I’ve had quite a few technicians asking me lately about installing Windows Small Business Server 2008. To lend a hand (to everyone), I’m going to post some SBS 2008 install links here, a quick walkthrough on the sbsanswerfile and some info about certificates and backup I feel is good to be familiar with prior to installing Small Business Server 2008.

Let’s take a look

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here is the official before you begin info >

Small Business Server 2008 Before You Begin

Windows Small Business Server 2008 Installation Worksheet

a quick note: minimum official memory suggestion is 4GB’s (SBS08 won’t even complete installation without at least 4GBs of memory present) HOWEVER !!! I suggest 8GB of memory (and at least 6GBs at a minimum). Why? – on the existing installations of SBS 2008 we have in the field, once users are added and the components and services are actually providing the Users with functionality, every SBS 2008 installation we’ve seen idles at 4GBs of “in use” memory (meaning the system is already running at max with the official minimum). The memory requirements for this server “when in action” ARE MUCH LARGER THAN 4GBs!

now, with formalities out of the way, my suggestion is the real place to begin is here >

SEAN DANIELS – Introducing the Windows SBS 2008 Answer File 

and this is why >

WIGITAL – OEM install OOBE gotchas and the SBS 2008 Answer File

which is addressed by this walkthrough >

How to customize a standard installation (non-migration) of Small Business Server 2008 (with additional consideration to OEM pre-installed Small Business Servers)

One aspect of SBS 2008 installation (for stand alone installs and also OEM boxes) that can definitely “get you – as in ‘gotcha’ ” is not being aware of the “simplified” installation process on the new SBS. This simplified process defines preset “assumptions” about the environment for the Admin and negates truly customizing SBS 2008 on install. This is a big change from SBS 2003!

The SBS Team has chosen to simplify the new SBS 2008 install process to target a particular market segment. This simplification removes many of the previously available setup parameters (as in SBS 2003) and they are longer available during setup at all except through use of an answerfile. Whether you a agree or disagree, let them know. The point is that it is potentially very critical to have access to the full array of settings when completing an install of an OEM pre-installed SBS 2008 server or when installing bare metal to a “stand-alone” box.

An OEM built SBS 2008 Server (or bare metal install with the first stage completed) will  boot into OOBE on startup with SBS 2008 already partly installed. At this point, the Admin will be greeted with a setup continuation window offering only two suggested choices (IMO: the SBS TEAM has chosen a “highly understated way” of explaining what’s actually happening at this point) :

1. Proceed – click “Next”
2. Do NOT Proceed – click “Cancel” with Microsoft offering the suggestion of reading the migration document on TechNet ( GO FWLINK provided as “only reason why to cancel” ). This suggestion in OOBE is over simplified by placing a Cancel choice solely under the context of migrating from SBS 2003 (meaning the suggestion causes one to think that only reason to cancel is THAT you are migrating from SBS 2003 :: please know THIS IS NOT THE ONLY REASON TO CANCEL!!!)

What is left “unsaid” is what options and choices are “removed from selection” if you proceed with an SBS 2008 OS installation from this first OOBE welcome screen with (whether stand alone install or migration) without first building an sbsanswerfile using the install CD SBSAfg.exe (Small Business Server Answer FIle Generator).

Read this article (mentioned above) to understand what can happen if you proceed (by clicking “Next”)

Here’s the solution (our method, Microsoft’s design) to providing a set of detailed parameters to SBS 2008 when completing setup on an OEM pre-installed SBS 2008 Operating System:

• turn on Server and enter into BIOS
• in BIOS, disable servers ability to boot from USB or to search USB for bootable partitions
• save BIOS changtes and exit BIOS, restart
• allow system to come up into SBS 2008 OOBE welcome screen (we do this ”only to confirm the SBS 2008 OS is indeed properly pre-installed“) DO NOT PROCEED OR CLICK NEXT!!!
• click Cancel at first viewing of OOBE – the machine will shut down
  • NOTE: clicking Next and/or entering any data what-so-ever into the parameter fields for Server Name, Domain Name, etc… will completely eliminate any chance of providing detailed parameters (such as top level domain name, Server IP address, etc…) DO NOT CLICK NEXT – CLICK CANCEL
• acquire a network switch from somewhere, power it up, confirm no other systems are connected to it and connect your SBS NIC to the Switch
  • NOTE: if you choose a router already on a subnet to connect to, please: (choose a Router that has no DHCP Server enabled on the subnet, possibly a test network)
  • NOTE: the reason – “an existing DHCP service connected during SBS08 setup will disable DHCP services on the new SBS 2008 installation. This is by design as a precaution to potential DHCP conflicts”
• verify connection of the Network Interface to the router (NOTE: single NIC only in the new SBS 2008)
• locate your SBS 2008 installation DVD and one USB removable drive
• Create an sbsanswerfile using the SBSAfg.exe tool on the SBS 2008 installation DVD
• Save the sbsanswerfile.xml to the USB removable media at the root of the drive
• Insert USB removable media into SBS 2008 Server and turn power on (remember, you must have disabled USB boot in BIOS or system will try to boot from the USB drive and possibly hang)
• with the sbsanswerfile.xml present (SBS 2008 setup is designed to find the sbsanswerfile at the root of any drive in the system) SBS 2008 will continue setup using the SBS Answer File definitions allowing the full range of parameters to be implemented per specific Admin’s intentions
• the system will continue installation, reboot as needed, and complete install with full set of “your own defined parameters” which are the sbsanswerfile.xml customizations you create for the environment…

 …what if I don’t need to use the sbsanswerfile >

Basic Small Business Server 2008 Installation from DVD (using simplified parameters and no sbsanswerfile)

TECHNET – installing Windows Small Business Server 2008 from DVD

… what about migration ? >

Migrating an existing SBS 2003 environment to SBS 2008

** please note: this is a lengthy process and you should allocate substantial time to completing a migration. Do your homework, prepare your environment, allocate extra hours.

REAL WORLD: Hopefully your ride is smooth. I should definitely note the SBS Team put quite a lot of thought into migration and the wizards accomplish ALOT. The process (when successful) is quite impressive.

What if something goes awry? : Real World would not be “real” if I did not mention that I have already seen one particularly messy migration when DNS (for some reason) failed on the destination SBS 2008 Server during the “automated” portion of the migration process. All sorts of stuff happened as a result. We did follow the migration document, we did definitely run the SBS2003 BPA and still.. boo hoo.  In this particular type of case, there is nothing an Admin can do but wait for the migration wizard to complete (as it is completely automated once triggered) and then clean up afterward.

TOOLS - DOWNLOAD: Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer

TECHNET – Migrate to Windows Small Business Server 2008 from Windows Small Business Server 2003

TECHNET – Install Windows Small Business Server 2008 in Migration Mode

… what else should I know about the new SBS 2008? >

Windows Small Business Server 2008 Certificates and Client Access (what you should know out of the box)

As an admin, be sure you acquire a copy of the SelfSigned SSL Certificate before leaving the premisis otherwise you will not be able to remotely administer your SBS 2008 Server.

SBS SelfSSL Certificate PATHS to memorize:

Local Disk: c:\users\Public\Public Downloads
UNC: \\servername\Public\Public Downloads
UNC: \\sites\Public\Public Downloads

OFFICIAL SBS BLOG – How Do I Distribute the SBS 2008 Self-Signed SSL Certificate to My Users?

WIGITAL – SBS 2008 Certificates – RWW Terminal Services and TS Gateway

and… SEAN DANIELS – Introducing the Add Trusted Certificate Wizard

Backup in Windows Small Business Server 2008 (it’s very very new)

One additional component I think is vitally important to know about Day 1 is Backup (because it’s so different then the ”ntbackup”  of Windows 2003/XP) >

SBS TEAM BLOG – Introducing SBS 2008 Backup

SBS TEAM BLOG – System State Backups and SBS 2008

SEAN DANIELS – Small Business Server 2008 Backup Q&A

EDGE.TECHNET – SBS 2008 PM Interview and Backup Demo

EMEA SBS TEAM – Backup Methods for WSS 3.0 in SBS2008

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Hope this helps you get started. Thanks for reading and please link back or comment for others in the community.

will post more when time allows
Mark Raborn
WIGITAL