Book Image

Mastering Windows Server 2016

By : Jordan Krause
Book Image

Mastering Windows Server 2016

By: Jordan Krause

Overview of this book

Windows Server 2016 is the server operating system developed by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems, developed concurrently with Windows 10. With Windows Server 2016, Microsoft has gotten us thinking outside of the box for what it means to be a system administration, and comes with some interesting new capabilities. These are exciting times to be or to become a server administrator! This book covers all aspects of administration level tasks and activities required to gain expertise in Microsoft Windows Server 2016. You will begin by getting familiar and comfortable navigating around in the interface. Next, you will learn to install and manage Windows Server 2016 and discover some tips for adapting to the new server management ideology that is all about centralized monitoring and configuration. You will deep dive into core Microsoft infrastructure technologies that the majority of companies are going to run on Server 2016. Core technologies such as Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Certificate Services, File Services, and more. We will talk about networking in this new operating system, giving you a networking toolset that is useful for everyday troubleshooting and maintenance. Also discussed is the idea of Software Defined Networking. You will later walk through different aspects of certificate administration in Windows Server 2016. Three important and crucial areas to cover in the Remote Access role -- DirectAccess, VPN, and the Web Application Proxy -- are also covered. You will then move into security functions and benefits that are available in Windows Server 2016. Also covered is the brand new and all-important Nano Server! We will incorporate PowerShell as a central platform for performing many of the functions that are discussed in this book, including a chapter dedicated to the new PowerShell 5.0. Additionally, you will learn about the new built-in integration for Docker with this latest release of Windows Server 2016. The book ends with a discussion and information on virtualizing your datacenter with Hyper-V. By the end of this book, you will have all the ammunition required to start planning for and implementing Windows Server 2016.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Mastering Windows Server 2016
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

DirectAccess – automatic VPN!


In my experience, Microsoft DirectAccess is the most common reason that administrators deploy the Remote Access role. The easiest way to think about DirectAccess is to think of it as an automatic VPN. Similar to VPN, its purpose is to connect the user's computers into the corporate network when they are outside of the office. Different from VPN, however, is the method that employees use in order to make this connection possible. DirectAccess is not a software component, it is a series of components that are already baked into the Windows operating system, working in tandem to provide completely seamless access for the user. What do I mean by seamless? I mean there is nothing the user has to do in order to make DirectAccess connect. It does that all by itself. As soon as the mobile computer receives an Internet connection, whether that connection is a home Wi-Fi, public Internet at a coffee shop, or a cell phone Mi-Fi style connection, the DirectAccess tunnels...