use Windows Deployment Services to set up new computers by using a network-based installation.
Planning the Windows Server 2012 R2 Installation
Before you install Windows Server 2012 R2, you must first ask yourself these important questions: What type of server do I need? Will the server be a domain controller? What roles do I need to install on this server?
Once you have figured out what you need the server to do, you can make a game plan for the installation. So, let’s start by looking at some of the server roles and technologies that can be installed on a Windows Server 2012 R2 computer.
Server Roles in Windows Server 2012 R2
When you install Windows Server 2012 R2, you have to decide which roles and features are going to be installed onto that server. This is an important decision in the computer world. Many administrators not only overuse a server but also underutilize servers in their organization.
For example, many administrators refuse to put any other roles or features on a domain controller. This may not be a good use of a server. Domain controllers help authenticate users onto the network, but after that the domain controllers are really not very busy all day long. Domain controllers have tasks that they must perform all day, but the server on which they reside is not heavily used when compared to a SQL Server machine or an Exchange mail server. This is where monitoring your server can be useful.
Now let’s take a look at some of the roles and features you can install onto a Windows Server 2012 R2 machine. Knowing the different roles and features you can install will help you to design, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot technologies in Windows Server 2012 R2. Figure 1.1 shows the Add Roles And Features Wizard in Server Manager. It shows you just some of the roles that can be installed on a Windows Server 2012 R2 machine.
FIGURE 1.1 Available roles in Windows Server 2012 R2
Roles and Features
Many of these features were discussed in the section “Features and Advantages of Windows Server 2012 and Server 2012 R2.” I include them here again because they are also roles that can also be installed on Windows Server 2012 R2.
The following roles are available in Windows Server 2012 R2:
Active Directory Certificate Services The AD CS server role in Windows Server 2012 R2 allows you to build a PKI and provide public key cryptography, digital certificates, and digital signature capabilities for your organization.
Feature AD CS provides a customizable set of services that allows you to issue and manage PKI certificates. These certificates can be used in software security systems that employ public key technologies.
Role AD CS in Windows Server 2012 R2 is the server role that allows you to build a PKI and provide public key cryptography, digital certificates, and digital signature capabilities for your organization.
Active Directory Domain Services The AD DS server role allows you to create a scalable, secure, and manageable infrastructure for user and resource management and to provide support for directory-enabled applications, such as Microsoft Exchange Server.
Active Directory Federation Services Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) provides Internet-based clients with a secure identity access solution that works on both Windows and non-Windows operating systems. AD FS gives users the ability to do a single sign-on (SSO) and access applications on other networks without needing a secondary password.
Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) is a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory service that provides flexible support for directory-enabled applications, without the dependencies and domain-related restrictions of AD DS.
Active Directory Rights Management Services Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS) in Windows Server 2012 R2 is the server role that provides you with management and development tools that work with industry security technologies including encryption, certificates, and authentication to help organizations create reliable information protection solutions.
Application Server Application Server provides an integrated environment for deploying and running custom, server-based business applications.
Failover Clustering The Failover Clustering feature provides a way to create, configure, and manage failover clusters for up to 4,000 virtual machines or up to 64 physical nodes.
File and Storage Services File and Storage Services allows an administrator to set up and manage one or more file servers. These servers can provide a central location on your network where you can store files and then share those files with network users. If users require access to the same files and applications or if centralized backup and file management are important issues for your organization, administrators should set up network servers as a file server.
Group Policy Group policies are a set of rules and management configuration options that you can control through the Group Policy settings. These policy settings can be placed on users’ computers throughout the organization.
Hyper-V The Hyper-V role allows administrators to create and manage a virtualized environment by taking advantage of the technology built into the Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system. When an administrator installs the Hyper-V role, all required virtualization components are installed.
Some of the required components include the Windows hypervisor, Virtual Machine Management Service, the virtualization WMI provider, the virtual machine bus (VMbus), the virtualization service provider (VSP), and the virtual infrastructure driver (VID).
Networking This feature allows administrators to design, deploy, and maintain a Windows Server 2012 R2 network. The networking features include 802.1X authenticated wired and wireless access, BranchCache, Data Center Bridging, low-latency workload technologies, and many more.
Network Load Balancing The Network Load Balancing (NLB) feature dispenses traffic across multiple servers by using the TCP/IP networking protocol. By combining two or more computers that are running applications in Windows Server 2012 R2 into a single virtual cluster, NLB provides reliability and performance for mission-critical servers.
Network Policy and Access Services Use the Network Policy and Access Services server role to install and configure Network Access Protection (NAP), secure wired and wireless access points, and RADIUS servers and proxies.
Print and Document Services Print and Document Services allows an administrator to centralize print server and network printer tasks. This role also allows you to receive scanned documents from network scanners and route the documents to a shared network resource, Windows SharePoint Services site, or email addresses. Print and Document Services also provides fax servers with the ability to send and receive faxes while also giving the administrator the ability to manage fax resources such as jobs, settings, reports, and fax devices on the fax server.
Remote Desktop Services Remote Desktop Services allows for faster desktop and application deployments to any device, improving remote user effectiveness while helping to keep critical data secure. Remote Desktop Services allows for both a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and session-based desktops, allowing users to connect from
