Microsoft yesterday announced a new version of its BackOffice suite aimed at easing management and application deployment across an enterprise.
BackOffice 4.5, now in beta testing, adds a set of management consoles designed to administer a variety of tasks across the entire BackOffice line. Some of the applications featured in BackOffice are SQL Server 7.0, Systems Management Server (SMS) 2.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0 Service Pack 4. Each console can be easily customized to incorporate in-house or third-party management tools.
BackOffice 4.5 speeds up server configuration by automatically detecting the current configuration, recommending the appropriate component and service pack upgrades, and defaulting many common parameters.
This release has new features to automate the deployment of multiple branch or departmental servers. The features include reusable setup scripts, deployment wizards and a branch-office scenario. The scenario will automatically set the proper settings for a remote location, such as joining an existing Exchange site and setting up a secondary SMS 2.0 site.
RELATED LINKS
Microsoft offers trials of BackOffice
Network World Fusion Focus on NT, 8/24/98.
