1.5. Roles, Features, and Applications

After you install the operating system and log in for the first time as an administrator, Windows Server 2008 automatically presents you with the Server Manager console. This tool enables you to configure role services such as Active Directory, DHCP, DNS, IIS, and more. If you do not need to use the tool immediately, you can close it. It can be accessed again from the menu items in Administrative Tools, from the Control Panel, and the command line. The OS, however, presents this tool to anyone who logs on to a server interactively in the capacity of an administrator.

Once you have completed a basic or Server Core installation, you have a variety of services and applications that can be installed on the server. These are grouped by roles, features, and applications. We will go into these in more detail shortly.