Managing Windows Server 2012 (part 2) - Working with the administration tools - Using graphical administrative tools

1.2 Using graphical administrative tools

Most administration tools are found on the Tools menu in Server Manager. As Table 1 shows, dozens of administration tools are available for working with Windows Server 2012. The tool you use depends on what you want to do and, sometimes, on how much control you want over the aspect of the operating system you are seeking to manage. Several tools, including Server Manager and Computer Management, are discussed later in this section.

Table 1. Tools for administration

Administrative Tool	Description
Active Directory Administrative Center	Used to perform many key management tasks for Active Directory.
Active Directory Domains And Trusts	Used to manage trust relationships between domains.
Active Directory Rights Management Services	Used to view and change configuration settings for Active Directory Rights Management Services (RMS) clusters in the enterprise.
Active Directory Sites And Services	Used to create sites and to manage the replication of Active Directory information.
Active Directory Users And Computers	Used to manage users, groups, contacts, computers, organizational units (OUs), and other objects in Active Directory Domain Services.
Certification Authority	Used to create and manage server certificates for servers and users on the network. Certificates are used to support public key infrastructure (PKI) encryption and authentication.
Computer Management	Used to manage services, devices, disks, and the system hardware configuration. It is also used to access other system tools.
DFS Management	Used to create and manage distributed file systems (DFS) that connect shared folders from different computers.
DHCP	Used to configure and manage the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service.
DNS	Used to configure and manage the Domain Name System (DNS) service, which can be integrated with Active Directory.
Event Viewer	Used to view the system event logs and manage event log configurations.
Failover Cluster Manager	Used to manage failover clustering. Clustering allows groups of computers to work together, providing failover support and additional processing capacity.
Fax Service Manager	Used to manage fax services and servers.
File Server Resource Manager	Used to manage directory quotas, file screening, and reports.
Group Policy Management	Used to configure and manage Group Policy Objects (GPOs).
Hyper-V Manager	Used for managing Hyper-V and related virtual machine instances.
Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 Manager	Used to manage Windows web servers running IIS 6.0.
Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager	Used to manage Windows web servers running IIS 7.0 or later.
iSCSI Initiator	Used to connect to remote Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) targets and configure connection settings.
Local Security Policy	Used to view and manage settings for local security policy.
MPIO	Used to manage multipath I/O for storage arrays.
Network Load Balancing Manager	Used to manage Network Load Balancing (NLB) configuration settings and clusters.
Network Policy Server	Used to manage Network Access Policy (NAP) client settings, policies, and policy servers.
Print Management	Used to manage Windows print servers as well as related printers, print queues, printer drivers, and so on.
Remote Access Management	Used to manage DirectAccess and Virtual Private Networking (VPN).
Routing and Remote Access	Used to configure and manage the Routing and Remote Access service, which controls routing interfaces, dynamic Internet Protocol (IP) routing, and remote access.
Security Configuration Wizard	Used to create security policies based on server roles.
Services	Used to manage the startup and configuration of Windows services.
Services for Network File System (NFS)	Used to configure and maintain Services for NFS.
Share and Storage Management	Used to manage network shares and volumes. It also provisions storage for storage area networks (SANs).
System Configuration	Used to perform startup troubleshooting and manage the system startup configuration.
System Information	Used to view information about hardware resources, hardware components, and the software environment.
Task Scheduler	Used to view and manage scheduled tasks.
Volume Activation Tools	Used to install, activate, and manage volume license keys as well as to configure Key Management Services.
Windows Deployment Services	Used to manage servers, devices, and system images used for deployments.
Windows Firewall with Advanced Security	Used to configure and manage firewall and IP Security (IPsec) policies.
Windows Memory Diagnostic	Used to perform diagnostics testing on a computer’s physical memory.
Windows Server Backup	Used to manage backup and recovery. You also can use it to schedule automatic backups.
Windows Server Update Services	Used to configure and manage update services.
Windows System Resource Manager	Used to manage resource usage on a per-processor basis. (Deprecated)
WINS	Used to manage Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS). This service resolves Network Basic Input/Output System (NetBIOS) names to IP addresses and is used with computers running versions earlier than Microsoft Windows 2000.

Usually, you can use graphical administrative tools to manage the system that you’re currently logged on to, as well as systems throughout your Windows domains. For example, in the Event Viewer console you specify the computer you want to work with by pressing and holding or right-clicking the Event Viewer node in the left panel and then choosing Connect To Another Computer. This opens the Select Computer dialog box shown in Figure 1. You can then choose Another Computer and type the name of the computer, as shown.

Note

With some tools, such as Event Viewer, you can connect to another server using alternate credentials. To do this, select the Connect As Another User check box and then tap or click Set User. After you select or type the account name to use in the form DOMAIN\UserName, such as CPANDL\WilliamS, type the account password and then tap or click OK. Keep in mind that remote management of computers is a feature that must be enabled. You need to enable inbound rules on the Windows Firewall for each management area you want to work with. For example, you must specifically enable remote management via Event Viewer.

Figure 1. Connecting to another computer allows you to manage remote resources.

Which administrative tools are available on a server depends on its configuration. When you add roles, role services, and features, the related management tools are installed on the server. One way remote management is made possible is by installing the Remote Server Administration Tools. On servers, you install management tools as features of the operating system using the Add Roles And Features Wizard.

For remote management from your desktop computer, you can get the Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 as a download from the Microsoft Download Center (http://download.microsoft.com). Because different versions are available for x64 and x86 systems, be sure to download the version that is appropriate for your desktop computer.

Tip

Beginning with Windows Server 2012, binary source files for roles, role services, and features can be removed to enhance security. If the binaries for the tools you want to use have been removed, you need to install the tools by specifying a source. 

You can install management tools on a server by following these steps:

1. Open Server Manager by tapping or clicking the Server Manager button on the taskbar. Alternatively, from Start, tap or click the Server Manager tile.

2. In Server Manager, select Add Roles And Features on the Manage menu. This starts the Add Roles And Features Wizard. If the wizard displays the Before You Begin page, read the introductory text and then tap or click Next. You can avoid seeing the Before You Begin page the next time you start this wizard by selecting the Skip This Page By Default check box before tapping or clicking Next.

3. On the Installation Type page, Role-Based Or Feature-Based Installation is selected by default. Tap or click Next.

4. On the Server Selection page, you can choose to install roles and features on running servers or virtual hard disks. Either select a server from the server pool or select a server from the server pool on which to mount a virtual hard disk (VHD). Keep in mind that only servers that have been added for management in Server Manager are listed. If you are adding roles and features to a VHD, tap or click Browse and then use the Browse For Virtual Hard Disks dialog box to locate the VHD. When you are ready to continue, tap or click Next twice. This skips the Server Roles page.

5. On the Features page, expand Remote Server Administration Tools and the related subnodes to view the available feature and role administration tools. Select the tool or tools to install. If additional features are required to install a tool you selected, you’ll see an additional dialog box. Tap or click Add Features to close the dialog box and add the required features to the server installation. When you are ready to continue, tap or click Next.

6. If the server on which you want to install the administrative tools doesn’t have all the required binary source files, the server gets the files via Windows Update by default or from a location specified in Group Policy. You also can specify an alternate path for the source files. To do this, tap or click the Specify An Alternate Source Path link, type that alternate path in the box provided, and then tap or click OK. For network shares, enter the UNC path to the share, such as \\CorpServer41\WS12\. For mounted Windows images, enter the WIM path prefixed with WIM: and including the index of the image to use, such as WIM:\\CorpServer41\WS12\install.wim:4. For a locally mounted image, enter the alternate path for the mounted WIM file, such as c:\mountdir\windows\winsxs.

7. Tap or click Install to begin the installation process. The Installation Progress page tracks the progress of the installation. If you close the wizard, tap or click the Notifications icon in Server Manager and then tap or click the link provided to re-open the wizard.

8. When Setup finishes installing the administration tools you selected, the Installation Progress page will be updated to reflect this. Review the installation details to ensure that all phases of the installation were completed successfully.