Microsoft Windows Server 2012 : Centrally Managed Basic Services for Microsoft Windows 8 Clients
T Havia · Theseus (Ammattikorkeakoulujen) · 2013
Microsoft published the latest operating system versions; Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 last autumn. It was the correct time to create a test environment and test how basic services and their centralized remote management could be done nowadays. The purpose was to come up with as versatile an environment as possible which any person interested in the topic could do and continue to the desired direction. The initial plan was to create the test environment in one computer virtually. The environment was done with redundancy of basic services without Network Load Balancing or Failover Clustering features. Finally, the environment within the framework of the study included 11 virtual servers and three virtual workstations. For the host computer’s operating system was chosen the Windows Server 2012 Datacenter edition and the needed hypervisor software was chosen between Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware Workstation 9, the environment was done with VMware. These operating system versions contain a good and wide range of tools for remote management. The basic services were almost the same as in the earlier versions, only the Hyper-V feature is new in the Windows 8 x64 editions and the IP Address Management (IPAM) Server feature in the Windows Server 2012 editions. This study contains as many remote management tools as possible. It is possible to make a good test environment for learning the basic services and their remote management tools to one computer with basic home computer components. A virtual environment gives good possibilities to backup and take snapshots of virtual computers to recover the earlier state if needed.