14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is not by any means a stranger to Feature Packs, as an additional avenue to deliver enhancements to software products in addition to plain vanilla updates and major upgrades such as service packs. In the past, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Visual Studio were among the technologies for which the Redmond-based company offered customers Feature Packs. Now it’s Windows Essential Business Server 2008’s turn. As of last week, the software giant is offering for download Feature Pack 1 for Windows Essential Business Server 2008.
Businesses running Windows Essential Business Server 2008 are pointed to KB973236 for the documentation associated with the download. However, at the time of writing this article, the page with the knowledge base article is yet to go live. Still, I’m sure that Microsoft will correct the problem moving forward, just make sure to check again.
Here is the description accompanying the Feature Pack 1 for Windows Essential Business Server 2008 download, “This Feature Pack adds a feature that you can use to adjust the security settings in Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) in Windows Essential Business Server (EBS). The feature helps you manage Forefront TMG and diagnose firewall issues.”
Microsoft released Windows Essential Business Server 2008 to manufacturing in the fall of 2008, moving to offer medium sized companies what it referred to as enterprise-class server solution. For mid-size organizations, the main advantages of Windows Essential Business Server 2008 were the design and price tailored to their specific needs, the software giant noted.
“Windows Essential Business Server (EBS) configures Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 on the Security Server to help protect your network. The security settings that Windows EBS enforces may be more restrictive than the settings in your existing firewall. Use this feature to adjust the security settings in Forefront TMG to the appropriate level for your network. You can quickly adjust the level that Forefront TMG uses to diagnose issues where Internet access is blocked for some applications,” Microsoft added.
Feature Pack 1 for Windows Essential Business Server 2008 is available for download here.