Executive Summary
The majority of IT organizations have either already adopted, or are in the process of adopting cloud computing. The broad interest in cloud computing is understandable given that, as explained in this report, the goal of cloud computing is to enable IT organizations to achieve a dramatic improvement in the cost effective, elastic provisioning of IT services that are good enough.
The phrase good enough refers primarily to the fact that on a going forward basis, IT organizations will continue to be required to provide the highest levels of availability and performance for a small number of key applications and services. However, an ever increasing number of applications and services will be provided on a best effort basis.
The phrase good enough refers secondarily to the fact that the SLAs from both traditional network service providers as well as from public cloud computing providers are often weak or non-existent. As such, these services are currently provided on a good enough basis, whether or not that is explicitly acknowledged.
The adoption of cloud computing creates some very significant networking challenges.
In recognition of those challenges, the phrase cloud networking refers to the LAN, WAN and management functionality that IT organizations must put in place in order to enable cloud computing.

The Emerging Data Center LAN

The majority of IT organizations either recently has, or intends to redesign their data center LANs in the near term. The broad interest that IT organizations have in redesigning their data center LANs is driven primarily by the desire to reduce cost while simultaneously implementing the ability to support an increasingly virtualized and dynamic data center.

One of the most important characteristics of the contemporary data center is that an ever-increasing amount of the traffic is between servers. As such, a critical goal of the next generation data center LAN is to facilitate server-to-server communications. One approach for improving server-to-server communications is to flatten the data center LAN from the current norm that is either a three or four tier design, to a two tier LAN design consisting of access layer and aggregation/core layer switches.

One of the factors that has driven many IT organizations to implement a four-tier data center LAN is the fact that once an IT organization has implemented server virtualization there is a virtual switch (vSwitch) inside the server. The vSwitch presents a number of concerns related to management, security, functionality and organizational responsibilities. For example, an IT organization that has a thousand virtual servers in one of their data centers also has a thousand vSwitches that must be managed and configured. An emerging approach that potentially eliminates most of the issues caused by vSwitches is Edge Virtual Bridging (EVB). With EVB, all the traffic from VMs is sent to the network access switch. If the traffic is destined for a VM on the same physical server, the access switch returns the packets to the server over the same port on which it was received; e.g., a “hair pin turn”.

One of the challenges associated with the redesign of data center LANs is that the combination of server consolidation and virtualization creates an “all in one basket” phenomenon that drives the need for highly available server configurations and highly available data center LANs. One approach to increasing the availability of a data center LAN is to use a combination of redundant subsystems within network devices such as LAN switches, in conjunction with redundant network designs that feature multiple links
between devices. One of the new technologies that enables IT organizations to design data center LANs that are both faster and more highly available is switch virtualization.

In this context, switch virtualization means that two or more physical switches are made to appear to other network elements as a single logical switch (e.g., virtual switch) with a single control plane.
If the data center LAN is designed with multiple links between devices, the connections between the end systems and the virtual access switches and between the virtual access switches and the virtual aggregation switches can be based on multi-chassis (MC) link aggregation group (LAG) technology. The combination of switch virtualization and multi-chassis LAG (MC LAG) can be used to create a logically loop-free topology without the need for the spanning tree protocol. This is important in part because the spanning tree protocol (STP) prevents all available forwarding resources in a redundant network design from being simultaneously utilized. As a result, the elimination of STP increases the link resource utilization and hence the scalability of the data center LAN.

The elimination of STP also enhances the availability of the data center LAN because it eliminates the relatively long convergence times that are associated with STP.

Unfortunately, the hashing algorithms that are associated with MC LAG are not standardized. As a result, each vendor’s implementation of MC LAG is proprietary.

A key characteristic of the emerging generation of data center LANs will be the convergence of block-level storage and data traffic over a common high-speed Ethernet data center switching fabric. This unified fabric offers significant cost savings in multiple areas including converged network adapters on servers and reductions in rack space, power and cooling capacity, cabling, and network management overhead. Traditional Ethernet, however, only provides a best effort service. In order to emulate the lossless behavior of a Fibre Channel (FC) SAN, Ethernet must be enhanced in such as way that it exhibits lossless behavior. Lossless Ethernet will be based on a number of emerging standards, which are commonly referred to as IEEE Data Center bridging (DCB). All data center LAN switching vendors are planning to support the DCB standards when they are available. In some cases the timing of the availability of that support may differ between the vendor’s access and core switches. In addition, some vendors are currently offering pre-standard support for DCB capabilities.

DCB will play a key role in supporting the Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) protocol specification that maps Fibre Channel’s upper layer protocols directly over a bridged Ethernet network. FCoE provides an evolutionary approach to the migration of FC SANs to an Ethernet switching fabric while preserving Fibre Channel constructs and providing reliability, latency, security, and traffic management attributes similar to those of native FC. There is broad interest in FCoE on the part of the data center LAN switch vendors.

However, since FCoE can be implemented in a variety of ways, there are several different levels of support that data center switch vendors can provide and still claim to support FCoE.

Wide Area Networking

The twenty-year period that began in 1985 saw the deployment of four distinct generations of enterprise WAN technologies1. For example, in the mid to late 1980s, it became common for enterprise IT organizations to deploy integrated TDM-based WANs to carry both voice and data traffic. In the early 1990s, IT organizations began to deploy Frame Relay-based WANs. In the mid to late 1990s, some IT organizations replaced their Frame Relay-based WANs with WANs based on ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) technology. In the early 2000s, most IT organizations replaced their Frame Relay and ATM-based WANs with WANs based on MPLS. However, in contrast to the volatility of this twenty-year period, today there is not a fundamentally new generation of WAN technology in development. What often happens in this environment is that a new WAN service is created by modifying, and sometimes combining, existing WAN technologies and services.

The typical IT organization currently utilizes a wide range of WAN services with the primary WAN services used by IT organizations being MPLS and the Internet. It is common for the volume of WAN traffic to increase at an annual rate of thirty percent of more. One of the side effects of the movement to adopt cloud is that it will result in more WAN traffic. Unfortunately, the price/performance of MPLS tends to improve by only a couple of percentage points per year and few IT organizations are experiencing a significant increase in their WAN budget. Pulling these factors together yields the
conclusion that IT organizations will not be able to support the added WAN traffic that results from the adoption of cloud computing unless they make changes that enable them to make more cost effective use of WAN services.

One relatively new WAN service that is generating a lot of interest on the part of IT organizations is Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS). VPLS is an example of creating a new WAN service by combining existing WAN services and technologies. In particular, VPLS represents the combination of Ethernet and MPLS whereby an Ethernet frame is encapsulated inside of MPLS. As is typically the case with WAN services, the viability of using VPLS vs. alternative services will hinge largely on the relative cost of the services. This will vary by service provider and by geography.

Another WAN service that is created by combining existing WAN services and technologies is a hybrid WAN based on Policy Based Routing (PBR). When a router receives a packet it normally decides where to forward it based on the destination address in the packet, which is then used to look up an entry in a routing table. Instead of routing by the destination address, PBR allows network administrators to create 1 An enterprise WAN is designed to provide for connectivity primarily within the enterprise and between the enterprise and key contacts such as partners. This is in contrast to the Internet that is designed to provide universal connectivity routing policies to allow or deny paths based on factors such as the identity of a particular end system, the protocol or the application. The advantage of PBR is that it enables IT organizations to leverage lower cost Internet services. The biggest limitation of this simple approach to hybrid networking is it that it creates a static allocation of traffic to multiple links and it doesn’t have the ability to reallocate the traffic when the quality of one of the links degrades.

In order to be truly cost effective, a hybrid WAN has to be able to perform adaptive path selection across two or more WAN links in a dynamic, intelligent fashion. One of the principal advantages of a dynamic hybrid WAN (vs. a static PBR-based hybrid WAN) is that it allows IT organizations to add significant amounts of additional bandwidth to an existing MPLS-based WAN at a relatively low incremental cost. WAN Virtualization can be thought of as a variation of a dynamic hybrid WAN. In addition to enabling the augmentation of an MPLS WAN with inexpensive Internet connectivity, WAN Virtualization also gives IT organizations the option to reduce its monthly ongoing expense by either eliminating or reducing its MPLS connections while simultaneously providing more bandwidth than the original design did. This is accomplished in part by being able to leverage lower cost Internet access services including DSL, cable and on a going forward basis by leveraging 4G services.

A hybrid cloud relies on a WAN to provide the connection between the enterprise locations, including the enterprise data center(s) and remote sites, and the public cloud data center providing the IaaS or other cloud service. Ideally, the resulting hybrid cloud would appear to both users and administrators as a single cloud data center, with the physical location of application resources as transparent as possible. One of the challenges associated with hybrid cloud computing is that hybrid clouds depend heavily on virtual machine (VM) migration among geographically dispersed servers connected by a WAN.

This is necessary in order to ensure high availability and dynamic response to changes in user demand for services. The desire to have transparency relative to the location of the applications has a number of networking implications including:

• VLAN Extension
The VLANs within which VMs are migrated must be extended over the WAN between the private and public data centers.

• Secure Tunnel
These tunnels must provide an adequate level of security for all the required data flows over the Internet.

• Universal Access to Central Services
All application services, such as load balancing, DNS, and LDAP, should be available and function transparently throughout the hybrid cloud.

• Application Performance Optimization
Application performance must meet user expectations regardless of user location within the enterprise network and the server location within the hybrid cloud.

Cloud bridging solutions that provide the functionality listed above are just now becoming commercially available.

The traditional approach to providing Internet access to branch office employees is to carry the Internet traffic on the organization’s enterprise network (e.g., their MPLS network) to a central site where the traffic was handed off to the Internet. The advantage of this approach is that it enables IT organizations to exert more control over the Internet traffic and to simplify management in part because it centralizes the complexity of implementing and managing the organization’s security policy. One disadvantage of this approach is that it results in extra traffic transiting the WAN, which adds to the cost of the WAN. Another disadvantage of this approach is that it adds additional delay to the Internet traffic. IT organizations are in the process of making increased use of local access to the Internet.

As previously noted, one of the side effects of adopting cloud computing is that it results in more traffic transiting the WAN. This has the potential to increase the cost of the WAN and to cause performance problems. One way to respond to those challenges is to implement network and application optimization techniques such as those provided by application delivery controllers (ADCs) and WAN optimization controllers (WOCs).

ADCs evolved from server load balancers (SLBs) and offer a range of functionality including TCP offload, SLB and global SLB, SSL offload, XML offload, scripting and application firewalls. Until recently, ADCs were always hardware-based appliances.

While that is still an option, today software-based ADCs are available from multiple vendors. One of the advantages of a software-based appliance is that it enables the type of agility that is associated with cloud computing and cloud networking. IT organizations can either provide ADCs themselves or acquire them from a third party as part of a managed service.

The goal of a WOC is to improve the performance of applications delivered across the WAN from the data center either to the branch office or directly to the end user, typically over a network such as MPLS. WOCs provide a wide range of functionality including compression, caching, de-duplication, protocol and application acceleration, spoofing and forward error correction. One of the primary reasons that have driven the existing deployment of WOCs is the consolidation of servers into centralized data centers.

The movement to cloud will drive further server consolidation and hence further increase the need for WOCs. Other factors that are driving the increased need for WOCs is the need to support cloud bridging, VM migration, desktop virtualization and mobile workers. As was the case with ADCs, deployment options include both hardware and software-based WOCs, whether they are provided by the IT organization itself or by a third party as part of a managed service. Another alternative is to acquire WOC
functionality from a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider.

Management

One of the primary characteristics of a cloud computing solution is virtualization, and the most commonly deployed form of virtualization is server virtualization. Unfortunately, server virtualization creates a number of management challenges including:

• Breakdown of Network Design and Management Tools
The workload for the operational staff can spiral out of control due to the constant stream of configuration changes that must be made to the static date center network devices in order to support the dynamic provisioning and movement of VMs.

• Limited VM-to-VM Traffic Visibility
The first generation of vSwitches doesn’t have the same traffic monitoring features as does physical access switches. This limits the IT organization’s ability to do security filtering, performance monitoring and troubleshooting within virtualized server domains.

• Poor Management Scalability
Many IT organizations have experienced VM proliferation sometimes called VM sprawl. In addition, the normal best practices for virtual server configuration call for creating separate VLANs for the different types of traffic to and from the VMs. The combined proliferation of VMs, and VLANs places a significant strain on the manual processes traditionally used to manage servers and the supporting infrastructure.

• Multiple Hypervisors
It is becoming common to find IT organizations using multiple hypervisors, each of which comes with their own management system and their own management interface. In addition, the management functionality provided by each hypervisor varies as does the degree to which each hypervisor management system is integrated with other management systems.

• Management on a per-VM Basis
IT organizations typically perform management tasks such as discovery, capacity planning and troubleshooting on a per server basis. While that is still required, IT organizations must also perform those tasks on a per-VM basis.

Part of the shift that is occurring as part of the adoption of cloud computing is the growing emphasis on everything as a service (XaaS). In many cases an application and a service are the same thing. However, in a growing number of instances a service is comprised of multiple inter-related applications.

A service can also be one of the key components of IT such as storage or computing. Historically IT organizations focused their management efforts on individual technology domains; e.g., LAN, WAN, servers, firewalls. While that is still the most common approach to management, in the current environment a significant and growing percentage of IT organizations focus their management activities on the performance of applications and/or services.

As recently as two years ago, few IT organizations offered an SLA to the company’s business and functional managers; a.k.a., an internal SLA. However, that situation has changed and now it is common for IT organizations to offer internal SLAs. In particular, over two thirds of IT organizations provide an internal SLA for at least some of their applications. However, the growing interest in offering internal SLAs for key applications is an impediment to the use of SaaS. In particular, few if any SaaS providers provide a meaningful end-to-end SLA for the performance of the applications that they provide. This lack of meaningful SLAs from SaaS providers is a deterrent to the Global 2000 adopting these solutions for delay-sensitive, business-critical applications.

The task of dynamically creating or moving a VM is a relatively simple function of the virtual server management system. There can, however, be significant challenges in assuring that the VM’s network configuration state (including VLAN memberships, QoS settings, and ACLs) is established or transferred in a timely fashion. In many instances today, these network configuration or reconfigurations requires a time-consuming manual process that involves multiple devices.

In the current environment, the most common approach to automating the manual processes involved in the dynamic provisioning and migration of VMs is based on communication between the Hypervisor Management system and the switch element management system (EMS) via APIs supported by both vendors. A somewhat different approach to automating data center configuration, including the provisioning and migration of VMs is based on Orchestration engines. Service orchestration is a centralized server function that can automate many of the manual tasks involved in provisioning and controlling the capacity of dynamic virtualized services. In the case of VM provisioning and migration, the Orchestration engine would function as the point of integration between the network device EMS and hypervisor management system.

Orchestration solutions are available from a number of network management vendors and hypervisor vendors. In addition, a dynamic virtualized environment can also benefit greatly from a highly scalable and integrated DNS/DHCP/IPAM solution, which is also well integrated with the virtual server management system.

In addition to the challenges listed above, the adoption of cloud computing makes troubleshooting application performance an order of magnitude more difficult. One of the reasons for this is that particularly in the case of either a public or hybrid cloud computing solution, the network topology becomes even more complex and hence understanding the end-to-end path becomes notably more difficult.

For example, consider a branch office that is now using a WAN to access multiple internal data
centers as well as multiple cloud computing service providers. There are typically multiple paths that the traffic can take from the branch office to each destination. The complexity of managing this is greatly complicated by the fact that applications and services can dynamically move between servers, both within a given data center as well as between disparate data centers. Route analytics enables IT organizations and service providers to rapidly troubleshoot the complex logical problems that can occur in any large meshed network, and which are more likely to occur in public and hybrid cloud solutions.

The value that route analytics offers is that it provides visibility, analysis, and diagnosis of the issues that occur at the routing layer in complex, meshed networks.

Another fundamental challenge relative to managing either a public or hybrid cloud computing solution is that the service has at least three separate management domains: the enterprise, the WAN service provider(s) and the various cloud computing service providers. In order to effectively manage, monitor and troubleshoot a public or hybrid cloud computing solution, detailed management data has to be gathered from all three domains. While some providers provide an API to enable that to happen, for the most part, effectively managing a public or hybrid cloud computing solution is still largely a work in progress.

The entire report is available from the Webtorials Analyst and Consulting Division.

By Dr. Jim Metzler
Ashton Metzler & Associates
Co-Founder, Webtorials Analyst Division
Networking Track Chair, Interop

Published by
Webtorials
Editorial/Analyst
Division
www.Webtorias.com
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Professional Opinions Disclaimer
All information presented and opinions expressed in this publication represent the current opinions of the author(s) based on professional judgment and best available information at the time of the presentation. Consequently, the information is subject to change, and no liability for advice presented is assumed. Ultimate responsibility for choice of appropriate solutions remains with the reader.
Copyright © 2011, Webtorials
For editorial and sponsorship information, contact Jim Metzler or Steven Taylor. The Webtorials Editorial/Analyst Division is an analyst and consulting joint venture of Steven Taylor and Jim Metzler.

Overview of Small Business Needs

The Small Business Challenge

Today’s small business owners face daily challenges in running their businesses, and one of the more difficult challenges is managing an IT infrastructure. However, the primary focus for most business owners is on their core business competencies, not on becoming technology experts. Because investments in technology directly impact the bottom line, there is a constant need to achieve real business benefits and mitigate costs against a backdrop of time pressures and limited technical skills. In addition to this pressure, many small businesses are now looking toward cloud services and what they may offer—which can add even more complexity and apprehension in adopting new technology.

To help small businesses solve these challenges, Microsoft built upon its success with Microsoft® Windows® Small Business Server 2008 to develop the next generation of solutions for small business, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard. These products are designed to help small businesses operate at the same technology level as much larger organizations, without the added costs and complexities of managing an intricate IT infrastructure. The next-generation editions of the Windows Small Business Server family also provide the choice of a solution focused on traditional on-premise workloads or one that is designed to have a high degree of interoperability with cross-premise (cloud computing) technologies.

The Windows Small Business Server Solution

Technology has always promised to solve problems, not create them. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard deliver on that promise by simplifying business technology.

Previous versions of Windows Small Business Server took significant steps toward reducing the complexity of implementing and managing server technology in a small business environment. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard build upon that foundation with easier setup, installation, and migration experiences, a simplified management experience, and better network-wide security features for the small business customer. They incorporate the latest Microsoft technologies for networking, data storage and backup, security, and document and printer sharing, as well as providing on-premise solutions for advanced e-mail and calendar capabilities, database and line-of-business support. New to the family are cross-premise capabilities for cloud based workloads, allowing small business customers the flexibility to choose the best environment for their line-of-business and collaboration solutions.

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard continues to be an ideal on-premise solution that includes all the key workloads small businesses need to be productive and competitive. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials enables a cross-premise solution, allowing small businesses to retain core infrastructure and security features on their local networks, and also includes technologies such as Active Directory Federation Services to enable simple, single sign-on experiences to cloud-based services. This allows end-users to work in ways that are familiar to them, while at the same time making it easier for small businesses to take advantage of the growing set of offerings available in the cloud through platforms such as Microsoft Office 365 and Windows® Azure™.

Working with Microsoft Partners is also a great way to reduce complexity for businesses. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard make it easier for partners to deliver value to customers through simplified installation, administration and mitigated costs.

How Small Businesses Benefit

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard provide small businesses with a simplified installation and management experience helping to making the transition from peer-to-peer networks to server-based technology painless. It also helps keep small business’ data and systems – including their e-mail and documents – highly secure from malicious attacks, disasters, or hardware failures. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard increase productivity for employees and/or business partners by providing remote access to company information virtually anytime, anywhere they have an Internet connection.

Simplified Purchase and Setup. Rather than requiring customers to identify, purchase, install, and manage multiple products or technologies, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard bring these technologies together into a unified installation and management experience which can run on a single server, providing a robust IT infrastructure with the ability to grow to include additional servers, such as the Premium Add-On, as the businesses needs grow.

Simplified Management. By its very nature, an operating system running multiple technologies tends toward complex management. However, managing a complex environment does not have to expose a high level of complexity for all tasks. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard reduce operating system complexities by using an intuitive management interface, one that presents relevant system information and a matching set of tasks.

Network-wide Protection. As the volume of business data increases, and organizations increase their reliance on communication tools such as e-mail, line-of-business applications, and remote access, businesses of all sizes need to protect these assets. The more sophisticated the collaboration and business data becomes, the greater the need for complete, network-wide protection. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard utilize protection technologies, such as the Security Center and Windows Backup and Restore, which help protect and safeguard small business networks and their data.

Client Protection. Desktop clients sometimes change on a daily basis as employees add, remove, or modify applications and information without your knowledge. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard monitor your client computers for antivirus and firewall status, update compliance, and overall security health. This gives administrators a quick view into overall client status and helps proactively address issues before they arise.

Simplified Backup for Business Data. Both Essentials and Standard servers help businesses easily backup server data to internal and/or external hard drives, and optionally rotate removable drives to offsite storage locations. Additionally, for Essentials, client computers can also be backed up to the server, providing a centralized location to help protect critical data. This simplifies the ability of businesses to help secure their data and keep it safer.

Remote Web Access. Remote Web Access (formerly Remote Web Workplace) is a dynamically updated web site that uses encrypted connections to provide a single, simple, and consolidated entry point into the small business network. Employees or partners can gain access to e-mail, files, or even client computers through Remote Web Access. For Windows Small Business Server 20011 Standard this includes a fully-configured internal web site managed by Microsoft SharePoint® 2010 Foundation.

Desktop Synergies with Windows 7 and Office 2010. By combining the Windows 7® operating system and Microsoft Office® 2010 productivity and content management tools to Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard, small business will have the IT foundation they need to work fast, smart, and together, to take it on the road, and to help protect their business data—from the inside out.

Mobile Device Support. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard offer excellent support for Windows Mobile smartphone devices. These devices give highly-mobile employees such as sales staff or field personnel access to e-mail, contact lists, calendars, and documents stored on the company web site. Businesses can administer mobile devices as if they were on the local network, installing certificates or remotely wiping devices for security purposes.

Cloud Integration. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials has been specifically tailored to work seamlessly with online services, taking advantage of simple integration support for cloud-based services. Active Directory Federation Services, which is a powerful feature of the underlying Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system, enables simple, single sign-on experiences to cloud-based services. Together with the Windows Server Solutions software development kit (SDK), Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials makes is easy for hosting providers and independent software vendors (ISVs) to create and host cloud services that can be effortlessly integrated into your small business environment. This allows your users to work in ways that are familiar to them, while at the same time making it easier for you to take advantage of the growing set of offerings available in the cloud.

Enhanced Support for Line-of-Business (LOB) Applications. Enjoy enhanced support for line-of-business applications and get the most from the data within the business in a cost effective and highly secure way with the optional Windows Small Business Server 2011 Premium Add-On, which offers a dedicated, highly effective data management solution that supports a large number of applications and requires minimal IT resources.

How the Partner Community Benefits

The partner community can realize significant benefits from selling and supporting Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard. Their intuitive and streamlined management tools simplify administration, reducing guesswork and allowing partners to optimize their time. For example, the daily health reports can help a partner determine which customer sites might require some remote administration tasks, or which ones may require a site visit in the near future. Expansion and data management features, such as the Move Users’ Shared Data wizard, minimize the time required to grow the network to match business needs.

These tools, and the underlying design goals of Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard, will afford the partner community the ability to move beyond traditional break-fix services. Partners can become specialists in vertical market technology and provide value-added services to their customers. Infrastructure management is not a commodity, but it is one that can’t be heavily promoted as a value-add line item; customers expect that the infrastructure is configured properly and “just works.” By providing a core infrastructure that already meets customer expectations, it frees the partner to focus on and promote value-add solutions to the customer – in other words, the partner gets to focus on doing what the partner does best.

Partners can also increase customer trust by providing them with a known-good infrastructure. As businesses grow, the potential for loss increases requiring more products to be installed and configured to help reduce that risk. Even when products are supplied by the same vendor, additional configuration and modification is needed to ensure the products work efficiently and with a high degree of security. This requires that partners become knowledgeable about different products so that the systems will be protected. Yet there can be lingering questions, wondering if all the options have been properly set or whether something was missed from the best practices recommendations. With a core infrastructure in place that has already been configured according to best practices, partners can increase customer trust and improve their status as a true strategic partner for their clients.

In addition, partners can use the versatile Windows Server Solutions SDK to extend and customize the experience for small business owners. For Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials the SDK provides a toolset to extend the platform, develop server and client add-ins, and provides customized interoperability with cloud services. Partners can use this to easily develop the Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials integration components for new and existing cloud services. For Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard, partners can use the SDK to extend, customize and tailor Small Business Server solutions and add-ins.

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard provides an unparalleled out-of-the-box experience for a small business customer. For the partner community, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard provides the solid foundation to grow the partner business, both by adding more customers without adding staff, and to expand their business opportunity to include value-add services.

Trends in Small Business Computing

Growing Interest in Cloud Computing

If we look at small businesses today, about 55 percent of the primary workloads include collaboration, file and print, networking and security. Many organizations spend large percentages of their limited IT budget on simply maintaining on-premise applications and services such as these, which are not fully utilized. Over the past few years, cloud services such as email, online back-up and line-of-business tools are now becoming key considerations.

Many small businesses don’t have regular IT budget cycles or dedicated IT staff, so maintaining a complex set of on-premise solutions can be cost prohibitive. In fact, when you look at organizations below 25 PCs, over 70 percent have used or are now using cloud-based applications such as email (through services such as Windows Live Mail, and other online email providers). These services provide small businesses the power and flexibility of enterprise class solutions without the cost of on-premise support.

However, while many organizations may already be using online services, they not align with single sign-on facilities, and can they cannot easily be centrally managed in bulk. Customers are looking for ways to extend their investment in on-premise platforms and seamlessly integrate them into the cloud.

That is not to say on-premise support is declining across all small businesses. For larger organizations, supporting on-premise collaboration and line-of-business applications is still a primary choice. Organizations such as these are looking for a complete server platform that is integrated and optimized, or a customizable platform for their exact requirements.

Ultimately it is a business decision for small businesses. Some organizations may feel comfortable with everything in the cloud or a hybrid solution. Others, typically those who have already invested in client or client-server line-of-business applications, will feel more comfortable with an on-premise server. Microsoft is now able to provide more than a one-size-fits-all approach and has offerings for a wide range of customer and partner preferences.

One example of this is Microsoft Office 365, which delivers the power of cloud productivity to businesses of all sizes, helping to save time, money and free up valued resources. Office 365 combines the familiar Office desktop suite with cloud-based versions of Microsoft’s next-generation communications and collaboration services: Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online. Office 365 provides anywhere-access to email, documents, contacts, and calendars on nearly any device, and enables you to work seamlessly with Microsoft Office and the other programs your users already count on every day.

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials is a new edition of Windows Small Business Server that introduces cross-premise functionality, providing small businesses with on-premise file and print, security, backup, remote access, and identity management services, combined with optional off-premise services.

A Cross-Premise Small Business Solution

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials incorporates best-of-breed 64-bit product technologies to deliver a server environment well suited for most small businesses. The product technologies include:

• Server Operating System: Windows Server 2008 R2 product technologies provide the core foundation of Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials. Windows Server 2008 R2 is the most flexible and robust Windows Server operating system to date. For more information, visit the Windows Server 2008 R2 web site.
• Network Monitoring and Protection: Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials monitors its own health status and the status of client computers running Windows XP, Windows Vista®, Windows 7, and Mac OS X version 10.5 and above. Health status notifies you of issues or problems related to computer backups, server storage, low disk space, and more.
• Database: The optional Small Business Server Premium Add-On includes a licensed copy of Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard technologies and Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 R2 Standard Edition for Small Business, providing customers and partners with a comprehensive data management and analysis solution. For more product-specific information, visit the Microsoft SQL Server web site.

The Dashboard and Launchpad

The Dashboard is the command and control center for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials. From the Dashboard, you can perform all the management and maintenance tasks you need to control how your server behaves on your network, who can access it, what information can be stored and retrieved, how it is organized, protected, and made available remotely. The Dashboard itself can be accessed remotely by users who have appropriate permissions.

The Dashboard is organized around tasks, with different activities presented on different tabs. Each tab in the Dashboard contains specific action items, giving you better control, while still making changes simple to understand and perform.

• The Home tab provides shortcuts to the necessary tasks for getting started as well as common tasks that will be used to maintain the server, such as adding users and shared folders. It also displays a list of community links.
• The Users tab allows you to add up to 25 user accounts. You can change the shared folders that users have access to and enable and define what level of remote access each user has.
• The Computers and Backup tab allows you to view the health and backup status and configure backups on the server and computers where you have installed the Connector software.
• The Server Folders and Hard Drives tab allows you to manage the server’s shared folders and physical hard drives. The Server Folders sub-tab is used to create, modify, remove, and relocate shared folders. The Hard Drives sub-tab is used to view, add, and remove hard drives on your server.
• The Add-ins tab is used to view, manage, and remove software components developed by Microsoft and other third parties that can extend the functionality of Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials
• The Dashboard also provides links to:
  • Alerts, which opens the Alert Center to show any active error, warning, or informational messages.
  • Server settings, which can be used to configure the server’s date and time, the Windows Update properties, and Remote Web Access.
  • Help, which displays product information and allows management of the Dashboard tabs.

Easy Client Setup. For each computer you want to fully participate in a Windows Small Business Server network, install the Connector software by opening a web browser and entering http://<servername>/connect, where <servername> is the name you gave your server. This installs the Launchpad, which runs on each client PC in your network, providing a simple way to access Shared Folders, initiate a backup, connect to your Remote Web Access page, or open the Dashboard.

Remote Web Access

Remote Web Access is a dynamically updated web site that uses encrypted connections to provide a single, simple, secure and consolidated entry point into a small business network. Authorized users can connect to Remote Web Access using any Internet-connected computer or mobile device with a supported browser. It brings flexibility to small businesses by offering virtually anywhere, anytime access. Compared to the remote access feature in previous versions of Windows Small Business Server, Remote Web Access has a higher degree of extensibility in the software development kit (SDK), allowing for more customization, gadgets, add-in extensions, mobile rendering and an improved shared folder experience with AJAX support.

Remote Access to Shared Folders. Users can download files and folders, and upload one or more files to the shared folders on their server while away from the network. Users can also search through the Shared Folders to locate a specific file or files. Providing easy remote access to files encourages users to keep data stored on the server where only authorized users have access and the data is protected.

Remote Access to Computers. Connect remotely to the computers in your network. Run an application as if you were sitting in front of your computer. To connect to one of your computers, on the Computers tab, click the Connect button next to the computer. You can only connect to a computer that is Available for connection and that is running one of the following operating systems:

• Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 (SP3)
• Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Business, or Windows Vista Enterprise with Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 7 Professional

Remotely Connect to the Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Dashboard. If the need arises, you can access the Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Dashboard while working remotely to add new users, add new shared folders, check the health of your network, or perform other administrative tasks.

Backup and Data Protection

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials automatically backs up your client computers to the server and can help you easily restore the computer or an individual file or folder from its backup. The Windows Small Business Server Backup solution uses an innovative method to back up only the data that has not already been backed up before. Even if you have several copies of the same data on different computers, the data is backed up only once on your server, and your server keeps track of what data was stored on each computer on each day. Backups complete quickly and efficiently, and use less space on your server.

Automated Daily Backup of your Computers. Computer backups are automatically configured when you install the Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Connector software on your computers. Backup is performed on a daily basis for every configured computer. You can customize the schedule for when backups occur as well as the retention policy for backup data.

Restore an Entire Computer. Restoring a computer from a backup is easy. If you want to restore your computer to a previous point in time, you boot the computer from the Computer Restore CD. The computer connects to your server, which provides a simple wizard for restoring a single hard drive or multiple hard drives from a backup of that computer that is stored on your server.

Restore Individual Files and Folders. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials can help you restore individual files or folders by selecting a computer and a specific backup of that computer from the Dashboard. The Restore Wizard initiates and displays the files and folders that were backed up for that computer on that day. You can easily select individual files or entire folders from this Restore Window and then restore them to any location on your computer.

Server Backup and Restore. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials makes it easy to back up your data. You can add a hard disk drive to the server, either internally or externally, and designate it as a backup destination as opposed to server storage. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials will then use this drive to back up all the data stored on the server, including both the operating system files and your business data. Using multiple external drives provides for improved business continuity, making it easy to rotate your backup data offsite to maximize its availability for restoring the server in case of theft, fire, flood, or other disasters.

Computer Backup Archiving. If you are replacing an old computer with a new computer and you’d like to keep the old computer’s backups, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials provides an archiving feature. When removing the Windows Small Business Server Connector software from the old PC, you will be asked if you’d like to keep the backups for this computer on the server. Computers that are archived are not part of the 25 device limit.

Network Health Monitoring

Windows Small Business Server monitors its own health status and the status of your computers that are running Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Health status notifies you of any issues or problems that are found. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials monitors the following health information:

Computer Backups. Monitors that your computers are being backed up on a regular basis and that the backups are completing successfully.

Security Center Status for Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. Collects the Security Center status from your computers running Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP, and helps you centrally monitor the health and security status of your computers from the Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Dashboard.

Core Service and Low Disk Space Monitoring. Monitors key Windows services and the hard drives of your computers. Health alerts are generated should available space on a particular hard drive fall below 10% or if a key Windows service has stopped.

Macintosh Monitoring. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials also provides monitoring for Macintosh computers (Mac OS X version 10.5 and above) including firewall status, software update status, and disk space utilization.

If a problem is found, you can connect to the Windows Small Business Server “Essentials” Dashboard to get more detailed information.

Extensibility and Add-ins

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials is based on the proven technologies of the Windows Server® 2008 R2 operating system and is designed to be a platform upon which other solutions can be developed. We’re excited to make a new Software Development Kit (SDK) available for developers. Some of the SDK capabilities include:

• Dashboard Extensibility
  • Add Dashboard Tab
    • High level tabs can optionally contain sub tabs
    • Tabs / Sub tabs can be of the following different types:
      • List View tabs/sub tabs: add-ins have the option not to use custom UI, but instead use the rendered common list view UI with many extensible parts. This allows users to enjoy a common look and feel regardless of who developed the add-in
      • Custom control tabs/sub tabs: Custom control tabs can be WinForms based OR WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) based
    • Default Tabs are extensible – the SDK will walk you through them
      • Add sub tabs under these tabs
      • Add more data to the existing tabs, such as task, columns, details
    • Extensible Home page allows adding common tasks and community links
  • Launchpad Extensibility
    • Add categories and tasks to the Launchpad
  • Remote Web Access site extensibility
    • You can add your own link in an online services section, create a new item in the menu bar, create a new gadget for the page
  • Cloud Service Interoperability
    • Samples, guidance and tools to build interoperability between cloud service offerings and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials.
  • A new framework called the “Provider Framework” is an architectural layer that performs all the business data processing and holds state for each feature.
  • Certain wizards and property pages are also extensible
  • Samples and templates are included to help add-in developers
  • A helpful “How-to” section provides walkthroughs of several common extensibility scenarios

Large Ecosystem of Software and Hardware Partners. Microsoft has partners throughout the world that have built and are continuing to build new software and hardware solutions that work with Microsoft Windows software. As these partners become familiar with Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, we will see solutions delivered that will enhance the core features and functionality of your server.

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard

Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2011 Standard is the next release of Windows Small Business Server Standard, which is a fully on-premise IT infrastructure solution for small businesses. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard minimizes initial acquisition and deployment times by offering an easily deployed solution that combines several server technologies under one Microsoft license running together on a single server, with the ability to grow to include additional servers, such as the Premium Add-On, as the businesses needs grow.

With Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard, small businesses or partners are not tasked with identifying, purchasing, or licensing multiple server technologies, or subsequently matching them to appropriate hardware resources. They also benefit from a simplified deployment experience – one delivered on a single piece of media that combines the configurations of all underlying server technologies into a single server installation wizard.

A Fully On-Premise Small Business Solution

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard incorporates best-of-breed 64-bit product technologies to deliver a complete server solution environment well suited for small businesses. The product technologies include:

• Server Operating System: Windows Server 2008 R2 product technologies provide the core foundation of Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard. Windows Server 2008 R2 is the most flexible and robust Windows Server operating system to date. For more information, visit the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 web site.
• Messaging and Collaboration: Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 product technologies introduce advanced e-mail and calendar functionality to Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard. Exchange Server 2010 delivers a seamless end-user collaboration experience and robust security features. For more information, visit the Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 web site.
• Collaboration and Productivity: Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Foundation is a versatile technology that organizations and business units of all sizes can use to increase the efficiency of business processes and improve team productivity. With tools for collaboration that help people stay connected across organizational and geographic boundaries, Windows SharePoint Services gives people access to information they need. For more product-specific information, visit the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Foundation web site.
• Network Updates and Protection: Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) enables administrators to deploy the latest Microsoft product updates to computers running the Windows operating system. By using WSUS, administrators can fully manage the distribution of updates that are released through Microsoft Update to computers in their network. For more information, visit the Windows Server Update Services web site.
• Database: The optional Premium Add-On includes a licensed copy of Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard technologies and Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 R2 Standard Edition for Small Business, providing customers and partners with a comprehensive data management and analysis solution. SQL Server 2008 R2 is a performance-leader and the fastest growing database solution in the industry today. For more product-specific information, visit the Microsoft SQL Server web site.

Administration Console

Small businesses perform a balancing act of trying to reduce costs while increasing profits. The Windows SBS Console offers small businesses an intuitive and uncomplicated IT management tool that controls IT management costs while providing a customizable environment designed to help them reach their full potential.

The Windows SBS Console is the primary hub for managing most aspects of the small business. It helps minimize the cost of managing and maintaining multiple applications, systems, and network resources such as users, computers, and devices. Designed for simplicity, the Windows SBS Console abstracts away management complexities by providing a streamlined interface into the most common client and server administration tasks for a small business environment. It also offers real-time insight into an organization’s overall health, security, and network management.

The Windows SBS Console collects primary management tasks and status indicators into related tabs. Each tab focuses on a set of tasks or functions that can be applied to similar resources on the network. As an example, you can add or modify a user or group through the Users and Groups tab, set a user’s access to various resources, establish mailbox storage quotas for a user, assign a user to a specific client computer, or redirect a user’s My Documents folder to additional storage volumes on the network. Grouping the tasks together makes it easier for administrators to determine where to go to manage the network and what to do once there.

The Console’s tabs include:

• Home – includes Getting Started Tasks, most frequently used tasks, an overall system health summary, and links to community resources;
• Users and Groups – focal point for managing users, user roles, and groups;
• Network – management of computers, devices (including printer and fax devices), and network connections;
• Shared Folders and Web Sites – manages Windows shares and web sites;
• Backup and Server Storage – manages backup settings and server disk drives;
• Reports – includes standard reports and allows creation of custom reports; and
• Security – provides security summary and control over Windows updates.

Each of these tabs contains related information and tasks. Secondary tabs enable additional categorization of information or tasks. Several of the main tabs use color-coded icons to represent the overall health of a particular set of objects.

Remote Web Access

Remote Web Access (formerly Remote Web Workplace) is a dynamically updated web site that uses encrypted connections to provide a single, simple, secure and consolidated entry point into a small business network. Authorized users can connect to Remote Web Access using any Internet-connected computer or mobile device with a supported browser. It brings flexibility to small businesses by offering virtually anywhere, anytime access. Compared to the remote access feature in previous versions of Windows Small Business Server, Remote Web Access has a higher degree of extensibility in the software development kit (SDK), allowing for more customization, gadgets, add-in extensions, mobile rendering and an improved shared folder experience with AJAX support.

Remote Access to Shared Folders. Users can download files and folders, and upload one or more files to the shared folders on their server while away from the network. Users can also search through the Shared Folders when they are trying to locate a specific file or files. Files are stored on your server and only authorized users can access them.

Remote Access to Email. Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Outlook Web App deliver a rich, familiar Web e-mail experience, so your users can work and collaborate more effectively on the go. Users can access e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging, SMS text messages, and more—all in one place and through all major Web browsers.

Remote Access to Internal Web Site. Users can access document libraries, internal knowledge base sites, team calendars, and other applications and content available on the company’s internal web site.

Remote Access to Computers. Connect remotely to the computers in your network. Run an application as if you were sitting in front of your computer. Administrators can easily connect to the Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard server to perform remote management tasks.

To connect to one of your computers, on the Computers tab, click the Connect button next to the computer. You can only connect to a computer that is Available for connection and that is running one of the following operating systems:

• Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 (SP3)
• Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Business, or Windows Vista Enterprise with Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 7 Professional

Messaging and Collaboration

Messaging. Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 provides businesses of all sizes, from the largest to the smallest, a rich and productive messaging and collaboration environment. The latest release of Exchange builds on previous generations to help you:

• Lower IT costs with a flexible and reliable messaging platform.
• Increase productivity through anywhere access to business communications.
• Better manage risk by safeguarding your business with protection and compliance capabilities.

Your business success relies on technology solutions that make your users more productive. With Exchange Server 2010 you can cost effectively provide your users the freedom to access all of their communications from virtually any platform, web browser, or device to get more done wherever they are.

Your users live their business lives in their inboxes, but the ever-growing flow of information through those inboxes affects productivity and profitability. With Exchange Server 2010 enhancements, your users can increase their productivity and more easily collaborate with each other and their business partners with these advanced features:

• Time-saving inbox management tools that help your users more easily organize and prioritize the communications they receive each day. Exchange 2010 includes an enhanced conversation view that automatically arranges messages into threads, regardless of their location in the inbox, and MailTips that inform users about details that could result in unnecessary or undeliverable e-mail messages, before they click send.
• The user experience available through Outlook on the desktop, Outlook Web App in the Web browser, and Exchange ActiveSync, the de facto industry standard for mobile devices. With the built in capabilities of Exchange Active Synch, you can reduce costs for mobile messaging while supporting users on virtually any smart phone, including iPhones, Windows Mobile or Blackberry.

Mobility features. Users of Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard can easily configure their portable devices to access calendars and contacts, read and respond to e-mail and browse internal web sites while on the road or at customer sites. The mobility solution in Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard simplifies the setup and provisioning of devices running Microsoft Windows Mobile™ 6.0 and later software. This provides a competitive advantage to small businesses that want to provide answers to customers in minutes rather than hours or days.

Collaboration. SharePoint Foundation 2010 provides a web-based collaboration platform that’s easy to manage. With SharePoint Foundation, you can quickly access the documents and information you need to make good decisions and get work done.

• Collaborate Easily and Effectively. SharePoint Foundation 2010 helps people work together in ways that are most effective for them. With collaboration tools such as blogs, wikis, and document libraries, anyone can customize a Web site to address a specific business need.
• Deploy an Easy-to-Maintain Infrastructure. SharePoint Foundation 2010 saves you time. A full set of administrative tools makes it easy to monitor and manage server performance and health. Plus, the platform’s scalability means that you can quickly deploy business solutions as your company changes and grows.
• Build and Manage Web Applications. SharePoint Foundation 2010 provides an extensible platform for developing custom business solutions. Create Web applications and workflow scenarios to improve business processes. Build specific sites to help people work together and get results. What’s more, maintain control over these solutions with centralized management tools.

Server Backup

Business data is one of the most critical assets that any business creates. Without the data, a business can go from “Open” to “Closed” in a matter of days. To help protect business data, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard uses server backup technology to help ensure the data can be saved in an offsite location. You can also configure Folder Redirection for users’ Desktop, Documents, and Start Menu folders to have them stored on the server, which allows the data in these folders to be included in the server’s normal backup schedule.

Configure Server Backup. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard includes a wizard which simplifies the process of backing up business critical information to external hard disk drives. It can back up important data such as files, folders, and volumes from product technologies such as Exchange Server, SharePoint, or SQL Server to one or more external USB (1.1 or 2.0) or IEEE 1394 (FireWire™) hard disk drives.

The Configure Server Backup wizard lets you choose where to back up data, select the type of data to back up, and schedule the automated backup process. Prior to launching the Configure Server Backup wizard, the external hard disk should be attached to the server and be available for use.

Previous Versions. In any environment that involves users and data there is always the risk that documents may be accidentally overwritten with data. In the past, when a document was overwritten, a version had to be restored from a backup tape, which often took hours to accomplish. With Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard, employees can restore previous versions of files without requiring intervention by an administrator. In the Document Properties dialog box, an end user clicks the Previous Versions tab and then selects the version to restore. The Volume Shadow Copy feature restores the earlier version in seconds, not hours, and the user can continue working with the correct document version.

Network Health Monitoring

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard continuously monitors the overall health status of the small business network, including the server and client computers. Alerts are generated to warn of security issues, missing critical updates, issues with the server backup, missing anti-malware protection or out-of-date virus definitions on client computers, and other important issues that require administrator action.

Server Health. Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard includes the Network Essentials Summary on the Home tab of the Administration Console. It displays real-time status of the network’s overall health and security. Color-coded icons provide an overall assessment of a particular security or health function. For example, the Updates summary may show a yellow icon, indicating a warning condition. Expanding the item shows that some updates have not been installed, and provides a link directly to the Security tab where the administrator can find out more information and take any necessary action.

Client Computer Health. The Network tab is the primary location for managing physical devices on the Windows Small Business Server 2008 network. From here, the administrator can view the overall health and security status of devices on the network, including a snapshot of the device’s security and update compliance.

Health Reports. The Reports tab provides consolidated reporting information on the Windows Small Business Server 2008 environment and a means to distribute status information to desired recipients. With the Reports tab, the administrator can:

• Leverage native reports to get a complete snapshot of the environment;
• Generate reports immediately or on a schedule with automatic e-mail forwarding; and
• Create custom reports, or view past reports through the reports archive.

Reporting information may include:

• Security – Status of antivirus and malicious software filtering on Exchange Server 2010, and on clients running Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 on the network;
• Updates – Update compliance, synchronization status, and current policy settings;
• Backup – Backup history and results;
• Other Alerts – Critical server events and client and server threshold monitoring;
• E-mail Usage – Incoming and outgoing per-user mail volume and mailbox sizes;
• Server Event Logs – Roll up of all critical events on the server.

Reports are available at any time in the Administration Console, and reports can also be delivered to multiple recipients through e-mail. By default a daily summary report is sent to the network administrator every night, and a weekly detailed status report is sent to the network administrator once a week.

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Premium Add-On

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Premium Add-On gives small businesses a flexible and cost-effective solution for deploying additional servers on a network running Windows Small Business Server 2011. Designed as an add-on component for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Premium Add-On includes:

• Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard: Allows you to deploy another server in your Windows SBS 2011 network. Windows Server 2008 R2 builds on the award-winning foundation of Windows Server 2008, expanding existing technology and adding new features to enable businesses to increase the reliability and flexibility of their server infrastructure. New virtualization tools, Web resources, management enhancements, and exciting Windows 7 integration help save time and reduce costs.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 for Small Business: Features a range of functionality that can help businesses maximize the value of their information with greater capabilities in development, manageability, business intelligence, and data warehousing. SQL Server 2008 R2 for Small Business has exactly the same capabilities as SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard, however it is only available to use in the SBS 2011 environment.

Key Scenarios

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Premium Add-On can be used in a number of different ways, depending on your specific needs.

Running Business Applications

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Premium Add-On is perfect for businesses that need to run a large number of applications but have limited IT expertise. It combines the powerful server platform capabilities of Windows Server 2008 R2 and the rich analysis, reporting features, and data management capabilities of SQL Server, it is an excellent way to run applications that require a centralized database and shared user information. From accounting and business planning to contact management software, you’ll be able to capture and harness your data and work more productively.

Virtualization

With virtualization powered by Hyper-V™, it’s easier than ever to optimize your server hardware investments by consolidating multiple server workloads running as separate virtual machines on a single physical machine.

Remote Desktop Services

You can use Windows Small Business Server 2011 Premium Add-On to take advantage of Remote Desktop Services (RDS) to deliver additional desktops and applications to a wide variety of client devices. For instance, you can create flexible work scenarios by installing and managing session-based desktops and applications—or virtual machine-based desktops— on a central server. All user interactions occur on the server itself, but they look, feel, and behave like local applications.

Additional Domain Controller

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Premium Add-On is an excellent way to implement an additional domain controller, giving you redundancy and increased availability for your Active Directory Domain Services information.

Branch Deployments

If you have branch offices or remote sites, you can use the Windows Small Business Server Premium Add-On to improve application response time and reduce WAN traffic. BranchCache—a feature in Windows 7 and the Windows Server 2008 platform—allows content from file and web servers to be cached on local computers, and either distributed across peer client computers or using a centrally hosted server. In addition, you can use various branch office related technologies, such as Read-only Domain Controllers (RODC), secure file and data access, and higher fault tolerance for connectivity between sites.

Office Web Apps

Whether you’re in the office, at home, or on the road, Microsoft Office Web Apps help you get more things done from virtually anywhere and at any time. Microsoft Office Web Apps are online companions to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote giving you the freedom to access, edit, and share Microsoft Office documents on your PC, mobile phone, and Web browser. Office Web Apps are available as an optional download through SharePoint Foundation 2010, which is easy to install on your Premium Add-On server.

What’s New: Scenario Walkthroughs

The following sections will take you through a guided tour of new and enhanced features in Windows Small Business 2011 Essentials and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard. These include specific examples for each product, as well as a number of common scenarios.

Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials

The Dashboard

The Dashboard is the command and control center for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials. From the Dashboard, you can perform all the management and maintenance tasks you need to control how your server behaves on your network, who can access it, what information can be stored and retrieved, how it is organized, protected, and made available remotely. The Dashboard itself can be accessed remotely by users who have the appropriate permissions.

The Home Tab

The Home tab provides shortcuts to the necessary tasks for getting started as well as common tasks that will be used to maintain the server, such as adding users and shared folders. It also displays a list of community links. The Dashboard also provides links to:

• The Alert Center, which shows any active error, warning, or informational messages.
• Server settings, which can be used to configure the server’s date and time, the Windows Update properties, and Remote Web Access.
• Help, which displays product information and allows management of the Dashboard tabs.