Hi Microsoft Server Team,

We finally got around in December to start deploying Windows Server 2019 Essentials to customers.

So far it has been a terrible experience and we are jumping back to the much loved Windows Server 2016 Essentials while we still can.

Our SME customers want the Essentials server for:
1. Remote Web Access (for RDP remote access to PC’s so they can remote in to run their line of business apps like Sage)

and

1. Essentials Connector (to allow home workers join the domain via the /connect URL site and keep them on the VPN to be managed via the server GPO’s and run their line of business apps)

I know lots of others companies will miss the easy client backups (we moved to onedrive folder protection), the Office 365 integration (we moved to AD connect) but the RWA and Essentials Connector are the features that are very very expensive for an SME to replace

Please reverse this decision to remove these crucial features from the 2019 Essentials edition.

Thank you

Right now EE is not usable. The idea behind is brilliant but the implementation is crippled. From RWA to password sync, from managing Exchange and Sharepoint Online to dashboarding mailbox usage and Office 365 plans - everything is greatly appreciated, but we are missing the flexibility and the control.
Simple example: I want to announce a shared folder over RWA. Firstly it cannot be a network share from another server (well, there is a workaround rewriting the web.config). Secondly when I define a share for a user, the NTFS permissions are overwritten!
I can write tons of improvement suggestions.
Or I can improve it myself if you make the gears behind more transparent.

Configure Azure Backup fail on Windows Server 2016 Essentials (Japanese) Dashboard.
It seems like "SetMachinePassphrase request failed".

Log is below.

[9248] 170611.195806.8596: General: Initializing...C:\Windows\System32\Essentials\OnlineBackupGettingStartedWizard.exe
[9248] 170611.195806.9064: OnlineBackupObjectModel: OnlineBackupBacked created successfully.
[9248] 170611.195807.0002: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Async connect called
[9248] 170611.195807.0939: PfBinding: Information: [0] : Adding service dns identity [WS2016E] in proxy endpoint.
[9248] 170611.195807.1564: OnlineBackupObjectModel: OnlineBackup connector created
[9248] 170611.195807.1564: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Set connection identifier to 1
[9248] 170611.195807.1721: StorageOM: StorageBacked created successfully.
[9248] 170611.195807.1721: StorageOM: Set connection identifier to 1
[7068] 170611.195810.2978: StorageOM: Getting storage data from server
[10112] 170611.195834.6420: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Start Online Backup service
[10112] 170611.195839.5951: MailServiceUtils: Try to Refresh Tab, Id = 9e2df491-e5f2-4147-8be8-9bc1a5552d5f
[4876] 170611.195840.8451: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Connection created with provider
[4876] 170611.195840.8451: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Getting onlineBackup data from server
[5648] 170611.195840.8764: OnlineBackupObjectModel: OnlineBackup file spec information retreived from provider.
[5648] 170611.195840.8920: OnlineBackupObjectModel: OnlineBackup backup job information retreived from provider.
[5648] 170611.195840.9076: OnlineBackupObjectModel: OnlineBackup configuration retreived from provider.
[5648] 170611.195840.9076: OnlineBackupObjectModel: OnlineBackup configuration retreived from provider.
[5648] 170611.195840.9233: OnlineBackupObjectModel: OnlineBackup configuration retreived from provider.
[5648] 170611.195840.9233: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Online backup data retrieved from provider. Setting connected property to true.
[7068] 170611.195841.1733: CloudServiceEnvironment: Failed to download cloud service environment file.
[10112] 170611.195904.4038: OnlineBackupUI: Successfully generate the certificate. Thumbprint: 4AB3DDC1A02EEF5C3D77B4A49F7271B9C224B326
[10112] 170611.195906.1506: OnlineBackupObjectModel: GetOnlineBackupResources starting.
[10112] 170611.195906.1506: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Executing request: <GetOnlineBackupResources>b0
[6824] 170611.195906.6819: OnlineBackupObjectModel: List of Azure resource has 1 entries
[6824] 170611.195906.6819: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.DataProtection.OnlineBackup.OnlineBackupResourceRequest completed by backend with error code: 0x0
[10112] 170611.195906.6819: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Synchronous GetOnlineBackupResources request succeeded.
[10112] 170611.195906.6819: OnlineBackupObjectModel: RegisterOnlineBackupRequest starting.
[10112] 170611.195906.6819: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Executing request: <RegisterOnlineBackup>b0
[6824] 170611.195936.2280: OnlineBackupObjectModel: OnlineBackup configuration retreived from provider.
[6824] 170611.195937.9669: OnlineBackupObjectModel: OnlineBackup configuration retreived from provider.
[6824] 170611.195938.0295: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.DataProtection.OnlineBackup.RegisterOnlineBackupRequest completed by backend with error code: 0x0
[10112] 170611.195938.0607: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Synchronous RegisterOnlineBackup request succeeded.
[10112] 170611.195938.0763: OnlineBackupObjectModel: SetMachinePassphraseRequest starting.
[10112] 170611.195938.0763: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Executing request: <SetMachinePassphrase>b__0
[9676] 170611.195939.1545: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Connection lost with the onlineBackup provider
[9676] 170611.195939.1545: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.DataProtection.OnlineBackup.SetMachinePassphraseRequest completed by backend with error code: 0x80040258
[9676] 170611.195939.1545: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Set connection identifier to 5 on reconnection
[9676] 170611.195939.1545: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Reconnecting with onlineBackup provider
[10112] 170611.195939.1545: OnlineBackupObjectModel: Synchronous SetMachinePassphrase request failed.

[10112] 170611.195939.1545: Exception:

An exception of type 'Type: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.DataProtection.OnlineBackup.OnlineBackupObjectModelException, OnlineBackupObjectModel, Version=10.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' has occurred.
Timestamp: 06/11/2017 19:59:39
Message: 種類 'Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.DataProtection.OnlineBackup.OnlineBackupObjectModelException' の例外がスローされました。 (ErrorCode 0x80040258)
Stack: 場所 Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.DataProtection.OnlineBackup.SetMachinePassphraseRequest.SetMachinePassphrase()

   場所 Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.DataProtection.OnlineBackup.UI.RegisterProgressPagePresenter.<OnActivate>b__2_0(Object state)

[9248] 170611.195939.1857: OnlineBackupUI: An error occurred during the execution of the wizard. Error message =

Summary: SIP address overwritten (breaking Skype Business) in Office 365 when email alias added via Dashboard.

The problem is explained in perfect detail at the link below. It does still happen with current Essentials 2016, and it happened in the previous version, too (2012R2).

All you need to do is use the Essentials Dashboard to add an email alias to a user in an Office 365 tenant that also has Skype for Business. Then edit that user's mailbox in EAC and look at the Email Addresses section. The new SMTP alias will be there, but the SIP entry that had been there is gone.

It's probably time this is fixed.

https://www.itpromentor.com/essentials-sip-bug

Building on the suggestion for more flexibility in Windows Server Backup Scheduling (and added as separate suggestion to make it more visible), given that the Server Essentials SKU (and role) is aimed at simplifying SME deployments, using the Essentials Dashboard to provide a more comprehensive scheduling capability for Windows Backup (i.e. driving it through Task Scheduler) such as different sets of disks to be backed up on different days, backups on specific days, etc. as an Advanced option from the Dashboard would allow SMEs and home users to use WSE without having to consider 3rd party backups for more complex scenarios.

When you have a single, large file that you want to restore from the Client Backups in the Essentials role, it can take a huge amount of time to restore the file to a client machine (some of which will be network). It would be much better for these situations if you could effectively "mount" a backup locally on the server to restore the files within the server and then copy them from the server back to the client - or a command line to specify the file manually to restore from the client backups. Currently trying to restore a single 450GB VM and it would have been days (and I do mean days) quicker, if I have the spare drive, to restore the whole machine and recover the file from it!