Best Practice Analyzers are free tools available for most Microsoft Enterprise products and they are used to determine the overall health of your platform. The tools perform read only scans against your environment’s servers and identify items that do not conform to Microsoft best practices. They should be run on a regular basis as part of your standard operations maintenance plan. Here are some tools for Windows Small Business Server, Mobile Device Manager, Commerce Server and Biztalk.
Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer
The Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer examines a server that is running Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Windows SBS) and presents a list of information and errors that administrators should review. The Windows SBS Best Practices Analyzer examines the server and collects configuration information from many sources including:
- Active Directory Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
- Registry and Metabase.
After collecting information about server configuration, the Windows SBS Best Practices Analyzer verifies that the information is correct and then presents administrators with a list of issues sorted by severity. The list describes each issue and provides a recommendation or possible solution.
Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011 Best Practices Analyzer
Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011 BPA (Windows SBS 2011 BPA) is a diagnostic tool that is built on the Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer (MBCA) technology. Windows SBS 2011 BPA scans a computer that is running the Windows SBS 2011 server software, and compares the existing server settings to a predefined set of recommended best practices. Windows SBS 2011 BPA performs the following tasks:
- Gathers information about a computer that is running the Windows Small Business Server 2011 server software
- Determines if the server settings comply with a set of best practices that are recommended by Microsoft
- Provides a report of the scan results, which identifies variances from the recommended best practices
- Identifies conditions that may lead to problems with the server
- Recommends solutions to potential problems
Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Resource Kit – Best Practices Analyzer
MDM Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) Tool helps you to analyze the prerequisites for MDM setup and deployment. Because each MDM server component has different prerequisites, the tool helps you to plan and build a successful deployment environment by assessing each server’s readiness for MDM before you run MDM Setup.
Microsoft Commerce Server 2007 Best Practices Analyzer
The Microsoft Commerce Server Best Practices Analyzer examines a Commerce Server 2007 deployment and generates a list of best practices issues it discovers. The Best Practices Analyzer is intended for use in Commerce Server 2007 production and staging environments.
BizTalk Server Best Practices Analyzer
The BizTalk Server Best Practices Analyzer examines a BizTalk Server deployment and generates a list of best practices issues it discovers. The BizTalk Server Best Practices Analyzer performs configuration level verification, by reading and reporting only, and uses the gathered data to determine whether best practices are being followed.
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