Apr 13 2007
Stick with the wizards
When configuring a Windows SBS 2003 box – remember one golden rule: Always stick with the wizards. Even if you’re a server/AD/ISA/Exchange guru, you should still stick to the wizards. SBS 2003 is a complex beast and a lot of under-the-cover configuration takes place when running each of the wizards.
For example, did you know that when you run the Backup Wizard, circular logging is turned off in Exchange? Seems unconnected but the reason is that if you’re not backing up your SBS 2003 box, then the Exchange logs won’t be getting flushed – hence the reason for circular logging being enabled by default (so the disks don’t fill up with logs.) But as soon as you’ve configured your backups to run, then the system knows that the Exchange logs will get flushed successfully.
As soon as you start making manual configurations to the system, the setup wizards start producing unpredictable results. Have faith in the product, and stick with the wizards…