Windows Server 2012 R2 Installation: Configuration and Roles

This report provides a comprehensive overview of a server installation, focusing on Windows Server 2012 R2. It begins by outlining the necessary server hardware specifications and licensing implications, emphasizing the importance of domain controllers for reliability and security. The report then details the operating system configuration, highlighting key features of Windows Server 2012 R2 such as automated tiering, PowerShell v4, and improved virtual machine development. Furthermore, it explores the roles and features of the server, including Active Directory Domain Services, DHCP server, and Hyper-V, as well as features like RODC and dynamic memory. The report also differentiates between basic and dynamic disks, outlining their respective operations and capabilities. Finally, it compares IPv4 and IPv6, noting key differences in configuration, addressing, and security features. The document concludes with a list of references.

Running Head: SERVER INSTALLATION 0
Server Installation
Report
Student name

Server Installation 1
Table of Contents
1. Server Hardware Specification and Licensing Implication......................................................2
2. Server Operating System Configuration..................................................................................3
3. Roles and Features of Server....................................................................................................4
Role of the Windows Server 2012 R2.........................................................................................4
Features of Windows Server 2012 R2.........................................................................................4
4. Basic and Dynamic disks.........................................................................................................5
Basic disks....................................................................................................................................5
Dynamic disks..............................................................................................................................5
5. IPv4 and IPv6...........................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

Server Installation 2
1. Server Hardware Specification and Licensing Implication
Server basic requirements are based on the working of the company. Windows Server
environment heart is domain controller. Domain controllers are reliable and secure as well as
always available for their services. Server is having two controllers in each domain. Therefore,
they can ensure directory services as well as authorized and authenticated for accessing of
different resource from the server. Server hardware is also having physical domain controller that
has a resistance and high degree of reliability for numerous types of server failures. Virtualized
domain controllers are running on the host machines, which have enough hardware for reliability
(Ateik, 2013).
Operating system platform is base of the system requirements for domain controllers.
Minimum requirements for the Windows Server 2012 R2 platform are mention below. These are
the basic requirements for domain controllers in Windows Server 2012 R2:
 GHz 64-bit processor or faster
 32 GB disk space or greater
 Ethernet network adaptor
 512 MB RAM or greater
These are the minimum requirements for the Windows Server 2012 R2. However,
organizations are using greater specification of server hardware for more reliable and fast work.
They use Gigabit Ethernet network adaptor, more than 2 GB RAM and many more. Windows
Server 2012 R2 is providing best services to the domain controller as well as it is best for the
Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) (Tulloch , 2015).
Licensing of the Windows Server 2012 R2 edition is based on the editions, which are
standard and datacenter. In Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard edition, it can only use two
virtual machines. As per the license of standard edition, it is limited for two machines. Windows
Server 2012 R2 Datacenter is having a license for a single physical host and it can run on
unlimited number of machines through automatic virtual machine activation (blackbaud.com,
2012).

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2. Server Operating System Configuration
We should use Windows Server 2012 R2 for domain controllers. It is a best way to handle all
the issues of different domains. This edition is suitable for North Wind Traders Corporation
(NWTC). It was an updated version of Windows server 2012 with set of security, critical and
other features. Furthermore, Windows Server 2016 is next version of this server. Windows
Server 2012 R2 is having different unique features for handling the current processes of the
NWTC (Thomas , 2013). Following features are suitable for the NWTC working processes:
 It provides automated tiering that is provide fast and frequently accessed files for server
form the physical media.
 It has windows PowerShell v4 that provides Desired State Configuration Features to the
system
 It supports office 365 essential edition.
 It provides faster virtual machine development, which is half of the previous version.
 It is having internet information service 8.5 that support for event tracing for windows.
 This edition is having server message block that is provide improvement in the
performance.
 It supports deployment services, such as managing WDS via PowerShell.
 It has windows defender in a server core installation.
 It supports transport layer security services.
 This edition is having update services.
All these features and services are making it best for such type of organizations that wants to
setup servers for managing other sites of organizations.

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3. Roles and Features of Server
Windows Server 2012 R2 is having so many features that make an organization more secure
and fast in term of functional working (Garvis, 2013).
Role of the Windows Server 2012 R2
 Active Directory Domain Services
 DHCP server
 Hyper-V
 AD federation services
 Network policies and access services
 AD right management services
 Remote access
 WINS server
 Web services (IIS)
 Active directory Certificate Services
 Windows Development Services
Features of Windows Server 2012 R2
 RODC – Read only domain controller
 Volume Activation services
 Automatic virtual machine activation
 Minimal server interface
 Best practices analyzer
 IP address management
 Distributed file system replication
 Network load balancing
 Storage management service
 Dynamic memory
 Server manager
 Failover clustering
 Support for nonvolatile memory access

Server Installation 5
 Windows server update service
4. Basic and Dynamic disks
Basic disks
Windows systems are most often use basic disk storage type in which they contain partitions.
These partitions are primary partition and logical drives. It is a simple way to store data. Basic
disks are supporting clustered disks. Basic disks are mostly uses Master Boot Record (MBR)
partition style. It provides facility to extend partition size with the help of unallocated space on
the same disk (Microsoft, 2018). This operation can be performed on basic disks:
 User can create and delete primary and extended partition from the disk
 User can create and delete logical drives within an extended partition
 User can format a partition
 User can mark a formatted partition as active
Dynamic disks
Dynamic disks are providing advanced features for operating systems; such create volumes
that span multiple disks. These are also having ability to create fault-tolerant volumes, such as
RAID-5 volumes and mirrored volumes. It supports MBR and GPT partition style on systems. It
has greater flexibility for volume management as it has a database to track volume information.
It has Logical Disk Manager (LDM) and Virtual Disk Service (VDS) with their features.
Dynamic disks are having different features. Following operations can be performed on these
disks:
 User can create and delete simple, spanned, RAID-5, striped, and mirrored volumes
 User can extend both volumes
 User can break mirrored volume in two different volumes
 Use can repair all the volumes
 User can reactivate any disk

Server Installation 6
5. IPv4 and IPv6
These are the major differences between IPv4 and IPv6 version.
IPv4 IPv6
It supports manual configuration as well
as DHCP configuration
It supports only auto-configuration and
renumbering (Ali, 2012)
End to end connection integrity in not
possible in case of IPv4
Achievable in the IPv6
It has limited addresses ass per current
requirement. It can provide
approximately 4.2 billion addresses
(Sabarinath, 2018)
It can provide a large number of IP
addresses for host (Darwich, 2011)
It provide fragmentation facility to both
sender and receiver
It can provide only for sender
It is not having packet flow
identification
It provide information about the packet
flow (Goldstein, 2017)
It is not having encryption and
authentication facility
It provides authentication and
encryption

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References
Ali, A. (2012). Comparison study between IPV4 & IPV6. International Journal of Computer
Science Issues, 9(3), 314.
Ateik, T. (2013). Installing Windows Server 2012 (step by step). Retrieved February 1, 2019,
from https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/msgulfcommunity/2013/03/06/installing-
windows-server-2012-step-by-step/
blackbaud.com. (2012). Install Windows Server 2008 R2. Retrieved February 1, 2019, from
https://www.blackbaud.com/files/support/infinityinstaller/content/installermaster/
tkinstallwindowsserver2008r2.htm
Darwich, J. (2011). Comparative study of Mobile IPv4 and Mobile IPv6. SWEDEN: University
West.
Garvis, M. (2013). Windows Server 2012: Roles & Features. Retrieved February 1, 2019, from
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/canitpro/2013/04/23/windows-server-2012-roles-
features/
Goldstein, P. (2017). IPv4 to IPv6 Protocol Upgrade: How to Answer "Should I Enable IPv6?
Retrieved September 16, 2018, from https://biztechmagazine.com/article/2017/07/ipv4-
ipv6-protocol-upgrade-are-you-ipv6-ready
Microsoft. (2018). Basic and Dynamic Disks. Retrieved February 1, 2019, from
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/fileio/basic-and-dynamic-disks
Sabarinath. (2018). IPv4 vs IPv6: What is the difference between IPv4 and IPv6. Retrieved
Sepetember 21, 2018, from https://techlog360.com/ipv4-vs-ipv6/
Thomas , O. (2013). Top 5 Roles for Deploying Windows Server 2012. Retrieved February 1,
2019, from https://www.itprotoday.com/windows-78/top-5-roles-deploying-windows-
server-2012

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Tulloch , M. (2015, September 5). active-directory-insights-part5. Retrieved from
techgenix.com: http://techgenix.com/active-directory-insights-part5/