A colleague asked me earlier today if I knew off the top of my head how many roles and features

there are in Windows Server 2012, and I had to admit that I did not know. As Albert Einstein once
said, why memorize what you can reference. However as a quick exercise I decided to not only
count them, but type them up into an article for Kalvin and for all of you!
NOTE: I included all of the sub-roles and sub-features as well for all except for the Remote Server
Administration Tools, which would show a tool for all of the roles and features.
Roles:
1. Active Directory Certificate Services
2. Active Directory Domain Services
3. Active Directory Federation Services
4. Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
5. Active Directory Rights Management Services
6. Application Server
7. DHCP Server
8. DNS Server
9. Fax Server
10. File and Storage Services
a. File and iSCSI Services
i. File Server
ii. BranchCache for Network Files
iii. Data Deduplication
iv. DFS Namespaces

v. DFS Replication
vi. File Server Resource Manager
vii. File Server VSS Agent Services
viii. iSCSI Target Server
ix. iSCSI Target Storage Provider
x. Server for NFS
b. Storage Services
11. Hyper-V
12. Network Policy and Access Services
13. Print and Document Services
14. Remote Access
15. Remote Desktop Services
16. Volume Activation Services
17. Web Server (IIS)

Features:
1. .NET Framework 3.5 Features
a. .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0)
b. HTTP Activation
c. Non-HTTP Activation
2. .NET Framework 4.5 Features

a. .NET Framework 4.5

b. ASP.NET 4.5
c. WCF Services
i. HTTP Activation
ii. Message Queuing (MSMQ) Activation)
iii. Named Pipe Activation
iv. TCP Activation
v. TCP Port Sharing
3. Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)
a. IIS Server Extension
b. Compact Server
4. BitLocker Drive Encryption
5. BitLocker Network Unlock
6. BranchCache
7. Client for NFT
8. Data Center Bridging
9. Enhanced Storage
10. Failover Clustering
11. Group Policy Management
12. Ink and Handwriting Services
13. Internet Printing Client

14. IP Address Management (IPAM) Server

15. iSNS Server Service
16. LPR Port Monitor
17. Management OData IIS Extension
18. Media Foundation
19. Message Queuing
a. Message Queuing Services
b. Message Queuing DCOM Proxy
20. Multipath I/O
21. Network Load Balancing
22. Peer Name Resolution Protocol
23. Quality Windows Audio Video Experience
24. RAS Connection Manager Administration Kit (CMAK)
25. Remote Assistance
26. Remote Differential Compression
27. Remote Server Administration Tools
28. RPC over HTTP Proxy
29. Simple TCP/IP Services
30. SMTP Server
31. SNMP Server
a. SNMP WMI Provider

32. Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (Deprecated)

33. Telnet Client
34. Telnet Server
35. TFTP Client
36. User Interfaces and Infrastructure
a. Graphical Management Tools and Infrastructure
b. Desktop Experience
c. Server Graphical Shell
37. Windows Biometric Framework
38. Windows Feedback Forwarder
39. Windows Identity Foundation 3.5
40. Windows Internal Database
41. Windows PowerShell
a. Windows PowerShell 3.0
b. Windows PowerShell 2.0
c. Windows PowerShell ISE
d. Windows PowerShell Web Access
42. Windows Process Activation Service
a. Process Model
b. .NET Environment 3.5
c. Configuration APIs

43. Windows Search Service

44. Windows Server Backup
45. Windows Server Migration Tools
46. Windows Standards-Based Storage Management
47. Windows System Resource Manager (Deprecated)
48. Windows TIFF IFilter
49. WinRM IIS Extension
50. WINS Server
51. Wireless LAN Service
52. WoW64 Support
53. XPS Viewer
Now: Adding roles and features in Windows Server 2012 is easier than it was previously either use
the Add Roles and Features Wizard (See my article and video here). Or you can use Windows
PowerShell (which is the preferred way to do it) by using the cmdlet Install-WindowsFeature. Even
though there is a distinction between Roles and Features, the cmdlet to install them is the same for
both.

PART - 1

Introduction
By now you have probably heard that with its Metro interface and redesigned Server Manager, Windows Server 2012
is vastly different from its predecessors. In fact, many administrators initially find themselves having trouble
performing even some of the most basic tasks because the interface is so different from what they are used to. That
being the case, I decided to write an article series that walks you through the process of performing common tasks in
a Windows Server 2012 environment.

Rebooting the Server

The one thing that I personally had the toughest time figuring out when I first got started with Windows Server 2012
was rebooting the server. After all, the Start menu is gone, and so is the shut down option that has always existed on
the Start menu.
To power down (or reboot) your server, move your mouse to the upper, right corner of the screen. When you do,
Windows will display a series of icons along the right side of the screen. Click the Settings icon and you will be taken
to the Settings page, which you can see in Figure A. As you can see in the figure, the bottom row of icons includes a
Power button. You can use this icon to shut down or to reboot the server.

Figure A: Use the Power icon to shut down or reboot the server.

Accessing the Control Panel

Another task that some administrators have struggled with is that of accessing the Control Panel. There are actually
several different ways to get to the Control Panel, but I will show you the two most common methods.
The first method is to use the same set of icons that I showed you in the previous step. Move your mouse to the
upper, right corner of the screen and then click on Settings. When the Settings page appears, click the Control Panel
link, which you can see in Figure A.

Another way to access the Control Panel is to go into Desktop mode and then move your mouse pointer to the lower
left corner of the screen. When you do, the Start tile will appear. Right click on this tile and a menu will appear. This
menu contains an option to access the Control Panel, as shown in Figure B.
Figure B: You can access the Control Panel by right clicking on the Start tile and selecting the Control Panel option
from the resulting menu.

Accessing the Administrative Tools

In Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2, you could access the administrative tools by clicking the Start button, and
then going to All Programs and clicking the Administrative Tools option. Needless to say, since the Start menu no
longer exists, you have to access the administrative tools in a new way.
There are a couple of different ways to access the administrative tools in Windows Server 2012. One way involves
using the Server Manager. As you can see in Figure C, the Server Managers Tools menu contains all of the
administrative tools that you are probably familiar with from Windows Server 2008.

Figure C: The administrative tools are accessible from the Server Managers Tools menu.
Of course its kind of a pain to have to go into the Server Manager every time that you need to access an
administrative tool. It would be a lot easier if the tools were accessible from the Start screen. The good news is that it
is easy to make that happen.
To do so, make sure that you are looking at the Windows Start screen. This technique wont work if you are in
Desktop mode. Now, move your mouse to the upper right corner of the screen and then click on the Settings icon.
When the Settings page appears, click on the Tiles link. As you can see in Figure D, there is a slide bar that you can
use to control whether or not the Administrative Tools are shown on the Start screen. You can see the Administrative
Tools icon in the lower left corner of the screen capture.

Figure D: You can use the slide bar to enable the Start screen to display the administrative tools.

Accessing Your Applications

Perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of the new interface is that applications are no longer bound to a
centralized Start menu. This might not be such a big deal if all of your applications happen to have tiles on the Start
screen, but what happens if certain tiles are missing?
Some administrators have found that after upgrading from a previous version of Windows Server that their Start
screen contains only a small subset of the items that previously resided on their servers Start screen. The good news
is that these missing items are not lost. You just have to know where to look for them.
To access all of the tiles that the Start screen is hiding, right click on an empty area of the Start screen. When you do,
a blue bar will appear at the bottom of the screen, as shown in Figure E. Click on the All Apps icon that appears on
this bar. When you do, you will be taken to an Apps screen thats similar to the one shown in Figure F. As you can see
in the figure, the apps are categorized in a manner similar to how they might have been on the Start menu.

Figure E: Right click on an empty area of the Start screen to reveal the blue bar and the All Apps icon.

Figure F: The Apps screen contains all of the missing tiles.

The Run Prompt and the Command Line

In previous versions of Windows Server, I used the Run prompt and the Command Line extensively. For example, if
you needed to access a utility such as the Disk Management Console, the easiest way to get to it was to click on the
Run prompt and enter the DISKMGMT.MSC command.

Similarly, I also spent a lot of time in a Command Prompt environment. Sure, PowerShell is the way of the future, but
there are some commands that just dont work in a PowerShell environment. Most of the command line utilities will
only work from a true command line environment. For example, the ESEUTIL tool that comes with Exchange Server
2010 is designed to be used from a Command Prompt and it doesnt work in PowerShell.
Fortunately, the Run prompt and the Command Prompt are both easily accessible. To reach these items, navigate
into Desktop mode. Upon doing so, move your mouse pointer to the lower, left corner of the screen. When the Start
tile appears, right click on it and you will see a menu listing options for Run, Command Prompt and Command Prompt
(Admin).

Conclusion
Although the Windows Server 2012 interface can be confusing at first, the vast majority of the items that were
available in the Windows Server 2008 R2 interface still exist. You just have to know where to look for them. In Part 2,
I will show you how to perform some more basic management tasks in Windows Server 2012.

Part - 2
Introduction
I spent most of the first part of this series showing you how Windows Server 2012s new user interface works. In this
article, I want to shift gears a little bit and walk you through some common tasks that you might typically need to
perform when setting up a new server.

Renaming the Server

Although Windows Server 2012 automatically assigns each server a random name, administrators often like to
change the name to something more meaningful. This is especially true in virtual server environments where it can
become quite confusing if the servers computer name (the name used by Windows to identify the server) doesnt
match the virtual machine name (the name displayed within the Hyper-V Manager).
To rename a server, move the mouse pointer to the lower left portion of the screen to reveal the Start tile. Right click
on this tile and select the System command from the shortcut menu. Upon doing so, Windows Server 2012 will
display the System dialog box, which is nearly identical to the version used in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2.
You can see what this looks like in Figure A.

Figure A: You can use the System dialog box sheet to change the computer name.
Now click on the Change Settings link and Windows will display the System Properties sheet. Make sure that the
Computer Name tab is selected and then click the Change button. Enter the new computer name and click OK. You
will have to reboot the server in order for the change to take effect.

Assigning an IP Address to the Server

The process of assigning an IP address to a Windows Server 2012 server is very similar to the method used in
Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2. Begin the process by moving the mouse to the lower left corner of the screen to
reveal the Start tile. Right click on the Start tile and then choose the Control Panel option from the resulting menu.
When the Control Panel opens, click on the Network and Internet link, shown in Figure B. Next, click on Network and
Sharing Center, followed by Change Adapter Settings.

Figure B: Click on the Network and Internet link.

At this point, Windows should display a series of network adapters. Right click on the adapter to which you want to
assign an IP address and choose the Properties command from the shortcut menu. Scroll through the list of
networking components and select the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) component and click Properties. You
will now be taken to a screen that allows you to enter an IP address for the adapter. After doing so, click OK.
One thing that you need to know about IP address assignments in Windows Server 2012 is that you must be careful
to only assign IP addresses to adapters that are not being used for other purposes. For example, if an adapter is
being used by Hyper-V then the only component that should be enabled for that adapter is the Hyper-V Extensible
Virtual Switch. You cannot assign an IP address directly to the adapter without causing problems. Instead, Hyper-V
creates a virtual network adapter on the physical server. This virtual network adapter corresponds to the physical
network adapter, and that is where you should make the IP address assignment.
The same basic concept applies to Windows 2012 servers that are using a NIC team. When you create a NIC team,
you are binding multiple network adapters together into a logical network adapter. The Network Adapters screen
displays the physical network adapters alongside the NIC team, as shown in Figure C. The only component that
should be enabled on teamed physical adapters is the Microsoft Network Adaptor Multiplexor protocol. IP address
assignments must be made only to the teamed NIC, not to individual NICs within the team.

Figure C: The Network Connections screen shows physical network adapters and NIC teams.

Joining a Server to a Domain

The process of joining a Windows Server 2012 server to an Active Directory domain is very similar to the method that
I previously demonstrated for renaming a server. Keep in mind however, that before you can join a server to a
domain, the server must be able to communicate with the domain. Specifically this means that the servers IP
address configuration must reference the domains DNS server. Otherwise, Windows will be unable to contact a
domain controller during the domain join.
To join the server to a domain, move your mouse pointer to the lower, left corner of the screen and then right click on
the Start tile. Select the System command from the Start tiles menu. When the System dialog box appears, click the
Change Settings link, which you can see in Figure A. The server should now display the System Properties sheet.
Make sure that the Computer Name tab is selected and then click the Change button. When Windows Displays the
Computer Name / Domain Changes dialog box shown in Figure D, enter your domain name and click OK. Windows
will locate the domain and then prompt you for a set of administrative credentials. When the domain join completes
you will be prompted to restart the server.

Figure D: Enter your domain name and click OK.

Disabling Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration

In Windows Server 2012, Microsoft uses a mechanism called Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration to
lock down Internet Explorer, thereby making it more or less unusable. The good news is that you can disable Internet
Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration.
Before I show you how to accomplish this, I need to point out that Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration
is put in place for your protection. The Internet is not a riskless place, and it is possible to infest a computer with
malware just by accidentally visiting a malicious Web site. Most security professionals agree that you should never
use a Web browser directly from a server console.
While I certainly agree with the sentiment of these ideas, I find that I often need access to the Internet when I am
setting up a new server. Often times I will need to download patches, drivers, etc. and Internet Explorer Enhanced
Security Configuration gets in the way. What I usually do (and this is by no means a recommendation) is to disable
Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration, download anything that I need, and then re-enable Internet
Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration.
To disable Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration, open the Server Manager and then click on the Local
Server tab. When you do, the console will display the local server properties. Click on the Unknown link next to IE
Enhanced Security Configuration, as shown in Figure E.

Figure E: Click on the Unknown link next to IE Enhanced Security Configuration.

You will now see a dialog box that allows you to enable or disable this component. Internet Explorer Enhanced
Security Configuration can be enabled or disabled separately for users and for administrators.

Conclusion
In this article, I have walked you through a few basic configuration tasks in Windows Server 2012. In Part 3 I will
continue the discussion by showing you how to perform some more common configuration tasks.

Part - 3
Introduction
My goal throughout this series has been to walk you through the process of performing common
management tasks in Windows Server 2012. Windows Server 2012s version of the Server
Manager is radically different from what was included in previous versions of Windows Server.
That being the case I wanted to try to help people by demonstrating some of the more common
management tasks.

Configuring the Windows Firewall

Some administrators like to control the Windows Firewall through group policy settings, but others configure the
firewall manually (especially in smaller shops). If you need to access the Windows Firewall you can do so by opening
the Server Manager and then choosing the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security command from the Tools menu,
as shown in Figure A.

Figure A: You can open the configuration interface for the Windows Firewall by choosing the Windows Firewall with
Advanced Security command from the Server Managers Tools menu.

Adding Roles and Features

The process of adding new roles and features to Windows Server 2012 is at least somewhat intuitive. The easiest
way to accomplish this is to open the Server Manager and choose the Add Roles and Features command from the

Manage menu, as shown in Figure B. This causes Windows to launch the Add Roles and Features wizard. In many
ways this wizard is similar to what you might be used to in some of the previous versions of Windows Server, but
there are a few differences.

Figure B: You can launch the Add Roles and Features Wizard by choosing the Add Roles and Features command
from Server Managers Manage window.
When the wizard begins, click Next to bypass the Welcome screen. The next screen that you will see asks you if you
want to perform a Remote Desktop Services installation or if you would prefer to perform a role based or a feature
based installation. Unless you are configuring the server to run the Remote Desktop Services, you should choose the
Role Based or Feature Based Installation option. Click Next to continue.
The next screen that you will see is very different from anything that existed in previous versions of Windows Server.
This screen asks you where you would like to install the role or feature. Although this is a seemingly simple question,
the wizard gives you a few different options, as shown in Figure C.

Figure C: You must tell Windows where you want to install the role or feature.

In previous versions of Windows Server it was assumed that if you were installing a role or a feature then you were
performing the installation on the local server. Windows Server 2012 still allows you to perform local installations of
roles and features. As a matter of fact, this is the default behavior. If you were to simply click Next on the screen
above then the wizard would assume that the roles or features that you choose later on will be installed on the local
server. Although this is the default behavior, it is not your only option.
If you look closely at the screen capture shown above, you will notice that the option that is selected allows you to
select a server from a server pool. In Windows Server 2012, a server pool is simply a collection of servers that can be
managed through Server Manager. As it stands right now, no additional servers have been added to the server pool
for the lab server that was used to create the figure above. If additional servers had been added to the server pool
however, those servers would appear directly beneath the server that is selected. I will show you how to add a server
to the server pool a little bit later on.
The other option that appears on the screen capture is the option to select a virtual hard disk. Previous versions of
Windows Server required you to install roles and features on a running copy of Windows. This isnt the case in
Windows Server 2012. It is actually possible to install a role or a feature on to a virtual hard disk that contains a
Windows Server installation that is not currently running.
When you click Next, you will see a screen displaying all of the various server roles that you can install. The list of
server roles really isnt all that different from those found in Windows Server 2008. When you make your selection
you can click Next and you will be taken to the Features screen. Here you can choose the features that you want to
install.
When you click Next once again, you will see a confirmation screen that provides information about the roles were
features that are about to be installed. It is a good idea to take just a moment to read this screen and verify that the
roles or features that are about to be installed are the ones that you intended. Assuming that all is well, you can click
the Install button to perform the installation.

Adding Servers to the Server Pool

In the previous section, I mentioned that it was possible to add additional servers to the server pool so that those
servers could be managed through Server Manager. The advantage to populating the server pool is that doing so
allows you to manage multiple Windows servers through a single pane of glass.
If you want to add additional servers to the server pool, open Server Manager and choose the Add Servers command
from the Manage menu as shown in Figure D. When you do, you will see the dialog box shown in Figure E.

Figure D: To add servers to the server pool choose the Add Servers command from the Manage menu.

Figure E: You can use this dialog box to add servers to the server pool.
As you can see in the figure, Windows provides three different methods for adding servers to the server pool. In most
cases, you will probably want to use the Active Directory tab. This tab allows you to specify the names of computers
that are registered in the Active Directory database. You will notice in the figure above that Windows gives you the
option of specifying the computers location, and you can even filter the search results by operating system.
Another option is to specify computers by their fully qualified domain names or by IP address. This can be
accomplished through the DNS tab. The DNS tab is useful for adding computers that exist on your network, but that
are not members of an Active Directory domain. For example, edge servers are almost never domain members.
Finally, the Import tab is used for importing large numbers of computers. This method allows you to add all of the
computers to a file, and then import that file rather than having to import each computer individually. Once added, the
servers in the pool will be accessible through the Server Manager, as shown in Figure F.

Figure F: Server Manager can be used to manage multiple computers.

Conclusion
In this article, I have explored some more of the basics of working with Windows Server 2012. In Part 4 I plan to
conclude this series by showing you some more techniques for working with roles and features.

Part - 4

Introduction
Throughout this article series, my goal has been to explain how to perform the most basic and common configuration
tasks using Windows Server 2012. In this article, I plan to wrap up the series by walking you through a few more
techniques.

Working with Roles and Features

In the previous article I walked you through the process of installing roles and features onto Windows Server 2012. I
want to wrap up this series by showing you what to do after the roles and features have been installed.
If you look at Figure A, you will see the Server Manager dashboard. There are several items on this screen that are
worth paying attention to.

Figure A: This is the Server Manager dashboard.

The first thing that you will probably notice is the big, orange section near the center of the screen. This section is
designed to help you to quickly get the server configured. As you can see in the figure, this section contains links that
you can click to add roles and features, add other servers to manage, or to create server groups. As you have seen
throughout this series, all of these tasks can be performed manually, but if you forget how to do so then you can
simply click on one of these links to get the ball rolling.
The next thing that I want to point out is the column on the left. This column lists a number of different Server
Manager views. At the moment the Dashboard view is selected, but you can switch to a different view by clicking on
the view.
Some of the views that are listed are standard for Windows Server 2012. The Dashboard, Local Server, All Servers,
and File and Storage Services views are created by default. There are also views that may exist as a result of the
way that you have configured your server. For example, in the figure above the AD DS, DNS, and Hyper-V views
exist as a direct result of installing the corresponding roles and features. The bottom two items on the list are Lab
Servers and Production Servers. These are actually computer groups that I manually created at an earlier time.

I want to delve into views a little bit more, and talk about how the views relate to the roles and features that are
installed. Before I do that though, take a look at the lower portion of the screen capture shown in Figure A. This
section contains a series of boxes for the roles and server groups that exist on the server.
As you can see in the figure, each box corresponds to a specific role or server group. The boxes are color coded.
Boxes display green to indicate that there are no issues related to the particular role or server group. Conversely, the
red boxes indicate that there are issues that need to be addressed.
These boxes are designed to help make it easy for you to resolve the issues that have been detected. If you look
back at the figure, you will notice that each of the red boxes contains a number just to the right of the box name. This
number reflects the number of issues that need to be resolved.
If you look beneath each boxs header, you will see a series of categories listed (Manageability, Events, Services,
Performance, BPA Results). A red flag to the left of a category indicates that there are issues related to that category
that need to be resolved. For example, in the screen capture the Lab Servers server group has two manageability
and one service related issue that need to be addressed.
Before I show you how to examine these issues, I need to quickly clarify one thing. The Server Manager has a way of
making these issues seem critical because of the way that the issues are displayed in red. In most cases however,
you will likely find that the issues that have been detected are anything but critical.
To attempt to resolve an issue, simply click on the issue category. This causes Windows to display a detail view. For
example, when I click Manageability under Hyper-V, Windows displays the screen shown in Figure B.

Figure B: This screen was displayed when I clicked the Manageability container in the Hyper-V box.
As you can see in the figure above, the dialog box identifies the source of the problem. In this case the server needs
to be restarted.
There is however, one more important piece of information displayed in this dialog box that might not be readily
apparent from the screen capture. If you look closely at the alert that is being displayed, you will notice that the server

name and the servers IP address are both listed as a part of the alert. The reason why I bring this up is because in
the screen capture above the alert that is displayed actually pertains to a remote server that is not even powered on
at the moment. Therefore, when you see alert message is displayed in the Server Manager dashboard, you cannot
automatically assume that the alerts are for the local server. Often times, the alerts pertain to remote machines
instead.
Obviously, correcting this alert would have been as easy as turning on the server that is mentioned and then allowing
it to reboot. What if the problem had been more serious though? If the problem had been more serious than the alert
should have at least given a hint as to the cause of the problem. The dialog box also contains a Go To Hyper-V
button that could be used to open the interface that is needed to correct the problem (in this case the Hyper-V view).
Now that I have shown you how the alert boxes work, I want to go back and talk a little bit more about the views that I
mentioned earlier. As previously mentioned, many of the views are specifically related to roles or features that have
been installed on the server. When you click on a role or feature related view, Server Manager displays a number of
pieces of information related to that view. You can see an example of this in Figure C.

Figure C: Selecting the Hyper-V view causes Server Manager to display information related to Hyper-V.
As you can see in the figure above, selecting the Hyper-V view causes Windows to display the Hyper-V servers, and
events and services related to Hyper-V. If you were to scroll down, you would find the Best Practices Analyzer, the
Performance Monitor, and information about the Hyper-V role. All of these tools can be accessed in other places
throughout the operating system, but Server Manager puts them all together in one place for you.

Conclusion
Throughout this article series, I have discussed some of the most common management and configuration tasks that
you will have to perform when you are first getting a Windows 2012 server up and running. As you can see, the
general configuration process for Windows Server 2012 really isnt all that different from earlier versions of Windows
Server. It is simply the new user interface that takes some getting used to.