William Stanek - Windows Server 2012 R2 Pocket Consultant Volume 1: Essentials & Configuration

To my readersthank you for being there with me through many books and many years. It has been an honor and a privilege to be your pocket consultant.

To my wifefor many years, through many books, many millions of words, and many thousands of pages shes been there, providing support and encouragement and making every place weve lived a home.

To my kidsfor helping me see the world in new ways, for having exceptional patience and boundless love, and for making every day an adventure.

To Anne, Karen, Martin, Lucinda, Juliana, and many others whove helped out in ways both large and small.

Special thanks to my son Will for not only installing and managing my extensive dev lab for all my books since Windows 8 Pocket Consultant but also for performing check reads of all those books.

William R. Stanek

Welcome to Windows Server 2012 R2 Pocket Consultant: Essentials & Configuration . Over the years, Ive written about many different server technologies and products, but the one product I like writing about the most is Windows Server. Anyone transitioning to Windows Server 2012 R2 from Windows Server 2012 might be surprised at just how much has been updated, because changes both subtle and substantial have been made throughout the operating system. For anyone transitioning to Windows Server 2012 R2 from Windows Server 2008 R2 or an earlier release of Windows Server, Ill let you know right up front that I believe Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 are the most significant updates to Windows Server since the introduction of Windows 2000 Server.

The good news is Windows Server 2012 R2 builds off the same code base as Windows 8.1. This means that you can apply much of what you know about Windows 8.1 to Windows Server 2012 R2, including how Windows works with touchscreen devices. Although you might not install Windows Server 2012 R2 on touchscreen computers, you can manage Windows Server 2012 R2 from your touchscreen computers. If you do end up managing it this way, understanding the touchscreen options and the revised interface options will be crucial to your success. For this reason, I discuss both the touchscreen options and the traditional mouse and keyboard techniques throughout this book.

When you are working with touchscreen computers, you can manipulate on-screen elements in ways that werent possible previously. You can enter text by using the on-screen keyboard and also in the following ways:

Because Ive written many top-selling Windows Server books, I was able to bring a unique perspective to this bookthe kind of perspective you gain only after working with technologies for many years. As youve probably noticed, a great deal of information about Windows Server 2012 R2 is available on the web and in other printed books. You can find tutorials, reference sites, discussion groups, and more to make using Windows Server 2012 R2 easier. However, the advantage of reading this book is that much of the information you need to learn about Windows Server 2012 R2 is organized in one place and presented in a straightforward and orderly fashion. This book has everything you need to customize Windows Server 2012 R2 installations, master Windows Server 2012 R2 configurations, and maintain Windows Server 2012 R2 servers.

In this book, I teach you how features work, why they work the way they do, and how to customize them to meet your needs. I also offer specific examples of how certain features can meet your needs, and how you can use other features to troubleshoot and resolve issues you might have. In addition, this book provides tips, best practices, and examples of how to optimize Windows Server 2012 R2. This book wont just teach you how to configure Windows Server 2012 R2, it will teach you how to squeeze every last bit of power out of it and make the most from the features and options it includes.

Unlike many other books about administering Windows Server 2012 R2, this book doesnt focus on a specific user level. This isnt a lightweight beginner book. Regardless of whether you are a beginning administrator or a seasoned professional, many of the concepts in this book will be valuable to you, and you can apply them to your Windows Server 2012 R2 installations.