Windows Small Business Server 2011 is the Microsoft operating system in the SBS line based on Windows Server 2008 R2. It will be the last in the SBS line and went RTM December 13th, 2010 and was first officially released March 9th, 2011. Like the rest of the SBS line, it includes a number of Microsoft products bundled with it, the tradeoff being that the number of users is limited and some functionality useful for larger organizations is disabled.
Windows Small Business Server 2011 is the Microsoft operating system in the SBS line based on Windows Server 2008 R2. It will be the last in the SBS line and went RTM December 13th, 2010 and was first officially released March 9th, 2011. Like the rest of the SBS line, it includes a number of Microsoft products bundled with it, the tradeoff being that the number of users is limited and some functionality useful for larger organizations is disabled.
It is available in two editions, Essentials and Premium, both of which are 64 bit only. A Premium "add-on" pack was released for either version which primarily included stand-alone editions of Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard, and a standalone edition of SQL Server 2008 R2 for Small Business, both of which were licensed only for use on SBS, with the Server 2008 R2 license to serve as a Hyper-V host, into which SBS 2011 would be virtualized. This add-on also allowed for the use of Remote Desktop Services in SBS 2011, an additional domain controller and the ability to use SBS with a small branch location or locations.
Notable product inclusions and restrictions in SBS 2011 are:
- PC user limit of 25 (Essentials) or 75 (Standard)
- Exchange Server 2010 SP1 (Standard)
- SharePoint Foundation 2010 (Standard)
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express (Both)
- Automated backup software (PCs and server in Standard, Server only in Essentials)
- IIS, DHCP, DNS and (restricted) Active Directory functionality (Both)
- Windows Software Update Services (Standard)
- User friendly, wizard-based management and monitoring console (Both)
As it is the last in the Small Business Server line, it has no direct successor, but the product that will be replacing its role in targeting small businesses is Windows Server 2012, Essentials edition.
More information can be found on Wikipedia page dedicated to the Small Business Server line, or at Microsoft's page for Small Business Server 2011.
