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August 16 Chapter 18 - Back it up!Chapter 18 is all about backing up. Entire books have been written on this subject and they are needful. However, this chapter is a good primer on backing up SBS. The chapter begins with backup issues. It goes into various reasons to back up whether they be regulatory, risk avoidance, or recovery. These are all good reasons to back up and other reasons are looked at as well. Hardware and media are discussed next. Maybe you want to backup to a CD, DVD, external harddrive, local harddrive and then move the file to some other location. Perhaps you like tape drives? All of these are great tools. One point to make is, these are tools, so use the right tool for your job. NTBackup will not backup to CD or DVD automatically. The backup plan is next. What? You say you don't have a plan? Then buy the book and get a plan! Nine points are laid out for you to consider when making this plan. Site and security comes up next. Once you make your backup and put it on your media of choice, where are you going to store it? In a fireproof box? Offsite? If so, where? One block, one mile or one thousand miles away? Is your area prone to hurricanes? Tornadoes? Earthquakes? These points and more should be considered when offline storage is considered. A primer on backup types such as full, differential, incremental and copy are discussed next. If you are shaky on these concepts, read these three pages and take out the shake! What is a backup without a schedule? You want to kick off your backup each night don't you without standing in front of the machine? Then schedule that job and relax at home! Media rotation is shown in a nice table on page 448 that will help your plan what we spoke about earlier. What is the SBS mantra? Use the wizard! Is backup different? It most certainly is not. You have a backup wizard, so use it! Shadow copies are turned on here so it is a good practice to use the wizard. Two tables are laid out to show you what the backup wizard can and cannot do. Hint: the cannot do list is about three times as long as the can do list! Don't let that scare you however. It can do a good enough job for most people out of the box. Would you like to know what the wizard does? If so, the next few pages in the chapter are for you. It dives into the deep and dirty parts of what this wizard does for you in a few mouse clicks. Using NTBackup is up next. Maybe you should make your backup strategy complete several different jobs? Maybe you just back up your Exchange data in one job? Your important data in another. Various databases in another. These topics are covered well enough to get you thinking about where your head should be in this discussion. Third party tools are talked about, but not by name as to not endorse one above another. Remember, these are tools and you should use the proper tool for your job at hand. Disaster strikes! What now? Luckily, the book has this discussion. First, are you testing your restores? If not, start. If so, good for you. Pat yourself on the back. If your server is down, what kind of hardware will you restore to? Similar, dissimilar? These are all points that should be known and practiced. The chapter closes out with some decent troubleshooting tips. This chapter is like Ragu sauce. You need to backup your server? It's in there! This chapter was a good read as well as an easy one. If you are a backup guru, you may get bored. Anyone short of guru status, you will learn something or find some value in this chapter. This chapter is yet another good resaon why you should buy this book. What's next? Monitoring and reporting are next. Stay tuned so you can monitor me! August 06 Eriq Neale's SBS2K3 Chap 16-17This review covers chapter 16-17 of Eriq Neale’s SBS2K3 unleashed book. Chapter 16 is entitled Users and Computer and chapter 17 is entitled Integrating the Macintosh into a SBS2K3 Environment. Both of these chapters are chock full of information.
Chapter 16 covers users and computers in case you couldn’t have guessed! ;-> The chapter begins by showing the differences between an administrator and a power user. A nice table summarizes all the abilities each one has. Adding users via the wizard comes next. ADUC can be used to add users manually, but you can get strange results if you choose this method. The wizard sets up all the proper permissions and puts the users in the right OU for SBS2K3. User permissions can be changed by running the wizard or manually if one chooses, but why make it harder than you have to?
User templates are next discussed as well as creating and modifying templates. These templates are the key to the wizard for properly setting up users via the wizards. Disk and mail quotas are discussed in a couple of pages.
Managing computers is discussed next. Computers can be setup at the same time as you setup users or you can go back and do them separately. Another nice table is shown that shows the differences between administrators and power users access to computer management tools. Out of 12 areas, power users can only perform 4 of them. Setting up computers though ADUC is discussed. Assigning applications to computers is also looked at. The code that is created by the wizards is also shown in the book. Connect Computer wizard is briefly looked at on pp. 391-393. Finally, adding servers via the wizard is discussed and then a troubleshooting section closes this chapter.
Chapter 17 is all about the Mac. For those of us ignorant about the Macintosh, I am chief among us, this chapter covers it all! This chapter is pretty long. It is 39 pages long. It has a lot of words and pictures. This is good. If you need to setup a Mac on your SBS2K3 network, buy this book just for this chapter. The chapter starts with sharing files. Various services have to be setup on your server before it can talk to the apple and share files. Installing these file services is discussed in very good detail. Creating shares is also talked about. If a windows share is setup already, you will need to readd the share so the files can be seen by all. Microsoft UAM needs to be added to all Macs on the network.
Appletalk has to be added as the protocol for OS9 and earlier. This chapter will show you all that you need depending on the OS you have on your Mac. Directory access is in here and then connecting to the server. Numerous methods are discussed to connect to the server again, depending on the OS. Accessing Exchange is then shown using POP3 and IMAP and using various clients all the way to Entourage. RWW, VPN and RDP are then looked at and then a nice summary and best practices close this lengthy and in-depth chapter.
I will next start with chapter 18 which covers back up. Be sure to stay tuned. I hope you enjoyed this review and I hope you will come back soon. May 15 SBS2K3 Review - Part 3Are you ready for another exciting review? Here we go.
I did start back at chapter 6 after going through Exchange last time. I then jumped a bit ahead again as I am trying to bone up on some information I need for a client migration this week. I hope you enjoy this review.
Chapter 6 - Covers IIS in pretty good detail. IIS is so intertwined with virtually every piece of SBS, it is imperative that it be understood by the administrator. Everything from RWW to Exchange, Companyweb and practically every other nook and cranny of SBS is reliant on this technology called IIS 6. The chapter takes you through all the settings that you need for all the above areas. It even covers backing up the entire metabase and sites too. Virtual directories are discussed and certificates are in this section as well. You can create your own certificate, but you will need to have your browser trust it or answer yes everytime you go to your site. The chapter finishes up with some good basic troubleshooting tips.
Chapter 7 - Covers RRAS, VPN and firewalls. This chapter is only 17 pages long, but it does cover the basics. The RRAS firewall is covered mainly in this chapter. There is another chapter in the back of the book that covers ISA2004 which of course is your firewall if you have it installed. That's why RRAS is covered here! All the necessary ports are covered that SBS uses to route successfully. VPN's are covered next and the raging debate over them is also discussed. Many SBS'ers do not think VPN is necessary and can even create other risks as more ports are opened. This chapter covers that risk and debate. With RWW, OWA and the like, why would you use a VPN on SBS? You can even use dialup access for SBS if you are so inclined. Does anyone do that these days? Finally, troubleshooting tips are disbursed to round things out.
Chapter 8 - Covers Terminal Services. This chapter is only 11 pages long. It is one of the shortest, I believe the shortest chapter in the entire book. The chapter starts with Remote Administration mode vs. Application Mode. SBS2K3 has 2 licenses for administration. If you want application mode, you need to setup a member server and put Terminal Services on it along with its own CAL's. Installing and configuring Terminal Services and maanging is covered next. Troubleshooting again winds this short chapter to a close.
Chapter 9 - This chapter discusses Server Security. If you have studied NT, W2K and W2K3 like I have, this chapter doesn't really cover anything new. However, if you are fairly new to this arena, this chapter can help bring you up to speed. The chapter starts with physically securing your server. Hard to do in small businesses, but think minimizing risks here. Then file security is covered. NTFS file permissions are covered in decent detail. Permission inheritance and even special permissions are covered. Can you say "Traverse folders" anyone? Having ownership and who can take it is then discussed. Encryption is touched on and then we move on to share level security. Password security and policies are talked about in depth. Since the password/pass phrase is the gateway in to your system, this topic is very important. Once again, troubleshooting closes the chapter.
At this point, I jumped ahead a bit. I read chapters 14 and 15 for this upcoming job I need to do. I'm sorry for not following the book sequentially, but this should prove the book does not need to be read in that fashion. You can read each chapter as its own stand alone primer. That way, you can gain the information you need.
Chapter 14 - Covers sharepoint and companyweb. This chapter I have to say is simply fabulous! You want to justify buying this book? Read this chapter and you have done it! It is that good. I must say I really learned a lot from this chapter. Granted, I am a newbie when it comes to this topic, but I feel I have lost a lot of that "newbieness" after reading this chapter. The chapter begins with an Overview. The perfect beginning for someone like myself. The default file locations are discussed. Think databases here. Everything from documents to photos are stored in a database. In fact, you can even add metabase data to that information and do some very fancy filtering. It is covered! To move your companyweb data can be a daunting task. This chapter covers it in 13 easy steps. The 4 default permissions are then covered. Web designer for all! Everything from applying themes to customizing lists, documents, you name it are all discussed in very vivid detail for several pages. How to customize these views are next. Web parts are then discussed and how they should have their own separate page setup. Creating subsites is easy and this chapter will show that to you. Next, the author shows us how to create new top level pages. Hint: best done in Frontpage, but not necessary. Once you create the new site, you will be going into IIS Manager to set it up. It is covered in here to make your deployment successful. Backing up and restoring sharepoint data is then viewed. The restoration part is covered in very good detail. The gist is, you create a new subsite, restore there and then you can cherry pick what you want to add back in case you are only after a certain document or picture or list, etc. Using frontpage to extend companyweb is then discussed. Working with multiple languages is covered next. Each site/subsite can only have one language. However, you could setup two subsites that are the same, but have one in English and one in Greek by applying the proper language pack. Troubleshooting and removal and reinstallation of company web closes this very good chapter.
Chapter 15 - discovers Remote Web Workplace henceforth called RWW. This chapter also starts with an overview. It then shows the administrators view as well as the clients view. The chapter dives into connecting to RWW. Once in RWW, the user can go to many places such as their desktop, companyweb, email, and even to the server if you have administrator credentials. The discussion then turns to RWW file locations and registry settings. All the configuration settings are laid out in a table format. Customizing RWW is then looked at as well as increasing the timeout and how to exclude systems. If you do not want your users connecting their local drives, you can use the 6 step outline in this section to prevent them from doing so. As always, our old friend Mr. Troubleshooter comes to the rescue.
So, what will we cover next time? However much I have read! I will return to chapter 10 and then because many of the subsequent chapters have been covered, I will go on to chapter 16-24 as I can get to them. One word of warning however. I may jump to the 2 closing chapters 23 and 24 as they cover ISA 2004 in depth and I need that knowledge. So, I may cover 23 and 24 next time then go back to chapter 10 and then finish the book with 17-22. I do hope you are getting something from this review. If I can sum it up, buy the book! You won't be sorry. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your feedback. May 08 SBS 2003 Unleashed - Part 2 Hello again. I want to continue my review of Eriq Neale's SBS2K3 Unleashed book. My first review covered chapters 1-5. I said I was going to go through these chapters sequentially. I needed to have a quick study of Exchange so I jumped ahead. Here is my review of Part V which contains chapters 11-13.
Chapter 11 covers Outlook as a client of Exchange. It covers RPC over HTTP, configuration, OWA, OMA as well as Activesync. It then has a very thorough troubleshooting section. The troubleshooting section covers each of the previous sections in order. Unless you are a complete seasoned veteran, you will learn a lot from this chapter.
Chapter 12 covers Exchange. It talks about junk mail, spam and viruses. To help control those nasties, it then goes into a discussion of the IMF. It then covers the POP3 connector as well as the SMTP connector. This chapter also discusses how to setup multiple routes. It then goes into recipient policies and the update service. The chapter finishes with some basic troubleshooting. This topic is VERY broad and deep. The book even admits that Exchange is too large to cover in 1-2 chapters and I agree. I am new to Exchange and I found these chapters good, but leaving me wanting more. My next purchase will certainly be an Exchange book.
Chapter 13 covers disaster recovery of your Exchange server. It first lays out the database and log structure that makes up the database store. It breaks these down in a very logical way and even has pictures! That was a nice learning tool for me. It then discusses the 2 backup methods, who can backup what and it then discusses various tools including EXMerge. The discussion then turns to actual recovery of your database. Five methods are then laid out before you to walk you through recovering the data. If this wasn't enough, the topic of repairing damaged databases is laid out. Warning, this stuff is very heavy and not for the faint of heart. You have been warned! As alawys. the chapter closes with some troubleshooting tips.
As a heads up, I am either going back to chapter six, where I left off or I am going to part 8 that discusses management and administration. I'm not sure which directions I will go. As I stated earlier, I intended to go sequentially, but somes things came up that are making me learn some things faster than I had intended to. The only way you will know, is to read next weeks installment. I can't wait to meet you back here then. Until that time, keep learning. |
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