EBS Migration SKUs
By · CommentsAre you a Volume License customer, looking to migrate out of EBS per Microsoft's offer? Here are the part numbers you'll need to order the new media. Microsoft says to order from your original reseller. If you have EBS Premium, your SQL media will already work, so they have not included that SKU.
Windows Server Standard 2008 P73-03830
Windows Server Standard 2008R P73-04819
Exchange Standard 2007 312-03748
System Center Essentials 2007 UCH-01603 System Center Essentials 2010 UCH-02057
Reprinted from: http://msmvps.com/blogs/steveb/default.aspx
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Microsoft Intune. Worthy Competitor?
By · CommentsToday Microsoft announced more about its new monitoring and management service, Intune. At first Intune seemed like a wanna-be and I know a lot of IT professionals that greeted the news of Microsoft’s foray into desktop monitoring and management in just that light. But at WPC Microsoft announced their product differentiator and today they announced the price. Here’s what they’ve got to offer:
- A cloud service. Web portal to manage all of your client’s computers from a single web portal.
- Monitoring and Alerting
- Anti-Virus
- Anti-Malware
- Remote Assistance
- Inventory management
- Updates and patching
OK so, so far it sounds like everyone else’s product. But wait there’s more:
- Upgrade rights to Windows 7 Enterprise
- Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack: Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V), Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V), Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM), Microsoft Asset Inventory Service (AIS), Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) and Microsoft System Center Desktop Error Monitoring (DEM)
All of this for $12 per month, per PC. If you don’t want the Desktop Optimization Pack, then it’s $11 a month.
So what do you think? To me it looks like Microsoft is pulling out the stops and creating a very appealing bundle not just a wanna-be. They have really differentiated and are offering something that only Microsoft can offer.
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Kerio Connect Webinar Online
By · CommentsThe July Third Thursday webinar featuring Eriq Neale and a Kerio Connect installation demo is now online. Head over to the Store where you can download the webinar for free!
Q&A from Kerio Connect Webinar
By · CommentsThe following is the Q&A from the today’s Kerio Connect webinar with Eriq Neale. The recording of the webinar will be available in the store later in the week.
Question: Shouldn’t we be using the 64 bit version?
Answer: Kerio Connect is 32 bit, but supports also 64 bit in compatibility mode
Question: So you are saying that the 2nd IP address on the NIC and 2 available Public IP Addresses are a REQUIREMENT (minimum needed) for this product’s implementation or this is unique to Server 2008 Foundation?
Answer: Only if you want two different web applications on the same box. Otherwise you can run one of the two web services on a non-standard port
Question: Think this will work on a WHS box?
Answer: Yes you can run Kerio Connect on Home Server
Question: Since this product uses an AD connector, will it require a step for AD and then in Kerio to add a new user?
Answer: Answered live.
Question: Outlook 2010 supported?
Answer: Yes, Eriq is using Outlook 2010 live now.
Question: The Kerio connector setup screens all referred speicifcally to Outlook *2007* – that’s why I asked about Outlook 2010 So Outlook 2010 support is a qualified ‘yes’?
Answer: yes, with the limitation I just decribed regarding the Kerio settings dialog
Question: Migration from Exchange? Migration back to Exchange from Kerio Connect?
Answer: Answered live.
Question: Shared calendars and contacts?
Answer: Demonstrated live.
Question: Client is thinking about repurposing a Win2000 Pro wkstn. Thoughts?
Answer: Windows 2000 Extended Support ended 2 days ago (July 13, 2010) so running a production mail server on a non-supported box probably isn’t a good idea.
Question: Is there a benefit to use Kerio over Exchange on an SBS 2003 network or would this be a potential change to make when upgrading server hardware?
Answer: Answered live.
Question: On whs, you could presumably use different ports so as to not conflict with the remote access web site?
Answer: Yes, you could use different ports, but that would keep you from being able to use ActiveSync internally and externally. You could manually configure Outlook to use the differnet ports as well as Internet Explorer, but some tools cannot have their port configurations changed and wouldn’t work in that scenario.
Question: Can you talk about DR and support (DR or just generall support) from Kerio (8-5, paid, included, email only, etc.)?
Answer: Answered live.
Question: Any anti-spam features?
Answer: Yes. You can get more details at http://www.kerio.com/connect
Welcome Cliff Galiher!
By · CommentsThird Tier is pleased to announce the addition of Cliff Galiher to our team! Cliff brings a wealth of expertise in networking, Active Directory, OCS as well as SBS. He has been active at Experts Exchange as well as in the SBS newsgroups and forums for quite some time. You can find out more about Cliff on his bio page.
Welcome to Third Tier, Cliff!
As you may have heard Eriq has moved himself and some of his clients off of Microsoft Exchange in favor of Kerio Connect. He spoke at the spring SMB Nation at length on why he has done this. He has published to his blog and in SMB Nation magazine those reasons as well. Now it’s going to show us how to get a Kerio Connect mail server up, running and configured.
Join Third Tier’s Eriq Neale for a first look at what it takes to get Kerio Connect, an Exchange alternative collaboration solution, up and running on a Windows server. Eriq will walk through the initial setup, installation of the AD Connector, a tour of the Administration Console, and setting up Outlook to interface with Kerio Connect.
Third Tier has invited you to attend an online meeting using Microsoft Office Live Meeting.
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/harborcomputerservices/join?id=685ZTG&role=attend&pw=9x%3A4P%5Cqmd
Meeting time: Jul 15, 2010 12:00 PM (EDT)
Add to my Outlook Calendar:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/harborcomputerservices/meetingICS?id=685ZTG&role=attend&pw=9x%3A4P%5Cqmd&i=i.ics
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Last week I was busy making plans for my trip to Washington DC and Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference, where I’m scheduled to pick up the Small Business Specialist of the Year award. (still happily amazed) Since the hotels in Washington DC are so very expensive I decided to give Priceline.com a try. 50% off a 4 star hotel was sounding pretty good.
Priceline works like most travel websites except that you name a price that you are willing to pay, the neighborhood you want to be in, the rating of the hotel and then you let Priceline select the hotel for you. It is a way for hotels to fill rooms, even if it’s at a discounted rate.
Naturally the website wants me to create an account and they also want me to select a secret question to which only I will know the answer. Here’s the first question in the list:
I simply laughed. Here is a legitimate website phishing. Were anyone to give them this information then it is very likely that who ever has access to it could log in all over the web as them. Raise of hands…how many of you use the same password on multiple websites? That’s right, almost everyone.
I sent it my findings to a couple of people. Steve Riley (Microsoft speaker, author, noted security guru and now Amazon Web Services employee) picked up the story for his blog. Gotta love the title.
http://stvrly.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/a-rant-in-which-i-heap-scorn-upon-priceline/
Be careful out there.
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How do you move out of EBS now that it is retired?
By · CommentsDetails on how to move out of Essential Business Server are now live at http://www.microsoft.com/ebs/en/us/default.aspx. Well, really it is here at http://www.microsoft.com/ebs/en/us/offers.aspx. You have until December 31, 2010 to do the change over if you are going to.
Reprinted from: http://msmvps.com/blogs/steveb/default.aspx
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So who wrote this blog and what do they do for a living anyway?
We're Third Tier. We provide advanced Third Tier support for IT Professionals.
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Connecting an iPhone 4 to Exchange
By · CommentsYes, it’s June 24, and the new iPhones have been hitting the streets, and a number of people have been updating their previous iPhone models to the iPhone OS 4 (IOS4). As we’ve done for the previous versions, here are instructions for connecting your iPhone 4 to an Exchange server.
- From the Home screen (or whichever screen you’ve moved the icon to), click the Settings icon.
- In the Settings screen, click Mail, Contacts, Calendars
- Click Add Account
- Click Microsoft Exchange
- Enter the information in the account screen:
- Enter your e-mail address *exactly* as the default account is set (for example, if your outbound e-mail address is Jonathan.Dough@smallbizco.net, enter it exactly that way – do not enter jonathan.dough@smallbizco.net).
- Enter your internal domain name (if needed)
- Enter your account name (this is the name used to log into your computer, it may or may not match your e-mail address)
- Enter your account password
- Enter a description for the account (Exchange will be the name if you do not put anything into the description field
- Once you have verified that the information entered is correct, click Next.
- You may see a warning that your server identity cannot be identified. This is expected if the server is Exchange 2003 or if the Autodiscover record for the server has not been set up properly. If you see this message, click Continue.
- If you did get the previous message that the phone could not verify the identity of the server, you will need to enter the name of the server. This will be the same address you enter to get to Outlook Web Access (i.e., if you use https://remote.smallbizco.net/owa as the address for your Outlook Web Access server, then enter remote.smallbizco.net in the Server field).
- You may receive a second warning that the server identity cannot be verified. This will be the case if your Exchange server has an invalid or untrusted SSL certificate. The iPhone can continue to communicate with the server using this certificate, and that communication is still secured. If this is the first, or second, time you get this warning, click Continue.
- If you receive a message that the Exchange account cannot be verified, click OK and make sure you have entered the account information correctly. This error will most often appear if a password has not been entered correctly or if the Domain information is incorrect.
- Once the account has been validated, select which Exchange features you wish to synchronize with your phone, then click Save.
- After creating the account, you can go back into the account settings to change the items you wish to synchronize, or to modify other synchronization options.
At this point, your iPhone will start to synchronize information with your Exchange account. Depending on the data connection speed of the iPhone and your server, along with how much data you have in your mailbox to synchronize, this process may take some time.
Reprinted from: http://simultaneouspancakes.com/Lessons
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So who wrote this blog and what do they do for a living anyway?
We're Third Tier. We provide advanced Third Tier support for IT Professionals.
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I’m proud to announce that Harbor Computer Services has won Microsoft’s Small Business Specialist of the Year award.
As a small woman owned IT business in Royal Oak, we are very proud to announce that our work with Michigan small businesses has received an important award from Microsoft. It is very exciting for us that Microsoft recognizes the importance of small business to the Michigan economy and our role in helping those businesses thrive.
When Eriq and I formed Third Tier we did so out of our experiences in running IT firms in our local communities. The majority of our Third Tier staff also have local IT firms just like yours. It think it is because of this understanding that we can bring you quality IT services when you need them. It’s because we understand what it is to be you. The Third Tier staff have not given up their local businesses. Rather these business continue to thrive and excel in their local markets. It is through this continued experience that we can stay in touch with your needs.
For Release
June 23, 2010
Harbor Computer Services Honored in the 2010 Microsoft Partner Awards as
Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year
Royal Oak, Michigan, USA — June 23, 2010 — Today, Harbor Computer Services proudly announces it is a Microsoft Partner Awards winner as Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year. The company was chosen out of an international field of top Microsoft partners as delivering market-leading customer solutions built on Microsoft technology.
“Our submission highlighted our efforts to bring the best of Internet technologies and software subscription programs to our clients while co-mingling these new technologies with on-premise solutions for a rock-solid best of both worlds approach to IT. I believe that this is the path that will help our clients keep the competitive advantage by maximizing return on IT investment. I’m beyond excited that Microsoft has acknowledged our work with this award”, said Amy Babinchak, President of Harbor Computer Services.
Harbor Computer Services was recognized for superior technology and innovation in Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year. The Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year Award honors partners who use Microsoft technology in innovative ways to deploy integrated solutions that serve their customers in the small to midmarket business (SMB) space. This award recognizes Harbor Computer Services for demonstrating innovative excellence and proficiency in deploying solutions that leverage Microsoft technology scaled for SMBs. They have successfully provided ways to help small business owners save money and be competitive all while using Microsoft campaigns and sales tools.
“Microsoft is pleased to announce Harbor Computer Services as the Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year,” said Birger Steen, vice president, Worldwide SMB and Distribution, Microsoft Corp. “Harbor Computer Services is committed to helping small to midsize business customers find and utilize the best IT investments that reach their business goals. Their deep knowledge of Microsoft technologies enabled them to create a customized solution utilizing Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation and Microsoft Online Services (BPOS) to satisfy the customer needs of a fast network and remote access.”
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The Microsoft Partner Awards recognize Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered exceptional Microsoft-based solutions over the last year.
Harbor Computer Services is an IT services firm serving businesses with 100 or fewer computers across Southeastern Michigan. We believe that your IT investment should be making your company money and we care about your business.
For additional information:
Amy Babinchak, President – Harbor Computer Services.
(248) 850-8616
amy@harborcomputerservices.net
Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
