Configure Server Roles and Features
This chapter covers some of the fundamental services that most Windows servers perform. In the business world, file and printer sharing were the reasons why computers were networked in the first place, and with Windows Server 2012, remote management has become a critical element of server administration.
Part 1: Configuring File and Share Access
This objective covers how to:
- Create and configure shares
- Configure share permissions
- Configure offline files
- Configure NTFS permissions
- Configure access-based enumeration (ABE)
- Configure Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)
- Configure NTFS quotas
Exam Tip
- Prior to Windows Server 2012, basic permissions were known as standard permissions and advanced permissions were known as special permissions. Candidates for certification exams should be aware of these alternative terms.
Objective Summary
- Creating folder shares makes the data stored on a file server’s disks accessible to network users.
- NTFS permissions enable you to control access to files and folders by specifying the tasks individual users can perform on them. Share permissions provide rudimentary access control for all of the files on a network share. Network users must have the proper share and NTFS permissions to access file server shares.
- ABE applies filters to shared folders based on an individual user’s permissions to the files and subfolders in the share. Simply put, users who cannot access a particular shared resource are unable to see that resource on the network.
- Offline Files is a Windows feature that enables client systems to maintain local copies of files they access from server shares.
- Volume Shadow Copies is a Windows Server 2012 feature that enables you to maintain previous versions of files on a server, so that if users accidentally delete or overwrite a file, they can access a copy.
- NTFS quotas enable administrators to set a storage limit for users of a particular volume.
Part 2: Configure Print and Document Services
This objective covers how to:
- Configure the Easy Print print driver
- Configure Enterprise Print Management
- Configure drivers
- Configure printer pooling
- Configure print priorities
- Configure printer permissions
Objective Summary
- Printing in Microsoft Windows typically involves the following four components: print device, printer, print server, and print driver.
- The simplest form of print architecture consists of one print device connected to one computer, known as a locally attached print device. You can share this printer (and the print device) with other users on the same network.
- With network-attached print devices, the administrator’s primary deployment decision is which computer will function as the print server.
- Remote Desktop Easy Print is a driver that enables Remote Desktop clients running applications on a server to redirect their print jobs back to their local print devices.
- Printer permissions are much simpler than NTFS permissions; they basically dictate whether users are allowed to merely use the printer, manage documents submitted to the printer, or manage the properties of the printer itself.
- The Print Management snap-in for MMC is an administrative tool that consolidates the controls for the printing components throughout the enterprise into a single console.
Part 3: Configure Servers for Remote Management
This objective covers how to:
- Configure WinRM
- Configure down-level server management
- Configure servers for day-to-day management tasks
- Configure multiserver management
- Configure Server Core
- Configure Windows Firewall
Objective Summary
- Windows Server 2012 is designed to facilitate remote server management, so that administrators rarely if ever have to work directly at the server console. This conserves server resources that can better be devoted to applications.
- When you add servers running Windows Server 2012 to Server Manager, you can immediately begin using the Add Roles and Features Wizard to install roles and features on any of the servers you have added.
- The Windows Firewall rules you have to enable for remote servers running Windows Server 2012 are also disabled by default on computers running earlier versions of Windows Server, so you have to enable them there as well.
- For administrators of enterprise networks, it might be necessary to add a large number of servers to Server Manager. To avoid having to work with a long scrolling list of servers, you can create server groups, based on server locations, functions, or any other organizational paradigm.
- You can manage remote servers from any computer running Windows Server 2012; all of the required tools are installed by default. However, the new administrative method that Microsoft is promoting urges administrators to keep servers locked away and use a workstation to manage servers from a remote location.