After installing Windows, the real
configuration process begins. Postinstallation configuration is where
you really define a particular server's purpose and the services it
provides. Just as you have a checklist defined for installation tasks,
you should have a similar checklist defined for standard configuration
tasks.
Notes from the field
Media not required
Starting with Windows Server 2008 R1, you are
no longer required to provide the installation media when adding or
removing Windows components to the OS. Microsoft has added the
necessary files to the system as part of the installation. You can
safely remove that DVD after the OS is up and running.
1. Configuring initial settings
After logging into Windows for the first time,
you will be presented with a page that will assist you in performing
important initial configuration tasks (see Figure 1)
such as naming the computer, choosing the time zone, and configuring
the IP address. Let us take a look at each of these initial
configuration settings:
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Activate Windows—Selecting this link will allow you to activate Windows.
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Set Time Zone—You can use this option to set the appropriate time zone for the physical location of this server.
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Configure Networking—Configure
Networking will take you to the Network Connections window, where you
can manage which network adapters are enabled, and which protocols to
use, and set the IP configuration for each adapter.
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Provide Computer Name and Domain—You can use this option to name the computer and optionally join it to a Windows domain.
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Enable automatic updating and feedback—This
option allows you to enable and configure automatic updates which can
be set up to regularly download and installation Windows and other
Microsoft updates. You can optionally configure Windows to send error
reports to Microsoft anonymously.
-
Download and install updates—Use
this option to install the latest updates prior to configuring any
roles or installing any applications. By installing the latest updates,
you will ensure that your server is properly secured prior to
production deployment
-
Add Roles—Select
this option to add Windows Server 2008 R2 roles. Roles help define the
server's purpose and services that it provides. We will discuss roles
in more detail shortly.
-
Add Features—Add Features allows you to add features such as Windows Backup, or Clustering Services.
-
Enable Remote Desktop—Use
this option to enable Remote Desktop. Remote Desktop allows you to
connect to the server's console remotely to administer the system.
-
Configure Windows Firewall—You
can optionally set up any special configurations for the Windows
firewall at this time.
Configure networking
The first configuration step that most
administrators perform is setting up the network configuration. This
can be as simple as assigning a static IP address or as complicated as
adding additional network adapters or protocols. By default, the
network adapter for your server will be configured to receive a Dynamic
Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) IP address. In most cases,
especially, when setting up mission critical servers, you will want to
change this setting to a static IP address. If you do choose to use
DHCP to assign IP addresses to your servers, you will want to ensure
that you have a highly available and reliable DHCP infrastructure. If
your servers do not have static IPs or cannot request a DHCP address,
they will be inaccessible from the network. Microsoft never recommends
DHCP addresses for DNS servers and Active Directory domain controllers.
If you want to play it safe, use static IPs for your servers.
Notes from the field
NIC teaming
These days most servers come from the factory
with at least two network adapters that can be configured in what is
known as a Network Interface Card (NIC) team. NIC teams allow multiple
physical network adapters to appear to the OS as one logical network
adapter. In the event that one physical adapter, or the network switch
port that it is connected to, fails, the server will fail over to the
other adapter with little or no loss of network connectivity.
Naming a computer and joining domains
Each Windows computer on your network will
need to be given a name. This name is used to uniquely identify the
computer. When naming your computers, be sure to come up with a naming
standard that makes sense. You should be able to easily look at a
computer's name and know, to some extent, what purpose it serves. For
example, you may want to name a Web Server Web1 or a file server NYFS1.
In most situations, you will be joining
your Windows Servers to an Active Directory domain. If this is the
case, you will want to do this during the initial configuration.
Joining a server to a domain offers many advantages over a stand-alone,
non-domain joined server.
2. Understanding roles and features
Microsoft began introducing a concept known as
“roles” in Windows Server 2003. The idea was to provide an easy way to
install components that are necessary to support a specific function.
For example, if an administrator wanted to set up an Internet
Information Services (IIS) Web Server, to support .Net Web
applications, he would historically need to know how to add the IIS
components, the ASP.Net components, etc. Microsoft felt that it would
be easier for administrators if individual administrator could just
select the role such as “Web Application Server,” and all necessary
components would be installed to support that. The Windows Server 2003
role screen can be seen in Figure 2.
Microsoft further evolved the role
concept with the release of Windows Server 2008 R1 and now Windows
Server 2008 R2 by making the addition of roles as the only way to
install components to support a specific function.
Beginning with Windows Server 2008 R1,
Microsoft took components that provided additional features, and that
were not necessarily required to fulfill a specific role, and grouped
them into the “Features” area. Features allow you to add additional
functionality, such as backup services to the server. For example, you
may want to install the File Server role on a server to provide file
sharing capabilities to your organization. You may later decide that
you want to make the file server highly available. You would need to
add the Fail-Over Cluster feature to provide this additional
functionality to the File Server role.
