First Install of SBS 2003 Service Pack 1 for SBS Standard

OK so I finally dug out Virtual PC today and started playing with SBS Service Pack 1. I have not received any CD's as of yet so as many of you have I downloaded the Service Pack manually. But I'm definitely glad I headed over to the M&M's outline for SP1 install.
On the download page I sure didn't initially see the big bold instructions at the bottom of the page. :) Make sure you read it or the M&M's site. This is a 5 step process just for the standard edition. You have to make sure that the 4 preliminary items are ready to go before you install the SBS SP1 update. The 4 updates are Windows Server Service Pack 1, Sharepoint Services 2.0 Service Pack 1, Exchange 2003 Server Service Pack 1 and Windows XP for SP Deployment. Because of all of that it takes quite a bit of time to do the Service Pack install.

On my Virtual PC it took just about 3 hours to accomplish all 5 tasks. Did I run into any problems? Nope but I sure thought so. I got a big error message at the conclusion of the SBS SP1 install and thought oh boy here we go but it was that I simply didn't follow through on something the M&M's said in the beginning of their install doc. In this virtual PC of SBS I was using, Outlook 2003 was not installed in the ClientApps directory and thus that is what gave me the error. Checking the logs quickly I found this out. But the server came up just fine after a reboot with the server showing SP1 was indeed installed. Mission accomplished.

Just a few thoughts:
Definitely make a backup. SBS SP1 can't be uninstalled. I find this still a little hard to take personally from a technical standpoint. Sure I understand all the underlying technology but this is what sometimes gives SBS a bad name in the regular Windows world. Because of having little minute things to worry about such as this is why many a Consultant and VAR have sworn off Small Business Server. Granted to me it's not the best but it's also not the end of the world.

Another nice thing I never saw in any prerelease documentation is that the NTbackup now can backup full SQL Databases and we don't have to adjust them to simple. Man in my book that's just plain huge and another reason not to get Backup Exec or your backup flavor of the week and save you some dough.

Overall the upgrade process was pretty boring and straightforward. If you can hold out for the CD's with all of the integration then do it.

Standard is now...now I'm just waiting for the CD's to hit my door for the Premium version testing. That will be the true test!