Preface
I still remember the day that I was first thrown into the server world. I had been working with Desktop computers for years, even had quite a bit of experience with other items such as printers, copy machines, and phone systems. Technology was familiar to me, Microsoft Windows was familiar to me, but the company where I worked was large enough that Desktop support and Server support were separated, and there wasn't a lot of technical interaction between the sides. Other than office pranks and lots of humorous emails forwards flying around, naturally. So when I had a sudden chance to change jobs squarely into a server support role, I was a little hesitant at first. When I found out my first task would be implementing DFSR, and I thought that stood for "Digital something-or-other", I may have been a little freaked out. I start with this little story not to try to make you chuckle at my expense, but because, if we fast forward to several years down the road, I suddenly find myself with an opportunity to put together a book on the new version of this incredible operating system, Windows Server 2012 R2.
Yes, this is getting to the point. There were many different angles from which the recipes contained within these pages could have come. Do we stick to features that are brand-new in Windows Server 2012 R2 and not in previous versions of the operating system? How advanced should the topics be? What about an inexperienced admin who is reading this book? What about those who are trying to get familiar with the server world because they don't have the opportunity to have hands-on experience of it during their day job? These questions, combined with my own situation as described above have led to my writing the hundreds of pages that make up this book.
What would I have wanted to know when I started working with servers? What are some of the things that I have learned over the years that I still continue to pass down to new customers that I work with? How can I make use of this new Server operating system from Microsoft in my own company? What are some of the lesser known topics in Server 2012 R2 that I myself am interested in digging deeper into? These kinds of questions became the new baseline for putting together recipes for this book. I sincerely hope that anyone who reads this—from the fresh, brand-new server administrator who has nothing but a server to learn on, to the tenured, experienced admin who is coming up to speed on the latest iteration (and certainly the best ever Windows Server operating system)—can all take something out of this text and apply it to their jobs and lives in a way that benefits them.
The beauty of the Windows Server operating system has always been how incredibly vast it is, and Server 2012 R2 is certainly no exception. There are loads of different roles, features, and functions that you can run in order to do almost anything within your network. Need a file server? Check. Directory services to house your user and computer accounts? Look no further. Secure remote access solution? Yes sir. Need to publish certificates for a website that you want to present to the internet? Yup, we can even do that if we so desire.
We are going to start with some recipes that get us familiar with the graphical interface of Server 2012 R2. I have the unique opportunity to work with new admins almost daily, from all kinds of different companies and corners of the world. Navigating around inside the Server 2012 and Server 2012 R2 systems is still a struggle that I see constantly. Once we know how to get around comfortably, we will move on to the configuration and utilization of core infrastructure technologies that are absolutely need-to-know information for any admin interested in working within a Microsoft network. Following that, we will dig down into some of the individual facets of technology that are provided by this amazing operating system. I will let the chapters speak for themselves, but I strive with these recipes to cover a lot of different bases, and to keep things interesting as we round those bases.
We will certainly discuss new material and features that are only available in this newest version of Windows Server, but additionally there will be recipes that apply not only in R2 but also to systems across your entire network. By starting to use these functions that may even be new to an experienced admin, the hope is that your daily chores and tasks can become more streamlined and efficient along the way.
PowerShell is also discussed and scattered throughout this book. At one point, there was an intention for a separate chapter dedicated to PowerShell but, as the recipes came together, it became clear that they should not stand on their own but ought to be embedded within the chapters to which they apply. PowerShell is fully integrated into every aspect of Windows Server 2012 R2. Any task that you want to perform, any task, can be performed via a PowerShell command or script if you so choose. It is the core of the way that Server 2012 R2 is built. In fact, many of the things that you configure in the GUI are really just calling for pre-built PowerShell scripts to run in the background to do the actual configuration. Because PowerShell is integral to the entire operating system, we incorporated it throughout this book rather than lumping it all together.
By the time you reach the end of this book, my hope is that even someone completely unfamiliar with the Windows Server operating system will have the ability to build their own Microsoft-centric network from the ground up. Even though the recipes are grouped together in chapters and follow a fairly logical sequence, there is no need to read this front-to-back. Each recipe has the power to stand on its own, and to be useful with or without the recipes that precede it. Feel free to skip around, grab the data you are currently interested in, or use this book as a reference guide in the future. Enjoy!
