Search icon CANCEL
Subscription
0
Cart icon
Your Cart (0 item)
Close icon
You have no products in your basket yet
Arrow left icon
Explore Products
Best Sellers
New Releases
Books
Videos
Audiobooks
Learning Hub
Newsletter Hub
Free Learning
Arrow right icon
timer SALE ENDS IN
0 Days
:
00 Hours
:
00 Minutes
:
00 Seconds
Windows Server 2016 Cookbook
Windows Server 2016 Cookbook

Windows Server 2016 Cookbook: Sauté your way through more than 100 hands-on recipes designed to prepare any server administrator to work with Windows Server 2016

Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Jordan Krause
Arrow right icon
$19.99 per month
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.5 (2 Ratings)
Paperback Nov 2016 494 pages 1st Edition
eBook
$35.99 $51.99
Paperback
$65.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at $19.99p/m
Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Jordan Krause
Arrow right icon
$19.99 per month
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.5 (2 Ratings)
Paperback Nov 2016 494 pages 1st Edition
eBook
$35.99 $51.99
Paperback
$65.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at $19.99p/m
eBook
$35.99 $51.99
Paperback
$65.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at $19.99p/m

What do you get with a Packt Subscription?

Free for first 7 days. $19.99 p/m after that. Cancel any time!
Product feature icon Unlimited ad-free access to the largest independent learning library in tech. Access this title and thousands more!
Product feature icon 50+ new titles added per month, including many first-to-market concepts and exclusive early access to books as they are being written.
Product feature icon Innovative learning tools, including AI book assistants, code context explainers, and text-to-speech.
Product feature icon Thousands of reference materials covering every tech concept you need to stay up to date.
Subscribe now
View plans & pricing
Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Windows Server 2016 Cookbook

Chapter 2. Core Infrastructure Tasks

Windows Server 2016 has many roles and features that can be used to accomplish all sorts of different tasks in your network. This chapter reflects on the most common infrastructure tasks needed to create a successful Windows Active Directory environment by using Server 2016. In this chapter, we will cover the following recipes:

  • Configuring a combination Domain Controller, DNS server, and DHCP server
  • Adding a second Domain Controller
  • Organizing your computers with Organizational Units
  • Creating an A or AAAA record in DNS
  • Creating and using a CNAME record in DNS
  • Creating a DHCP scope to assign addresses to computers
  • Creating a DHCP reservation for a specific server or resource
  • Pre-staging a computer account in Active Directory
  • Using PowerShell to create a new Active Directory user
  • Using PowerShell to view system uptime

Introduction

There are a number of technologies in Windows Server 2016 that you need to know if you plan to ever work in a Windows environment. These are technologies such as Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), Domain Name System (DNS), and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). If you haven't noticed already, everything in the Windows world has an acronym. In fact, you may only recognize these items by their acronyms, and that's okay.

Nobody calls DHCP the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol anyway. But do you know how to build these services and bring a Windows Server infrastructure online from scratch, with only a piece of hardware and a Windows Server 2016 installation disk to guide your way? This is why we are here today. I would like to instruct you on taking your first server and turning it into everything that you need to run a Microsoft network.

Every company and network is different and has different requirements. Some will get by with a single server...

Configuring a combination Domain Controller, DNS server, and DHCP server

The directory structure that Microsoft networks use to house their users and computer accounts is called Active Directory (AD), and the directory information is controlled and managed by Domain Controller (DC) servers. Two other server roles that almost always go hand-in-hand with Active Directory are DNS and DHCP, and in many networks these three roles are combined on each server where they reside. A lot of small businesses have always made do with a single server containing all three of these roles, but in recent years, virtualization has become so easy that almost everyone runs at least two DCs, for redundancy purposes. And if you are going to have two DCs, you may as well put the DNS and DHCP roles on them both to make those services redundant as well. But I'm getting ahead of myself. For this recipe, let's get started building these services by installing the roles and configuring them for the first...

Adding a second Domain Controller

AD is the core of your network. It has ties to everything! As such, it makes sense that you would want this to be as redundant as possible. In Windows Server 2016, creating a secondary DC is so easy that you really have no reason not to do it. Can you imagine rebuilding your directory following a single server hardware failure where you have 100 user accounts and computers that are all part of the domain that just failed? How about with 1,000 or even 10,000 users? That could take weeks to clean up, and you'll probably never get it back exactly the way it was before. Additionally, while you are stuck in the middle of this downtime, you will have all kinds of trouble inside your network since your user and computer accounts are relying on AD, which would then be offline. Here are the steps to take a second server in your network and join it to the existing domain that is running on the primary DC to create our redundant, secondary DC. The larger...

Organizing your computers with Organizational Units

AD is the structure in which all of your user, computer, and server accounts reside. As you add new users and computers into your domain, they will be automatically placed into generic storage containers. You could get away with leaving all of your objects in their default locations, but there are a lot of advantages to putting a little time and effort into creating an organizational structure.

In this recipe, we will create some Organizational Units (OUs) inside Active Directory and move our existing objects into these OUs so that we can create some structure.

Getting ready

We will need a DC online for this recipe, which is a Server 2016 machine with the Active Directory Domain Services role installed. Specifically, I will be using the DC1 server that we prepped in the earlier Configuring a combination Domain Controller, DNS server, and DHCP server recipe.

How to do it…

Let's get comfortable working with OUs by creating some of...

Creating an A or AAAA record in DNS

Most folks working in IT are familiar with using the ping command to test network connectivity. If you are trying to test the connection between your computer and another, you can ping it from a Command Prompt and test whether or not it replies. This assumes that the firewalls in your computers and network allow the ping to respond correctly, which generally is true. If you are inside a domain network and ping a device by its name, that name resolves to an IP address, which is the device's address on the network. But what tells your computer which IP address corresponds to which name? This is where DNS comes in. Any time your computer makes a request for a name, whether it is you pinging another computer or your Outlook e-mail client requesting the name of your Exchange Server, your computer always reaches out to your network's DNS servers and asks, "How do I get to this name?".

DNS contains a list of records that tell the computers...

Introduction


There are a number of technologies in Windows Server 2016 that you need to know if you plan to ever work in a Windows environment. These are technologies such as Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), Domain Name System (DNS), and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). If you haven't noticed already, everything in the Windows world has an acronym. In fact, you may only recognize these items by their acronyms, and that's okay.

Nobody calls DHCP the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol anyway. But do you know how to build these services and bring a Windows Server infrastructure online from scratch, with only a piece of hardware and a Windows Server 2016 installation disk to guide your way? This is why we are here today. I would like to instruct you on taking your first server and turning it into everything that you need to run a Microsoft network.

Every company and network is different and has different requirements. Some will get by with a single server to host a myriad...

Configuring a combination Domain Controller, DNS server, and DHCP server


The directory structure that Microsoft networks use to house their users and computer accounts is called Active Directory (AD), and the directory information is controlled and managed by Domain Controller (DC) servers. Two other server roles that almost always go hand-in-hand with Active Directory are DNS and DHCP, and in many networks these three roles are combined on each server where they reside. A lot of small businesses have always made do with a single server containing all three of these roles, but in recent years, virtualization has become so easy that almost everyone runs at least two DCs, for redundancy purposes. And if you are going to have two DCs, you may as well put the DNS and DHCP roles on them both to make those services redundant as well. But I'm getting ahead of myself. For this recipe, let's get started building these services by installing the roles and configuring them for the first time: the first...

Adding a second Domain Controller


AD is the core of your network. It has ties to everything! As such, it makes sense that you would want this to be as redundant as possible. In Windows Server 2016, creating a secondary DC is so easy that you really have no reason not to do it. Can you imagine rebuilding your directory following a single server hardware failure where you have 100 user accounts and computers that are all part of the domain that just failed? How about with 1,000 or even 10,000 users? That could take weeks to clean up, and you'll probably never get it back exactly the way it was before. Additionally, while you are stuck in the middle of this downtime, you will have all kinds of trouble inside your network since your user and computer accounts are relying on AD, which would then be offline. Here are the steps to take a second server in your network and join it to the existing domain that is running on the primary DC to create our redundant, secondary DC. The larger your network...

Organizing your computers with Organizational Units


AD is the structure in which all of your user, computer, and server accounts reside. As you add new users and computers into your domain, they will be automatically placed into generic storage containers. You could get away with leaving all of your objects in their default locations, but there are a lot of advantages to putting a little time and effort into creating an organizational structure.

In this recipe, we will create some Organizational Units (OUs) inside Active Directory and move our existing objects into these OUs so that we can create some structure.

Getting ready

We will need a DC online for this recipe, which is a Server 2016 machine with the Active Directory Domain Services role installed. Specifically, I will be using the DC1 server that we prepped in the earlier Configuring a combination Domain Controller, DNS server, and DHCP server recipe.

How to do it…

Let's get comfortable working with OUs by creating some of our own, as...

Creating an A or AAAA record in DNS


Most folks working in IT are familiar with using the ping command to test network connectivity. If you are trying to test the connection between your computer and another, you can ping it from a Command Prompt and test whether or not it replies. This assumes that the firewalls in your computers and network allow the ping to respond correctly, which generally is true. If you are inside a domain network and ping a device by its name, that name resolves to an IP address, which is the device's address on the network. But what tells your computer which IP address corresponds to which name? This is where DNS comes in. Any time your computer makes a request for a name, whether it is you pinging another computer or your Outlook e-mail client requesting the name of your Exchange Server, your computer always reaches out to your network's DNS servers and asks, "How do I get to this name?".

DNS contains a list of records that tell the computers in your network what...

Creating and using a CNAME record in DNS


Now that we are familiar with moving around a little bit inside the DNS management tool, we are going to create and test another type of record. This one is called a CNAME, and it is easiest to think of this one as an alias record. Rather than taking a DNS name and pointing it at an IP address, as we do with a host record, with a CNAME, we are going to take a DNS name and point it at another DNS name! Why would this be necessary? If you are hosting multiple services on a single server but want those services to be contacted by using different names, CNAME records can be your best friend.

Getting ready

We are going to make use of the same environment that we used to create our A records in the Creating an A or AAAA record in DNS recipe. There is a DC/DNS server online where we are going to create our records. Also running is WEB1, a server where we are hosting a website as well as some file shares. We will also use a Windows 10 client to test out our...

Left arrow icon Right arrow icon

Key benefits

  • Get the first book on the market to unleash the power of Windows Server 2016, which improves the lives of thousands of enterprise users
  • Be the first to leverage the advent of Containers and Nano Server on Windows Server 2016, which utilizes the resources efficiently and increases productivity.
  • This practical, recipe-based approach helps you to delivering global-scale cloud services into your infrastructure using Windows Server 2016

Description

This hands-on Cookbook is stuffed full of practical recipes that will help you handle the essential administrative tasks in Windows Server 2016. You’ll start by familiarizing yourself with the look and feel of Windows Server 2016, and will then learn how to navigate through some daily tasks using the graphical interface. You will see how to compose optimal Group Policies and facilitate task automation with PowerShell 5.0 scripting. We will also take a look at the functions available to provide remote network access to your traveling users, and explore the much anticipated Nano Server and Hyper-V built-in integration support that is brand new in Windows Server 2016. By the end of this book, you will know how to take your Windows Server 2016-powered server and turn it into any common infrastructure role that might be required in your company.

Who is this book for?

This book is for system administrators and IT professionals with experience in Windows Server 2012 R2 environments who are looking to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to manage and maintain the core infrastructure required for a Windows Server 2016 environment.

What you will learn

  • Build the infrastructure required for a successful Windows network
  • Navigate the new Server 2016 interface efficiently
  • Implement solid networking and security practices into your Windows Server environment
  • Design your own PKI and start issuing certificates today
  • Explore the brand-new Nano Server functionality
  • Enable nested virtualization on Hyper-V and Server
  • Connect your remote laptops back to the corporate network using Microsoft s own remote access technologies, including DirectAccess
  • Provide a centralized point for users to access applications and data by configuring Remote Desktop Services
  • Compose optimal Group Policies
  • Facilitate task automation with PowerShell 5.0 scripting

Product Details

Country selected
Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Nov 21, 2016
Length: 494 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785883835
Vendor :
Microsoft
Concepts :

What do you get with a Packt Subscription?

Free for first 7 days. $19.99 p/m after that. Cancel any time!
Product feature icon Unlimited ad-free access to the largest independent learning library in tech. Access this title and thousands more!
Product feature icon 50+ new titles added per month, including many first-to-market concepts and exclusive early access to books as they are being written.
Product feature icon Innovative learning tools, including AI book assistants, code context explainers, and text-to-speech.
Product feature icon Thousands of reference materials covering every tech concept you need to stay up to date.
Subscribe now
View plans & pricing

Product Details

Publication date : Nov 21, 2016
Length: 494 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785883835
Vendor :
Microsoft
Concepts :

Packt Subscriptions

See our plans and pricing
Modal Close icon
$19.99 billed monthly
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Simple pricing, no contract
$199.99 billed annually
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just $5 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts
$279.99 billed in 18 months
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just $5 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts

Frequently bought together


Stars icon
Total $ 197.97
Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V Cookbook
$65.99
Mastering Windows Server 2016
$65.99
Windows Server 2016 Cookbook
$65.99
Total $ 197.97 Stars icon

Table of Contents

12 Chapters
1. Learning the Interface Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Core Infrastructure Tasks Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Security and Networking Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Working with Certificates Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Internet Information Services Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Remote Access Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Remote Desktop Services Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Monitoring and Backup Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Group Policy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. File Services and Data Control Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
11. Nano Server and Server Core Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
12. Working with Hyper-V Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.5
(2 Ratings)
5 star 50%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 50%
1 star 0%
Daniel B. Dec 09, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Started reading it and already finding the recipes useful. Hands on...
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Amazon Customer Jul 28, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 2
Thick book due to big fonts, pictures and lots of empty white space per page. Very little detail. Not for IT pros needing in depth info on 2016. Im hoping "Server 2016 Unleashed" will be better when released.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Get free access to Packt library with over 7500+ books and video courses for 7 days!
Start Free Trial

FAQs

What is included in a Packt subscription? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

A subscription provides you with full access to view all Packt and licnesed content online, this includes exclusive access to Early Access titles. Depending on the tier chosen you can also earn credits and discounts to use for owning content

How can I cancel my subscription? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

To cancel your subscription with us simply go to the account page - found in the top right of the page or at https://subscription.packtpub.com/my-account/subscription - From here you will see the ‘cancel subscription’ button in the grey box with your subscription information in.

What are credits? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Credits can be earned from reading 40 section of any title within the payment cycle - a month starting from the day of subscription payment. You also earn a Credit every month if you subscribe to our annual or 18 month plans. Credits can be used to buy books DRM free, the same way that you would pay for a book. Your credits can be found in the subscription homepage - subscription.packtpub.com - clicking on ‘the my’ library dropdown and selecting ‘credits’.

What happens if an Early Access Course is cancelled? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Projects are rarely cancelled, but sometimes it's unavoidable. If an Early Access course is cancelled or excessively delayed, you can exchange your purchase for another course. For further details, please contact us here.

Where can I send feedback about an Early Access title? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

If you have any feedback about the product you're reading, or Early Access in general, then please fill out a contact form here and we'll make sure the feedback gets to the right team. 

Can I download the code files for Early Access titles? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

We try to ensure that all books in Early Access have code available to use, download, and fork on GitHub. This helps us be more agile in the development of the book, and helps keep the often changing code base of new versions and new technologies as up to date as possible. Unfortunately, however, there will be rare cases when it is not possible for us to have downloadable code samples available until publication.

When we publish the book, the code files will also be available to download from the Packt website.

How accurate is the publication date? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

The publication date is as accurate as we can be at any point in the project. Unfortunately, delays can happen. Often those delays are out of our control, such as changes to the technology code base or delays in the tech release. We do our best to give you an accurate estimate of the publication date at any given time, and as more chapters are delivered, the more accurate the delivery date will become.

How will I know when new chapters are ready? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

We'll let you know every time there has been an update to a course that you've bought in Early Access. You'll get an email to let you know there has been a new chapter, or a change to a previous chapter. The new chapters are automatically added to your account, so you can also check back there any time you're ready and download or read them online.

I am a Packt subscriber, do I get Early Access? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Yes, all Early Access content is fully available through your subscription. You will need to have a paid for or active trial subscription in order to access all titles.

How is Early Access delivered? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Early Access is currently only available as a PDF or through our online reader. As we make changes or add new chapters, the files in your Packt account will be updated so you can download them again or view them online immediately.

How do I buy Early Access content? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Early Access is a way of us getting our content to you quicker, but the method of buying the Early Access course is still the same. Just find the course you want to buy, go through the check-out steps, and you’ll get a confirmation email from us with information and a link to the relevant Early Access courses.

What is Early Access? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Keeping up to date with the latest technology is difficult; new versions, new frameworks, new techniques. This feature gives you a head-start to our content, as it's being created. With Early Access you'll receive each chapter as it's written, and get regular updates throughout the product's development, as well as the final course as soon as it's ready.We created Early Access as a means of giving you the information you need, as soon as it's available. As we go through the process of developing a course, 99% of it can be ready but we can't publish until that last 1% falls in to place. Early Access helps to unlock the potential of our content early, to help you start your learning when you need it most. You not only get access to every chapter as it's delivered, edited, and updated, but you'll also get the finalized, DRM-free product to download in any format you want when it's published. As a member of Packt, you'll also be eligible for our exclusive offers, including a free course every day, and discounts on new and popular titles.