Mastering Windows Server 2022 with Azure Cloud Services: IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS (Series Monographs in Applied Toxicology)

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I am configuring this server to support a small lab environment, so for me, it makes sense to put these core infrastructure services together in the same box, as shown in Figure 2.12:

WAC even has support for third-party vendors creating extensions for the WAC interface, so this tool is going to continue growing. If you have followed along with the test lab configuration in the book so far, you will recognize the words “Windows Admin Center” from a pop-up window that displays itself every time that Server Manager is opened. Microsoft wants administrators to know about WAC so badly that they are reminding you that you should start using it every time you log into a Server 2022 box, as shown in Figure 2.27:Make sure that your server does NOT boot into Windows again until after you have created your master image or taken your master copy of the .VHDX file. The first time that Windows boots, it will inject the new SID information, and you want that only to happen on new servers that you have created based on your new image. Keep in mind, these are the bare minimum specs that your server is going to require. Any real server in a production environment will need far more memory and disk space, and there is no magic number for what you will need. It depends on what workload you are going to expect out of your server. Continue to save yourself time and effort by creating new copies of your master images every few months. This way, the newest patches are always included in your master image, and it continues to save you more and more time throughout the life of Windows Server 2022. Running Sysprep to prepare and shut down your master server

Disk: Server 2022 requires a PCI Express ( PCIe) storage adapter. ATA/PATA/IDE are not allowed for boot drives. The minimum storage space requirement is 32 GB, but Desktop Experience consumes about 4 GB more space than Server Core, so take that into consideration.So, rather than simply throwing all of the switches at you and letting you decide, let’s take a look at the ones that I typically use. I will make use of /generalize so that I make my new servers unique, and I also like to use /oobe so that the mini-setup wizard launches during the first boot of Windows on any of my new systems. Then, I will, of course, also use /shutdown because I need this server to be offline immediately following Sysprep so that I can take a copy of the hard drive to be used as my master image. So, my fully groomed sysprep command is shown in the following code: sysprep.exe /generalize /oobe /shutdown The complete guide for system administrators to install, manage, secure, and squeeze return on investment from their Windows Server 2022 infrastructure With these new and improved ways to manage the underlying components of your servers without having to log in to them directly, does this mean that our age-old friend RDP is going away? Certainly not! We will still have the need to access our servers directly sometimes, even if we go all-in with using the newer management tools. And I also expect that many administrators out there will continue using RDP and full desktop-based access for all management and monitoring of their servers simply because that is what they are more comfortable with, even if newer, more efficient ways now exist to accomplish the same tasks. Remote Desktop Connection Manager In Figure 2.25, you can see that I have walked through the step to Add other servers to manage and selected some of the servers that are within my test network. I now have access, right here from my Windows 10 client computer, to manage and monitor all of the servers in my lab without even having to log in to them: Design and implement Microsoft Server 2022 in an enterprise environment and use Windows Server to create secure and efficient networks

Examples of implementing identity in Hybrid scenarios, including Azure AD DS on Azure IaaS and managed AD DS The roles for AD DS, DNS, and DHCP are now successfully installed, but there is some additional configuration that is now required for those roles to do their work. For example, to finish turning my server into a domain controller, I need to run through a promotion process to define my domain or to specify an existing domain that I want to join. There are also some loose ends that I need to tie up before putting DHCP into action: Since I always use the same set of options for Sysprep, I find it easier to simply include all of my optional switches right from the command-line input, therefore bypassing the graphical screen altogether. Here is some information on the different switches that are available to use with sysprep.exe: audit: This restarts the machine into a special audit mode, where you have the option of adding additional drivers into Windows before the final image gets taken. Windows Server 2022 continues that trend. Windows Server operating system in-place upgrades are stable and introduce us to a much more efficient way to upgrade servers than the old rip-and-replace methods. Let’s take a minute a prove this. On my Hyper-V host, where I run test labs, I have numerous Server 2022 VMs, but I still have many Server 2019 VMs sitting offline from previous projects.You could have many servers all doing their jobs, and every time a new operating system is released, you simply run the installer and upgrade them. Voila—magic! Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work like that, and I almost never see server administrators willing to take risks in doing an in-place upgrade to an existing production server. It is much more common that we always build brand-new servers alongside the currently running production servers. Once the new server is configured and ready to accept its responsibilities, then, and only then, does the actual workload migrate over to the new server from the old one. In a planned, carefully sculpted migration process, once the migration of duties is finished, then the old server is shut down and taken away. We will discuss this a little bit more near the end of this chapter and try to convince you that in-place upgrades are actually much better than they used to be. You are now ready to create your master image from this hard disk. Creating your master image of the drive Monitoring information about your servers from a single place like WAC is great and powerful, but the coolest part about WAC is that you have some serious capabilities to manipulate your servers as well, straight from this web interface. Written by a 10-time Microsoft MVP award winner with over 20 years of IT experience, Mastering Windows Server 2022 is a hands-on guide to administer any Windows Server environment. Whether new to the server world or working to keep your existing skills sharp, this book aims to be referenced on a regular basis instead of gathering dust on your shelf.