SBS 4.5 Remote Administration with NetMeeting

BackOffice Small Business Server (SBS) 4.5 is designed to be administered through the SBS console. This console is a central location where users and computers are added to the network and where you perform most administrative functions. You can use Microsoft NetMeeting to remotely administer SBS 4.5 through a dial-up Remote Access Service (RAS) connection or a Virtual Private Networking (VPN) connection. You can use this NetMeeting connection to project the active programs from the SBS computer to the remote NetMeeting computer.

Before you can use NetMeeting to remotely administer a network, you must install it on the client and server computers. NetMeeting is automatically installed during SBS Setup. The SBS computer must accept each incoming call or you must configure it to accept all incoming calls.

To enable sharing on the server and client:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to Communications, and then click NetMeeting.
2. Follow the instructions (the directory service is not required).
3. From the Tools menu, click Enable Sharing.
4. Restart each computer.

To establish the connection:

1. Start the programs you want to share (you can perform most remote administration by using the SBS console and the command prompt).
2. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to Communications, and then click NetMeeting.
3. Connect to the client computer (through a VPN or dial-up RAS connection).
4. Start NetMeeting on the client computer.
5. Click New Call on the client computer and then type the address of the SBS computer.
6. If the SBS computer is not configured to accept all incoming calls, click Accept.

After the connection is made between the client and the server, the programs must be shared and then the server must start collaboration.

To share programs:

1. On the server, from the Tools menu, click Share Application, and then click the programs you wish to share (most remote administration cannot be performed using the SBS console and the command prompt).
2. On the server, from the Tools menu, click Start Collaborating.

You can configure SBS to accept all incoming calls by clicking Automatically Accept Incoming Calls from the Options menu. When you use this command, the server automatically accepts incoming calls but programs must be installed for each connection. This is a limitation of NetMeeting 2.11 and is addressed in NetMeeting 3.0.

For more information about remote administration in SBS 4.0, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: