Windows Server

Habtamu Zewdu (MSc)

 Outline
• Introductions
• Active Directory
 Introductions
• Servers play a vital role on modern business computing
networks.
• Computer networks are used to provide communications
between computing devices.
• The computing devices include network infrastructure
hardware devices, such as routers, switches, and firewalls.
• Servers are used to provide services to the networked
devices
• Servers must be connected to a network so that other
devices (clients) can consume their devices.
 Introduction (Cont…)
• Ideally, the development and operating environments should
be conducive to easy and modular construction of servers
(e.g., HTTP, FTP, NFS, etc.) that deliver the performance of the
underlying hardware (in particular, the network and/or disks)
without requiring that an entire machine be dedicated to
each server.
• Currently there are two main approaches to constructing
servers. These are:
– The first is to place a server on top of a general-purpose operating
system (OS).
– The second approach is to create an operating system specifically
designed for a single server configuration.
 Introduction (Cont…)
• A server operating system is a set of abstractions and runtime
support for specialized, high performance server applications. A
good server operating system should provide:
– tools and parameterizable default implementations of server
abstractions (e.g., network protocol implementation, storage
management, etc.) to support modular construction of server
applications,
– full freedom to replace or override these default implementations and
specialize server abstractions based on application-specific
characteristics, and
– protection boundaries, such that multiple applications (including both
highly specialized servers and “normal” applications) can timeshare a
high-performance system effectively.
 Introduction (Cont…)
• We are in the process of constructing a server operating system that
includes:
– Default implementations of various abstractions useful for constructing server
applications, implemented in such a way that they can be parameterized and
combined in application-specific ways (e.g., application-specific disk layouts,
header and checksum pre-computation, etc...).
– Support for direct, protected access to hardware resources, allowing a server
application to completely replace any or all of the default abstractions with its
own when none of the existing choices matches its needs.
– Support for direct access from the disk system to the network module (and vice
versa), avoiding scheduling delays, traversal of file system layers and network
layers, and redundant data copies.
– Support for event-driven organization of server applications, which avoids the
thread management and concurrency control problems inherent in a thread per
request organization.
– Compiler-supported, dynamic integrated layer processing (ILP) [6] to improve the
throughput of application specific networking software.
 A Server Operating System Design
• The components of a prototype server operating system
that we have designed and are in the process of building.
– Specialization: allows server applications to use their own
resource management abstractions instead of any of the default
implementations provided.
– Direct device-to-device access: is made more efficient by allowing
application-specified network interrupt handlers to initiate
activity in the disk system (and vice versa).
– Event-driven organization: allows aggressive server applications to
construct and install code modules to be executed immediately
upon the occurrence of a relevant hardware interrupt.
– Dynamic, compiler-assisted ILP: an application writer need only
specify each individual data manipulation step and their
sequence.
 Understanding Server Concepts
• Computer networks are used to provide communications between
computing devices.
• The computing devices include network infrastructure hardware
devices, such as routers, switches, and firewalls. They also include
clients and servers.
• Servers are used to provide services to the networked devices.
• The services provided by a server include three primary categories of
service:
– Network services: include any service that exists to provide network
functionality.
– Security services: include those services that provide authentication,
authorization, confidentiality, or some form of protection to the network and
networked devices.
– Information services: include any service that provides information access,
information management, or information processing.
 Understanding Client/Server Concepts

• The term simply indicates that an application

is broken into two components:
– The client component: a computing device or
application that consumes services
– The server component
Comparing Servers and Clients
 Choosing Server Hardware
• The actual computing device we call a server comes in
several form factors.
• The form factor simply defines the design of the
server’s case and internal component access
methods.
• Today, three major form factors exist and are available
from many different vendors:
– Desktop
– Rack Mount
– Blade
Choosing Server Hardware
 Understanding Server Roles
• A server role is defined as a collection of responsibilities provided
to the network or networked devices by a specific server.
• Server roles are based on role services and one or more role
services is used to implement a given server role. The File
Services role includes the following role services:
– Share and Storage Management
– Distributed File System (DFS)
– File Server Resource Manager (FSRM)
– Services for Network File System (NFS)
– Windows Search Service
– Windows Server 2003 File Services (for backward compatibility)
– BranchCache for network files
Deploying Applications on Your Network
• The Application Server role, in Windows servers, provides an
integrated environment for the deployment of custom business
applications.
• The Application Server role provides the ability to run services and
applications that are built on COM+, Message Queuing, Web
Services and Distributed Transactions:
– COM+: allows for the remote invocation of applications.
– Message Queuing: allows for asymmetric network communications
– The Web Services: allow your application to communicate using the HTTP
that is common to web-based communications.
– Distributed Transactions component: allows for applications to complete
transactions against multiple databases stored on multiple computers that
participate in the network
 Installing and Configuring Servers
• Install servers
• Configure servers
• Configure local storage
 Install Servers
• Planning for a server installation
– Selecting a Windows Server 2012 R2 edition
• When planning a server deployment, the operating
system edition you choose should be based on multiple
factors, including the following:
– The roles you intend the servers to perform
– The virtualization strategy you intend to implement
– The licensing strategy you plan to use
 Install Servers (Cont…)
• Planning for a server installation
– Selecting a Windows Server 2012 R2 edition
• Editions:
– Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter: The Datacenter edition is designed
for large and powerful servers with up to 64 processors and include fault-
tolerance features such as hot-add processor support.
– Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard: The Standard edition includes the
full set of Windows Server 2012 R2 features and differs from the
Datacenter edition only in the number of virtual machine (VM) instances
permitted by the license.
– Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials: The Essentials edition includes
nearly all the features in the Standard and Datacenter editions; it does not
include Server Core, Hyper-V, and Active Directory Federation Services.
– Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundation: The Foundation edition is a
scaled-down version of the operating system; it is designed for small
businesses that require only basic server features, such as file and print
services and application support.
 Install Servers (Cont…)
• Planning for a server installation
– Supporting server roles
• Windows Server 2012 R2 includes predefined combinations of
services, called roles, which implement common server functions.
• Computers running the Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system
can perform a wide variety of tasks, using both the software included
with the product and third-party applications.
– Supporting server virtualization
• The Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter edition and the Standard
edition each includes support for Hyper-V, but each edition varies in
the number of VMs permitted by its license.
• Each running instance of the Windows Server 2012 R2 operating
system is classified as being in a physical operating system
environment (POSE) or in a virtual operating system environment
(VOSE).
 Install Servers (Cont…)
• Planning for a server installation
 Install Servers (Cont…)
• Planning for a server installation
– Installation requirements
• If your computer does not meet the following hardware
specifications, Windows Server 2012 R2 will not install
correctly (or possibly at all):
– 1.4-GHz 64-bit processor
– 512 MB RAM
– 32 GB available disk space
– Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution monitor
– Keyboard and mouse (or other compatible pointing device)
– Internet access
 Install Servers (Cont…)
• Planning for a server installation
– Choosing installation options
• Using Server Core: Windows Server 2012 R2 includes an
installation option that minimizes the user interface on a
server. When you select the Windows Server Core
installation option, you will install a stripped-down version
of the operating system. There is no Start menu, no
desktop Explorer shell, no Microsoft Management
Console (MMC), and virtually no graphical applications.
 Install Servers (Cont…)
• Planning for a server installation
– Choosing installation options
• There are several advantages to running servers using Server Core:
– Hardware resource conservation: Server Core eliminates some of the most
memory-intensive and processor-intensive elements of the Windows Server
2012 R2 operating system, thus devoting more of the system hardware to
running essential services.
– Reduced disk space: Server Core requires less disk space for the installed
operating system elements and less swap space, which maximizes the
utilization of the server’s storage resources.
– Reduced patch frequency: The graphical elements of Windows Server 2012 R2
are among the most frequently updated, so running Server Core reduces the
number of updates that administrators must apply. Fewer updates also mean
fewer server restarts and less downtime.
– Reduced attack surface: The less software there is running on the computer,
the fewer entrance points for attackers to exploit. Server Core reduces the
potential openings presented by the operating system, increasing its overall
security.
 Configure Servers
• A server is rarely ready to perform all the tasks you have planned
for it immediately after installation.
• Typically some post-installation configuration is required and
further configuration changes might become necessary after the
server is in service.
• Completing post-installation tasks: there are some tasks that
administrators might have to perform immediately after the
operating system installation that require direct access to the
server console:
– Configuring the network connection
– Setting the time zone
– Enabling Remote Desktop
– Renaming the computer
– Joining a domain
Configure Servers: Using GUI tools
Configure Servers: Using command-line tools
 Converting between GUI and Server Core
• To convert a full GUI installation of Windows Server 2012 R2 to
Server Core by using Server Manager, you must run the Remove
Roles And Features Wizard and uninstall the following features:
– Graphical Management Tools And Infrastructure
– Server Graphical Shell
• To convert a Windows Server 2012 R2 Server Core installation
to the full GUI option, use the following Windows PowerShell
command:

• To convert a full GUI server installation to Server Core, use the

following command:
Converting between GUI and Server Core
 Configuring NIC teaming
• NIC teaming, also called bonding, balancing, and
aggregation, is a technology that has been available for
some time, but it was always tied to specific hardware
implementations.
• The NIC teaming capability in Windows Server 2012 R2 is
hardware independent and enables you to combine
multiple physical network adapters into a single interface.
• The results can include increased performance by
combining the throughput of the adapters and protection
from adapter failures by dynamically moving all traffic to
the functioning NICs.