Chapter 2 “Installing Microsoft Windows Server 2008”

Thursday, February 07, 2013

 The cornerstone of building a network is installing Windows Server 2008.  Windows Server 2008 can be installed as a full server installation with a graphical user interface (GUI) or as a Server Core installation.  A Server Core installation, new in Windows Server 2008, is a system configuration that contains only the specific facilities required for a specific role and does not have a GUI.  All the configurations start from the command prompt.  After installation is complete the first window to open is the Initial Configuration Tasks window.  From this window you can set the proper time zone, configure networking, provide computer name and domain, enable automatic updating and feedback, download and install updates, add roles, add features, enable remote desktop, and configure Windows firewall.  When you are finished you can close the Initial Configuration Tasks window and the Server Manager window should open next.  From this window you can do various tasks such as add roles, add features, diagnostics, other configurations and storage.  Windows Server 2008 supports two types of hard disks, Basic and Dynamic.  All new disks are initialized as basic disks and can be initialized as Master Boot Record (MBR) or GUID Partition Table (GPT) partitioning.  Installing Server core is similar to installing the full GUI version with the exception of all configurations must be done from the command prompt.