less, as you should see a higher profit
based on lower costs to you.
• Offering services for a trial period of 90-
180 days, with the ability to opt out at
any time. At the end of the trial period
an automatic one- to three-year
agreement will be executed.
Now that you have clients in place,
you will want to establish a quarterly
review process with them. This process
should include:
• A review of what problems have been
identified during the previous quarter
and have been proactively fixed (likely
without the client ever being aware of
the various problems)
• A list of the software updates that were
applied prior to any client issues
• A report on how much down time was
eliminated through the proactive
monitoring and managing of their
system
• A discussion of future issues that might
arise, i.e., more hard disks to support
future growth
• An outline of what their costs would
have been if you had to address issues
reactively rather than proactively. Make
Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:28 PM Page 15

sure to emphasize the cost of their down
time.
After about six months, you will have
gathered enough information to begin
transitioning more of your existing clients
to managed services. You can adjust your
service offering and identify what your
real costs are and how to more accurately
price your offering. After a year you will
be able to begin the process of prospecting
for new clients. There are a number of
things to accomplish before you begin
going after new clients.
• Identify your target market
o Client size, location, vertical market
• Begin branding your company to your
target market
o Name awareness and what separates
you from your competition
• Develop lead referrals
o Network with other companies that
sell complementary outsourced
services
o Research leasing companies so that
you can find prospects who will be
MANAGED SERVICES
looking for system upgrades, etc.
• Gather your testimonials; include some
of them in your marketing efforts and
hold some for your sales calls
• Do sales training based on what you’ve
learned from your test clients
o What do they tell you? Ask them how
you should sell to their peers.
Consider getting some outside sales
training, specifically in the area of
selling services.
After six months of selling to new
clients, review your existing sales staff
and identify those who have been the
most successful. Profile them and look for
common factors and traits. Build a profile
for future hiring. Prepare yourself to
separate your sales team into those who
are successful in selling managed services
and those who will either sell
project/products or, if you’re moving to
an MSP-only model, replace the poorly
adjusted salespeople.
Following this process enables you to
continue your current business
uninterrupted and with no loss of profit.
You and your clients can decide whether
the MSP or a break/fix model is more
appropriate, or if a mix of the two models
is what is needed. You will also have
added a new set of services you can use to
your competitive advantage and
differentiate your firm from your
competitors. I
Eric Steinberg is
principle Consultant
at The Boundless
Group, a firm that
works with both
vendors and resellers
looking to enter or
expand their presence
in the MSP market. He is also the creator of
the popular seminar series, MSP Smart-The
Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Succeeding
in the MSP Market. Eric can be reached at
eric@boundlessgroup.com
www.BoundlessGroup.com

June/July 2008
13
SMB Partner Community

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Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:28 PM Page 16

Centerpiece Spring 2008 SMB Events Photo Essay

SMB Nation Canada, May 3-4, 2008
Autotask awarded a $500 USD travel voucher Gain-Ho Gin from D&H
as a well-received prize. Andrew Bearese Canada mockingly avoids
and Dave Kalkut work the Autotask booth the camera at his booth in
the MarketPlace Expo area.

Fritz Schuschu (Geek Squad)

and Michael Hendrie
(Kaseya) have a chat in the
MarketPlace Expo area.

Van Aubuchon (Outside Sales, SMB Nation) and

Yves Laliberte (Executive Vice President, Aastra) chat in
the MarketPlace Expo area shortly after Microsoft Response Gavin Steiner reunites with Harry! Gavin attended the original
Point was announced and launched in Canada at a Enough said! SMB Nation conference in Indianapolis, IN, September 2003
morning keynote speech. (occurred right around the launch of SBS 2003).

Michael Hendrie (left) and Dan Thomas chat It just wouldn’t be an SMB Nation event without Level Platforms!
with interested customers in the Kaseya booth.

MVP Mitch Garvis with Peter Piluk (Whole World Network

fiancée Theresa Specht Solutions and user group leader)
June/July 2008

at the Saturday night wins a SBS 2003 book NOT written

pub party. by Harry but rather Canadian
Charlie Russell (Charlie spoke at
SMB Nation 2007 in Redmond).

14
SMB Partner Community

Alan Miller, director of ASCII Group Canada, is surrounded by

ladies! Johanne Shillington (Working World, left) and
Jenny Hall (Event Manager, SMB Nation).

Partying on a Saturday night.

Enough said!

Phil Elder from Calgary soaks in SMB Nation Canada! Phil

wrote the SBS 2008 cover story for this magazine issue. Rachael Gilliland (MSP Partners, center) explaining the
membership program to two employees from Working World.
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Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:29 PM Page 17

Savor the moment. Microsoft Response Point

is launched in the Canadian market.

Robert Cohen,
president and
business editor at
Integrated MAR giving
a SMB channel
partner paradigm
shift presentation.
Robert will give the
same speech at SMB
Nation in the fall.
Unconferencing! No PowerPoint
slides at this SBS 2008 panel where Rex Backman, Microsoft Response
all questions were answered by Point product manager (Redmond)
MVPs. Cal McLennan (right) is an recharging with coffee after
SBS MVP who delivered a technical launching Microsoft Response
SBS 2008 lecture earlier in the day. Point in Canada!

Constanza Zalba (Product Manager, Servers for SMB ,
Microsoft Canada) awards a prize to Thomas Glant
(attended from Detroit MI, USA) as Cal McLennan looks
on. Many thanks to Constanza and Microsoft Canada for
being gracious hosts to SMB Nation Canada.
Van Aubuchon chats with Kashan Chaudhry
(president, CIGear) and Sam Liu (product manager,
Van Aubuchon (left) managed the Response Point Syspine) about the Response Point opportunity.
hands on lab. Keith Benedict (right) looks on. CIGear is the distributor for Syspine in Canada.

Franciso Palacios working

the Aastra booth. Aastra
announced its products
at SMB Nation Canada.

June/July 2008
Steve Hawkins and Bruce Cook
(both from Aastra) showing a Chee Tien Lee and Harry
cardboard cutout from their booth. have a chat.

15
Welcome Chris Bangs, Inside Sales, SMB Nation
SMB Partner Community

You can order and pay at

standalone kiosks in the core
lobby area at Emily’s. You can even
order and pay over the Internet
Chris Bangs’ family and your order will be waiting.
opened Emily’s Chris’s involvement in his family
Restaurant\Coffee business has helped to keep him
Shop\Bar on June 5th real world in applying really cool
at a fantastic grand SMB technology like seen here.
opening party. Chris
is featured center
and is available
to discuss all
sponsorship
opportunities. Note
the picture of Emily
(Portuguese Water
Dog) in the upper
right – the
namesake!

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Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:29 PM Page 18

Warrillow & Co. Visit

May 5, 2008 (Toronto)

Harry meets with leading SMB analyst, John

Warrillow. John has spoken at past Small
Business Symposium days at Microsoft WPC
events and as of this writing, intends to be in
Houston. Tell him Harry sent ya!

SMB Nation Unwinder Concert, Clearwater Casino, May 22, 2008

Cyndi Moody, WW operations
director, preparing the suite for
the wine and dine unwinder!

The crowd enjoying the weekly Thursday night

concert on Puget Sound. Note beer lower left.

The SMB Nation team in a hotel suite overlooking the Jimmy Buffett Little Harry
knock-off band concert on a lovely Thursday evening. Blowing off Brelsford partying
steam via an unwinder is a Harry Brelsford best practice. at the unwinder.

IT Pro Conference 2008, New Orleans, May 9-11, 2008 Narration by host Jeff Middleton
June/July 2008

My friend and local

New Orleans business
leader Mike Boyd
(banker and CPA)
joined me for the
16 keynote interview
exploring the business The IT Pro Conference format is presented like a television talk- The weekend conference follows an extremely popular
excellence ingredients show studio with panel discussions and town-hall debates actively single-track session format, one room tracking one topic
SMB Partner Community

for IT consulting engaging the audience … this year totaling 16 hours of unique theme from session to session revealing hints for
practices and content recorded by an 8-member video production team for developing your business goals, review strategies,
choosing customers. rebroadcast by Microsoft and from SBSmigration.com. and your technology practices.

Our session breaks can resemble micro- sessions…because

the IT conversations just keep rolling on in the hall or back
of the room! Cindy Slade,
Erick Simpson, and
Jason Leib are engaged
in just one in the pair of
conversations underway
here.

I’m amazed at the insight and honesty shared by the combined This event draws a lot of guest spouses, yet the energetic
2-3 dozen speakers, a brain-dump of MVPs, MS dev team, and Mobilize CEO Amy Luby (and husband Steve not seen in this
the exceptional SMB consultants and community leaders shot) set a new standard on family business attendance as
sharing their voice and ideas. I’m seated here in the SBS/EBS this photo illustrates Jude relaxing with mom at break,
session with Chris Almida (MS Dev), Amy Babinchak (ISA MVP), together with Jeremy Hunt, Mark Crall, Steve Banks,
Steve Banks (SBS MVP) Dave Nickason and Chris Rue.

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Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:29 PM Page 19
As a new concept for 2008, our daily “catered breakout
sessions” were popular, literally standing room only, thanks to
excellent sponsored sessions focused upon research and
feedback by eFolder, Calyptix, Autotask and Response Point.
(Bob Nitrio, Marc Ross, Susan Bradley are seated at front.)
“You have got to be kidding me!” is what Cindy Slade said as
we strutted out from the hotel lobby trailing behind a brass
band, joined the stilt-walkers, and “carnival muses”
…proceeding next to shut-down French Quarter traffic for
10 blocks as our 2nd-line parade spilled into the streets.
From our balcony looking over Pat O’Briens and Preservation
Hall, Deb Geisler, Dianna and Brian Walker, plus Jon Williams
all seem to be running low on their beads, but apparently
from their reaction to the view below was worth the toss!
Outdoor Group Shot – All in favor of the
parade photo-op “please raise your
hands”, and you may notice we got full
attendance for this “breakout” session.
Next year I think we will have a panel discussion
reunion for me and my wife Suzanne, plus Gator
and Jester featured in a session on “being your
own brand” wherever you go.
Assembling twenty of us on the ship, the seminars officially start
with a quorum (however long that takes), you see Marc Ross and
Ryan Spillane arrived at the meeting room eager for WiFi (to USA
and AU respectively) dressed in our conference shirts, beaded,
computers fully charged, and a smile for the tax-deduction
breakout event signage photo-op.
Speaking of a
brand signature,
our paparazzi
telephoto lens
captured the
revealing scoop
on Sara’s husband
(before the
sunburn set in),
Matt Makowicz
wore a suit on the
ship, and swam in
it without a tie.
I truly love the opportunity to show off the flavors of New
Orleans throughout the weekend, particularly the hometown
signature food and entertainment, and this year the Westin
Canal Place served us in style.
I must have 50 pictures from the parade, our group showing
ear to ear grins, sidewalk tourists paused with a stunned
look of confusion, spontaneously the street transforms into
a Mardi Gras beat. It’s just not possible to describe.
Looks to me that Gregg Blundell, Steve Banks
(again?), Alan Helbush, and Bob Nitrio are hoarding
long beads until dark when the Bourbon Street
“entertainment” kicks it up a notch…we stayed til
midnight to be extra sure we didn’t miss anything.
Indoor Group Shot – Alas, several dozen
folks shy and already peeling off more in
the lobby, some of the 160 total of us were
too eager for our dine in the French Quarter
night, a classic way to spend an evening in
New Orleans.
I’ve been meaning to ask if the IRS requires the official
signage for breakout cabana meetings in Progreso, Mexico,
so choosing to do it by the book just in case are Marc, Marina
and Ryan mingled with the event staff “tanning team” of
Michele, Shannon, Nancy, Bob and Kris.
Paused at the mouth of the Mississippi River for our final
evening sunset seminar, “Leadership and Learning
Experiences” part-2 resumes as a hands-on-lab to illustrate a
point earlier that day in the part-1 session: leadership needs to
look at timing and in a specific direction, we too often rush
past the opportunity in front of our eyes, or fail to commit to
things we know we need to do long term.
Check out our blog: http://smbpcmagazine.wordpress.com
“Pinch da’ tail,
suck dat head”
…and you’d be
eatin’ dem
crawfish like us
locals, Baton
Rouge native
Chris Chaney
assists me in
teaching
Jacquelyn Leib
the basic skills of
dining on mudbug.
No really, she
insisted!
I’ve worn print shirts similar to this at SMB Nation, so
please note this isn’t a “Hawaiian shirt”, it’s the official
signature 2008 New Orleans Jazz Fest “HowAhYa”™ shirt,
a New Orleans brand I’ve celebrated with pride for a long
time. Still think I’m kidding? http://art4now.com
We are barely (pun) 20 minutes onto the
Mississippi River cruise leg from New Orleans
to the Caribbean, our warm-up sessions
begin on-deck lead by Marina Roos, Walt and
Julia Warfel, flanked the SBSmigration.com
precision sunbathing team.
June/July 2008
Another signage break out event in
Cozumel, I’m assisted here in leading a
stress management session by
SBSmigration.com Precision Sunbathing
Team member Kris, as I pondered priority
on more sunscreen or more margarita?
17
SMB Partner Community
Final Cruise Group Shot – Concluding an 8-day event week
with full support of my wife, I recall Matt and Sara Makowicz
leading a session earlier that week on practical insights to
developing “teamwork skills”, reminders on re-evaluating your
experiences and goals with your spouse or partners over time,
and dividing skill-sets as a basic value-add to fulfilling your
business success and ambitions.
Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:29 PM Page 20

ITEC Show, June 10-11, Seattle, WA USA

Mike McCarty (Comcast), Cyndi Moody and Jenny Hall (both Mike McCarty (Comcast) talking about hosted services in SMB Karl Fultz (Technical Specialist, Boeing) learning more about
SMB Nation) join Jen Pearson (Comcast). Comcast is a sponsor during a lunch keynote. the SMB consulting opportunity from the SMB Nation girls.
of the SMB Nation 2008 fall show.

Attendee Michael Hall and Harry. Harry and Michael
collaborated on SBS for his company many years ago. Today
Michael and his employer in the mid-market space are a TAP
(test site) for Essential Business Server.
June/July 2008
Charles and Dona Keating speaking with an attendee. This
husband-and-wife team run a consultancy and oversea the
WSPA trade association (like a user group). This couple will
lead the HOW TO work together as a couple speech at SMB
Nation 2008. Charles was on the cover of the last magazine
issue (April\May) for being a Response Point consultant.
Tom Strickland (Congruent Technologies) looks over his
Microsoft Response Point telephone display. Tom is on the
worldwide Microsoft Response Point Advisory Council for
the Response Point product.

18
SMB Partner Community

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Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:29 PM Page 21
Credit Crunch? Recession?
H
eadline-grabbing swings in the
financial markets have everyone’s
attention. So it was timely to
conduct a survey regarding Microsoft
Financing and ask a few general economic
questions at the same time. The results are
very interesting.
What Is Microsoft Financing?
At first blush, Microsoft Financing is a
subsidiary that provides financing
services to assist partners in
consummating business transactions
with customers (see
www.microsoftfinancing.com). As I
researched this article, I really enjoyed
reviewing the four-step methodology to
participate, as it provided a pocket MBA
lesson in lending:
1. Quote the proposal
2. Submit customer credit application
3. Return loan documents
4. Get paid up front (my favorite step!)
Now for the survey results.
When asked How did you hear about
Microsoft Financing? you replied:
Clearly you like hearing about and
learning more at conference presentations
(41.2 percent). Interestingly, you did not
use an Internet search engine to learn
about Microsoft Financing (ZERO
PERCENT!). Perhaps it shows the old-
school events model, such as conferences,
still works and this new-fangled online
keyword search paradigm is stuck in
committee. In other words, maybe
Microsoft’s failed bid for Yahoo! was a
good thing, and people still like in-person
events as a learning model.
The next question was this: Has your
company experienced larger sales
transactions when leveraging a financing
solution vs. a standard net 30 sale? You
replied:
A strong majority of the respondents
agreed that a financing solution
contributes to larger deal sizes. Absolutely
true. In the world of mergers and
acquisitions (M&A) in corporate finance,
the financing IS THE DEAL in many cases.
Doesn’t matter that you are buying a
textile factory in the southeast part of the
USA; often the accounting merger
outweighs the strategic merger value. The
point is – financing clearly is a game
changer for the Small Business Specialist
seeking larger transactions.
Question Three asked the following:
Have the deals you have closed
experienced shorter sales cycles when
financed?
A simple majority (“agree” plus
“strongly agree” exceeds 50 percent) felt
deals closed more quickly with financing.
There is a time value issue here. Deals
closing more quickly allows cash into your
corporate treasury sooner and more
goodness to happen more often! A good
business development guy or gal knows
expediency is a success factor.
Question Four asked: Has including
professional services into financed
transactions had a positive impact on
Check out our blog: http://smbpcmagazine.wordpress.com
PERCEPTIONS
by Harry Brelsford
your business?
This is becoming a rout! Over 72
percent of the respondents have said
including professional services into the
ball of wax is a good thing. That is, the
financing offered by Microsoft Financing
isn’t just for hardware or software
but INCLUDES YOUR SERVICES.
Translation: You assuredly get paid for
your services! Not a bad thing in these
times of shifting economic sands (more on
that in a moment).
Question Five read: Has your
business grown after offering a customer
a finance solution?
June/July 2008
So you became a money changer and
your business grew. Imagine that. My
reaction to the majority of you reporting
growth after introducing financing
19
programs is MATURITY. You have
ascended Maslow’s hierarchy of SMB
SMB Partner Community
consulting and after having sex, eating
food, and finding shelter, you introduced
financing solutions to your customers. It’s
a good life!
I received a few community
comments in preparing this column that
are always interesting. I love real
worldisms wherever I can find ‘em.
Amy Babinchak (Harbor Computer Services,
Detroit, MI) wrote: There's really no credit
crunch for people or businesses with good
Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:29 PM Page 22
Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:29 PM Page 23
credit, either. It's the marginal and poor credit
folks that are struggling.
Bob Groger, long-time SBSer, wrote: Wish
there were a space for comments there [Editor:
on the survey form]. I am a MS Financing
"reseller.” When I signed up, within 12 hours I
had a call from their competitor Direct Capital.
They call me every week and won't take no for
an answer. I assume this was because of the
credit inquiry. Please alert them – IIRC it was
Equifax. BTW, the interest rate is mid-credit
card level for smaller transactions, but it really
helped me close a deal.
Trevor Dierdorff, president of Amnet
(Colorado Springs), commented: Harry, I did
the survey but it wasn't specific about MS
Financing. We have MS Financing available
but none of my customers are going for it
because the rates are too high. They can get a
much better rate from their bank or other
lease/financing options. I'd love to recommend
MS Financing more, but they need to be more
competitive otherwise, it just wastes my time.
Building Sand Castles in an
Economic Downturn
This survey concluded with two
economic questions. Instead of getting
caught in high oil price quicksand, our
SMB consultants, who on the whole are
positive about the future, are building
sand castles! Number Six on our survey
challenged the reader with these
statements: The SMB sector is not in a
recession. This applies to the overall
economic sector of small businesses
(customers) under 100 employees and
medium-space customers from 100 to 250
customers.
Clearly you see the glass half full
with 58.8 percent (or more) of the
respondents agreeing that the SMB sector
of the economy is not in a recession.
Perhaps you can pour a bit of that H2O on
the troubled US housing sector!
PERCEPTIONS
“I wanted to take a
The survey concluded with: The
SMB *technology consulting* field is
minute to let you know
NOT in a recession. For example, your
consulting practice is sound\strong\
that the new Errors
capable right now.
and Omissions
insurance plan ASCII
is offering is saving us
about $3,800 per year
over our old policy.
Stop the presses! SMB consultants are
We have never had
outperforming the economy as a whole!
More importantly, I have been party to
an E & O claim; yet
internal discussions inside Microsoft
Redmond whereby reports show Small
our old carrier was
Business Specialists outperform the other
partner levels on a per capita basis with
charging premiums
respect to licensing revenue. Keep up the
good attitude and the good work.
that were higher than
Next Survey: Work From Home! some of our own
I have been overthrown in my own
company. My staff has rebelled and led an
physician clients.
SMB revolution to increasingly work from
home. With petrol approaching $5.00 USD
Keep up the good
in the US and much more overseas, there is
a real cost – beyond time – to commuting.
work!”
Here is how we are reacting. We are
downsizing to a smaller core office and
letting folks pick and choose the place and
time to do their job. I am willing to give Rick Boyles, President,
this a six-month shot. Let me know what
Computer Networks Inc.
you think about this new work from home
thinking. Complete our survey at Microsoft Gold
www.smbnation.com (under Smoking Hot
Quick Hitters on the landing page) after Certified Partner
reading this interesting article from our
good friends at Penton Media suggesting
working from home is PATRIOTIC! Visit:
http://windowsitpro.com/article/articleid/
99331/working-from-home-is-
patriotic.html. I GROUP INSURANCE ,
just one of the benefits
Additional SBS 2008 Resources of membership
Phil Elders Blog:
http://blog.mpecsinc.ca
SBS 2008 Product Site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowss
erver/essential/sbs/overview.mspx
Susan Bradley’s blog:
http://www.sbsdiva.com
www.ascii.com
Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:29 PM Page 24
TECH CORNER
Hyper-V is an UPPPER,
not a downer…
S
o, what’s all the fuss about Hyper-V?
Virtualization is not something new,
not even for Microsoft. (And I wrote
an article about Virtual Server some time
ago.) The nickname “Hyper-V” comes
from “Hypervisor” or “Hypervisor calls”
(hypercall). Back in 1967 IBM had
something called CP-40, which was an
OS with full virtualization support. The
term used when the OS needed access, it
performed a “supervisor call.” But when
the OS was virtualized instead, the OS
did a “hypervisor call.” That will do for a
history lesson. Let’s go on with Hyper-
V—what it is and, most important, what
Hyper-V will do for the SMB industry. In
my opinion…a lot!
Architecture
We’re going under the hood on
Hyper-V to take a good look. But before
we do that, let’s recap the “old”
architecture that Microsoft had in Virtual
Server 2005. In the era not so long ago, the
OS is divided into two parts: Ring 0
(kernel mode) and Ring 3 (user mode).
Let’s compare:
Kernel mode:
• Access to the hardware
• Less protection
• When the kernel crashes, the “Blue
Screen of Death” (BSOD) will come to a
monitor near you
June/July 2008
User mode
• Has its own address space
• Protected
• When an application crashes, Dr.
Watson and General Failure may come
to visit you
22
Back in these days of old, the OS
SMB Partner Community
runs in Ring 0 directly on the hardware,
but the guest is running in something
called “Ring 1” (somewhere between
Ring 0 and Ring 3). The problem is
performance; since the guest doesn’t
have access directly to the hardware, the
computing session is going to be
somewhat slow. The other “small”
problem is that something called “VM
Additions” is needed to speed up the
guest OS. The reason for this goes way
back in time. Intel once created an
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instruction set called “MMX,” which has
some pros and some cons—one of the
latter being that some instructions didn’t
generate an interrupt. This is a problem
when you virtualize. The VM Additions
are needed to patch the RAM so that
those instructions can be tracked and we
can use something called “direct mode
execution” (which is faster than doing
the other approach called “binary
translation”). Then “Hardware Assisted
Virtualization support” (Intel-VT/AMD-
V) was created, which makes it possible
to move the function of VM Additions
down to the hardware instead—a
definite plus. Microsoft has taken
advantage of this. Because Hyper-V
requires that the hardware be x64 with
Hardware Assisted Virtualization
Support and DEP, it has been built to use
hardware features like this.
In the Hyper-V design, the guest OS
is running on a very thin hypervisor that
handles memory and scheduling. That
means that MS doesn’t have to run
something in Ring 1 and emulate Ring 0
or do other strange things.
This new paradigm is very
straightforward in two areas:
performance and stability. In addition, we
can now run 64bit OS with multi-CPU
support (8), more memory (32gb RAM),
more NICs (8), and so on.
Enlightenments
One other reason that makes running
Windows on Windows with Hyper-V a
smart move is something called
“Enlightenments.” This is a replacement
for VM Additions in the way mouse and
screen are handled. But it also lets the
guest OS know it is running on Hyper-V.
One thing it does is replace is the
by Mikael Nyström
HAL.DLL, which means that instead of
making calls to an emulated
motherboard, it speaks directly to the
Hyper-V. Again, that’s performance. The
developers have also created a “bus.”
Instead of emulating old hardware to be
compatible backwards, they have their
own VMBus, with their own set of
drivers to maximize performance and
stability inside the guest OS. To get all
this “extra” performance, you need to
have a supported operating system:
Microsoft Windows XP SP3, Windows
Server 2003 SP1, Windows Vista SP1, and
Windows Server 2008 plus some Linux
releases. I have been running Hyper-V in
production for a very long time (I’m in
the TAP program for Hyper-V), and so far
performance and stability are great. ☺
Windows Server 2008
With Hyper-V
Hyper-V is not a standalone product.
It’s going to be a part of Windows Server
2008, but you need to get one that has the
license for it. You can buy Windows
Server 2008 with or without Hyper-V;
however, if you get the “without”
version, you will not be allowed to
upgrade later on, so it is very important
that you get the correct version from the
beginning. (The price difference is very
small.)
Scenarios
So where can you use this? Well,
since Microsoft is creating almost all
applications and systems in a way where
virtualization is supported, you can
basically use Hyper-V in any scenario.
But in the SMB arena, I would target the
following:
• Disaster recovery
o This is a perfect fit. You run the
Windows Server 2003 on top of
Hyper-V. The customer is happy,
you’re happy—and then suddenly
the hardware breaks down. Grab a
Windows Server 2008, add the role
Hyper-V, copy the VHD file over,
create a new virtual machine with
the old VHD, and you are up and
running.
Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:29 PM Page 25
• Hardware independent
o Hardware and OS are bound like
glue to each other. Therefore it is
common for the customer to run an
old OS because they are waiting for
the hardware to wear out so they can
change both the hardware and
software at the same time
• Lab and Test
o No one should have physical servers
to test/lab with (except the ones that
are running Hyper-V), snapshot,
save state and all that makes it
perfect.
• Consolidation
o Small customers sometimes need
many servers and normally they are
underutilized.
Install and Configure Hyper-V
First you need to make sure your BIOS
can handle Hyper-V:
• Intel CPU: enable DEP and Hardware
Assisted Virtualization Support
• AMD: enable the NX bit and Hardware
Assisted Virtualization Support
Next you install Windows Server
2008 x64 edition with virtualization
support on that server, then add the role
called Hyper-V. The wizard will ask you
to select the network adapter you would
like to use. I suggest you don’t use any
network adapter at this time, as it is easier
to configure all that inside of Hyper-V.
After adding the role, please restart and
log in again. The wizard will then finish
the installation and you will be ready to
configure Hyper-V. All configuration and
management are handled from the
Hyper-V manager. Time to start it up.
When you have done so, the screen will
look like this
Storage
First thing to consider: Where do you
want to keep all files? There are two types
of files: small ones that contain
configuration and are difficult to move
and large files that contain the virtual
hard disk, which are rather easy to move
around. When I say “easy,” I mean easy
from a configuration standpoint. Let’s do
that configuration now.
Click on the Hyper-V Settings and select
a good place to store all these files.
Network
Next you need to configure the
Network settings. Right now the Hyper-
V machines do not have access to the
network, so you need to create a Hyper-V
network adapter.
Click “Virtual Network Manager” and
you will get this:
There are three “flavors” of network:
o Externa – Having contact with a real
network
o Internal – The parent partition
having contact with child partitions
(that is the Microsoft way of
designating hosts and guests)
o Private – An isolated network for the
child partitions
If you have more than one NIC in
your machine, you should choose one to
be the “manager” NIC and the other to be
the “virtualization” NIC. If you have only
one NIC, then your choice is simple—
select that setting for a single NIC.
WARNING: Don’t try to do this over an
RDP connection—you will lose
connectivity. The last time I did this, it took
me a one-hour drive to a customer site to
“re-do my work in-person and on-site!
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TECH CORNER
When you add a new network called
“External,” something strange will
happen: a new network adapter will pop
up in the “Network and Sharing Center.”
The new adapter is your parent partition
new network adapter, and the old
adapter has turned into a switch. If you
have multiple network adapters, you can
disable the new network adapter since
the parent partition needs only one for
most situations.
Create a machine
To create a machine, simply click top
right and select “New Machine,” and an
easy-to-follow, step-by-step Wizard will
pop up. There is only ONE thing that is
really important here: After you have
created the machine, you should check the
settings before starting and installing.
“Why?” you may ask. There are two kinds
of network cards inside a Hyper-V
machine: Legacy Network Adapter and
Network Adapter. The latter requires the
VMbus network driver to be loaded in the
child/guest to work. If you want to
test/lab/run SBS 2008 or EBS 2008, both of
these products need network access
during install, and one easy way to fix that
is to use the “Legacy Network Adapter”
during install. You can change later on
after you have installed the
“Integration Services,”
which comes after the OS has
been installed. It’s easy to
install but requires a reboot
of the guest/child.
A small tip
If you are going to set up more than
June/July 2008
one child/guest, a great way to perform
just one install is this: Install the
Integration Services and the run sysprep
to seal that image. Now every time you
need a “fresh” computer, create a new
machine with no disk, copy your master 23
image disk to that folder, then add that
SMB Partner Community
image as an new HD in that machine. I
Mikael Nyström is a
Senior Executive
Consultant at TrueSec
in Sweden. He holds
the following titles:
MCP, MCDST, MCT,
MVP Windows Server
- Setup/Deployment.
He can be reached at
Mikael.Nystrom@truesec.se.
Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:29 PM Page 26
TECHNOLOGY WATCH
The Automation Revelation:
A Webcast Designed for
IT Service Providers
Kaseya webinar, Tuesday, July 29th
10AM-11AM PDT (UTC -7)
You have
done your
research on
the benefits
of managed services, and are well on
your way to becoming a managed
service provider (MSP) – but what is
missing? It’s time to take a closer look
what it takes to be a successful MSP –
what services to deliver, how to price
them and how to migrate customers
to SLAs.
In this Webcast, IT service
providers will discover the deeper
benefits of moving into the MSP arena
– benefits like becoming a part of your
customers’ problem-solving team
rather than just being an option for a
quick remedy, plus the ultimate goal of
‘recurring revenue’. You will learn
about market trends, including the
tremendous ground swell within the
channel of establishing MSP initiatives.
Join SMB Nation, Jim Alves, EVP
of Product Marketing for Kaseya, and
Jay Tipton, CEO for Technology
Specialists as they take your questions
in real time.
Attendees will also learn:
• What resources [time, money,
and staff] does it take to really
get started?
• What are the key benefits that IT
June/July 2008
service providers will realize by
becoming a Managed Services
Provider?
• How established MSPs
are transitioning break/fix
24 customers
SMB Partner Community
Trend Micro™ Worry-Free™
Business Security 5.0
Help your
customers
protect their
business,
their reputation and their future with
the latest in business security solutions.
Announcing the new Worry-Free
Business Security Advanced and
Standard solutions! The Worry-Free
Security family of products protects
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digital assets, customer/ proprietary
data, ecommerce revenue, and business
reputation with unique web threat
protection.
Business-Critical Key Benefits
• New! Stops web threats by
blocking exposure to infected
websites with unique Web
Threat Protection.
• New! Secures online transactions
with Transaction Protector.
• New! Blocks email threats before
they reach the network with
InterScan™ Messaging Hosted
Security (included in Advanced
version).
• New! Locks down select data
files (e.g. Intuit® QuickBooks®).
• Defends against conventional
threats like spam, viruses,
spyware, and more.
Intel Has Four Points To Make
At SMB Nation 2008!
• SERVER MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Essentials and how it takes
advantage of it.
• Windows Small Business Server 2008
How this integrates with Essentials
and vice versa.
• SINGLE PROCESSOR SERVER
(Snow Hill)
How this feature allows for
extended management and
maintenance of the server and SBS
network right to the desktop.
• VPro
The desktop elements (hardware
and software) that take advantage of
all of the above to allow for
management and maintenance of
the desktop.
Robin Robins Gives Away
Her Car!
Robin’s Boot Camp Conference in
Nashville in early May had a fantastic
twist! “I just named Marcus Thompson
the official Spokesperson for
TechnologyMarketing Toolkit AND
handed him the keys to my BMW Z4.”
For the full story and pictures of
Marcus standing next to his new car, go
to the link below:
http://technologymarketingtoolkit.com
/casestudy.php
Mean Hamster Updates
John Swiderski, a SBSer in Spokane
Washington, directs Mean Hamster
Software and suggested the
community look here to see what he is
up to: www.playfirst.com/game/
petshophop. IT is actually pretty dam
cool. Good work John!
NASCAR Updates
Eric Ligman has posted these blogs
at http://chat.sbsmigration.com that
update our coverage last issue about the
SBSC racing car.
• Microsoft expands its Small Business
sponsorship in NASCAR
• It’s coming together…
• Yes, that's included. Plus answers to
many more questions.
• Tuning IT Up
Good News From Diskeeper
Diskeeper won eWeek Channel
Insider’s 2008 Utility & Software
Systems Product of the Year!!! The
results are based on controlled voting by
the readers of Channel Insider, who
rated each product on familiarity,
vendor support, after-sales opportunity,
profit potential and impact on the
market. Awesome!!!
Jun 2008 7/2/08 3:11 PM Page 27
Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:29 PM Page 28

TECHNOLOGY WATCH
Reflexion Webinar 1. Effective Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus D&H Supports New
Business Insurance: Email Security and 2. Directory Harvesting/Denial of Technologies
Archiving ‘In the Cloud’: 10 VAR Service Protection D&H just completed
Revenue Opportunities in Email 3. Automatic Email Spooling its June show and
This Reflexion-sponsored webinar 4. Outbound Email Protection reports it will be
will navigate the email security and (Zombies/Open Relay) distributing these
archiving landscape to identify 10 5. Hosted Archiving products:
opportunities for Solution Providers to 6. eDiscovery / FRCP Compliance
increase their annuity revenue stream 7. Business Continuity • Snom VoIP phones
through hosted email services. You’ll 8. Disaster Recovery • Quanta’s Syspine IP telephone
learn a) automated techniques to track 9. Email Collaboration system
who shares your email address, b) how to 10. Email Encryption • Iron Key’s secure flash drive
protect customers against Zombies and The presentation will be approx- • RHUB Communications’
Open Relays, c) how to manage imately 35 minutes, leaving ample time TurboMeeting web conferencing
greyware, Bacn and quasi-legitimate for Q&A. We hope you can make! appliance
email that fills up your inbox, d) how to Date: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 • Yamaha’s Projectphone conferencing
generate additional revenue by branding Time: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM EDT systems
your hosted email services, and e) ways
to ensure your customers are compliant
with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Calyptix Security Releases Handy Andy Chat Times
We will discuss the Bits That Byte! SBS MVP Andy Goodman
following oppor- A new report, continues his monthly chat on these
tunities and how you Bits that Byte: dates: July 16th & Aug 20th 7:00pm
can leverage each Executive Guide Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Attend at
item to increase the to IT Security, was released by Calyptix. http://chat.sbsmigration.com
value provided to It has extensive SBS 2008 discussion. See
your customers: more at www.calyptix.com.

Aastra Product Line Details. Distributor Named!

Aastra Telecom advises that they are on schedule for a
July 8th launch of the AastraLink RP, a Microsoft®
Response Point™ phone system, at the Microsoft
Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston. Leveraging
their many years experience in the analog, digital and IP
June/July 2008
A 3 phone system consisting of one of each phone
model, plus the AastraLink RP 500 Base unit and RP 540
Gateway will be available at launch as will the
individual components. Note that the AastraLink RP
system will be shipped with SP 1 preloaded.

enterprise terminal business, Aastra brings new

options, features and style to the Response Point
environment.
At launch, three different enterprise-grade RP phones
26 will be offered by Aastra; the basic 6751i RP, the featured
6753i RP and the advanced 6757i CT RP offering a
SMB Partner Community
Aastra has also announced that its first distributor for
the AastraLink RP will be Wesbell Technologies. With
operations in both US and Canada, Wesbell is
partnering with Aastra to serve and support value
added re-sellers committed to selling converged
solutions to their clients.

cordless handset. With larger display screens,

programmable keys, superior audio, four position foot
stands and headset and POE support, the Aastra RP
terminals offer enterprise level features for the SMB
market. In addition, the 6753i RP and 6757i CT RP
models support up to three expansion modules
providing additional choice and flexibility for your
customer allowing a true customized solution for
specific requirements.
Both Aastra and Wesbell fully understand the various
elements required for successful VoIP deployment in
the SMB environment and will offer the Microsoft Vars
community the right support to grow their business.
Further information is available from Aastra at
www.aastralinkrp.com and from Wesbell at
www.wesbell.com/responsepoint.

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Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:29 PM Page 29
Jun 2008 6/19/08 8:29 PM Page 30

TS2NAMI
by Charles Van Heusen mailto:charlesv@microsoft.com

Windows Server 2008 Solution Accelerator

Suite – It’s your Secret Sauce to Success!
A
re you looking to build your
Windows Server 2008 Business?
Trying to figure out where to get
started? Why don’t you let us help you by
leveraging the Windows Server 2008
Solutions Accelerators Suite. For those of
you not familiar with Solution
Accelerators, SA’s are a set of automation
tools and prescriptive guidance based
upon best practices built from the
collaboration of Microsoft and numerous
partners who have successfully delivered
solutions to customers and worked
through the bumps and bruises of the
migration processes along the way in
order to enable you to have a smoother
deployment The beauty behind it all is
that the suite is FREE and available for
download for you to start working with
today. The suite is broken into four
components:
sense to virtualize in your customer’s
environment.
In the past 6 months we’ve seen
more than a 50% increase in the
utilization of the Solutions Accelerator
Suites amongst Certified and Gold
Certified Partners, which is why I wanted
to make sure that each of you are aware of
these tools and their availability. If you
have recommendations for future
enhancements to them once you’ve put
them to use or suggestions for other SA
suites, feel free to email me. We’ve
security configuration in minutes verses already approached the product
hours or days by leveraging the GPO managers regarding the need for a suite
Accelerator tool. around the Windows Essentials Server
Solutions family upon it release and I
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 – hope to have more news on that as we
minimizing deployment time by move into the fall months. For more
streaming the Light Touch and Zero information on the Solution Accelerator,
Touch Deployment planning process as visit: http://www.microsoft.com/wsa. I
well as configuring and deploying
multiple server
roles including
AD, DNS, DHCP,
and Windows
SharePoint
Services to name
a few.

Infrastructure
Planning and
Design guides –
are designed to
June/July 2008

complement the
MAPs component
as you begin to
Microsoft Assessment & Planning focus on your
(MAP) - component is designed to assist customer ’s
28
you in identifying any hardware and infrastructure
software incompatibilities within your design. It helps
SMB Partner Community

customer’s environment to determine you define both

how quickly they can migrate to business and
Windows Server 2008. It will allow you t e c h n i c a l
to quickly identify which applications decisions that
and servers can be supported in a Virtual need to be
Server or Hyper-V environment whether addressed during
it’s for application compatibility reasons the planning
or server consolidation and process. They
optimization. also help you
identify which
Windows Server Security Guide - applications
enables you to deploy a customized make the most

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