I am Mariëtte Knap, a long time Microsoft MVP and Senior IT Engineer. I have been working on numerous SBS 2000, 2003, 2008, 2011, Windows Server 2012, 2016 and Exchange Server 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 in the past 20 years.
After answering questions on the official Technet forums I found that there was hardly any easy to understand documentation on Windows Server 2012 and 2016. Specifically, on migration issues from older SBS versions to Windows Server Essentials 2012 and 2016, there was nothing that was easy to understand.
This site is really meant for everybody who works on an SBS 2000, 2003, 2008, 2011, a Windows Server 2012 or 2016 either with or without the Essentials Experience installed, Office 365 and Exchange Server 2013, 2016. If you are an IT consultant or you are the business owner searching for answers this is the place to be.
No, we do not sell hardware or software nor do we get provision or commission if we tell you that we like a certain server or that nice backup software. We only recommend something if we use it ourselves and are satisfied with it.
Yes, I started this site as a free source of information. If you register an account you can use the forum and most of the tutorials for free and this will remain as long as I maintain the site. It would be awesome if you'd consider a subscription to help support the service and help keep us going.
The forum and most tutorials are free but for some tutorials, you need a subscription. The subscriber tutorials are premium documentation that adds value to the work of an IT consultant or to the business owner who takes care of his own IT infrastructure. My goal is to keep most of the documentation and the forum for free or as cheap as possible. Subscriptions start at € 149
No, we do not have a trial subscription but we do have a tutorial that you can read so you get an idea how our premium documentation is built. Read How to rename an Active Directory domain name of a Windows Server 2012 R2 with the Essentials Experience role installed. Rest assured that we will do anything to help you if you purchased a subscription and ran into some issue you cannot resolve your self.
This site remains a community effort and you can help to participate in the forum.
Your email address is used to identify you when logging in and to send you occasional emails. It is never divulged to anyone and never used for any other purpose.
No, we have made that impossible. In your profile, you can become friends with other registered users on server-essentials.com but you decide what you want to share with your friends. The default is to share nothing.
Yes, if you go to your profile you can choose to unregister your account. When you unregister your account you delete everything on the site but postings in the forum will remain. Your postings will be anonimzied so they will no longer show you as the author