When Microsoft announced that Windows Server 2008 R2 is the first 64-bit-only Windows version, there was quite an outcry on the web. What about all those 32-bit applications that are still needed? Of course, the fact that all Windows Server 2008 R2 components are 64-bit doesn’t mean that you can’t run 32-bit applications on Windows Server 2008 R2. Thanks to the Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit (WoW64) subsystem, Windows Server 2008 R2 can—like any other 64-bit Windows—run 32-bit applications without problems.

This is also true for Server Core. However, there is a difference between Server Core and the other Windows Server 2008 R2 editions. On Server Core, WoW64 can be uninstalled. In the Server 2008 R2 Server Core beta, WoW64 wasn’t running by default. Microsoft changed this after the beta phase because it turned out that many setup programs for 64-bit server applications are 32-bit. However, the fact that Microsoft originally planned to leave out WoW64 in default Server Core installations shows that it makes sense to uninstall it if you don’t need 32-bit applications.

Some sites recommend disabling WoW64 because this would result in a smaller footprint. However, when I uninstalled 32-bit support on Server Core, I didn’t notice any significant change on the available disk space or RAM. You can only save disk space by completely removing the WoW64 package. I plan to write about this in a later post.

The main reason why you should disable WoW64 on Server Core is that it reduces the attack surface significantly, simply because most of the malware and hacker tools are 32-bit. Hence, if security matters on your servers and you are sure that you don’t need any 32-bit applications, you should disable WoW64.

To check whether you have 32-bit applications on your Server Core machine, you can start the Task Manager (press CTRL+ALT+DEL) and check if there are any processes with “*32″ behind the process name. Please note that some server roles and features require WoW64. Most of them are only needed by 32-bit applications. To my knowledge, the only important server roles that require WoW64 are the Active Directory and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services roles. Thus, if your Server Core machine is a domain controller, you can’t disable WoW64. Member servers, however, don’t require WoW64.

You can disable WoW64 on Server Core with this command:

dism /online /disable-feature /featurename:ServerCore-WoW64

After the server has rebooted, run this command to make sure WoW64 is really disabled:

dism /online /get-features /format:table

Note that if you try to run a 32-bit application with disabled WoW64, you will only get somewhat cryptic messages such as “The subsystem needed to support the image type is not present.” If you suspect that an application has 32-bit components, you can run it on a 64-bit Windows machine with enabled WoW64 and check its processes in Task Manager.

If you later find out that you need 32-bit support on Server Core, you need this command to install WoW64 again:

dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:ServerCore-WOW64

• FREE: Core Configurator 2.0 – Powerful GUI for Windows Server R2 Server Core (1)
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• Review: SmartX CoreConfigurator (4)
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• FREE: Core Configuration Console (CCC) – Basic Server Core setup (5)

Core Configurator 2.0 is a completely new tool, as it is based on PowerShell and .Net 2, which are not officially supported on Server 2008 Core. However, there are ways to install PowerShell on Server 2008 Core. Thus, it is perhaps possible to get Core Configurator 2.0 running on R2. The other question is if you really want to install unsupported software on a server. Note that you don’t have to enable PowerShell and .Net before you install the Core Configurator 2.0 on R2 Server Core because its setup program (Start_CoreConfig.wsf) does this for you.

Another main difference to version 1.1 is that 2.0 has a nice GUI whereas Core Configurator 1.1 only has “DOS-like” menus. The most noteworthy new feature is probably the support for Hyper-V, although the management capabilities are somewhat limited. You can only start/stop virtual machines and you can see the thumbnails of running virtual machines.

I also like the feature that allows you to install third party apps. Of course, it is not a big deal to launch a setup program on a command prompt, but with Core Configurator, you can just browse to the corresponding program just as you are used to under the window-based Windows. Moreover, you can display and uninstall applications with the GUI. Of course, it is also possible to enable server roles and features with the tool.

This is the main downside of the built-in sconfig tool, which also lacks the ability to configure Firewall settings. Of course, sconfig has the advantage of not having to be installed. Core Configuration Console, another tool I reviewed before, looks a bit old-fashioned compared to Core Configurator. The most interesting additional feature of the commercial SmartX CoreConfigurator (without space) is probably that you can manage user accounts with it. This also works with the former free version of CoreConfigurator, which you can still download at 4sysops.

Thus far, Core Configurator 2.0 is my favorite Server Core management tool. Since Core Configurator is now built on PowerShell, it is more likely that third parties will extend the tool with new features. Nevertheless, the available features in this release are already quite extensive:

• Product licensing
• Networking features
• DCPromo Tool
• ISCSI settings
• Server Roles and Features
• User and group permissions
• Share creation and deletion
• Dynamic firewall settings
• Display | screensaver settings
• Add & remove drivers
• Proxy settings
• Windows updates (including WSUS)
• Multipath I/O
• Hyper-V including virtual machine thumbnails
• JoinDomain and computer rename
• Add/remove programs
• Services
• WinRM
• Complete logging of all commands executed

Core Configurator 2.0

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• FREE: Core Configuration Console (CCC) – Basic Server Core setup (5)

You can launch the tool from the command line after logging in. Sconfig allows you to configure the following Server Core settings: Domain/Workgroup, Computer Name, Add a New Local Administrator Account, Configure Remote Management (Allow MMC Remote Management, Enable Windows PowerShell, Allow Server Manager Remote Management, Show Windows Firewall Settings), Windows Update settings (automatic or manual), Download Updates (all or recommended only), Enable Remote Desktop, Network Settings (IP address, DNS server, Clear DNS Settings), date and time, Log Off User, Restart Server, and Shut Down Server.

Sconfig is basically a simple batch script, which is sufficient for these common configuration tasks. The tool supports most of the essential settings. However, a few important configuration options are missing: Windows activation, Firewall settings (Sconfig can only display them), and server role installations.

Therefore, I think third party Server Core configuration still has its right to exist. I am aware of three free Server Core management tools: Server Core Configurator, Core Configurator Console (CCC), and CoreConfigurator. I tried all three tools on Server Core R2 and they still seem to work. Each of the tools has its advantages. CCC has the most features, and CoreConfigurator has the nicest interface. Note that the tool is no longer officially available, but you can still download it here on 4sysops as long as nobody complains. The new commercial version, SmartX CoreConfigurator, has no specific Server Core R2 version at the moment, but I suppose it will work on R2 just like the other three tools.

Sconfig and these tools are needed only to configure the basic settings after the installations. Server Core R2′s most important management feature is that it can now be configured remotely with Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Manager. It is also possible to manage the Server 2008 Core with the RSAT MMC tools, but with Server Manager, things become more convenient. Most important is that you can now install server roles remotely.

Other important new features of Server Core R2 include support of a subset of the .NET Framework (2.0, 3.0, 3.5), ASP.NET, Windows PowerShell (including remoting), and support for File Server Resource Manager (FSRM) (managing quotas, file screens, data storage policies, etc.). I believe that together, all of these enhancements will finally bring about Server Core’s success. Especially in virtual and cloud environments, Server Core is an interesting option due to its smaller footprint. If you only require a few server roles or web apps, then it is unnecessary to install Windows Server 2008 R2 with a GUI. The fact that you can manage Server Core remotely with GUI tools should be convenient enough in most cases.

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Installation of the tool is easy. Just copy coreconfigurator.msi to a local drive and launch it from the command line. The setup will copy CoreConfigurator by default to C:\Program Files\SmartX\Smart-X CoreConfigurator . To start the tool you have to navigate to this folder and launch “CoreConfigurator.”

For those who are not used to working on the command line, you don’t have to type the full path. Just enter cd \pr and then press the Tab key. This will complete the command to cd \”Program Files.” You can also permanently add the location of CoreConfigurator to the PATH environment variable with this command: setx PATH “%PATH%;C:\Program Files\SmartX\Smart-X CoreConfigurator.” You have to log out (with the logoff command) and log back in to update the environment variable. Now you can launch CoreConfigurator without having to navigate to its installation folder.

The features of the new version are similar to the original free tool:

• Product Activation
• Management of local user accounts (creation, deletion, group membership, passwords)
• IP configuration
• Clock and time zone configuration
• Configuration of display resolution
• Firewall configuration
• Computer name and domain/workgroup membership
• WinRM configuration
• Installation of Server Core features/roles
• Remote Desktop configuration
• Launch DCPROMO (promote the server to a domain controller)
• Backup performance configuration
• Update settings

The last two features are new. The backup performance tool works only if you installed the Windows Backup feature. You can do this with CoreConfigurator’s Features tool. Unfortunately, one can’t operate Windows Backup with CoreConfigurator. If you want to know how this can be done on Server Core, you should check out Julie’s post.

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The tool consists of several VBS scripts with one central script providing the main menu. Similar to a batch script you have to enter numbers to open a submenu, but the menu and the input fields are presented in a graphical window.

Server Core Configurator’s configuration options are impressive:

• Licensing settings: display status, configure proxy, activate (web, phone, offline), install product key, uninstall product key, clear product from registry, reset licensing status, KMS settings.
• Computer / domain settings: rename, join/remove from domain, domain controller promotion
• Network settings: display, configure, rename, enable / disable, add DNS server, flush / register DNS, ISCSI initiator settings
• Roles and Features: install / uninstall (including IIS)
• User permissions: add / remove / show users of the Local Admin Group
• Share configuration: display / add / delete
• Control Panel: date / time, keyboard settings, display settings, screensaver settings, enable / disable Remote Desktop, enable / disable WinRM, add /remove drivers, Windows Firewall, Windows Update
• Operations: launch System Information / Task Manager, reboot, shutdown, logoff

Server Core Configurator is somewhat easier to handle than CCC, but it is not as comfortable as a GUI tool. For example, the available Server Roles are displayed in notepad. However, most configuration tasks can be much faster accomplished than on the command prompt.

This review is about release 17029. I think the authors will extend this tool in the near future. I will keep you posted about major updates. By the way, Server Core Configurator is a Codeplex project (Microsoft Open Source). Perhaps you want to contribute, too.

Update (10/31/08): Core Configurator 1.1 has been released. New: Add / Remove DNS Servers, Server Hardening plus bug fixes.

Server Core Configurator

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A while back I reviewed CoreConfigurator, a GUI tool that allows you to configure Windows Server 2008 Server Core in a more convenient way than using the command prompt. Core Configuration Console (CCC) has similar configuration functionality, but it is not GUI tool. Rather, it is a menu-based batch script that makes it almost as convenient to configure Server Core. These are the things you can do with CCC:

• Network configuration (IP, DNS, reset to DHCP)
• Display server information (see screenshot)
• Change current local user password
• Licensing (install, activate, reset, rearm, display, delete)
• Domain settings (join, disjoin)
• Firewall configuration (disable, enable/disable TS Remote Admin Mode)
• Regional and language-settings
• Time-and-date-settings
• CCC settings (register in PATH, enable autostart)
• Set local administrator password, rename computer
• Shutdown, reboot, logoff

CCC does not need to be installed; you just have to copy ccc.bat to Server Core (C:\windows recommended) and you can then launch the script without parameters from the command prompt. CCC is a nice tool, but I prefer CoreConfigurator. Sometimes, when you enter a CCC menu, it is not possible to cancel the operation. I recommend being especially careful when using menu Item 5 (Quick Config). (Has been corrected in version 0.91.)

In addition, there are a few settings that CoreConfigurator supports, which CCC does not: display resolution, management of local user accounts, and WinRM configuration. Unfortunately, CoreConfigurator has been discontinued and it is officially not available anymore, but you can still download it from 4sysops — as long as nobody complains.

CCC’s major advantage over CoreConfigurator is that, since it is just a batch script, it can be easily extended by anyone. In fact, if you have added a feature to CCC, please let me know and I will post your solution here.

Update: Version 0.91 has been released. These are the new features:

• Server information in main menu
• Enable / Disable Windows Update
• Check for updates
• List installed patches
• Screen resolution (640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1600×1200)
• List roles / features
• Search roles / features
• Enable / Disable Firewall Groups
• Enable / Disable WinRM
• Enable / Disable Remote TS
• (including set/unset CredSSP)

Core Configuration Console

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Installing those tools wasn’t a big deal. All you have to do is to launch the setup files. As file managers, I tried FreeCommander and Xplorer. Both are free Explorer alternatives. Most of the features worked flawlessly. With some I had problems though. For example, I wasn’t able to map a network drive with both tools. However, when I mapped a share on the command prompt I was able to access it with both file managers.

I also tried the Registry tool, RegAlyzer, which I reviewed a couple of days ago. Since editing the Registry is often the only way to change Server Core settings, it can be quite useful to have a powerful Registry editor at hand. It proved already to be quite useful a couple of times since I started exploring Server Core.

Microsoft’s Process Explorer worked as well without problems. I suppose, most of the other Sysinternal tools can be used on Server Core, too. So I started wondering if there are any GUI-based programs that don’t work. There are certainly such tools. For instance, I wasn’t able to install Terminals, an RDP client. But I somehow think that it won’t be a big deal to adapt it to Server Core.

I was quite surprised, though, that I was able to launch Firefox on Server Core. The other tools were rather simple management tools, but a web browser is something different. However, I only tried the portable edition of Firefox. I know, it comes close to a sin to install a web browser on a system that was developed to offer better security. Well, you know me, I am into graphical user interfaces.

When I first heard that Microsoft plans to offer a GUI-less Windows version, I wondered how this could possibly work. Their first operating system having a GUI (Windows 1-3) were DOS-based and the graphical interface was just an add-on. Later, Microsoft decided to give up this concept and created an OS that was unthinkable without a GUI. This move was quite smart and lead to Microsoft’s monopoly.

With Server Core, they are trying somehow to turn back the clock. But now we have the opposite situation. Windows Server 2008 is an operating system that was designed to be managed by a graphical user interface, but Server Core is supposed to be operated only with a CLI. And like the first Windows versions that were unable to deny their DOS-based nature, Server Core can’t hide that it is still Windows. In my post about Server Core and VMware, I demonstrated how an easy thing such as changing the mouse pointer can get quite complicated. All Windows settings are stored in a database, i.e. the Registry. This makes sense as long as you have GUI tools to access this database.

This is quite unlike Linux where you don’t need GUI tools because all settings are in simple text files. Basically, Linux is a GUI-less OS and X-Windows is just an add-on. I have read a couple of times that Microsoft came out with Server Core because customers were asking for it. The truth is, however, that Server Core was born at a time when Microsoft was afraid of Linux. So they tried to copy some of its features. Componentization, Server Manager and PowerShell are other products of this process. Whereas those solutions were more or less successful adoptions, Server Core is not.

All they did was to delete some GUI tools. GUI tools need a lot of disk space and memory, so Server Core seems to be a slim OS. This is supposed to reduce attack surface, Server Core’s alleged biggest advantage. However, I doubt somehow that removing a couple of GUI tools will improve security significantly. Server Core is still Windows, it is not Linux. Windows admins will surely get tired of messing around with the Registry and with typing longwinded commands and will just install GUI tools from third parties. This will probably weaken security.

Coming back to my question in the heading of this post, no, Server Core is not really a GUI-less OS. Like other current Windows versions, it is a GUI-based operating system which just lacks some GUI tools that can be added easily.

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To install the VMware tools on a Windows system with GUI, you just have to right click on the tab of the virtual machine and click on “Install VMware tools”. VMware will then launch the VMware tools setup wizard which guides you through the installa tion process. If you do this under Server Core, nothing happens at first.

The trick is to switch to your DVD drive (usually D:) and then launch “setup” manually. The wizard will show up then. However, after starting the installation, setup will hang and an error message will be displayed: Error loading tpvmmon.dll. I didn’t see the message at first because it was hidden behind the wizard. I just ended this Run.dll task with the task manager (press CTRL+INS). The installation wizard continued then. Thus far the VMware tools seem to be working, properly.

I am running VMware Workstation on a server and I usually access its console via RDP. This works fine except that the mouse pointer is quite jerky then. Gianni explained in a comment how to solve this problem with Windows Server 2008 as guest OS and I outlined the same for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Basically, one has to disable the shadow of the mouse pointer and set “hardware acceleration” for the display adaptor to “full”. But how can you do that if you have no graphical user interface?

Well, you have to mess around with the Registry. You can launch the Registry editor on the command prompt by typing “regedit”. Then you navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{81E0A29D-B654-4848-9421-BEA1C8A6F938}\0000 The long number is a GUID and it will be different on your system. You will find several such long numbers in the Video folder. However in my case there was only one which contains the Acceleration.Level key in the 0000 folder. You have to set the Acceleration.Level key value to 0.

Next you can disable the mouse pointer shadow. To do so, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and change the UserPreferencesMask key value to 90 12 03 80 10 00 00. Now you have to reboot Server Core (shutdown -r on the command prompt). Note that this only works if you already installed the VMware tools.

I think, Registry hacking will become quite popular under Server Core. One way to find the Registry keys to change a certain setting under Server Core is to monitor a standard Windows Server 2008 installation with Microsoft’s Process Monitor. You have to set the filter to “Operation contains RegSetValue”, so only Registry changes will be displayed. Then, you configure the setting using the Windows Server 2008 GUI. I suppose that in most cases those settings will also work on Server Core.

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These are the settings supported by CoreConfigurator:

• Product Activation
• Configuration of display resolution
• Clock and time zone configuration
• Remote Desktop configuration
• Management of local user accounts (creation, deletion, group membership, passwords)
• Firewall configuration
• WinRM configuration
• IP configuration
• Computer name and domain/workgroup membership
• Installation of Server Core features/roles

The first problem you face when you want to use CoreConfigurator is that you have to copy the setup file to Server Core. How can you do that if you didn’t configure the network settings first on the command prompt before? If you have a DHCP server in your network, this is not really a problem, though. Server Core is pre-configured to use DHCP. So you can just copy the CoreConfigurator setup on a network share of another server and access it from there. You could also copy it to a CDROM.

To install the tool you have to launch the command prompt and type:

msiexec /i coreconfigurator.msi

Then you have to navigate to the program folder where you installed the tool and launch it with

CoreConfigurator

Now, you can finally leave the CLI and configure Server Core as if it had a modern user interface. (Please, forgive me for my sideswipes against the command prompt. I just can’t help myself.)

Update: Since so many asked me where one can download CoreConfigurator now, I uploaded it temporarily here. I can’t make any guarantees for the tool.

CoreConfigurator

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There are eight screen casts:

Core Technical Overview: The first screencast introduces Server Cores. So if you never saw it before, you should watch this one.

Core Hyper-V Prerequisites: This screencast gives a quick overview of how to use Server Core as virtual machine in Hyper-V. You will also get a glimpse of Hyper-V. If you want to see more about that, then you should check out Keith Comb’s screencast about Hyper-V.

Core Networking: The network settings have to be configured with NETSH. Somewhat inconvenient, in my view.

Core Activation: Yeah unfortunately, you also have to activate Server Core. You’ll see here that Server Core is not completely without windows. It seems hard for Microsoft to entirely give them up.

Domain Join: If you ever used scripts to join Windows machines to a domain, you probably know the NETDOM command. It is also the tool used in Server Core.

Core Role Installation: You may know that in Windows Server 2008, server roles play an even more important role than Windows Server 2003 R2. This role-based model also makes it easier to install new features on Server Core. Again, you will see that it seems to be impossible to be completely without graphical components in a Microsoft environment.

Core Feature Installation: For me it is often vague what the difference is between a role and a feature in Windows Server 2088. You’ll see that they are installed the same way in Server Core. (start /w ocsetup feature/role).

Core Management: This screencast will show you how to manage Server Core remotely with the graphical tools in MMC (Microsoft Management Console). If you ask me, most admins will go this way and only a few will manage Server Core on the command line. It is much more convenient and, I think, most third party vendors will offer graphical tools that can be used to configure their software running on Server Core.

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Seriously, I think that IIS is the better option on a Windows box. However, I would always go for a LAMP solution when it comes to Web technology. The only reason, I can think of for running Apache on Windows is that you have some apps that work better with the Open Source web server and you don’t want Linux in your network.

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The problem is that dcpromo starts a wizard with a graphical user interface. But on Server Core doesn’t support GUIs. That’s why you have to provide the input for dcpromo using an answer file. I’ve read about this before, and it seemed to be a rather complicated way to install a domain controller. However Steve’s post shows that it is easier than I thought.

I suppose, this is also a model for third party software. Most Windows programs expect a graphical interface for the installation procedure. The easiest way for third-party vendors to adapt their software installation procedures for Sever Core will be to support answer files.

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My first thought was that it is really a great idea to run IIS7 on Server Core. The Web server is certainly the most endangered system. So if you run it on a server system with a reduced attack surface it should significantly decrease the risk of getting hacked.

However, a commentator on my blog post remarked that you can’t use ASP.NET on Server Core since .NET is not supported at all on this special edition of Windows Server 2008. The question now is, what is the use of a Web server without a web application framework?

The strange thing is that Microsoft made this move due to customer demand. Does this mean that there are many companies using a Web server without an application framework? Or does it just mean that those people who wanted IIS7 support in Server Core were just not aware of the fact that Server Core doesn’t support .NET?

I would go for the latter. I think someone who contacts Microsoft in the hope that they change something in a future product, doesn’t have static HTML pages on his Web server, right? Maybe I am just missing something here. However, I think it is quite probable that Microsoft will offer .NET support for Server Core soon. It seems the .NET team is already working on it.

I am quite sure, though, that we won’t use IIS7 on Server Core, anyway. Actually, we have just one IIS6 left where we host a self-developed ASP.NET application. We moved with the rest of our Web applications to Apache under Linux some years ago. I can’t imagine changing this in the near future.

In my view, Microsoft made web application development too complicated with ASP.NET. Even though, I worked through a whole C# book, it would cost me quite some time to change something in our own ASP.NET application. However, I always find it quite easy to make changes in PHP apps, although I have never learned this language. The fact that programming in PHP is so easy is one of the reasons why there are so many great Open Source content management systems available. Why should I spend thousands of Euros for a commercial CMS running on a Windows box if I can have a better system for free under Linux?

So reduced attack surface or not, Microsoft’s Web server probably won’t have a future in my department, even though we are mostly a Windows shop.

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I raised doubts before that many sysops will embrace Server Core just for security reasons. Since the roles that were originally planned are not really security sensitive, it is not clear how much Server Core can improve security. The roles supported in Beta 3 are usually only accessed from the company network. Why should you give up the comfort of GUI administration on a system that isn’t really endangered because it is behind your firewall, anyway?

I believe this announcement changes everything. It makes Server Core a very interesting product. The web server is certainly the most endangered system. It usually can be accessed from the Internet and it is the most visible server. You probably remember the countless security issues of IIS5. The security of IIS6 was greatly improved, and IIS7 will most likely be even more secure.

However, secure web server software isn’t enough. The underlying OS is certainly important, too. I think that many prefer Apache over IIS just because they can run it on a Linux box where they can remove all unnecessary services. That’s why, I think, this move might indeed increase the market share for IIS.

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Installation of Server Core is easy. At the beginning of the setup process, you can choose if you want to install the standard server version or Server Core. This implies that it is impossible to transform a standard installation in Server Core and vice versa.

I found it interesting that the password for the Administrator account is empty after the setup. So, the first thing you should do is to set a password: Net user administrator *

Next, you can start a new console with start cmd /separate, just in case you accidentally close your console. You also can start a new console thru the task manager: Ctrl+Alt+Del.

The next thing you probably want to do is to configure your network interface: With netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces, you can list the network interfaces of your server. To add an IP address you enter: netsh interface ipv4 add address “Local Area Connection” IP-address subnet-mask gateway where “Local Area Connection” is the interface name. (Expressions in italic are variables you have to replace with your own settings.) To configure a DNS server type: netsh interface ipv4 set dnsserver “Local Area Connection” static DNS-IP

Working on the command line is more fun if you can copy and paste from online documentations like this one, for example. You have to enable RDP access to your test server, first. To allow Terminal Service access enter: cscript c:\windows\system32\scregedit.wsf /AR 0. If you want to connect from a Windows version older than Vista you should use /CS instead of /AR.

In Beta 3 the Window firewall is enabled by default. To allow a RDP connection, you can just open the port 3389. However, for testing purposes I recommend disabling the firewall if your network is behind a firewall, anyway. Otherwise you will always wonder if the Windows firewall is not configured correctly whenever one of your tests fails. To disable the Windows Firewall enter: netsh firewall set opmode disable.

The setup process names your server automatically, but you might want to change this name: netdom renamecomputer old-computer-name /newname:new-computer-name /force /reboot:30 This command will also reboot your server. If you don’t know the old computer name just enter set and check the corresponding environment variable.

Maybe it is now time to activate your installation. If you enter slmgr.vbs –ato, it will take some seconds until you get the message that your server has been activated (hopefully).

In my last post about Server Core, I mentioned already that you can use it only for certain roles. With the oclist command you get a list of these roles and with ocsetup you can add a certain role. For example, if you want to use Server Core as DHCP server you would enter ocsetup DHCPServerCore. To start the DHCP server enter net start “DHCP server” and to automatically start the DHCP service during the boot process you would enter sc config dhcpserver start= auto.

Then, you can configure the DHCP server remotely with the graphical user interface from the adminpak. It seems that some remote tools don’t work properly, yet. I wasn’t able to configure the Windows Firewall remotely this way.

If your Server Core system isn’t a member server of a Windows domain, you should create a user account having the same name and password as the logon name on your desktop first: net user /add username password. This way, you’ll be authenticated automatically whenever you use one of the remote tools. You could also add your test server to your Windows domain with the netdom command instead. I don’t know if you want to do this with a beta version, though.

The only role you can’t configure with ocsetup is the Active Directory role. To install Active Directory you have to use the dcpromo command as usual.

When you are done with your configurations you can use the logoff command to logout. Or maybe you’re a typical Windows admin and think that all this command line typing will only cause finger arthritis in the long run. In this case you can enter shutdown /r to reboot and install the standard version of Windows Server 2008 with a graphical user interface. Of course, you could also give Server Core a second change, type shutdown /s to turn off your server and continue with the finger exercises tomorrow.

• Microsoft Exam 70-640 – DNS Zones – Overview (2)
• Uninstall Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit (WoW64) on Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core (0)
• FREE: Core Configurator 2.0 – Powerful GUI for Windows Server R2 Server Core (1)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core – Sconfig and other new features (2)
• Windows Server 2008 Foundation – Why Microsoft’s licensing policy is outdated (3)

What is Server Core? In Server Core only the services required to perform the following server roles are installed: Active Directory Domain Services, Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Server, DNS Server, File Services, Print Server, Streaming Media Services.

How can you manage Server Core? Server Core doesn’t have a graphical user interface. You can manage Server Core on the command line or if you prefer a graphical user interface, remotely with the usual Administration tools. Server Core doesn’t support Powershell and .Net, but you can use the Windows Scripting Host (WSH). Microsoft offers some scripts which you can use to configure Server Core. It is also possible to configure Server Core with Group Policy.

Why do you need Server Core? The advantages of Server Core are: security improvement (reduced attack surface), needs less system resources (occupies only one third disk space), patching is easier, boots up faster.

How can you install Server Core? You can choose to install Server Core during the normal Windows Server Longhorn setup process.

What can’t you do with Server Core? You can only use Server Core for the roles mentioned above. This means that you can’t use Server Core for database systems or as application server, for example.

What other Longhorn features does Server Core support? Server Core supports Microsoft Failover Cluster, Network Load Balancing, Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications, Windows Backup, Multipath I/O, Removable Storage Management, Windows Bitlocker Drive Encryption, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS), Telnet client, Quality of Service (QoS).

In the next post of this series I’ll show you how to get started with Server Core.

• Microsoft Exam 70-640 – DNS Zones – Overview (2)
• Uninstall Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit (WoW64) on Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core (0)
• FREE: Core Configurator 2.0 – Powerful GUI for Windows Server R2 Server Core (1)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core – Sconfig and other new features (2)
• Windows Server 2008 Foundation – Why Microsoft’s licensing policy is outdated (3)