Windows Small Business Server 2008 Administrator’s Companion (Microsoft Press, 2009)(720 pages, ISBN: 9780735620704), by Charlie Russel and Sharon Crawford, was published in January and is available now. The book comes with a companion disc, which includes configuration scripts for the virtualization environment and their command-line equivalents, scripts for common administrative tasks, and a fully searchable e-book.
A short stretch of the Introduction follows, as well as the book’s “Contents at a Glance.” Both describe the book’s organization. Better yet, following those is a book excerpt from Chapter 6, “Configuring SBS in Hyper-V,” to illustrate the book’s coverage; it’s an overview of Hyper-V.
From the Introduction:
What’s In This Book Windows Small Business Server 2008 Administrator’s Companion is divided into seven parts. The first four roughly correspond to the developmental phases of a Windows Small Business Server network. Part 5 deals with Premium Edition features and Part 6 covers maintenance and troubleshooting. The last part is made up of appendices with helpful information.
Part I: Preparation and Planning Planning and preparation are the sine qua non for any kind of network. It comes down to the old saying, “If you don’t have the time to do it right, how will you find the time to do it over?” Chapters 1 through 4 are all about doing it right the first time.
Part II: Installation and Setup Chapters 5 through 8 take you through the process of installing Windows Small Business Server and performing initial configurations using the Getting Started Tasks. This section includes helpful chapters on configuring Windows SBS virtualization and migrating from Windows SBS 2003.
Part III: Performing Basic Tasks The chapters in this part cover the day-to-day tasks of running a network: configuring disks, setting up user accounts, arranging the sharing of information among users, adding and removing computers and printers, managing software updates, and backing up and restoring data.
Part IV: Performing Advanced Tasks Chapters 17 through 22 provide insight and information about managing e-mail, connectivity technologies, and using Group Policy. In this part, you’ll also find chapters about setting up and managing a Microsoft Office SharePoint site.
Part V: Premium Edition Features Chapters 23 through 25 address features found the in Windows SBS 2008 Premium Edition. These chapters are about installing a second server, installing Microsoft SQL Server, and adding Terminal Services to your network.
Part VI: Maintenance and Troubleshooting Chapter 26 covers the extensive library of monitoring tools in Windows Small Business Server. Chapter 27 is all about how to save your business, your network, and yourself in the face of the many varieties of disaster that can afflict networks.
Appendices The appendices include an introduction to networking, instructions for automating installation, and a list of resources for the users of Windows SBS 2008.
Here’s more on the book’s structure:
Contents at a Glance
Acknowledgments xxii Introduction xxiv
PART I Preparation and Planning Chapter 1 Introducing Windows Small Business Server 2008 3 Chapter 2 Understanding 64-Bit Windows 13 Chapter 3 Planning Your SBS Network 23 Chapter 4 Planning Fault Tolerance and Avoidance 47
Part II Installation and Setup Chapter 5 Installing SBS 2008 67 Chapter 6 Configuring SBS in Hyper-V 81 Chapter 7 Migrating from Windows Small Business Server 2003 109 Chapter 8 Completing the Getting Started Tasks 163
Part III Performing Basic Tasks Chapter 9 Managing Users and Groups 185 Chapter 10 Shares and Permissions 203 Chapter 11 Disk Management 221 Chapter 12 Storage Management 249 Chapter 13 Installing and Managing Printers 285 Chapter 14 Managing Computers on the Network 307 Chapter 15 Managing Software Updates 331 Chapter 16 Configuring Backup 351
Part IV Performing Advanced Tasks Chapter 17 Windows SBS Console v. Server Manager 383 Chapter 18 Configuring and Managing E-Mail 411 Chapter 19 Managing Connectivity 435 Chapter 20 Using Group Policy 477 Chapter 21 Managing Reports 509 Chapter 22 Customizing a SharePoint Site 525
Part V Premium Edition Features Chapter 23 Installing the Second Server 551 Chapter 24 Introducing SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition for Small Business 579 Chapter 25 Adding a Terminal Server 595
Part VI Maintenance and Troubleshooting Chapter 26 Windows SBS Reliability and Performance Monitoring 627 Chapter 27 Disaster Planning 649
APPENDIX A Introduction to Networks 665 APPENDIX B Automating Installation 671 APPENDIX C Resources 673
Index 675
And here’s the book excerpt:
Hyper-V Overview Windows Server 2008 (and thus Windows Small Business Server 2008) includes built-in virtualization with the Hyper-V Server Role. Hyper-V is hypervisor-based, native virtualization that uses the hardware virtualization capabilities of the latest Intel and AMD processors to provide a robust, fast, and resource-conserving virtual environment.
Emulation versus Hypervisor There are two basic methods of virtualizing operating systems: emulation and hypervisor. Emulation builds an execution environment on top of the underlying operating system of the host computer and uses software to simulate the hardware that is made available to the guest operating systems.
A hypervisor is software that runs directly on the hardware of the physical server and provides a narrow hardware abstraction layer between the hardware and the base operating system. The hypervisor can use the native hardware support in current Intel and AMD processors to improve the overall performance and security of the hypervisor.
Because Hyper-V is a hypervisor and is built in to Windows Server 2008, it runs more efficiently and natively. A server running Hyper-V has multiple partitions, each running natively on the underlying hardware. The first partition is known as the parent partition and acts as the hardware and operating system control partition for all the other partitions where virtualized operating systems run. The other partitions are child partitions, each with their own operating systems, running directly on the hypervisor layer, as shown in Figure 6-1.
Windows Server 2003 supported using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 as a virtualization solution. Virtual Server is not a hypervisor-based virtualization: It is designed to run on top of an existing operating system—the host operating system—and provide an emulated hardware environment for guest operating systems, as shown in Figure 6-2.
Hyper-V runs on x64 versions of full Windows Server 2008 and Server Core, as well as the new Hyper-V Server. In most cases, Server Core, or the standalone Hyper-V Server, which is based on Server Core, should be the preferred parent partition for a server that will be used for virtualization. This limits the resource footprint of the parent partition and also makes it easier to protect, because the number of services and attack vectors is fewer on Server Core.
Requirements The requirements for enabling the Hyper-V Role on Windows Server 2008 are as follows:
In addition to the requirements for the parent partition of Windows Server 2008, each child partition requires approximately 75 megabytes (MB) of RAM and the hard disk space used by the operating system in the child partition.
Finally, it is important that your server have a minimum of two NICs installed, exclusive of any special management NICs such as an HP iLO. One of these NICs will be reserved for remote management of the parent server and ensures that you can always connect to the parent partition to manage the child partitions.
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