Windows Server 2012 Server Manager Graphic

As a technician, our concern for Windows Server is always in the system itself, including the ability to better manage the server, or more powerful, operationally It's even simpler. In Windows Server 2012, the server manager has undergone a very big change, and it has been greatly improved in many aspects.

The first is the Windows Server 2012 startup interface, compared to Windows Server 2008 R2 feels more professional and concise, as shown below.

Figure Windows Server 2012 Startup Interface

After the startup is complete, you can see the complete interface of the new Server Manager, as shown below.

Figure Server Server Interface for Windows Server 2012

Windows Server 2012 Server Manager makes it easier for users to focus on the interface compared to the traditional interface. On the task that the server needs to complete. Such a design is not unfounded, but has changed from the concept of Microsoft's design system.

There are two different concepts in Windows Server 2012:

Immersive

Windows Server 2012 has all the features of the old version of the system, but these features don’t seem to be straightforward It is displayed in front of the technician, but when the technician needs it, and the task is completed quickly, making the place where the technician needs to operate is simpler and faster.

Smarter

Windows Server 2012 is smarter than older systems, and technicians can clearly feel that Windows Server 2012 really needs to be "worry" when using it. The place becomes less, for example, when the Server“8” installation is completed, the Server Manager panel's "dashboard" panel is automatically launched, and a welcome interface (including quick start, new function, and learning three modules) is provided.

The entire interface of the Server Manager for Windows Server 2012 can be seen in the above figure. Now let's compare the server manager of the previous Windows Server 2008 R2:

The Server Manager in Windows Server 2008 R2 has almost no concept of a top navigation bar, and as you can see from the toolbar in the upper right corner of the image above, there is absolutely nothing in the old version. Even in this case, the entire interface still shows so much content in the case where the left navigation bar shrinks.

In fact, many of these contents are not commonly used or the technicians don't care much. When they are not important, they will cause confusion and influence. Take the log on the right side for example. Although the log is important to the system, not all logs need to be displayed in the eyes of the administrator. For example, when the server is running normally, there is no need to pay attention to the operation record automatically completed by the system, and the log recorded only when the system has problems, errors and warnings is really valuable.

The top of Windows Server 2012 is very succinct, but the content is very rich. The toolbar on the top right has management, tools, views, and help to complete most of the tasks in the old server manager.

Manage: Here you can add and remove roles and functions, add servers and create server groups.

Tools: There are so many things here. I don't know if you are familiar with them. This is very similar to the "Administrative Tools" in the old version of Server. Although there is no icon, it is more concise. I believe that technicians who are proficient in Windows Server are more familiar with the text in the “Administrative Tools” rather than small icons.

View: In the view, we can adjust the display size of the entire panel, which can be more conveniently switched between different devices, such as flat panel and high resolution display.

Help: This shows mainly the help information of the server manager, such as help files, TechCenter, TechNet Forum and so on.

Look at the small flag on the left side of the next four menu bars. This is a bit like the "Operation Center" prompt. Under normal circumstances, a small flag will be displayed here, if there is a new notification or The prompt message will be displayed in a very prominent form. For example, we added a function, you can directly close the wizard during the installation phase, then it will be displayed in the small flag, and then click on this small flag to see the specific task.

After some functions need to be configured after installation, an exclamation point will be displayed, indicating that the configuration needs to be completed.

If an error occurs during the installation process, the small flag will turn red, indicating that an error has occurred.

This feature means that multiple functions can be installed at the same time or multiple roles can be added, and there is no need to stay deadlocked in the installation interface, and reminders are made when they are completed or when they need to be configured. Next, look at the left side. The left side of the server has changed very much compared to the old version. It has become very simple. There are only four large blocks, namely the dashboard, the local server, all the servers, and the files and storage. service.

By default, we display our dashboard, the server manager's welcome screen and some important information, such as server events, logs and other information. Let's take a look at what is displayed in the local server:

You can see that almost all local server information is displayed in the local server bar. The first big chunk of content here is the old server. The "Initial Configuration Tasks" panel displays the content, but shows more content, such as hardware information. Drag the scroll bar on the right to see more content, such as services, detailed logs, server roles, and more.

There are also tools for performance evaluation and analysis that are basically relevant to the server, but not crowded at all.

The next step is file and storage services, which is a big change in Windows Server 2012. The file and storage services are divided into three parts, namely servers, storage pools and volumes. The server block mainly displays the currently managed server, can manage multiple servers at the same time, and can use various filtering settings to select the specified server.

There is a storage pool under the file storage, which is a very interesting concept. Allows the hard disks in the server to be added to the storage pool before including the virtual and physical disks in the storage pool. Virtual disks are the main files used by our virtual machines, including VHD and VHDX.

A new type of virtual disk in Windows Server 2012 with a suffix of VHDX. It can support more than 2TB of capacity of a single virtual disk, and supports error detection of power failure and unexpected computer stop.

There is also a tab that is a volume. The volume is actually well understood. It is the software version of the RAID array, not implemented by hardware. You can create mirrors and checksums. There are also shared folders, storage pools, and virtual iSCSI disks below, and you can see the structure of the file server.

The whole server manager is almost like this. Let's look at an example. It is a process of adding .NET Framework 3.5 with the Add Roles and Features Wizard.

First open the Add Role or Features Wizard, which will display the introduction, which is completely different from the old version.

The next step is completely different from the old version of Server. It will prompt you to select "Always based on role or feature-based installation" or "Install based on Remote Desktop Services" ” . Windows Server 2012 divides Server into two categories, one is traditional and the other is for cloud computing virtualization.

This kind of partitioning can deploy the required servers faster and more accurately, for example, select “install based on remote desktop service scheme, then the left step will automatically switch to "virtualization" & rdquo; program steps, and list the roles and functions of virtualization, completely shielded features that are not related to this, such as ADDS services.

Because of the planned installation of .NET Framework 3.5, you can directly select "Install based on role or function-based".

Afterwards, you will be prompted to select a server to add a role or function. You can select local, local area network, server group, and you can also select an offline server based on virtual disk. Select the local server.

Then prompt to select the role to add, skip this step without adding a role.

Selecting .NET Framework 3.5 will then bring up a loading bar at the top, click on the x on the right to unselect the add function. This is still useful when adding a large number of features to the wrong choice. Of course, the small function of this loading bar is a flash.

There is a confirmation page, you can check the automatic restart server. If the function requires it, click Install.

The installation progress bar is simple.

After starting the installation, you can close the wizard, and then you can view the installation progress and installation task information in the server manager's "small flag" and click Close.

OK, you can see the installation progress here, wait patiently.

There is basically a way to understand the server manager here, and of course there are a lot of details, and it has not been mentioned and discussed in this article. The server manager in Windows Server 2012 has indeed undergone earth-shaking changes, and this is what all technicians want to see, because it has become more practical, and it has been found to be very useful for technicians.