Network Administration & Consulting Services

• Product Activation Product Activation
• Configuration of display resolution Configuration of display resolution
• Clock and time zone configuration Clock and time zone configuration
• Remote Desktop configuration Remote Desktop configuration
• Management of local user accounts (creation, deletion, group membership, passwords) Management of local user accounts (creation, deletion, group membership, passwords)
• Firewall configuration Firewall configuration
• WinRM configuration WinRM configuration
• IP configuration IP configuration
• Computer name and domain/workgroup membership Computer name and domain / workgroup membership
• Installation of Server Core features/roles Installation of Server Core features / roles

At this time I have been in Seattle, on the MVP Summit 2008. Soon I’m going back to home. I had a lot of good sessions about Windows 2008, Exchanges, SharePoint, PowerShell and much more. The detailed report about new Microsoft staff I will write a bit later. It's not going to be a report with big details, a lot of information on this Summit is under NDA, but I'll try to publish as much as I can. So, keep checking for a new posts ;)

If you have a server, with Windows 2003, one day you can find your server disconnected from network :).

It's exactly what I get. Simple reboot and server lost network connectivity.
Event log full with system errors like:

Event iD: 12291, SAM failed to start the TCP/IP or SPX/IPX listening thread

Event iD: 4292, The IPSec driver has entered Block mode. IPSec will
discard all inbound and outbound TCP/IP network traffic that is not permitted
by boot-time IPSec Policy exemptions. User Action: To restore full unsecured
TCP/IP connectivity, disable the IPSec services, and then restart the
computer. For detailed troubleshooting information, review the events in the
Security event log.

Event iD: 7023, The IPSEC Services service terminated with the following
error: The endpoint mapper database entry could not be created.

When you check MS Knowledgbase for those errors you will find the following articles, the very popular are those:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930220
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912023
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;870910

BTW, apparently it's not caused by SP1. So, if you implemented all WORKAROUNDs mentioned in those articles, and server still disconnected from the network, try VERY simple solution :), changed RPC to start with localsystem instead of network service. Of course, remember to reboot your server :).

• Minimal server installation for running specific server roles
• Reduces servicing, management and hardware requirements and attack surface
  
  • No Windows/Internet Explorer
  • No .NET Framework
  • No Powershell
  • No features or whatever depending on the features listed above this one like for example notifications and balloons
    
    
• Disk space required for a normal server: approx (min.) 7-8 GB
• Disk space required for a server core server: approx (min.) 2-3 GB
• Supported server roles (OCLIST.EXE): IIS (without ASP.NET), Print Server, Hyper-V, ADDS, ADLDS, DHCP Server, DNS, File Server (incl. NTFRS, DFS-R and DFS)
  REMARK: available roles may depend on Server Edition (standard, enterprise, datacenter, web)
  
  
• Supported server features (OCLIST.EXE): Bitlocker, Clustering, NLB, Subsystem for UNIX apps, Windows Server Backup, Multipath IO, Removable Storage Management, SNMP, WINS
  

• Not possible to upgrade from whatever windows version to server core
• Manual install and after the server still needs to be configured (initial configuration tasks)
• Unattended install using a UNATTEND.XML file where it is possible to configure the "initial configuration tasks" and other settings (e.g. enabling TS, configuring screen resolution, enabling and configuring WinRM/WinRS) during unattended install.
  
  • UNATTEND.XML file can be created with the "Windows System Image Manager"
  • Boot using WinPE and execute SETUP /unattend:<path>\unattend.xml
    OR
  • Place UNATTEND.XML in a default location (e.g. floppy)
• Can be managed through
  
  • Locally and remotely via the Command Prompt (tools and scripts)
  • Remotely via Terminal Server --> admin mode must be enabled first!
  • Remotely via Windows Remote Shell --> remote management must be enabled first!
  • Remotely via MMC --> watch out for the firewall on the server which is enabled by default!
    

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 is the next version of Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007. It is the recommended process and toolset to automate desktop and server deployment. This release includes updates to support Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 in addition to previously supported platforms.

Source: www.microsoft.com