Defining the Benefits of Windows Server Manager

Defining the Benefits of Windows Server Manager

The main purpose of Windows Server Manager is to help administrators install, configure, and manage server roles and features. A server role is a major part of the server, such as Active Directory support. A server feature is a lessinclusive part of the server that supports a server role, such as Failover Clustering. You can also use this utility to perform diagnostics and configuration and to manage storage, as shown in Figure 1-5. In many respects, Server Manager is a version of Computer Management (found in client Windows systems) for the server. You can also perform tasks with Server Manager at the command line. The ServerMgrCmd utility provides access to all the Server Manager functionality. You can use this utility to automate most server configuration tasks.

Considering Windows PowerShell

Windows Power Shell is a new kind of command prompt based on .NET technology. If you worked with the Windows command prompt in the past, you already have a very good idea of how to use Windows PowerShell because they both fulfill some of the same purposes. Of course, the two text environments aren’t precisely the same — Windows PowerShell overcomes some of the problems of the old command prompt by adding additional security and significantly enhancing your ability to create both batch files and scripts. One of the features you’ll like best about Windows PowerShell is the Help system Anything you can do with the .NET Framework, you can also do with Windows PowerShell

Communicating with Terminal Services (TS)

Terminal Services (TS) is an essential part of any server setup because it’s part of the software that lets you work from a remote location. Given that many people don’t like to work in the same closet that holds the server (it’s dark and stuffy in there), TS is an incredibly important application. Windows Server 2008 improves on TS considerably. Microsoft’s goal seems to be to provide remote access to applications and data in a way that makes it unnecessary to provide these features on the client in many cases. It’s a nod to the centrally managed mainframe computer of days gone by. The following sections provide a brief description of the special TS features for Windows Server 2008.


TS Easy Print

Most users need to print their data at some point. In the past, many printing solutions let the user print locally or remotely, but not both. TS Easy Print lets the user print the data from the TS RemoteApp application either locally or remotely. The server doesn’t even have to have the printer driver installed as long as the printer driver is installed on the client machine. Group policies help administrators control which printers users can access and how they can use them.

TS Gateway

Users can still rely on the Remote Desktop application to create a connection to the server. The Remove Desktop application must support Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) 6.0 to receive full functionality, but otherwise the user doesn’t notice any difference between Windows Server 2008 and any previous version of Windows.

TS RemoteApp

The TS RemoteApp feature makes it possible for the user to interact with TS without really knowing it. The user can start an application, as always, by double-clicking an icon or selecting an option on the Start menu. Of course, the user will see a delay in starting the application because a network can’t react as fast as the local machine can, but the application otherwise will run as normal. As with a locally installed application, the user can also start a remote application by double-clicking an associated file.