Introduction

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often. —Winston Churchill

Change is inevitable, constant, and inescapable. You can brood about it or you can take the optimist’s view—and Churchill was nothing if not an optimist—and accept that improvement isn’t possible without change. And even though upgrading servers and clients can be a significant challenge for an administrator, it also represents an opportunity to improve how your network functions. And you can be sure that Windows Server 2008 contains many tools to help you move in the direction of change for the better.

Meet the Family

Windows Server is available in five primary versions. Three of those are available without Windows Server Hyper-V, bringing the total number of editions to eight:

• Windows Server 2008 Standard

• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise

• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter

• Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems

• Windows Web Server 2008

• Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V

• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V

• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V

For the five primary editions, the table below shows the features available in each one.

Edition	Server Core	Windows Deployment Services	Server Manager	Terminal ServicesGateway and RemoteApp	Active Directory Rights Management	Network Access Protection	Hyper-V	Internet Information Services 7.0
Standard	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Enterprise	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Datacenter	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Web	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes
Itanium	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes

The next table provides some general guidance on hardware requirements. The actual requirements will vary depending on your system and particularly on the applications and features that you use. Processor performance is dependent upon not only the clock frequency of the processor, but also the number of cores and the size of the processor cache. Disk space requirements for the system partition are approximate. Itanium-based and x64-based operating systems will vary from these disk size estimates. Additional available hard disk space may be required if you are installing over a network.

Component	Requirement
Processor	Minimum: 1 GHz (x86 processor) or 1.4 GHz (x64 processor)
	Recommended: 2 GHz or faster.
Memory	Minimum: 512 MB RAM Recommended: 2 GB RAM or more
	Optimal: 2 GB RAM for full installation or 1 GB RAM for Server Core installation
	Maximum for 32-bit systems: 4 GB (Standard) or 64 GB (Enterprise and Datacenter)
	Maximum for 64-bit systems: 32 GB (Standard) or 2 TB (Enterprise, Datacenter, and Itanium-based Systems)
Available Disk Space	Minimum: 10 GB
	Recommended: 40 GB or more
	Computers with RAM in excess of 16 GB will require more disk space for paging, hibernation, and dump files.
Drive	DVD-ROM drive
Display	Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher resolution monitor
Other	Keyboard
	Mouse or other pointing device

New in Windows Server 2008

Of course, there are lots of new features in Windows Server 2008, though many of them are not obvious at first glance. Some of the highlights include:

• Server Manager, the expanded Microsoft Management Console (MMC), provides a one-stop interface for server configuration and monitoring with wizards to streamline common server management tasks.

• Windows PowerShell, a new optional command-line shell and scripting language, enables administrators to automate routine system administration tasks across multiple servers.

• Group Policy preference extensions allow the configuration of settings that are simpler to deploy and manage than logon scripts.

• Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor provides diagnostic tools to give you ongoing visibility into your server environment, both physical and virtual, to pinpoint and resolve issues quickly.

• Optimized server administration and data replication increase control over servers in remote locations, such as a branch office.

• Server Core allows minimal installations where only the server roles and features you need are installed, reducing maintenance needs and decreasing the available attack surface of the server.

• Failover clustering wizards make it easy for even IT generalists to implement high-availability solutions. Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is now fully integrated.

• The new Windows Server Backup incorporates faster backup technology and simplifies data or operating system restoration.

• Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V allows you to virtualize server roles as separate virtual machines (VMs) running on a single physical machine, without the need to buy third-party software.

• Multiple operating systems—Windows, Linux, and others—can be deployed in parallel on a single server using Hyper-V.

• Terminal Services (TS) RemoteApp and TS Web Access allow programs that are accessed remotely to be opened with just one click and appear as if they are running seamlessly on the end user’s local computer.

• Microsoft Web publishing platform unifies IIS 7.0, ASP.NET, Windows Communication Foundation, and Windows SharePoint Services.

• Network Access Protection helps ensure your network and systems aren’t compromised by unhealthy computers, isolating and/or remediating those computers that don’t comply with the security policies you set.

• User Account Control provides new authentication architecture for protection against malicious software.

• Read Only Domain Controller (RODC) allows a more secure method for local authentication of users in remote and branch office locations using a read-only replica of your primary AD database.

• BitLocker Drive Encryption provides enhanced protection against data theft and exposure of server hardware if lost or stolen, and it provides more secure data deletion when your servers are eventually decommissioned.

And, as the saying goes, there’s more—much more.

What’s In This Book

Windows Server 2008 Administrator’s Companion consists of thirty-seven chapters arranged in an order roughly corresponding to each stage in the development of a Windows Server 2008 network.

Chapters 1 through 4 are all about planning. Perhaps you’ve heard Edison’s famous quote, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Modify that slightly and you have a good motto for network building: A good network is one percent implementation and ninety-nine percent preparation. The first chapter is an overview of Windows Server 2008, its components, and its features. This is followed by chapters on directory services and namespace planning. The last chapter in this section covers specific issues that need to be addressed when planning your deployment.

Chapters 5 through 9 cover installation and initial configuration. These chapters take you through the process of installing Windows Server 2008 and configuring hardware. Also included are chapters on installing server roles and installing Server Core.

Chapters 11 through 21 cover day-to-day tasks, including managing file resources and using scripts for administration.

Chapters 22 through 26 are all about security—how make a plan and how to implement a security plan.

Chapters 27 through 31 cover additional features including virtualization and terminal services—both of which add exciting new capabilities to Windows Server 2008.

The final chapters on tuning, maintenance, and repair cover important material on network health. There’s a chapter on the Windows Server Backup and another on performance monitoring. There are also chapters on the important topics of disaster planning and prevention. If, despite your best efforts, the network falters, here’s where you’ll find information on troubleshooting and recovery. In addition, we include a chapter on the registry—the brains of Windows Server 2008—and some advice if you’re contemplating brain surgery.

At the end of the book, you’ll find supplemental material about interface changes and support tools.

Within the chapters themselves, we’ve tried to make the material as accessible as possible. You’ll find descriptive and theoretical information, as well as many step-by-step examples for how to implement or configure a particular feature. These are supplemented with graphics that make it easy to follow the written instructions.

In addition, we’ve made extensive use of the reader aids common to all books in the Administrator’s Companion series.

Real World Everyone benefits from the experiences of others. Real World sidebars contain elaboration on a particular theme or background based on the adventures of IT professionals just like you.

Under the Hood When wizards perform their magic or other procedures are done offstage, Under The Hood sidebars describe what is going on that can’t be seen.

We encourage you to take advantage of additional books offered by Microsoft Learning. Other Windows Server 2008 titles that allow in-depth studies of specific areas include Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Resource Kit, Windows Server 2008 Security Resource Kit, and Windows Group Policy Resource Kit: Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista.

System Requirements

The following are the minimum system requirements to run the companion CD provided with this book:

• Microsoft Windows XP, with at least Service Pack 2 installed and the latest updates installed from Microsoft Update Service

• CD-ROM drive

• Internet connection

• Display monitor capable of 1024 x 768 resolution

• Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

• Adobe Reader for viewing the eBook (Adobe Reader is available as a download at http://www.adobe.com)

About the Companion CD

The companion CD contains the fully searchable electronic version of this book and additional sample chapters from other titles that you might find useful. We’ve also included scripts from Chapter 9 and Chapter 15.

Support

Every effort has been made to the accuracy of this book and companion CD content. Microsoft Press provides corrections to this book through the Web at http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/support/search.aspx

If you have comments, questions, or ideas regarding the book or companion CD content, please send them to Microsoft Press using either of the following methods:

E-mail: mspinput@microsoft.com

Postal mail:

Microsoft Press
Attn: Windows Server 2008 Administrator’s Companion Editor
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399

Please note that product support is not offered through the preceding mail addresses. For support information, please visit the Microsoft Help and Support Web site at http://support.microsoft.com.