The 12 best tricks for Windows Server 2012

Treasure Trove

Article from ADMIN 13/2013

By Thomas Joos

Users of Windows Server 2012 will benefit from numerous innovations, especially in the areas of virtualization, high availability, and storage. In this article, we show you some tricks that make handling the new system much easier.

While users are still debating about the usability of Windows 8, administrators are worrying about the use of Windows Server 2012, which is available either tiled or totally without a GUI on request. Underneath its new clothes, the new Windows Server variant has treasures to offer, as shown by the following tricks.

Trick 1

Efficient Use of Server Manager

Windows Server 2008 R2 in part already allowed administrators to manage the network with Server Manager. However, that was all fairly rudimentary. For example, Server Manager in Windows Server 2008 R2 could not install roles over the network, and the management of server roles was not very efficient. Windows Server 2012 is vastly improved. For example, in Windows Server 2012, you can install server roles and features over the network on other servers (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 provides centralized management of roles and features.

Microsoft has combined the wizards for installing server roles and features into a single wizard. This approach makes the process easier and faster because only a single install is necessary. Server Manager automatically groups installed server roles together with the

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