- [Instructor] I usually complete a worksheet
kind of like this one
prior to any server installation.
Notice the first column.
This isn't the first question
that you're asked during a server installation.
In fact, adding roles and features
are the last part of a new server deployment,
but that said, role and features,
and identifying what your server is going to do
and what your server is going to be
should be the first part of your plan.
Each role and each application
will have its own set of requirements.
Some, like DNS and DHCP, have a very small footprint
and may be able to coexist on a server,
possibly even with other roles.
Others have varying demands.
File sharing is likely to require high volumes of storage
and fast networking interfaces,
while acting as a domain controller
may require enhanced local security
and controlled access.
Planning which roles you're going to add to a server
should be done with these considerations
of the security needs, of the hardware needs,
of the processing and memory, as well as storage needs,
from the individual servers.
Actually installing the role
once you've made these decisions is quite easy.
Adding a role or feature can be done
from the server manager or from PowerShell.
Here on the desktop experience,
you can add any role or feature
from right here in the server manager,
from either selecting step two,
notice again, step one was configure the server,
and that is the server name, the network configuration
and so on.
Step two, add roles or features
or if you've wandered off from this screen,
the Manage menu has Add Roles and Features
right here at the top of the list.
This wizard starts with a welcome screen
which most people read once and then
check the box to never have to see it again
and then moves on to the question
of whether you're installing a role or a feature,
a purpose for this server to conduct,
or if you're installing an application
that needs to be available to remote desktop clients.
If you're installing Microsoft Office
for a Desktop As A Service environment,
this is what you'd select Remote Desktop for.
But we want to add a role or a feature
to this server, so we'll remain with the top choice.
Moving on to the next screen,
we get to select which server we would like to install
a role or feature on.
Now in this single server environment
that we've just begun to construct,
that seems like a very easy choice.
But when you start managing multiple servers,
you can add your entire data center worth of servers
into this list and you can add roles or features
to any server you like from this same wizard.
In this window, you can add any other Windows 2012 server,
that includes 2012 and 2012 R2,
as well as any other 2016 or 2019 servers
that you want to manage.
And then you can move forward and select the roles
and the features.
Roles are on a separate tab from features.
You can select which components you'd like to add
to this server.
For the most part, when you select a role,
you're going to be prompted for some prerequisites
or some management tools.
In this case, for Hyper-V,
it wants to add the PowerShell module,
which is the collection of commandlets and functions
that you'll need to use in PowerShell
to manage this role
and it gives you the desktop, the GUI management tools.
And we could move forward from there,
but let me back up and show you a couple of others.
If I was to select the web server,
it only adds the management console,
the tools that I need to administer that particular role.
If I were to pick something a little more involved,
say Active Directory domain services,
it's going to add a bigger list of tools.
Other prerequisites might also be added to this list.
Configuring any one of these roles
requires at least the same kind of planning
that's used in preparing for the installation
of the server itself.
What's it going to do?
What resources does it need?
Wat are the clients goin to need for this to function?
Failure to do this kind of planning
on a production server
would put an administrator
in a category my grandfather used to warn me about.
He said that many people who don't take the time
to do something right
will often be forced to take the time to do it over.
That's sage advice, whether you're building a shed
or deploying a certificate authority.
New versions of Windows server mean new features
and upgraded versions of the roles you already know.
Sometimes, you may assume the installation is pretty much
the same as you've seen in previous versions.
And so, you go ahead and install the role
and then you have to pause
to go and figure out the role configuration,
maybe catch up on some prerequisites,
before you can finish and configure the role.
There is a better sequence of events here.
Understanding what the role will require
allows you to complete the prerequisites first,
then install the role,
and then conduct whatever configuration is necessary.
There's a prime example of this.
Active Directory domain services
has gone through a few changes since Windows Server 2016.
Now, you could install the role
and then pause the process to go back
and update Active Directory
so that you can promote that machine to domain controller
and you could get away with doing it like that,
but there are other roles, like ADFS,
that upgrade differently.
ADFS is an identity role.
It allows you to create single sign-on relationships
with outside entities.
It allows you to secure web-based applications
inside your own environment and more
and this is another role that has changed
from Windows Server 2016 to 2019.
But it's upgrade or migration path is different.
With ADFS, you install the role on a new server,
join the cluster, in this case,
the cluster is known as a farm,
and by joining that farm,
that 2019 server will automatically take over
and be the primary server in the cluster,
allowing you to decommission the old one
and once there are no old servers in the mix,
you can upgrade the functional level.
Take the time to figure out
which roles require extensive migration processes.
Consider which roles can coexist on a server with others.
Study out each role, learn its requirements,
learn the processes before you get started.
The concept of measure twice and cut once
has applications far beyond just carpentry.