What this book covers

Chapter 1, Learning the interface, takes you on a journey of working with Windows Server 2019 as we figure out how to navigate through the new look and feel of this new operating system, and gain some tips and tricks to complete our daily chores efficiently.

Chapter 2, Core Infrastructure Tasks, takes us through configuring and working with the core Microsoft technology stack. The recipes contained in this chapter are what I consider essential knowledge for any administrator who intends to work in a Windows network.

Chapter 3, Networking, runs through many common network configurations and useful tools that you'll need to know to configure a Windows network.

Chapter 4, Working with Certificates, starts to get us comfortable with the creation and distribution of certificates within our network. Public Key Infrastructure is an area that administrators increasingly need to use and operate, but many administrators have not yet had an opportunity to work hands-on with it.

Chapter 5, Internet Information Services, brings us into the configuration of a Windows Server 2019 server as a web server in our network. We will start to tie in the earlier chapters of this book – we'll be using network configuration, core infrastructure tasks, and certificates in this chapter. We'll also be looking at a certificate authority called Let's Encrypt.

Chapter 6, Remote Access, digs into using Windows Server 2016 as the connectivity platform that brings your remote computers into the corporate network. We discuss DirectAccess and VPNs in this chapter.

Chapter 7, Remote Desktop Services, encourages you to look into using Server 2019 as a virtual session host or VDI solution. Remote Desktop Services (RDS) can be an incredibly powerful tool for anyone interested in centralized computing.

Chapter 8, Monitoring and Backup, covers some of the capabilities included with Windows Server 2019 to help keep tabs on the servers running in your infrastructure. From monitoring system performance and IP address management to backing up and restoring data using the tools baked into Windows, these recipes will walk you through some helpful tasks related to monitoring and backup, and checking for viruses.

Chapter 9, System Insights, covers a new feature in Windows Server 2019 that allows large-scale analysis and predictions of server health and capacity. We look at how we can use this for capacity planning, and how you might integrate it into an existing monitoring system. We also do a lot of work in the new Windows Admin Center.

Chapter 10, Group Policy, takes us into the incredibly powerful and far-reaching management powers contained within Active Directory that are provided out of the box with Windows Server 2019.

Chapter 11, File Services and Data Control, provides us with information and step-by-step recipes on some of the lesser - known ways that data can be managed on a Windows server. We will cover technologies such as DFSR, iSCSI, and Windows Server 2019 Work Folders. We also look at building a scale-out file server.

Chapter 12, Server Core, encourages us to shrink our servers! Most of us automatically deploy our servers with the full graphical interface, but often we could make our servers more efficient and more secure by using a headless interface. Let's explore these capabilities together to see where they can fit into your environment.

Chapter 13, Working with Hyper-V, takes a look into the backend interface of our virtualization infrastructure. Many server administrators only ever access their virtual machines as if they were physical servers, but there may come a day when you need to get into that backend administration and create a new VM or adjust some settings. We also look at another brand-new Windows Server 2019 feature: nested resilience.

Chapter 14, Containers and Docker, takes us into one of the most exciting technologies since virtualization became mainstream. It's an entirely new way of deploying server applications. Most of the talk regarding containers has been about Linux, but did you know that Windows supports containers too? Docker is the most popular container platform, and Windows Server 2019 supports it! You'll learn the basics of how Docker works with Windows and we'll build a Minecraft server while we're at it.

Chapter 15, Desired State Configuration and Automation, teaches a new tool for ensuring that your servers are consistently configured. This allows you to easily deploy dozens, hundreds, or thousands of identically configured servers (for example, a web server tier), update their configuration by updating a single file, and undo any changes that might have been made by other services. DSC integration is also provided by other tools, such as Puppet; however, Microsoft's preferred DSC management method is with Azure.

Chapter 16, Hardening Your Infrastructure, takes a look at the most secure version of Windows Server yet. Windows Server 2019 is more secure out of the box than any Windows version previously. However, you cannot just stop at the defaults. Every environment is different. In this chapter, you will learn about the tools and processes you need to ensure that you can secure your Windows servers in the ways that are the most appropriate for you.