DirectAccess, Essentials 2012 and the mystery of DNS Failures

August 30, 2013 by 3 Comments

I am writing this post in order to try and highlight the issues people are having with DA, and suggest a course of action. Rather than simply reply to comments about various bits not working.

It was October last year when i posted my process for enabling DA on Essentials 2012, and at the time i was really excited about the new OS and the possibilities that having a supported DA configuration for SMB would bring. If you are not on-board with DA and what it can bring your customers – you need to consider it. Just like PowerShell i think DA is a really important technology for people to be picking up and deploying for small businesses.

Unfortunately, it is not working as smoothly as i had hoped, and, Microsofts response so far has not been ideal and has sapped a lot of the passion i had for this product.

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Unravelling the mystery of Client DNS with Essentials family Servers

June 17, 2013 by 31 Comments

Logo1Probably the best title for a blog post ever right? Having seen and read about a lot of people struggling with DNS resolution problems with their clients on Essentials (2011/2012) networks, and also some dubious advice being given out  for how to ‘resolve’ these problems i thought i would try and get into some deep level explanation of how, and why Essentials does what it does.

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The Future of SMB IT and a few MVPs

June 13, 2013 by 2 Comments

So, you might have heard through my facebook page or twitter i am putting on an event at Microsoft on Tuesday the 18th of June. It starts at 6pm and all are welcome….

However due to the security restrictions on the building i need to provide Microsoft with a list of names of those attending… given my lack of experience organising events i had overlooked this rather large detail.

So, are you coming?

I intend it to be an informal event where we just have a bit of a chat about the future of SMB IT with our special guests Amy Babinchak and Marina Roos.

Amy is currently running the SMB Kitchen project , as well as Third Tier and amongs many other things is an SBSC PAL in the US.

Marina, you may remember visited the UK with the SMB MVP Community Roadshow and expertly demonstrated Windows Multipoint Server. Marina also works with Jeff Middleton at SBSMigration.com / ITPROExperts

If you do intend to come along, we are kicking off at 6pm at Cardinal Place, near Victoria Station please drop me an email or register your interest on my facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/events/205381456276850/

Thanking you!

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HP MicroServer Gen8

June 13, 2013 by 3 Comments

HP MicroServer Gen8What can i say about the HP MicroServer, if you haven’t heard of it then I’m not entirely sure what you have been doing since HP released their first version way back in 2010. Championed by most of the SMB IT Community (I’m yet to meet someone who doesn’t like it) it offered a fantastic set of features for a very, very competitive price and because of that was the ideal box for a whole host of scenarios.

From providing Client Backup Services to the computers in an office,  to being put in a cupboard underneath my TV the MicroServer has proved to be very versatile. Mine has an HDMI Video Card in it, and we use it as a media PC to watch netflix etc on. I know Tim Barrett has so many MicroServers in his house, he has actually built a new room out of them. Read more of this post

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Update Rollup 2 for Windows Server 2012 Essentials

June 13, 2013 by 1 Comment

Logo1You may have seen that Microsoft have released Update Rollup 2 for Windows Server 2012 Essentials.

The update resolves some issues documented in the KB here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2824160

If you deployed the beta of UR2 you will need to remove that before you install the full version.

If your client computers show offline after installing this update you may need to reboot the server and the clients.

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Enabling WSUS on Windows Server 2012 Essentials

May 31, 2013 by 22 Comments

metroSkipping over the usual boring intro on the whys and wherefores of a subject i write about i thought id just crack on and tell you how to get this done.

First on your Essentials Server you will need to install this hotfix. After you install this hotfix the WSUS Role is available.

That is correct, WSUS is a ROLE not something you need to download as it was previously.

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Lost a document, opened and saved from email

May 21, 2013 by 4 Comments

metro iconA client popped into our office on Friday with a query, they had worked on a document saved it, but now when they went back to open it, there was no trace of it anywhere. After the usual suggestions of ‘are you sure you saved it?’ ‘have you searched for it?’ ‘are you sure you saved it?’ i asked him to bring his laptop over. Luckily he was based in the office next door so it was not a long trip.

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