Windows Small Business Server 2003 Gets Its SP1

by Alex Woodie

Companies running Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 are now being encouraged to download a roll-up of security enhancements and other updates that Microsoft made available as Small Business Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) last week. While the security-oriented Windows Server 2003 SP1 has been available for nearly two months, Microsoft has asked SBS 2003 customers to hold off on the upgrade until it could get SBS 2003 SP1 out the door, as Windows Server 2003 SP1 had the potential to cause problems.

Windows Small Business Server 2003 is a collection of Microsoft server software that's packaged on top of Windows Server 2003, and geared toward the small business that's moving up to the world of server-based computing. In addition to the base server operating system, SBS 2003 includes Exchange 2003, the Sharepoint portal, Outlook, and fax and firewall functionality. Those are the standard features, while the Premium Edition adds a SQL Server 2000 database, the ISA Server 2000 firewall, and the FrontPage 2003 Web development tools to the mix.

While SBS 2003 is based on Windows Server 2003 (and Windows Server 2003 SP1 is a requirement for SBS 2003 SP1), Microsoft recommended that its SBS 2003 customers did not install Windows Server 2003 SP1 until SBS 2003 SP1 became available. The big Windows Server 2003 service pack, you will recall, provided a range of security-oriented enhancements, such as new security wizards and support for "no-execute" features in X86 chips, and became available in early April (see "Windows Server 2003 SP1 Now Available").

Like Windows XP SP2 before it, Windows Server 2003 SP1 caused some applications to break. SBS 2003 was one of the products that didn't work properly under Windows Server 2003 SP1.

Microsoft says customers could expect a couple of problems if they deployed Windows Server 2003 SP1 on top of their SBS 2003, including errors with the Remote Access Wizard and the failure of the Change Server IP Address tool to work properly. Customers could also expect problems with the fax service if they removed Windows Server 2003 SP1 from their SBS 2003 system.

But now that SBS 2003 SP1 is available, SBS 2003 customers should feel free to install all the SP1 products--including Windows Server 2003 SP1 and SBS 2003 SP1. In addition to Windows Server 2003 SP1, SBS 2003 SP1 includes: SharePoint Services 2.0 SP1; Exchange Server 2003 SP1; the SBS 2003 SP1 Component; and Windows XP SP2 and Outlook 2003 SP1 (for client deployments). The Enterprise Edition gains SQL Server 2000 SP4 and ISA Server 2004 with SBS 2003 SP1.

In addition to all those SP1s, Microsoft has included several new bug fixes with SBS 2003 SP1, including fixes to scheduled POP3 e-mail downloads, media-mount failure messages, and the elimination of "unexpected e-mail messages [that] may appear in the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 SMTP queues.

To download SBS 2003 SP1, go to www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/downloads/sp1/default.mspx.