I tried a comparison last summer. I used a VMWARE system and built the systems twice. Once with full products and once with SBS. This was SBS 2003 R2 and Exchange 2003 SP2/Windows 2003 R2.
There were three things that I took away from the exercise: 1. Time. I had the SBS running in less than two hours as I installed from ISOs. Even allowing patching it was done in just over three hours. Took me most of the day to do the full product - including all configuration, group policy etc. Yes I had the core system built in about 90 minutes (again from ISOs), but there was a lot of other things to do in the background. I had the SBS system running next to it to try and replicate the configuration as much as possible, but if I didn't then I would have struggled to match it. I think I got to about 90% matching functionality and configuration, the missing 10% will be the SBS exclusive features (see next point) and the SBS templates etc. 2. Features. There are some things in SBS that are missed in the full product - RWW being the main one, and some of the built in reporting functionality. Just see how many people ask if RWW can be ported across. It is only with TS Gateway on Windows 2008 that the full product comes close - and you still don't get the web frontend for it. 3. The connect computer wizard. This has been mentioned before, but if you are coming off a workgroup environment it is a real time saver. It brings everything in to the domain environment - imports the PST files, adjusts the permissions on My Documents, moves the favourites, pretty much the entire profile. Now I know I could do this by hand, but the wizard just does it for me. Using it for real, I was able to add 20 machines to an SBS site in an afternoon by using the wizard, if I had been doing it by hand I would have been a day, maybe two. As for performance, the SBS box did seem a little snappier in how it worked, its start up time etc. Even taking in to account the performance hit running it on VMWARE, there were some subtle differences. Could all be perception though, so that has to be taken in to account. However the way I look at it, if it is just a matter of putting the products together with a fancy management console, why does it take so long for the SBS version to be released? Windows 2008 was the best part of 12 months prior to SBS release (and you aren't telling me they started on SBS only after RTM), Exchange 2007 almost two years. It doesn't take that long to design a frontend - particularly when it is based on the frontend from Windows Home Server! Simon. -- Simon Butler MVP: Exchange, MCSE Amset IT Solutions Ltd. e: [email protected] w: www.amset.co.uk w: www.amset.info Need cheap certificates for Exchange, compatible with Windows Mobile 5.0? http://CertificatesForExchange.com/ for certificates from just $23.99. Need a domain for your certificate? http://DomainsForExchange.net/ -----Original Message----- From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 27 January 2009 13:14 To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: SMB question.. I've not used SBS 2008. But insofar as SBS 2003 - it does a number of configuration things (application of KB 817379 comes to mind, along with the junk that has to be done to get OWA and WSS to run on the same server) up front; but does nothing that a reasonable admin wouldn't or couldn't do herself. Regards, Michael B. Smith, MCITP:SA,EMA/MCSE/Exchange MVP My blog: http://TheEssentialExchange.com/blogs/michael I'll be at TEC'2009! http://www.tec2009.com/vegas/index.php -----Original Message----- From: Ken Schaefer [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 1:37 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: SMB question.. No one is arguing the benefit of the time saving of the wizards. But we want to know how the products installed on an SBS 2003 server are different to the separate products installed on the same box. Having run SBS 2003 before, I can't really see any real difference. Cheers Ken -----Original Message----- From: Jeremy Anderson [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, 27 January 2009 5:24 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: SMB question.. > I'm really ambivalent about those things. Their purpose is largely to let people who have >no business mucking around as administrator think they know what's going on. IT management >is not something you want an untrained person doing, even for a small business. Just like >you don't want a small business doing their own plumbing or electrical >wiring. And yes, many do all of that themselves. Doesn't make it a >good idea. I'm aware of the cost arguments; I argue that the money is better spent hiring >>an outside contractor. IMO, YMMV, etc. You don't have to agree. Being the outside contractor, I love the Wizards. Yeah, I COULD set up all the Group Policies, seperatly install and Configure WSUS, Configure OWA and Forms bases authentication, and everything else that is considered 'best practices" on a stand alone server / Exchange install, or I could pop in the SBS CD, let it rip, run through the Wizards and in an hour or so have a fully functioning, secure, domain and exchange enviroment. Hell, SBS even automatically creates a reverse lookup Zone in DNS for you. It even emails your back up reports to you if you want. Time is money to a SBS customer. I can create a more secure network in less time using SBS install than I could ever hope to trying to do it with stand alone products. That would be an interesting challenge, I'd love to participate in on either side. Set up SBS, VS. Setting up Server2k3 / Exchange / OWA / NTBackup with FBA, WSUS, SharePoint / and All the group Policies for the firewall and such on the same box. The thing to remember here, and to not to get off topic is SBS is MORE than Exchange+Server2003. It's a full package product with a tone of bells and whistles aimed a a very spefic market. Too many people just think that its "Server+Exchange" /me off the soapbox ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
