Windows Server

Windows Server 2008 R2 Articles and White Papers

Microsoft’s Index of Articles and White Papers for Windows Server 2008 R2. Has discourse on:

  1. General Overview
  2. File and Storage Solutions
  3. Management and Power Efficiency
  4. Virtualization with Hyper-V
  5. Remote Desktop Services
  6. Web Application Platform
  7. Better Together with Windows 7
  8. High Availability
  9. Newsgroups and Forums

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/white-papers.aspx

Windows Server 2012 TechNet Reference PDF

Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 TechNet Library documentation as a PDF

(Quoting:) " This download is an Adobe® PDF of the entire contents of the Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 section of the Microsoft TechNet Library, for the convenience of Windows Server users who have limited Internet access, or require a portable version of the Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 documentation. The PDF is 8,709 pages in length. Highlights of the PDF include the following.

How do I activate Windows Server?

Microsoft Windows Server must be activated against a KMS (Key Management Server) or with a MAK (Microsoft Activation Key).

In general, KMS will be the best method by which to activate Windows Server products on a server that is regularly connected to the campus network. Based upon feedback from the campus, in an effort to avoid any unnecessary duplication of effort and resources, a campus-wide KMS for Windows Servers has been established. Every campus department has the option to use this KMS to activate Windows Server on all servers. For more information on the campus-wide KMS, please go to www.softwarecentral.ucla.edu.

Windows Server Core Management

“Server Core is a minimal server installation option for computers running on the Windows Server 2008 operating system or later. Server Core provides a low-maintenance server environment with limited functionality.” – this is basically a version of Windows server that is gutted of the non-essential services/functions of the OS to provide a cleaner, more efficient version of the OS.

Management of this version of the OS can be challenging, that’s where Core Configurator comes into play: http://coreconfig.codeplex.com/

This small application allows for GUI management of the OS to get Core up and running quickly.