This snippet from Chapter 10 of my new book Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed is brought to you by SAPIEN Press. Get your copy at http://www.sapienpress.com/Windows_Server_08.asp.

Security & Delegation
When looking at the IIS console you'll notice that credentials for remote management can be based either on Windows credentials or something called IIS Manager Credentials. The addition of a separate credential base is what allows for the delegation of responsibility to non-administrators for the administration of their web sites. Let's take a look at how to set up IIS Manager Credentials.

To create an IIS Manager user, first click on the server name in the Connections box. There in Features View you'll see the list of manageable features. Double-click on IIS Manager Users, then right-click in the next box to create a new IIS Manager User. The users created here pair with two other elements in the Feature list for their permissions. Once you've created your user, navigate to an individual site and double-click the IIS Manager Permissions feature. There, you can add the newly created IIS Manager user to the list of individuals that are allowed to administrate the site.

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Continue reading Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed Part #11 of 12: Chapter 10 - IIS 7.0...

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This snippet from Chapter 11 of my new book Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed is brought to you by SAPIEN Press. Get your copy at http://www.sapienpress.com/Windows_Server_08.asp.

Windows Server Failover Clustering
One of the biggest problems with clustering throughout its history was the complicated processes involved with setting it up. Requiring more network connections, fibre runs, and IP addresses than virtually anything else in your environment - not to mention the often painful matching of driver and firmware settings with Microsoft's official lists - the steps necessary to build a Windows cluster often required outside help and support.

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Continue reading Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed Part #12 of 12: Chapter 11 - Other MN&C Features (you might not know about)...

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This snippet from Chapter 8 of my new book Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed is brought to you by SAPIEN Press. Get your copy at http://www.sapienpress.com/Windows_Server_08.asp.

Network Level Authentication
Network Level Authentication (NLA) is another new component of RDC v6.0 that effectively rearranges the order in which clients connect to Terminal Servers. Why is this necessary? From a security perspective, the original architecture of how clients connect to Terminal Servers was actually backwards.

Backwards, you say? Think about the "old" mechanism you would go through to connect your client to a remote Terminal Server:

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Continue reading Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed Part #9 of 12: Chapter 8 - Terminal Services...

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This snippet from Chapter 9 of my new book Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed is brought to you by SAPIEN Press. Get your copy at http://www.sapienpress.com/Windows_Server_08.asp.

User Account Control
For many Vista users, UAC is a four-letter word. Seeing that elevation prompt over and over again when doing administrative work on a Vista box can be enough to pull your hair out. But there's value in keeping it, because the Admin Approval Mode (AAM) prompt is only part of the protection UAC provides. In Server 2008, UAC isn't going anywhere. Microsoft intends it and the splitting of your administrator access token to be a critical part of securing operating systems for the foreseeable future.

With Server 2008 there is a slightly different way that UAC operates with the built-in administrator account. The AAM prompt is disabled by default for the built-in administrator account in both Vista and Server 2008. But, whereas Vista's built-in administrator account is disabled by default, with Server 2008 it's a much needed component. With the changes to Server 2008's installation routine, manual installations require the use of the built-in account for the initial logon and configuration.

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Continue reading Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed Part #10 of 12: Chapter 9 - Security & the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security...

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This snippet from Chapter 6 of my new book Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed is brought to you by SAPIEN Press. Get your copy at http://www.sapienpress.com/Windows_Server_08.asp.

Virtual Machine Management Tools
When the beta code for WSV is introduced with Server 2008 RTM, the initial tool for management will be the Virtualization Management Console. Within that console will be the mechanics for creating, manipulating, and otherwise managing virtual machines on WSV. This tool is functionally similar to the tools currently in operation by a number of other software vendors that support native virtualization. So from an operational standpoint, there's really not much that's new there.

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Continue reading Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed Part #7 of 12: Chapter 6 - Windows Server Virtualization...

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This snippet from Chapter 7 of my new book Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed is brought to you by SAPIEN Press. Get your copy at http://www.sapienpress.com/Windows_Server_08.asp.

AD Object Protection
Have you ever accidentally clicked on the wrong object in Active Directory Users & Computers and then hit Delete? Aiiieee! Individual object restoration in AD has traditionally been cumbersome enough that our result is usually recreating the object with all its properties. But that process is arduous too. Trying to figure out which members were in the deleted group or what properties were set for the deleted user is also a pain. Even worse is the deletion of an entire OU of data. If you've done that or had to clean it up when someone else did, you have my condolences.

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Continue reading Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed Part #8 of 12: Chapter 7 - Active Directory...

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This snippet from Chapter 3 of my new book Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed is brought to you by SAPIEN Press. Get your copy at http://www.sapienpress.com/Windows_Server_08.asp.

Server Manager
Once you've completed and closed the Initial Configuration Tasks wizard, you're greeted with a new MMC console called Server Manager. Server Manager is Server 2008's consolidation of many of the previously-separated administrative consoles into a single location. This unified console can manage all the Roles, Role Services, and Features configured for your server. Additionally, many of the items previously found in the Manage context menu for My Computer are now found within Server Manager. Heck, you even get to Server Manager by right-clicking on Computer and choosing Manage.

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Continue reading Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed Part #4 of 12: Chapter 3 - Server Management...

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This snippet from Chapter 4 of my new book Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed is brought to you by SAPIEN Press. Get your copy at http://www.sapienpress.com/Windows_Server_08.asp.

Starter GPOs
One feature that's completely new to Server 2008 is the concept of Starter GPOs. When I'm out consulting with other organizations and see that no Group Policies are in use anywhere in the domain, often the biggest reason is that administrators, "just don't know where to start."

With Starter GPOs, Microsoft provides the administrator that starting point for some of the common functions typically desired by administrators. To use them, the Starter GPOs folder must first be created in the domain. Do this by opening a Server 2008 GPMC and click on the Starter GPOs node. A button will appear with the text stating The Starter GPOs folder does not currently exist in this domain. Click on the button below to create this folder.

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Continue reading Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed Part #5 of 12: Chapter 4 - Group Policy...

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This snippet from Chapter 5 of my new book Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed is brought to you by SAPIEN Press. Get your copy at http://www.sapienpress.com/Windows_Server_08.asp.

Installing Server Core
For the Windows administrator who's never seen Server Core, one great thing about it is the installation. It's more or less exactly the same as an installation of Server 2008's full version. As you'll see at the O/S installation screen the only difference is that one installs the Core version of the correct operating system edition. It's worth mentioning again that Microsoft considers Server Core an operating system "Role" within each edition rather than an edition all to itself. So if you purchase a license for Enterprise Edition, you can install it as either the full version or the Core version.

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Continue reading Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed Part #6 of 12: Chapter 5 - Server Core...

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This snippet from Chapter 1 of my new book Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed is brought to you by SAPIEN Press. Get your copy at http://www.sapienpress.com/Windows_Server_08.asp.

Windows Server Editions
When Vista released to the consumer markets in early 2007, we had eight different versions to deal with. Figuring out the differences between Vista Home Premium, Vista Enterprise N, and Vista Ultimate took some fancy slide rules and cheat sheets. With Server 2008, at least the editions are fewer in number and easier to understand.

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Continue reading Windows Server 2008: What's New / What's Changed Part #2 of 12: Chapter 1 - Introduction to Windows Server 2008...