Core Infrastructure Windows Server 2008

Prepaid By :-Vaibhav Gadkari mob-9322825174

Active Directory (AD)

Several enhancements have been made to the Active Directory offerings within Windows

Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Active Directory Domain Services.

Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services.

Active Directory Certificate Services.

Active Directory Federation Services.

Active Directory Rights Management Services.

Application and Web Services

Internet Information Services 7.5 (IIS 7.5) enhances the application support that was found

in IIS 6.0 and IIS 7.0 by providing a security-enhanced, easy-to-manage platform for

developing and reliably hosting Web sites, applications, and services. Improvements include:

More efficient management of server and Web applications and services.

Quicker deployment/configuration of Web applications and services across server farms.

A more secure, streamlined, and customized Web platform.

Greater performance and scalability of Web applications and services.

Fine control and visibility into how and when applications and services utilize key

operating system.

Availability and Scalability

Network Load Balancing (NLB)

In Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2, the improvements to Network Load

Balancing (NLB) include support for Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) and Network Driver

Interface Specification (NDIS) 6.0, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)

enhancements, and improved functionality with Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration

(ISA) Server. Enhancements include:

Support for IPv6.

Support for NDIS 6.0.

WMI enhancements.

Enhanced functionality with ISA Server.

Support for multiple dedicated IP addresses per node.

Backup and Recovery—Windows Server Backup

Windows Server Backup provides a basic backup and recovery solution for the server it is

installed on. You can also use this feature to manage backups on remote servers. The new

version of Windows Server Backup in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2

includes several enhancements over previous versions:

Faster backups

Simplified restores

Simplified recovery of operating systems

Ability to recover applications

Improved scheduling

Easy removal of backups offsite for disaster protection

Remote administration

Automatic disk usage management

Extensive command-line support

Support for DVD media

Recovery from total failures of disk volumes by using LUN synchronization

Integration with System Center Data Protection Manager 2007

Support for LUN resynchronization (also known as LUN resynch or LUN revert), which creates

hardware-based shadow copies that allow you to recover a volume from an existing

shadow copy of the volume

BranchCache

BranchCache in the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems can help

increase network responsiveness of centralized applications when accessed from remote

offices, giving users in those offices the experience of working on your local area network.

BranchCache also helps reduce wide area network (WAN) utilization.

When BranchCache is enabled, a copy of data accessed from intranet Web and file servers is

cached locally within the branch office. When another client on the same network requests

the file, the client downloads it from the local cache without downloading the same content

across the WAN.

Device Management and Installation

Device Management and Installation is a group of technologies that supports the installation

of hardware devices and the device driver software that enables them to communicate with

Windows. Features in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 give administrators the

ability to control the devices that can be installed on the computers they manage.

Fax Server

By using a fax server, you can manage shared fax resources. This topic discusses what you

can do with a fax server, the required and optional features of a fax server, and hardware

and software used for running fax servers. It also explains how to install the Fax Server role

and how to open Fax Service Manager to work with fax servers.

You can use a fax server to configure fax devices to enable the users in your network to

send and receive faxes. On a computer running the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating

system, you must install the Fax Server role, which is available from Server Manager, to

create a fax server and install the Fax Service and Fax Service Manager.

Once you have created a fax server, you can use the server to do the following:

Configure fax devices

Manage users

Set up routing policies for incoming faxes

Set up rules for outbound faxes to specific device groups

Set up archiving of faxes that have been previously sent or received

Configure logging to track the use of fax resources

Fax users can then send, receive, and manage faxes by using a network fax device that is

managed by the fax server. 

File and Print Services

File and print services have been enhanced in Windows Server 2008 R2 to allow better file

management and improved print support. The TCP/IP stack increases that transfer speed

between Windows Server 2008 R2 and client systems running Windows 7, Windows Vista,

and Windows XP Service Pack 2. Distributed File System for Replication (DFS-R) is included

to optimize the network load when working with branch office and remote locations.

Windows Server 2008 R2 File Classification Infrastructure provides insight into your data to

help you manage your data more effectively, reduce costs, and mitigate risks by providing a

built-in solution for file classification, allowing administrators to automate manual processes

with predefined policies based on the data’s business value.

Windows Server 2008 R2 also includes the Print Management Console (PMC) Microsoft

Management Console (MMC) snap-in that enables you to install, view, and manage all of the

printers in your organization from any computer running Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows

7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems.

The printer subsystem includes a new printer architecture that provides users with better

printer and print server performance and provides a new foundation for future applications.

Group Policy

Group Policy is an infrastructure used to deliver and apply one or more desired

configurations or policy settings to a set of targeted users and computers within an Active

Directory environment. This infrastructure consists of a Group Policy engine and multiple

client-side extensions (CSEs) responsible for writing specific policy settings on target client

computers.

Group Policy Management Console

Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is a scriptable MMC snap-in, providing a

single administrative tool for managing Group Policy across the enterprise. GPMC is the

standard tool for managing Group Policy. Download GPMC.

Resultant Set of Policy

You can use the Resultant Set of Policy (RSoP) snap-in to create detailed reports about

applied policy settings in two modes: logging mode and planning mode. Logging mode

displays policy settings that are applied to computers or users that have logged on.

Planning mode simulates policy settings that will be applied to a computer or user, or

you can use planning mode to check assigned policy settings for a computer that is not

currently available or a user that is not currently logged on. For more information about

the RSoP snap-in, please see Use the RSoP Snap-in.

Local Group Policy Editor

The Local Group Policy Editor is an MMC snap-in that provides a single user interface

through which all the settings of Local Group Policy objects (GPOs) can be

managed. Learn more about the Local Group Policy Editor.

Windows PowerShell Cmdlets for Group Policy

The ability to manage Group Policy from the Windows PowerShell command line and to

run Windows PowerShell scripts during logon and startup

Group Policy Preferences

Additional types of preference items

Starter Group Policy Objects

Improvements to Starter GPOs

Administrative Template Settings

Improved user interface and additional policy settings

Hyper-V

Hyper-V provides software infrastructure and basic management tools in Windows Server

2008 R2 that you can use to create and manage a virtualized server computing

environment. This virtualized environment can be used to address a variety of business

goals aimed at improving efficiency and reducing costs. For example, a virtualized server

environment can help you:

Reduce the costs of operating and maintaining physical servers by increasing your

hardware utilization. You can reduce the amount of hardware needed to run your server

workloads.

Increase development and test efficiency by reducing the amount of time it takes to set

up hardware and software and reproduce test environments.

Improve server availability without using as many physical computers as you would need

in a failover configuration that uses only physical computers.

Leveraging Sophisticated CPU Architectures

Windows Server 2008 R2 is the first Windows operating system to be offered for only 64-bit

processors. With customers being unable to purchase a 32-bit server CPU for more than two

years, the performance and reliability advantages to moving to this architecture were too

beneficial to ignore. Additionally, Windows Server 2008 R2 now supports up to 256 logical

processor cores for a single operating system instance. Hyper-V virtual machines are able to

address up to 64 logical cores in a single host. These improvements help ensure better

reliability with fewer locks and greater parallelism.

Networking

The collection that follows contains detailed information about networking products and

features for Windows Server 2008 R2.

802.1X Authenticated Wired Access

Learn from the full set of documentation available for planning, deploying, and

troubleshooting 802.3 wired technology.

802.1X Authenticated Wireless Access

Learn from the full set of documentation available for planning, deploying, and

troubleshooting 802.11 wireless technology.

Connection Manager Administration Kit

Learn from the full set of documentation available for Connection Manager

Administration Kit (CMAK).

DNS Server

Learn from the full set of documentation available for planning, deploying, and

troubleshooting Domain Name System (DNS), which is a computer name-to-IP address

resolution protocol used with TCP/IP networks.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

Learn from the full set of documentation available for planning, deploying, and

troubleshooting Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).

Foundation Network Guides

Learn how to deploy a Windows Server 2008 foundation network and related

technologies and features with Foundation Network Companion Guides.

Network Access Protection

Learn from the full set of documentation available for planning, deploying, and troubleshooting Network

Access Protection (NAP).

Network and Sharing Center

Learn from the full set of documentation available for Network and Sharing Center.

Network Policy and Access Services

Learn about the Network Policy and Access Services server role, which allows you to install and manage

network access technologies.

Network Policy Server

Learn from the full set of documentation available for planning, deploying, and troubleshooting Network

Policy Server (NPS).

Network Shell (Netsh)

Learn how to use Netsh to create scripts to automate the management of networking

technologies in Windows Server 2008.

Quality of Service

Learn from the full set of documentation available for Quality of Service (QoS).

Routing and Remote Access Server

Learn from the full set of documentation available for planning, deploying, and

troubleshooting Routing and Remote Access as a virtual private network (VPN) server,

dial-up server, or router.

Simple Network Management Protocol

Learn from the full set of documentation available for Simple Network Management

Protocol (SNMP).

Windows Deployment Services (WDS)

The Windows Deployment Services role in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008

R2 is the updated and redesigned version of Remote Installation Services (RIS). Windows

Deployment Services enables you to efficiently deploy Windows operating systems,

particularly Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Enhancements include:

Ability to transmit data and images using multicast deployment

Ability to transmit data and images using multicast on a stand-alone server

Does not support RISETUP images or OSChooser screens

Enhanced TFTP server

Ability to network boot x64-based computers with Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)

Metric reporting for installations

Ability to deploy Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

Windows PE is the boot operating system

Image-based installation using Windows image (.wim) files

An extensible and higher-performing Pre-Boot eXecution Environment (PXE) server

A new boot menu format for selecting boot images

A new graphical user interface that you can use to select and deploy images and to

manage Windows Deployment Services servers and clients

Leveraging Sophisticated CPU Architectures

Windows Server 2008 R2 is the first Windows operating system to be offered for only 64-bit

processors. With customers being unable to purchase a 32-bit server CPU for more than two

years, the performance and reliability advantages to moving to this architecture were too

beneficial to ignore. Additionally, Windows Server 2008 R2 now supports up to 256 logical

processor cores for a single operating system instance. Hyper-V virtual machines are able to

address up to 64 logical cores in a single host. These improvements help ensure better

reliability with fewer locks and greater parallelism.

What’s New in SP2?

SP2 adds support for 64-bit central processing unit (CPU) from VIA Technologies

SP2 introduces an improved power management policy that is up to 10% more efficient

than the original in some configurations (both on the server and the desktop), and

includes the ability to manage these settings via Group Policy

SP2 adds support for UTC timestamps to the exFAT file system, enabling correct file

synchronization across time zones

SP2 adds the ability to natively record data on to Blu-Ray media

SP2 increases the authentication options for WebDAV redirector, enabling Microsoft

Office users greater flexibility when authenticating custom applications using the

WebDAV redirector

SP2 provides the Hyper-V virtualization environment as a fully integrated feature of

Windows Server 2008, enabling customers to run one instance of the OS in the virtual

operating environment (VOSE) with Windows Server 2008 Standard license, four

instances of the OS in the VOSE with Windows Server 2008 Enterprise license and an

unlimited number of OS instances in the VOSE with Windows Server 2008 Datacenter

license.

SP2 improves backwards compatibility for Terminal server license keys

Additional Power Improvements over Windows Server 2008 RTM.

Shadow Copies of Shared Folders

Shadow Copies of Shared Folders provides point-in-time copies of files that are located on

shared resources, such as a file server. With Shadow Copies of Shared Folders, users can

view shared files and folders as they existed at points of time in the past. Accessing previous

versions of files, or shadow copies, is useful because users can:

Recover files that were accidentally deleted. If you accidentally delete a file, you can

open a previous version and copy it to a safe location.

Recover from accidentally overwriting a file. If you accidentally overwrite a file, you

can recover a previous version of the file.

Compare versions of a file while working. You can use previous versions when you

want to check what has changed between two versions of a file.

Disk Management

Disk Management is a system utility for managing hard disks and the volumes or partitions

that they contain. With Disk Management, you can initialize disks, create volumes, and

format volumes with the FAT, FAT32, or NTFS file systems. Disk Management enables you to

perform most disk-related tasks without restarting the system or interrupting users. Most

configuration changes take effect immediately.

In this version of Windows, Disk Management includes features such as:

Simpler partition creation. When you right-click a volume, you can choose whether to

create a basic, spanned, or striped partition directly from the menu.

Disk conversion options. When you add more than four partitions to a basic disk, you

are prompted to convert the disk to dynamic or to the GUID partition table (GPT) partition

style.

Extend and shrink partitions. You can extend and shrink partitions directly from the

Windows interface.

Service for Network File System (NFS)

Services for Network File System (NFS) provides a file sharing solution for enterprises that

have a mixed Windows and UNIX environment. With Services for NFS, you can transfer files

between computers running Windows Server 2008 R2 and UNIX operating systems using the

NFS protocol.

Services for NFS includes the following improvements:

Simplified Administration. Simplified configuration for supporting NFS clients with the Unmapped Unix

User Access feature.  This makes data storing on Windows file servers easier.

Active Directory Lookup. The Identity Management for UNIX Active Directory schema extension includes

UNIX user identifier (UID) and group identifier (GID) fields. This enables Server for NFS and Client for NFS to

look up Windows-to-UNIX user account mappings directly from Active Directory Domain Services. Identity

Management for UNIX simplifies Windows-to-UNIX user account mapping management in Active Directory

Domain Services.

Enhanced server performance. Services for NFS includes a file filter driver, which significantly reduces

common server file access latencies.

Unix special device support. Services for NFS supports UNIX special devices (mknod).

Enhanced Unix support. Services for NFS supports the following versions of UNIX: Sun Microsystems

Solaris version 9, Red Hat Linux version 9, IBM AIX version 5L 5.2, and Hewlett Packard HP-UX version 11i. 

NFS security is now enhanced with Kerberos.

Improved Print Server Management Tools

The Print Management Console (PMC), first shipped in Windows Server 2003 R2, is enhanced

in Windows Server 2008 R2. The PMC in Windows Server 2008 R2 includes support for print

server migration from Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server

2008 R2. It also features an improved Network Printer Installation Wizard, which reduces the

number of steps that an administrator must perform to add network printers to the print

server by automatically locating printers and installing the driver when the driver is

available.

File Classification Infrastructure

Windows Server 2008 R2 File Classification Infrastructure provides insight into your data to

help you manage your data more effectively, reduce costs and mitigate risks by providing a

built-in solution for file classification allowing administrators to automate manual processes

with predefined policies based on the data’s business value. Also provided is an extensible

infrastructure upon which ISVs can build end-to-end solutions that enable organizations to

perform advanced classification and data management helping enable Microsoft partners to

deliver rich classification solutions.

Provides Managerial Insight

Today, since there is no real insight into the business value of the files, it is very hard to

translate business requirements such as: expire all stale files or better protect all the

important files. By being able to both automatically and manually classify files according to

pre-defined rules, organizations can manage their data more effectively to decide what

should be retained and where should it be stored. This reduces costs of storage and

mitigates risks for exposure of sensitive data.

Built-in File Classification Rules

With the functionality built into the Windows Server, administrators can classify files based

on content and location so that the files in File Servers can be more intelligently protected

and managed based upon existing business taxonomy.

The organization’s files are classified allowing for a number of scenarios:

Identify sensitive data on public servers.

Automated expiration of stale data saving time and resources normally spent managing

the data.

Use custom IT scripts – for example: Move low business impact files to more affordable

storage hardware.

Use third party software integration such as: Optimize backup SLAs.

In each case the Windows File Classification Infrastructure helps improve the quality of file

management by allowing file management based on business value.

Make It Simple – Make It Easy – Make It Available

Failover clustering in Windows Server 2008 R2 can help you build redundancy into your

network and eliminate single points of failure. All of which helps reduce downtime, guard

against data loss, and reduce your total cost of ownership.

Characteristics of a Multi-Site Cluster

A Multi-Site Cluster is a cluster that has been extended so that different nodes in the same

cluster reside in separate physical locations.

Primary reasons for implementation:

o Extends a cluster from being a High Availability solution, to also being a Disaster

Recovery solution

o Provides local access to clients spread across a wide geographic area

Primary reasons for implementation:

Multi-Site Clusters differ in the following attributes:

o Multiple storage arrays that are independent in each site

o Nodes commonly access storage local to their own sites

o Storage is replicated between sites

o No ‘true’ shared disk

Multi-Site Clusters have the following advantages over a cold standby server in a

disaster recovery site:

o By providing automatic failover, a Multi-Site Cluster will reduce downtime and lower

complexity.

o Multi-Site Clustering also reduces administrative overhead by providing automatic

synchronization of application and cluster changes.

o Reduces the possibility of manual errors.