First published on TechNet on Mar 31, 2013
If you've read any of my prior posts, you know I like to be able to do things without a lot of prep, in a short amount of time. Yes, I like the K.I.S.S principle – Keep It Simple, Stan.
I also enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes when I can leave work and know that I actually made progress in the pursuit of "the well-managed IT infrastructure."
Like the song by Rush, "One Little Victory," sometimes the small wins turn out to be big.
Well, in this post, I'm going to show you how you can get value/benefits from the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) on Windows Server 2012 or Windows 8.
"Frank, what's an RSAT and should I want one?"
Remote Server Administration Tools includes Server Manager, Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-ins, consoles, Windows PowerShell CMDlet and providers, and command-line tools for managing roles and features that run on Windows Server 2012. In limited cases, the tools can be used to manage roles and features that are running on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008 and some of the tools work for managing roles and features on Windows Server 2003.
You can do this today.
This afternoon.
Not next week, next month or next year.
No need to wait for SP1 or R2.
No need for Schema extensions.
No Enterprise Admin membership.
No 2012 DCs required.
Of course, there is no free lunch, though and there are some requirements:
Now that we've covered that, you can get benefits from the new tools of Windows Server 2012 in short order.
I should state clearly and emphatically that you should NOT circumvent established processes and procedures for deploying a new OS/system into your production environment. Hopefully, a base build "design" is a pre-requisite to deployment of a new OS to your production environment.
However, in terms of learning, ramp-up and proof of concepts, you can deploy a Windows Server 2012/Windows 8 system as a member of your domain as easily as any other Windows OS.
So, download the Windows Server 2012/Windows 8 trial or utilize your Microsoft benefits to obtain the install media for the OS and let's get started!
Provision a VM or maybe re-purpose a physical machine and install the OS.
Configure the system and join the system to your dev/test domain – you do have a dev/test environment, right?
Patch it up via Windows Update, WSUS, SCCM or your company's patching mechanisms.
When you're ready and you've signed in, open Server Manager and run the "Add Roles and Features" Wizard:
Now, let's discuss a few of the awesome tools you just added and how they can help you manage the infrastructure:
Group Policy Management Console
You can achieve these same small victories via Windows 8, too, but you'll need to download the Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 before you'll be able to see/use the Tools discussed here.
There you have it – useful tools by 4:00 pm. Don't be late for dinner!
Cheers!
Hilde
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