Datasheet
8
ChAPTeR 1 Windows Server 2008 R2 Deployment Secrets
Placing each server role inside its own virtual machine makes the process of 3
migrating roles away from the host server easier. For instance, trafc may
increase substantially to your virtualized le server. It takes substantially
less effort to migrate le shares, quotas and permissions to a new host, if all
you have to do is transfer a virtual machine, than it does if the le server role
is co-located with the domain controller. You also have the possibility of per-
forming a virtual to physical migration should the input/output requirements
of the le server make virtually hosting the role impractical.
If you are in the process of upgrading to Windows Server 2008 R2 from Windows
Server 2003, it is likely that you are going from hardware that is at least a couple
of years old to hardware that is probably new. New hardware can usually deal with
resource pressure that would cause bottlenecks on older hardware.
Deploying Server Core
If you are like most administrators, you’ve heard about Server Core versions of
Windows Server 2008 R2, but you probably haven’t worked with them. If you haven’t
heard of Server Core, it is perhaps best described as Windows Server 2008 R2 command-
line edition. You perform all the primary setup activities from the command line.
After you’ve got the server set up, you can connect remotely using management con-
soles that are part of the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT).
CrOssrEf You learn more about Remote Server Administration Tools in
Chapter 2, “The Windows Server 2008 R2 Administrator’s Toolkit.”
The advantage of a Server Core deployment is that computers running Server Core
don’t have all the extra components that a full version of Windows Server 2008 R2
has, and thus there are fewer components susceptible to vulnerabilities that require
patching. For example, although you need to apply whatever updates are released for
Internet Explorer to computers that run the full versions of Windows Server 2008 R2,
you don’t need to apply these updates to computers that run Server Core.
NO TE The advantage of a Server Core deployment is that you spend a lot less
time fussing with patches and worrying about downtime caused by reboots.
When you are
considering where
to deploy a server
running Windows
Server 2008 R2,
take time to think
about whether it
might be better
hosted virtually or
whether it needs
to be a physical
deployment.
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