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Mastering Windows Server 2016
Mastering Windows Server 2016

Mastering Windows Server 2016: A comprehensive and practical guide to Windows Server 2016

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Mastering Windows Server 2016

Chapter 2. Installing and Managing Windows Server 2016

Now that we have taken a look at some of the features inside the graphical interface of Windows Server 2016, I realize that some of you may be sitting back thinking, "That's great to read about, but how do I really get started playing around with this for myself?" Reading about technology is never as good as experiencing it for yourself, so we want some rubber to meet the road in this chapter. One of the biggest goals for this entire book is to make sure we enable you to use the product. Rattling off facts about new features and efficiencies is fine and dandy, but ultimately worthless if you aren't able to make it work in real life. So, let's make this chunk of raw server metal do some work for us:

  • Installing Windows Server 2016
  • Installing roles and features
  • Centralized management and monitoring
  • Sysprep enables quick server rollouts

Installing Windows Server 2016

The installation process for Microsoft operating systems in general has improved dramatically over the past 15 years. I assume that a lot of you as IT professionals are also the de facto "neighborhood computer guy", being constantly asked by friends and family to fix or rebuild their computers. If you're anything like me, this means you are still regularly rebuilding operating systems such as Windows XP. Looking at the bright blue setup screens and finding a keyboard where the F8 key actually works are imperative to this process. To spend two hours simply installing the base operating system and bringing it up to the highest service pack level is pretty normal. Compared to that timeline, installation of a modern operating system such as Windows Server 2016 is almost unbelievably fast and simple.

It is very likely that the majority of readers have completed this process numerous times already, and if that is the case feel free to skip ahead a...

Installing roles and features

Installing the operating system itself gets your foot in the door, so to speak, using your server as a server. However, you can't actually do anything useful with your server at this point. On a client desktop system, the base operating system is generally all that is needed in order to start working and consuming data. The server's job is to serve up that data in the first place, and until you tell the server what its purpose is in life, there really isn't anything useful happening in that base operating system. This is where we need to utilize roles and features. Windows Server 2016 contains many different options for roles.

A role is just what the name implies, the installation of a particular role onto a server defines that server's role in the network. In other words, a role gives a server some purpose in life. A feature, on the other hand, is more of a subset of functions that you can install onto a server. Features can complement...

Centralized management and monitoring

Whether you are installing new roles, running backups and maintenance programs, or troubleshooting and repairing a server, it makes sense that you would log in to the specific server that you will be working on. Long ago this meant walking up to the server itself and logging on with the keyboard and mouse which were plugged right into that hardware. Then, quite a number of years ago, this became cumbersome and since technology had advanced to the point where we had the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) available to us, we quickly transitioned over to logging in to our servers remotely using RDP. Even though it's been around for many years, RDP is still an incredibly powerful protocol, giving us the ability to quickly connect to servers from the comfort of our desk. And as long as you have proper network topology and routing in place, you can work on a server halfway around the world just as quickly as one sitting in the cubicle next to you.

In fact...

Sysprep enables quick server rollouts

At the beginning of this chapter, we walked through the process for installing the Windows Server 2016 operating system onto your new server. Whether this was a physical piece of hardware or a virtual machine that we were working with, the installation process is essentially the same. Plugging in the CD, booting to it, and letting the installer run its course is an easy enough thing to do, but what if you needed to build out ten new servers instead of just one? This process would start to get tedious in a hurry, and it would seem like you were wasting a lot of time having to do the exact same thing over and over again.

You would be correct, this does waste a lot of time, and there is an easier and faster way to roll out new servers as long as you are building them all from a relatively similar hardware platform. If you are building out your servers as virtual machines, which is so often the case these days, then this process works great and can save...

Summary

Anyone interested in being a Windows Server administrator needs to be comfortable with installing and managing their servers, and covering those topics establishes an important baseline for moving forward. It is quite common in today's IT world for new operating system releases to be thoroughly tested, both because server hardware resources are so easily available to us through virtualization technologies, and because most business systems are now being designed for 100% uptime. This kind of reliability requires very thorough testing of any platform changes, and in order to accomplish such testing of the Windows Server 2016 operating system in your environment, you will be burning quite a bit of time spinning through the basic installation processes numerous times. I hope that you can put the suggestions provided in this chapter to good use in saving you precious extra minutes when dealing with these tasks in your Windows Server world.

Years ago quite a bit of effort was regularly...

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Key benefits

  • In-depth coverage of new features of Windows Server 2016
  • Gain the necessary skills and knowledge to design and implement Microsoft Server 2016 in enterprise environment
  • Know how you can support your medium to large enterprise and leverage your experience in administering Microsoft Server 2016,
  • A practical guide to administering Windows server 2016

Description

Windows Server 2016 is the server operating system developed by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems, developed concurrently with Windows 10. With Windows Server 2016, Microsoft has gotten us thinking outside of the box for what it means to be a system administration, and comes with some interesting new capabilities. These are exciting times to be or to become a server administrator! This book covers all aspects of administration level tasks and activities required to gain expertise in Microsoft Windows Server 2016. You will begin by getting familiar and comfortable navigating around in the interface. Next, you will learn to install and manage Windows Server 2016 and discover some tips for adapting to the new server management ideology that is all about centralized monitoring and configuration. You will deep dive into core Microsoft infrastructure technologies that the majority of companies are going to run on Server 2016. Core technologies such as Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Certificate Services, File Services, and more. We will talk about networking in this new operating system, giving you a networking toolset that is useful for everyday troubleshooting and maintenance. Also discussed is the idea of Software Defined Networking. You will later walk through different aspects of certificate administration in Windows Server 2016. Three important and crucial areas to cover in the Remote Access role -- DirectAccess, VPN, and the Web Application Proxy -- are also covered. You will then move into security functions and benefits that are available in Windows Server 2016. Also covered is the brand new and all-important Nano Server! We will incorporate PowerShell as a central platform for performing many of the functions that are discussed in this book, including a chapter dedicated to the new PowerShell 5.0. Additionally, you will learn about the new built-in integration for Docker with this latest release of Windows Server 2016. The book ends with a discussion and information on virtualizing your datacenter with Hyper-V. By the end of this book, you will have all the ammunition required to start planning for and implementing Windows Server 2016.

Who is this book for?

The book is targeted at System Administrators and IT professionals who would like to design and deploy Windows Server 2016 (physical and logical) Enterprise infrastructure. Previous experience of Windows Server operating systems and familiarity with networking concepts is assumed. System administrators who are upgrading or migrating to Windows Server 2016 would also find this book useful.

What you will learn

  • Familiarize yourself with Windows Server 2016 ideology, the core of most datacenters running today
  • New functions and benefits provided only by the new Windows Server 2016
  • Get comfortable working with Nanoserver
  • Secure your network with new technologies in Server 2016
  • Harden your Windows Servers to help keep those bad guys out!
  • Using new built-in integration for Docker with this latest release of Windows Server 2016
  • Virtualize your datacenter with Hyper-V

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Oct 25, 2016
Length: 416 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785888908
Vendor :
Microsoft

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Product Details

Publication date : Oct 25, 2016
Length: 416 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785888908
Vendor :
Microsoft

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Table of Contents

13 Chapters
1. Getting Started with Windows Server 2016 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Installing and Managing Windows Server 2016 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Core Infrastructure Services Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Certificates in Windows Server 2016 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Networking with Windows Server 2016 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Enabling Your Mobile Workforce Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Hardening and Security Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Tiny Servers Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Redundancy in Windows Server 2016 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Learning PowerShell 5.0 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
11. Application Containers and Docker Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
12. Virtualizing Your Datacenter with Hyper-V Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Top Reviews
Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.3
(19 Ratings)
5 star 26.3%
4 star 26.3%
3 star 10.5%
2 star 21.1%
1 star 15.8%
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Daniel B. Dec 14, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Found it helpful.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Doug May 12, 2017
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Love the Mastering titles and cookbooks from this publisher.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Steven A Vasquez Jan 14, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Awesome book for a general overview of Windows Server 2016. Just about all the technologies, old and new are at least covered in the surface. As for particular technologies in Server 2016, you will have to continue studying those on your own to go in deeper. He sums up the book accurately with the statement on the book cover: "A comprehensive and practical guide to Windows Server 2016"I enjoyed the author's way of writing and loved some of the humor in the book! Kudos to Jordan Krause for writing an excellent book, and I definitely respect his technical knowledge. Off to the cookbook!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Bruce Dec 30, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Very good book. Allot more hands on than many Windows Server books which tend to be more reference books.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Downeast Bob Aug 15, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Great read for need to know info - enhances the hands on experience.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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