Chapter 11. Nano Server and Server Core

Anyone working with Windows servers should be familiar with Server Core, or at least the name. As we mentioned back in Chapter 3, Security and Networking, Server Core is an alternative installation method for Windows Server 2016. It enables you to build a Windows Server with significantly lower amounts of CPU, memory, and hard drive requirements. Nano Server is a new and exciting feature in Windows Server 2016, and also represents a pretty significant shift in the way that we interact with our servers. Nano Server is similar to Server Core, except that Nano Server takes things a step further. A big step further. Nano is almost headless. I say almost because, as we will explore together, there is a limited-access console that you can interface with, but the bulk of what is done on both Server Core and Nano Server happens remotely, from another server or from your local workstation. It is around this shift in the management mindset that...