Datasheet
12
ChAPTeR 1 Windows Server 2008 R2 Deployment Secrets
CrOssrEf You will learn how to congure Windows Server 2008 R2 to boot
from a VHD le generated from a backup in Chapter 12, “Backup and Recovery.”
optimizing your dEploymEnt imagE
When you deploy Windows Server 2008 R2 for the rst time, you will notice that it
comes with no roles or features installed. There is a solid reason for this. When you
start with no roles or features installed, it means that the only roles and features
that will be installed in the future are the ones that you put there yourself. This
all has to do with security. In the past several years, Internet worms propagated
because a lot of administrators installed their Internet-facing servers in a default
conguration. That default conguration came with a Web server and other roles and
features installed and active—something that a lot of administrators didn’t realize.
The reason that many of these systems admins didn’t patch their servers was that
they simply didn’t know that they were vulnerable. With Windows Server 2008 R2,
an administrator has to actually install a feature like Internet Information Services
explicitly. In theory, this means that administrators should be aware that any vul-
nerabilities that impact that feature need to be dealt with as soon as possible.
As good as it is from a security perspective that Windows Server 2008 R2 installs
with no features or roles present, this creates a small challenge for administrators
who need to regularly and rapidly deploy the operating system. For example, if you
wanted to deploy all the pre-requisite software for a Windows Server 2008 R2 system
that will function as a mailbox and client access server, you need to install a signi-
cant number of roles and features as well as congure several services. As you are
aware, manually adding roles and features can take some time. You have to add the
roles and then often reboot and log in again before the role is completely installed.
Managing Windows Server 2008 Images
In previous versions of Windows Server, such as Windows Server 2003, installation
occurred through the extraction of relevant les from compressed archives (called
CAB les). Rather than using compressed archives, Windows Server 2008 and Windows
Server 2008 R2 use image les that are applied directly to the installation destination.
The Windows Server 2008 R2 image is located in the sources directory of the Win-
dows Server 2008 R2 installation media. The image is stored in WIM format, and the
Creating a
deployment image
where all necessary
prerequisite roles
and features are
preconfigured
automatically can
save you a lot of
time because you
don’t have to add
those roles and
features after the
server first boots.
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