Chapter 1: Windows Server 2012 Roles and Features

What is Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services

Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) is a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory service that provides flexible support for directory-enabled applications, without the dependencies and domain-related restrictions of AD DS.

What is Active Directory Certificate Services

Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) in Windows Server 2012 is the server role that allows you to build a public key infrastructure (PKI) and provide public key cryptography, digital certificates, and digital signature capabilities for your organization.

What is Group Policy

Group policies are a set of rules and management configuration options that you can control through the Group Policy settings. These policy settings can be placed on users' computers throughout the organization.

What is Failover Clustering

The Failover Clustering feature provides a way to create, configure, and manage failover clusters for up to 4,000 virtual machines or up to 64 physical nodes.

What is Windows Server Backup Feature

The Windows Server Backup feature gives an organization a way to back up and restore Windows servers. You can use Windows Server Backup to back up the entire server (all volumes), selected volumes, the system state, or specific files or folders.

What is Volume Activation

Windows Server 2012 Volume Activation will help your organization benefit from using this service to deploy and manage volume licenses for a medium to large number of computers

What is Security and Protection

Windows Server 2012 has many new and improved security features for your organization. These security features include Access Control, AppLocker, BitLocker, Credential Locker, Kerberos, NTLM, passwords, security auditing, smart cards, and Windows Biometric Framework (WBF).

What is Windows Server Update Services

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) allows administrators to deploy application and operating system updates. By deploying WSUS, administrators have the ability to manage updates that are released through Microsoft Update to computers in their network. This feature is integrated with the operating system as a server role on a Windows Server 2012 system.

What is Windows System Resource Manager

Windows System Resource Manager allows you to manage server processor and memory usage with standard or custom resource policies. By managing your resources, you can ensure that all of the services provided by a single server are available. It also allows you to verify that services run on an equal basis or that your resources will always be available to high-priority applications, services, or users.

What is Active Directory Federation Services

Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) provides Internet-based clients with a secure identity access solution that works on both Windows and non-Windows operating systems. AD FS gives users the ability to do a single sign-on (SSO) and access applications on other networks without needing a secondary password.

What is Active Directory Rights Management Services

Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS) in Windows Server 2012 is the server role that provides you with management and development tools that work with industry security technologies including encryption, certificates, and authentication to help organizations create reliable information protection solutions.

What is Application Server

Application Server provides an integrated environment for deploying and running custom, server-based business applications.

What is File and Storage Services

File and Storage Services allows an administrator to set up and manage one or more file servers. These servers can provide a central location on your network where you can store files and then share those files with network users. If users require access to the same files and applications, or if centralized backup and file management are important issues for your organization, administrators should set up network servers as a file server.

What is Print and Document Services

Print and Document Services allows an administrator to centralize print server and network printer tasks. This role allows you also to receive scanned documents from network scanners and route the documents to a shared network resource, Windows SharePoint Services site, or email addresses. Print and Document Services also provides fax servers with the ability to send and receive faxes while also giving the administrator the ability to manage fax resources such as jobs, settings, reports, and fax devices on the fax server.

What is Remote Desktop Services

Remote Desktop Services allows for faster desktop and application deployments to any device, improving remote user effectiveness while helping to keep critical data secure. Remote Desktop Services allows for both a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and session-based desktops, allowing users to connect from anywhere.

What is Active Directory Domain Services

The Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) server role allows you to create a scalable, secure, and manageable infrastructure for user and resource management and provide support for directory-enabled applications, such as Microsoft Exchange Server

What is Hyper-V

The Hyper-V role allows administrators to create and manage a virtualized environment by taking advantage of the technology built into the Windows Server 2012 operating system. When an administrator installs the Hyper-V role, all required virtualization components are installed. Some of the required components include the Windows hypervisor, Virtual Machine Management Service, the virtualization WMI provider, the virtual machine bus (VMbus), the virtualization service provider (VSP) and the virtual infrastructure driver (VID).

What is Network Load Balancing

The Network Load Balancing (NLB) feature dispenses traffic across multiple servers by using the TCP/IP networking protocol. By combining two or more computers that are running applications in Windows Server 2012 into a single virtual cluster, NLB provides reliability and performance for mission-critical servers.

What is Telemetry

The Telemetry service allows the Windows Feedback Forwarder to send feedback to Microsoft automatically by deploying a Group Policy setting to one or more organizational units. Windows Feedback Forwarder is available on all editions of Windows Server 2012, including Server Core.

What is Web Server (IIS)

The Web Server (IIS) role in Windows Server 2012 allows an administrator to set up a secure, easy-to-manage, modular, and extensible platform for reliably hosting websites, services, and applications

What is Networking

This feature allows administrators to design, deploy, and maintain a Windows Server 2012 network. The networking features include 802.1X authenticated wired and wireless access, BranchCache, Data Center Bridging, low-latency workloads technologies, and many more.

What is Network Policy and Access Services

Use the Network Policy and Access Services server role to install and configure Network Access Protection (NAP), secure wired and wireless access points, and RADIUS servers and proxies.

What is Windows Deployment Services

Windows Deployment Services allow an administrator to install a Windows operating system over the network. Administrators do not have to install each operating system directly from a CD or DVD.