Tag: Microsoft

The Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 has been redesigned, received a new interface, and has new and increased functionality. With Server Manager, you can easily manage multiple remote servers. Using Windows Server 2012 Server Manager, you can remotely provision roles and features quickly on a server from a central computer. You can use the new Server Manager dashboard to view, install, and remove server roles and server groups (or you can use PowerShell Install-WindowsFeature or Remove-WindowsFeature. Prior to this you had to either use a Remote Desktop Connection or physically access the computer to provision new roles. You can also install the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows 8 and use a Windows 8 computer to manage Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, and even Windows Server 2003.

New in Windows Server 2012 is the Unified Remote Access (URA) role. In Windows Server 2008 R2, DirectAccess and Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) were two separate roles. In fact, they could not be co-located on the same server. In Windows Server 2012, DirectAccess and RRAS can be co-located, allowing for what is now legacy remote access VPN client connectivity (L2TP/IPsec, PPTP, and SSTP). This means that the Unified Remote Access provides DirectAccess, Remote Access VPN, and site-to-site VPN and can now serve as your complete remote access solution.

New to Server 2012 is the Server Message Block (SMB) 3.0 protocol. The SMB 3.0 protocol provides access to files, printers, and serial ports, as well as handling the transfer of files between different systems. SMB is not backwards-compatible – the best performance obtained is between Windows Server 2012 servers or with Windows 8. One great feature of SMB is when using it with clustering and replication. Clustering in Widows Server 2012 can now be done with SMB which means you no longer have to use a Storage-area Network (SAN).