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The power of an integrated suite of networked applications is tempting, but the cost and complexity can be a deal breaker for a small business. Microsoft Small Business Server 2000 is a scaled-down version of its BackOffice Server 2000 suite, but small businesses should consider their situation carefully before buying in.
A five-user version of Small Business Server is a bargain at $1,499 (direct), considering it's an integrated bundle of Windows 2000 Server, the Exchange 2000 Server mail and collaboration system, Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000 (a proxy/firewall), Microsoft SQL Server, plus shared fax and modem services, and Outlook 2000 clients. Still, competitive suites are cheaper: IBM Small Business Suite for Linux, bundled with Red Hat Linux, costs $1,099. A server plus a five-user license of Novell Small Business Suite 5.1 costs $1,295.
You also have to consider your company's growth. Small Business Server supports up to 50 users. Beyond that you need to upgrade to the full BackOffice 2000 Server, which starts at $3,999—plus a consulting bill. And Small Business Server must be the domain controller and root server of an isolated domain, so you can't just add another one for a remote office.

Setting up Small Business Server is time-consuming but straightforward for those with experience configuring similar systems. The procedure took several hours, most of which involved reading from the five CD-ROMs. Our configuration was a bit unusual: The DHCP connection to our external Internet connection required us to specify a computer name, which is not typical. After the install, we spent a few more hours tweaking to get everything working. On a more conventional setup, the installation would have been easier.
The competition is at least as complicated to configure but is also most often sold through third parties who set it up and customize it for the customer. A consultant or VAR can easily set up Small Business Server to let you perform limited administrative tasks, such as adding a new user, but perform difficult tasks for them remotely. We recommend that small businesses consider hiring a VAR for at least the initial setup.

Microsoft has made setting up users and client computers unbelievably easy. We put the install files for applications on the server, and with another simple program specified that these programs be made available for clients to install. There is a minor problem with this process: You have to specify the install program locations using Universal Naming Convention names for their network locations. In retrospect, this is obvious, but the browse button should open to the network shares dialog to make this clear.
To set up a computer, all we had to do was run a wizard to define the name of the computer and the (previously defined) applications to be installed on the PC. The wizard creates a disk with a setup.exe file for the client system; it configured the network so that the system logged onto the new domain controller and continued with setup from that server. One disk lets you configure all of the client computers. After setup, the server boots into a to-do list of operations you need to perform to complete the job, such as adding users or firewalls.
Server administration is as integrated as the setup. The Administrator Console brings all the services you need to manage into one Microsoft Management Console. The Personal Console contains all the everyday tasks, such as adding new computers. Windows 2000 Terminal Services is preconfigured to let you connect to the server from a Web browser on the network and administrate it. If you want to manage the server from elsewhere, you either have to connect over a Virtual Private Network or install the separate but free Terminal Services Advanced Client Web package.

Once configured, Small Business Server is powerful. Because of Exchange Server, clients get to use all of Outlook's features, such as shared calendars and public folders. Having SQL Server lets you easily adopt high-end versions of accounting and other software. SQL Server is comparatively easy to set up and does what it's designed to do well. But if you hope to grow the business, this package might not be worth the risk.