SharePoint 2010 on SBS 2008 – Yes but why?

Susan Bradley posed a good question in a recent blog post as to why you would even consider putting SharePoint 2010 on SBS 2008. Even though it can be done as I have demonstrated recently, it isn’t a pretty process and may end up breaking a number of SBS integration components. So why would the average IT Professional even attempt it?

As Andy Parkes notes in the comments to Susan’s post the implementation of Office Web Apps is one reason. Office Web Apps requires SharePoint 2010 to operate so indeed if you wanted to run Office in a browser you’d need to have SharePoint 2010 installed.

I think the other main reason is to run Search Server Express. Previous I’d been battling away to get this operational on SBS 2008 without much luck but now I have also successfully installed in onto SBS 2008. Search Server Express provides enterprise level indexing of not only SharePoint sites but also file shares, public folders and web sites all through a familiar browser interface. I never really understood why Microsoft didn’t provide details on how to install it on SBS 2008 as I think it was a natural fit for SBS 2008.

Now given that it is POSSIBLE to install both SharePoint 2010 and Search Server Express on SBS 2008 the question still remains – for the average reseller – is it worthwhile? I’d have to say no. I believe it is a far better option to have a second server in the network (say a Windows Foundation Server) onto which goes both SharePoint 2010 and Search Server Express. It makes the setup easier, cleaner and provides better separation. The other question you have to ask is that if you did install SharePoint 2010 on SBS 2008 what happens when a service pack becomes available? Will it break that is there? Will there need to be a separate ‘SBS 2008’ service pack to accommodate this? Hmmmm….I think having on a second server in a ‘standard’ installation is much more robust.

The other issue I’ll raise about SharePoint 2010 on SBS 2008 is the fact that SharePoint 2010 typically runs on SQL Express 2008 (although installing to other SQL versions is supported). Given that most IT Professionals would prefer to install SharePoint 2010 on the SQL Express 2008 since it is free, they will face the inbuilt limitation of a 4GB database. So, if your existing Companyweb installation is greater than 4GB then you are probably going to have to install a full version of SQL before you install SharePoint 2010.

Again, as Susan says, I reckon you need to carefully consider that although you CAN install SharePoint 2010 on SBS 2008 whether you SHOULD in fact do it considering all the issues that it may unearth. However, if you REALLY want to at least you can, however I would still wait and see if any official guidance from Microsoft is forthcoming. I’ll certainly be putting more together about my process when I have attempted to resolve the integration issues.

SharePoint 2010 on SBS 2008 – Yes we can

Been neglecting the blog lately but I do have a good reason, honestly. I have been working hard behind the scenes trying to work out how to get SharePoint 2010 onto SBS 2008. I have documented my previous attempts with the beta and most recently with the RTM.

Not willing to accept that it couldn’t be done I went back to the drawing board and can now proudly announce that I have finally managed to get it working as the screen shot below shows.

Now I have to tell you that the process isn’t very clean or simple and honestly I really don’t why anyone would want to go through the pain but at least you can if you so desire.

I am still working on tidying some related issues around the process so I can provide a full set of documentation around how you can upgrade/migrate WSS v3.0 Companyweb on SBS 2008 to SharePoint Foundation 2010 Companyweb. This means retaining as much of the initial WSS v3.0 functionality as possible. So give me a little while to get all that down and document the process.

Stay tuned for the magic behind how it can be done if you REALLY want to!

SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008

After manually installing all the prerequisites for SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008 I attempted to install SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008. If you really want to try this yourself and are baffled where the prerequisite Microsoft Filter Pack 2.0 is then you should contact me as you won’t find it on the Microsoft download site (that’s version 1.0 and 2.0 Beta, neither of which works) from what I see.

Because SharePoint Foundation 2010 detects an existing SharePoint v3 installation the only option that is available is an upgrade. Fair enough you say, but when you proceed you get:

which is basically game over. Interestingly when you go to the web link provided (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=975805) it doesn’t exist which kinda indicates that maybe the KB article is still being written on this one. Nothing also comes up when you do a Google search.

So that’s it game over eh? One would have said that also about running Search Server Express 2008 on SBS 2008 wouldn’t you? Especially if you have been reading this blog (especially here). Well I’m here to tell you that I have worked out how to successfully install Search Server Express on SBS 2008. It ain’t pretty but it can be done and it’s only taken me almost 2 years to work out. Maybe getting SharePoint Foundation 2010 running on SBS 2008 is my next challenge from the gods of code? Hopefully, this won’t take me another 2 years!

Oh, you want more details on how to install Search Server Express 2008 on SBS 2008? You’ll just have to stay tuned or subscribe to the Windows SharePoint Operations Guide as it will be published there real soon.

I’m not the only one

I posted some thoughts yesterday about the ramifications of the demise of Essential Business Server for the SMB and particularly Small Business Server market. I was reading through Susan Bradley’s blog and was interested to see that she raised many of the same concerns in a recent blog post including:

“Make no mistake the chatter is less about a concern over the future of “M” and more over the future of “S””

and

“What’s the future hold? I’m not going to lie to you and say that Response Point, Office Accounting, MPAN program and now this, doesn’t put a slight bit of chill up my spine.”

When people of Susan’s stature start voicing these concerns you really need to be paying attention I believe. Again, this not about the product or the market segment, I truly believe that it is bigger than this. If you still have doubts have a look at this article:

’Cloudy days ahead from Microsoft’

as the subheading says here:

“MICROSOFT has switched its cloud computing marketing from half-hearted to full bore.”

This means that the focus has shifted (rightly or wrongly) from infrastructure to cloud. This is where Microsoft is throwing its resources. Maybe Microsoft’s solution is half baked but that doesn’t stop them allocating their resources there. History shows us that Microsoft tends to start slow and awkwardly in many markets but eventually, usually through sheer brute force, they take a dominate stake. I see no reason why the same won’t occur here.

Now you can quote me that this time it is different because of Google and guess what I totally agree with you. Why? Because it again reinforces my point that this online stuff, for better or worse, is not going away. The reality is that it is the traditional in house stuff that is.

You shouldn’t need to ‘read the tea leaves’ as Susan says in her post, to see that markets generally go where the dollars flow and Microsoft is currently tipping its bucket into the cloud. To reap the benefits you’ll have to probably follow their lead because in the end it is their products that people sell and support.

Technically, maybe the cloud stuff isn’t quite there but guess what that doesn’t matter because it is not the greatest driver here. Because the IT industry is being commoditized here major decisions are now based on cost. The cry is no longer ‘I want the best technology’ it has become ‘I want the cheapest technology’ because to the customer, most technology now looks identical whether it is delivered in house or from the cloud. Therefore in a world where there are few differences between products price becomes the differentiator and the cheaper one always wins. It would certainly seem that this is what we are seeing now.

Big news day

The first bit of news is that Microsoft is officially killing off Essential Business Server (EBS) which was sorta a bigger version of Small Business Server. The announcement came as a surprise to many and disappoints some who have been building a business around a product that suits larger businesses. Some of the reasons for the death of EBS?

“midsize businesses are rapidly turning to technologies such as management, virtualization and cloud computing as a means to cut costs, improve efficiency, and increase competitiveness.”

so says the Official Microsoft EBS blog.

Next bit of news is that Microsoft plans to release Office and SharePoint 2010 on the 12th of May which was announced on the SharePoint Team blog.

Even though the Official Microsoft EBS blog says, discontinuing EBS:

“will not impact any other Windows Server products and solutions, including the next version of Windows Small Business Server (SBS)”

you gotta wonder eh? It certainly only seems like a matter of time before that which instigated the demise of EBS starts to white ant the SBS end of the market. Most IT people will tell you that what happens at the larger end of town ultimately end up filtering down to the smaller end.

Almost two years ago now, in this blog, I speculated that SBS 2008 would be the last version of SBS we would see. I still believe that is the case, however I believe we may see something called “SBS” which really isn’t. I’m not going to split hairs on what ‘being SBS’ actually is, because I will still content that the fate of SBS will be the same as EBS. It will take longer to eventuate because the SBS product has a longer history and greater support base but it will happen in the end.

The imminent release of Office 2010 further marks a march to cloud computing and change in the landscape. Why? Because not only will Microsoft make available a version of Office available for free download but it will also have versions (including a free one) available via the web.

Office and SharePoint 2010 will survive because they can go to the cloud, EBS didn’t because it couldn’t. As I said, I reckon that the same logic applies to SBS, it is going to struggle as a product to survive a move to the cloud. Personally, I wouldn’t be betting my business on SBS at the moment.

On the other side of the ledger I think that it is good for Microsoft to reduce the number of products it sells and focus more of its energy on making those that sell well better. If all the resources from EBS get thrown into SBS to make it something better, then that can only be good? Microsoft needs to do what it believe is right for its business. At the end of the day that is going to burn some people who believed in the EBS product but in all my travels I have never seen an EBS installation and have only heard of one actual client who had installed it. Now I will readily admit that I am not as well travelled as other IT Professionals and I probably move in the limited circles of the ‘S’ in SMB, however I would have expected to have seen and heard more of EBS in all the time it has been released.

To say that current IT trends are not having an effect on customers and resellers is naive. Technology people need to appreciate that many aspects of traditional IT are being commoditized and perhaps sadly coming to be the domain of accountants rather than technicians. Someone told me once that change takes longer than you think to occur but when it does it ends up being much greater than you could have imagined. I certainly wonder what even the next 12 months will bring. The only certainty will be change but the uncertainty is just how much.

When a volcano erupts it can reek some of the most drastic changes on our environment, causing, flooding, tsunamis, earthquakes, solar winter and so on. Yet at the same time the earth that is brought to the surface during a volcanic eruption is some of the most fertile. In a nutshell every change brings threats and opportunities, what the end result becomes is only determined by a reaction to these events. A rational person appreciates that if they can’t change their circumstances then they can only react to the circumstances they find themselves in.

As much as I appreciate people will suffer because of the loss of EBS, I also see great opportunity in the changes that are brought to the IT landscape. It is up to myself to determine how best to exploit these for my business, because quite simply they are a fact of life and will always continue to be so. I may not like them but in the end I’ve just gotta deal with them.

Installing SQL Server 2008 on Windows Server 2008 R2

I was recently installing SharePoint v3 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine using SQL Server 2008 for database storage when I came up with a problem.

Now that’s interesting, I thought, SQL Server 2008 has issues running on Windows Server 2008 R2. The latest version of SQL has problems on the latest version of Windows Server. Go figure. No major issue, I mistakenly thought, I’ll just follow what it says to do on the Compatibility Assistant and I should be right. Famous last words.

Turns out that even when you install SQL Server Service Pack 1 directly after installing SQL Server 2008 you can’t get access to the SQL instance on the machine. I did some Googling and came up with the following article which provided the resolution:

http://wadingthrough.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/problem-installing-sql-server-2008-on-windows-2008-r2/

So what I’ll do here is go into the resolution in a little more depth for people.

Before installing SQL Server 2008 RTM on Windows Server 2008 R2 you need to install SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 as this will install updated SQL Setup Files which “know” about Windows Server 2008 R2. So download the service pack and double click on the download to start the install.

Follow the installation through and allow the Setup Support files to install after which the Service Pack installation will exit and you will be returned to the desktop. Now commence the SQL Server 2008 RTM install.

You will receive the same compatibility warning you always receive.

Simply click on Run program to proceed. You can now install SQL Server 2008 RTM as you normally would from the menu.

During the install you may again be prompted about compatibility issues but just continue through until the installation of SQL Server 2008 is complete.

Once the installation of SQL Server 2008 is complete you need to install the SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 to update all the SQL files (you only did the setup files before).

With SQL Server 2008 RTM and SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 now installed, your installation on Windows Server 2008 R2 should be good to go.

Two more points

An interesting read over on Dave Overaton’s blog ”Server line-up for small businesses (and home) is increasing in options (or complexity for some) – SBS 2008, Home, Foundation, Windows Standard Server or BPOS – how do you choose?” where he attempts to discern the best option in IT for a small business.

Interestingly he rates a Windows PC network at the top and SBS and Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite last. I also especially liked these charts he has come up with:

and

Now I am generally in agreement with the conclusions that he reaches but I think that he has overlooked two important facts.

1. It is unlikely that a single IT solution is going to be adopted by most businesses these days.

As I noted in my recent blog post “Up in the sky”, in relation to cloud services at least

“data also shows that only 16% of those who have adopted cloud computing, or will within 12 months, will go solely with an off-premises model. But 50% of those respondents will go with a mixture on both on-premises and off premises.”

So what about the combination of a Windows PC network and BPOS? What about Windows Foundation server combined with BPOS? These are certainly going to provide far more options and flexibility than just the single product on its own.

2. Do not overlook the impact of Google Apps

If there ever an elephant in the room that most Microsoft types constantly neglect, ignore, dismiss over overlook it’s Google. Using their cloud based solution of Google Apps works extremely well for businesses in this target market (much like BPOS does). Again, it will provide its strongest appeal when used in conjunction with a Windows network or Windows Foundation server say.

I understand where Dave is coming from in his analysis but I’d like to contend that he is thinking about SMB customers in terms of the ‘old world’. Today’s SMB customers want the flexibility to work anywhere, with unlimited access to their data and the ability to share it will all the members of their team easily and quickly. They don’t want to shell out thousands of dollars for a server based solution (read SBS) when they can achieve something almost identical with online services on a per month per user basis. As I have said many time before, cloud computing not only changes the technology side of the argument but it also changes the economic argument for a customer. This economic model is far more important to a customer generally.

Dave has done a remarkable job with his analysis however he has perhaps unwittingly confirmed again, in my mind at least, the way technology people look at technology is not the way that customers do. Secondly, it highlights the fact that resellers face a herculean task trying to support the huge variety of possible solutions for a customer. That is sure fire way to burn people out in the end. Finally, I still see that online services, from Goggle, Microsoft or whomever, are going to have a major impact in the SMB space.

Search Server Express on SBS 2008

Let me save you a lot of pain. From everything that I have found to this point, Search Server Express CANNOT be installed on SBS 2008. I have tried to get it working many, many different ways and have never had any success. I have asked Microsoft support how to get it working and they couldn’t help. I had some highly regarded contacts in the SBS community attempt to get answers from Microsoft as well but to no avail.

How can this be? Search Server Express is built on SharePoint technology and would make a fantastic addition to an SBS 2008 server yet it won’t install and worse, when you attempt to uninstall it after a failed installation, it blows up the existing SharePoint installation. How can this be? Search Server Express works fine in a stand alone installation but yet on SBS 2008 it all goes pear shaped.

So rather than go through the misery yourself here’s what happens.

1. You install Search Server Express on SBS 2008 and everything look sweet until the SharePoint Products and Technology Configuration Wizard runs. At about step 6 you get the following nasty error.

2. Realizing the error of you ways you go into Control Panel and remove Search Server Express.

3. Search Server Express uninstalls successfully but now when you attempt to access http://companyweb you see something like:

4. Now you start to sweat. You try maybe resetting IIS and attempt to access http://companyweb again and now you see:

Indicating no web sites there at all.

5. As the panic rises you try and access the SharePoint Central Administration site which only results in the following message:

Which means that uninstalling Search Server Express has effectively uninstalled SharePoint from your SBS 2008 system!

6. This now means you have to get SharePoint back and working.

Now it becomes a question of can you restore SharePoint? How was SharePoint being backed up? What method are you going to use to restore SharePoint to where it was before you attempted installing Search Server Express? I can tell you that you are in for some fun and games if you aren’t prepared for it.

So why doesn’t Search Server Express work on SBS 2008? I don’t know. Why doesn’t Microsoft provide some guidance on install Search Server Express on SBS 2008? I don’t now either. All I know is don’t try to install Search Server Express on SBS 2008 because you’ll end up in a world of pain.

I’m still working on a solution and when I find it I’ll let you know.