Tag: Windows Server 2016

How to Backup Windows Server 2016 Step by Step?

Post author By Mehdi Karimi
Post date September 9, 2017
No Comments on How to Backup Windows Server 2016 Step by Step?

Searching for how to the backup server?

Everyone cares about the data he has and to save it from danger or accident, you need to have a backup of it otherwise even it is not granted a minute. What the benefits of backup are insufficiently you know or might have experienced, and here are they: convenience, safety, ease of recovery, ease of access, affordability etc for e.g: it protects operating system, system state, files, folders, application data, etc and if you lose all of them, you are comfortable because you’re able to restore them again from the backup.

Also, you can perform one-time full backup or schedule backup and you can store backup files in the internal hard drive, external hard drive, USB flash drive, DVD. If you use a USB flash as a backup storage, be sure it is NTFS format and a USB flash drive is suitable for one-time backup, for scheduled backup storage use the hard drive or portable/external hard drive but I recommend backing on external hard disk and its the best way because if you lost your data from internal drive then you can recover it back from external hard drive. If the backup plan is scheduled, the server will automatically backup the server in a specified time and specified the place. While last time server takes a backup, as a result the previous backup files will be replaced by the new one. In this article, I show you how to backup windows server 2016 step by step.

Backup Windows Server 2016 Step by Step

Before we start, you need to plan where and how the backup should perform for e.g: where to store the backup files, where to backup whether one drive or whole system and should the backup be scheduled or perform once now.

#1 Install Windows Server Backup Feature

1. At the first step, what we need to do is install the Windows Server Backup feature in order to backup the server. Open Server Manager, click on Manage and select Add roles and features, skip the welcome page by hitting Next then hit Next>Next>Next until the Features page appears. On the Select Features page, scroll down and choose Windows Server Backup feature then hit Next button. The Windows Server Backup is not a role, it is a feature, so don’t get confused.

2. No reboot is needed for this feature installation, hit the Install button, it takes a while, be patient!

#2 Create a Backup Plan/Backup system

1. Once the Windows Server Backup feature installation finished, you’re ready to create a backup plan means you can backup now, before doing that put a glance down on backup plans and decide which one to do.

Backup Plans

Full Server (All volumes): If you choose the option, you backup all files and it is the best option.

Critical Volume: choose this option to backup some critical files and folders.

System State: Choose this option to backup files that are needed for system state recovery.

Individual Volumes: You can backup one volume by choosing this option.

Folders and files: You can backup single folders and files choosing this option.

2. Now that you’ve selected a backup plan you’re prompted to do a backup, to do that;

open Server Manager and click on Tools then click on the Windows Server Backup option from drop-down list to open backup server.

3. When the Windows Server Backup opened, on the Action side bar three option are available, Backup schedule, backup once and recover and schedule backup: it creates a time-based backup upon the schedule means the server automatically takes backup in the specified time and the Backup once option is for one-time backup so, select Backup once option because here we’ll backup once to show you on.

4. On the Backup options page, two options are available, choose the Different options. This option is used when you haven’t created schedule yet. then, hit Next.

5. As mentioned before, the Full server backup does a full server backup, by choosing this, you backup everything on the server. If you don’t like to do that, a Custom option is available to let you specify some of the folders, files, etc to backup.

6. Specify the Destination drive you want to save backup files, so, I select the Local drives in order to select the hard drive I want in the next step.

7. Here try to save the files to a separate hard drive, you can’t save backup files in C:\ drive, there for save it in another place. If you choose a local drive, certainly backup server give you warning that the drive is in the backup list. I don’t pay attention to because I have created a separate drive for the backup files, you do so.

9. Finally, we are done, begin the backup process by clicking on Backup button and take a rest. Certainly, it takes a while but it depends on your files, folders…

Conclusion

So, we did windows server backup successfully and you learned how to backup windows server fully. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to use the backup files means to restore them, We are here to show you. I show how to use them in next articles. For any question about taking a backup, feel free and leave a comment.

See next: How to Backup Active Directory Fully in Windows Server 2016?

Tags backup, server, step by step, windows server, Windows Server 2016

MCSA MCSE Servers

Install Windows Server 2016 on Hyper-v Complete Guide

Post author By Mehdi Karimi
Post date September 7, 2017
1 Comment on Install Windows Server 2016 on Hyper-v Complete Guide

Virtualization has been a successful testing and lab tool recently. Currently virtualization is used in enterprise networks for running virtual servers especially DNS and DHCP servers. It has many advantages for the company. I list some of them below.

Less hardware requirements: You install a server on a powerrful physical server and enable the Hyper-v and install more servers.
Easy physical security efforts: When you’ve dozens of physicals servers, maintaining physical security is difficult. While you have less physical servers you easily can handle the task.
Cost effective: You should pay money for hardware. Using Hyper-v, you buy some powerful physical servers and install many virtual servers on.

Before we create the virtual machine and install Windows server on Hyper-v, you need to know what is virtual machine.

Virtual machines (VMs) run in its own isolated environment. VMs are self-contained units that can easily be moved from one physical computer to another physical computer. At the time of creating virtual machine, the hardware is abstracted and multiple virtualized hardware environments are created. On the virtual environment you can run a complete copy of operating system (OS) separately.

In this article I’m going to install Windows server 2016 on Hyper-v. Read Hypver-v beginner guide.

Topics covered in this article:

Create Virtual Machine (VM)
Install Windows servver 2016 on VM
Conclusion

Install Windows Server 2016 on Hyper-v

Create Virtual Machine

Firstly, we create the virtual machine. Secondly, we install Windows server 2016 on the VM we have created.

1. Open Hyper-v Manager. In the right pane, right-click on New tool and choose Virtual Machine. A new window will be opened.

2. You have nothing to do in the Welcome page. Just click on Next button. In the Specify Name and Location page you need to assign a name for the virtual machine. Then specify the path which you want to store VM’s files in. Then click on Next button.

3. In the Specify Generation page, you have to specify the generation of the virtual machine. You have got two options: Generation 1 and Generation 2. Generation 1 supports both 32-bit and 64-bit processor architectures. Generation 2 supports only 64-bit processor architecture. Also be aware that once you select one of the generations, later you can’t change that.

4. Assign the memory based on MB in the box next to startup memory. Put a mark in the vacant box next to Use dynamic Memory for the virtual machine. It is a very useful option. Selecting this option, virtual machine uses memory dynamically. It means it uses the amount of memory which is needed, not the all of the memory which is specified. If you don’t select the option, the amount of memory you specified for the virtual machine would be abstracted fully when virtual machine is turned on. Click on Next button to move to the next page.

5. Network adapter is the tool which a machine can be connected to network through. Use a network adapter that you have created before. Then click on Next button.

6. You need to connect the virtual machine to a virtual hard disk. For the purpose, click on Create a virtual hard disk. All Windows server files would be copied in the hard disk which you connect the virtual machine to. You can specify name, location and size for the hard disk. By default, the location of the hard disk is the folder which you have stored virtual machine files inside. If you want you can change the location. If you have created a hard disk before, select Use an existing virtual hard disk and then specify path.

While you’re done, click on Next button.

7. Select the Install an operating system from a bootable CD/DVD-ROM option. Then elect the Image file (.iso) file. You need to have the operating system with .iso extension. Type the path where you have stored the image file. If you don’t know the path, click on Browse button and search for the location of the image file through file explorer. When finished click on Next button.

8. Finally we’re done. We created the Virtual machine. Click on Finish button to close the wizard.

Install Windows Server 2016

We are ready to install Windows server 2016 on virtual machine.

1. Open Hyper-v Manger and right-click on the Virtual machine name which you have created. Select the Connect option. Virtual machine windows will be opened.

2. Click on Start button to turn on the virtual machine. Also you can click on Action in the menu bar and select Start.

3. It is the time to specify installation language, time format and keyboard. When finished click on Next button.

4. We are ready to go. Just click on Install now button shown in the picture below to start the installation.

5. Select the appropriate edition that meets your needs. I choose Datacenter edition with full GUI (Graphical User Interface). Then click on Next button.

6. We are doing clean installation. It means we install new operating system. Therefor select the second option.

7. Select the drive you want to install the Windows server on. If you want you can do the partitions here. If not, you can do it later when your installation is finished. For doing the partition select the disk you want to part, then click on New button below and continue the instructions. Click on Next button.

8. Be patient for a while. Files should be copied on your local drive from image file. Some features are needed to be installed. Your machine will reboots several times.

9. While Windows installed on your computer, you need to assign a user name and password as administrator. User name is Administrator by default. Type a complex password (containing uppercase, lowercase, numbers & symbols). Click on Finish button to finish the installation process. If your screen size is not big enough, scroll down to see the Finish button.

10. Account is created. Log in to the Windows server 2016. Type your password and hit Enter button.

Finally we are done. Windows server 2016 is installed and you can see the default background image of Windows server 2016.

Conclusion

We installed Windows server 2016 on the Hyper-v. You can go ahead and do the initial configurations. For the purpose refer to this link and learn more about.

Check out: Initial Configuration of Windows server 2016

For any kind of question feel free and leave comment below.

Tags Hyper-v, server 2016, Virtual Machine, Virtual Server, Virtualization, Windows Server 2016

MCSA MCSE Servers

Upgrade Windows Server 2012 to Server 2016 Complete Guide

Post author By Mehdi Karimi
Post date October 13, 2016
8 Comments on Upgrade Windows Server 2012 to Server 2016 Complete Guide

Do you want to move to a newer version of Windows Server? Yes, it’s time to upgrade Windows Server 2012 to Windows Server 2016. Because the Windows Server 2016 is out. There are many awesome features added in Windows server 2016. There is a list of improvements and new features which are ready to use that enhance handling managements.

Unlike upgrading Windows Servers prior versions to Server 2012, thus, upgrading Windows Server 2016 supports only 64-bit architecture and Itanium edition isn’t supported. Also, the Windows Server 2012 and 2016 have only four editions.

Upgrading Windows server is complicated process. Therefor Microsoft recommends Administrators to migrate the roles and settings to Server 2016 instead of upgrading, because the upgrading process many things can go wrong. No matter, in this article, we’ll upgrade Windows Server 2012 to Server 2016 fully step by step.

Upgrade and conversion options:

In order to upgrade Windows Server 2012 to Server 2016, you need to obtain the following requirements.

All editions of Windows Serer 2016 are 64-bit only (upgrades from 32-bit to 64-bit can’t be done).
Only Server 2012 can be upgraded to Server 2016 not earlier versions of Windows Server.
Upgrades from one version to another version isn’t supported. Like you can’t upgrade Windows Server 2012 Standard edition to Windows Server 2016 Datacenter edition.
Upgrades from one language to another language server isn’t supported. For example, you can’t upgrade Windows Server running on German language to Chinese.
Upgrades that switch from a Server Core installation to a Server with a Desktop installation (or vice versa) are not supported.
Upgrades from a previous Windows Server installation to an evaluation copy of Windows Server are not supported. Evaluation versions should be installed as a clean installation.
Deactivate virus protection because it makes the process slower. Because the virus protection scanning every file copied on the disk.
If the server uses NIC Teaming, disable it and when the server upgraded, enable the NIC Teaming again.
Backup the server fully before upgrading the server because maybe you face the problem and want to go back to the previous version. Check out: Backup Windows Server 2016 Step by Step
Check out if the server doesn’t have any problem, if it has, search for fixing it. Otherwise it might cause an error which can fail whole upgrade process.

Upgrade Windows Server 2012 to Windows Server 2016

Now that you’ve understood the rules, let’s get started and move on.

1. Log in to Windows Server 2012 and plug the media file (DVD, Flash memory, etc) to the server. Open the file explorer and double click on the DVD Drive to run the Windows Server 2016 setup.

2. Select Download & install updates to let the installation go on smoothly and mark, I want to help make installation of Windows better. Click on Next button.

3. Select an edition of Windows Server 2016 which meets your organization requirements. Also, in the future you may enlarge your network and need more roles and license support for your network computers. Click on Next button.

4. Read the notes and license terms. If you don’t like, clicking on Decline button, you can go back. If you agree, click on Accept button.

5. If you choose the edition same as the edition you used currently, you can keep your apps and files. As mentioned before if you don’t choose the right edition you can’t keep your apps and files. Select Keep personal files and apps if you’re using the same edition or select Nothing to erase everything. Then click on Next button.

Installing Windows Server 2016

6. The Windows Server automatically checks your system and finds if your server is compatable, so just click on Install button to start the installation.

Be patient because it takes almost long time since the Windows server installs on your system. Therefore, your system may restart several times until the installation completes.

7. Specify country and keyboard for server. Don’t forget that you can’t change the language. Click on Next button to move to the next page.

8. Read the license terms carefully and click on Accept button.

9. The user name is Administrator by default, just type a complex password (a password composed of lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers and symbols) and reenter you password. Then click on Finish button. Using this user name and password you can log on to the server locally.

10. Unlock the page pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del buttons in order to unlock the page then sign in with the password you had entered before and press the Sign in button.

Welcome to Windows server 2016. Finally you upgraded Windows server 2012 to Windows server 2016. You can see the server Windows Server 2016 homepage + the latest improvements.

Conclusion

Finally, we upgraded Server 2012 to Windows Server 2016 and we can take deep breathes. For any kind of question feel free and leave a comment below. I’ll answer your questions as soon as possible. Hope you would like our articles and wait for the next.

If you like to know how to do the initial configuration of Windows Server 2016, please click on the link below and read the article on our website.

Check out: Initial configuration of Windows Server 2016

Tags MCSE, upgrade Windows Serve 2012, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016

MCSA MCSE Servers

Configure DNS Server Zones Fully on Windows Server 2016?

Post author By Mehdi Karimi
Post date May 4, 2016
7 Comments on Configure DNS Server Zones Fully on Windows Server 2016?

Configure DNS Server Fully on Windows Server

After installing DNS, of course, you need to configure DNS because it is an important task to make DNS work correctly. DNS stands for Domain Naming System and the goal of DNS is to change name to IP address and and IP address to name like when you open a server or a web page, you enter a name like www.tactig.com, here the DNS server changes the name to the IP and you can visit the web page or get access to server sources. In this article, I show you how to come along to configure DNS Server fully on Windows Server.

Configure DNS Server Fully Step by Step

The DNS configuration is somehow like installing it, means you don’t need to worry or call any administrator to do it because you can do it along by this article, let’s move towards it.

1. When the DNS Server role installed, open the Server Manager window, click on tools tab that the dropdown menu appears and click on the DNS icon to open the DNS. Here I have named my server tactig-dc01.

2. At the first, what we need to do is creating a zone, it is a part of a DNS that the records are restored, for that purpose right click on your computer DNS server name and click on the New zone.

3. Skip the welcome page and on the next page, you’ll see three kinds of zone available.

Primary zone: is rewritten zone that is not copied from somewhere.
Secondary zone: is the copy of another zone, when you create a secondary zone you should copy the records from another source.
Stub zone: is providing information whatever server holds a special zone. We want to create a primary zone, then click on that then hit Next.

4. In the next page, you will be asked about replication method.

The first option, (To all DNS servers running on domain controller in this forest: <domain name> is used when you want to replicate with the domains and subdomains in the forest but that increases the network traffic.
The second option, (To all DNS servers running on domain controllers in the domain: <domain name> is used when you want you DNS server replicate with all DNS servers in in your own domain.
The third option, (To all domain controllers in this domain (for Windows 2000 compatibility): <domain name> is used when you want your server replicate with only domain controllers in your own domain. Select the 2nd option. Hit Next.

5. In the forward or reverse lookup zone page, select Forward lookup zone. The Forward lookup zone translates DNS name to IP address and the 2nd option, Reverse lookup zone translates IP to DNS name, just select Forward lookup zone then hit Next, we will configure the Reverse lookup zone later.

6. Specify a name for the zone then click on the Next button.

7. How do you want your zone contents update mode? The recommended option is Allow only secure updates. This option helps you DNS server not to be affected by spywares and viruses, select the first option and hit Next.

8. After continuing, your primary zone is created, just click on the Finish button to start working it.

Now the zone has created successfully but the DNS configuration is not done fully yet and the secondary zone as mentioned before is copy of another zone. It means you should copy the contents from somewhere else. Now I want to show you how to create a secondary zone. You need one another server, DNS server installed on. I name the new DNS server: tactig-dns02. The new server that we try to use as a second DNS server should be member of the Active Directory Directory Services. You can do that. If not read the articles about in this website.

1. Now we’ll work on tactig-dns02 server, open the DNS Manager tool and right-click on the Forward lookup zone, click on the New zone then skip the welcome page by hitting Next. In the Zone Type page, select the Secondary zone.

2. In the forward or reverse lookup zone page, select the Forward lookup zone option. It changes the DNS names to IP address. Then click on Next button.

3. Specify a name for the zone. Enter name of a zone that you’ve created before as a primary zone. Here you will have copy of the primary zone as a secondary zone.

4. In the Master DNS Servers page, you need to specify the master server. The Master server is the server that you’ve a zone out there and you want to copy its contents in your new secondary zone. Enter the master server’s IP address and the IP will be resolved. If the IP is correct, a green check mark will appear next to the IP address box then click on Next button.

5. When the Secondary zone is created, just click on the Finish button.

6. Now click on the new zone you just created, you’ll see the Red x means no content is present and not working properly as mentioned before you should copy the contents from somewhere else.

7. Go back to tactig-dns01 server, expand the Forward lookup zone mode and right-click on the zone that you want to get a copy from then select Properties.

8. Here select the Name Servers tab and add the server that you’ve installed the secondary zone on, here. When you add the name in the list you can copy the contents. For the purpose click on the Add button.

9. Type the server’s fully qualified domain name (FQDN) in the box as shown and below that box, enter the server’s IP address. When you resolve the server a message appears, don’t be worried because the message tells you that your server is not authoritative for the zone that’s what we know that. We just we want to make a copy of the zone and click on OK button.

10. Now come back to tactig-dns02 server, right-click on the zone you created and select Transfer from Master.

11. Refresh the page clicking on the Refresh button and you’ll see all the records you could see in tactig-dns01 server zone, now the secondary zone is created and configured properly.

Another next important point for the DNS configuration is that you should learn what is Reverse Lookup Zone. The Reverse Lookup Zone do opposite to what Forward Lookup Zone does means It change IP address to DNS name, when you’ve or give an IP address, it gives you the DNS name. For doing this, we need just one DNS server and I’ll use my root DNS server (tactig-dns01).

1. It is created the same as primary and secondary zones so expand the server name and right-click on the Forward Lookup Zone then select New Zone. When the page appears, skip the welcome page and select Primary zone then hit Next, leave the next step as default and hit Next. Here Select IPv4 Reverse Lookup Zone or IPv6 reverse lookup zone then hit Next, we use IPv4 version in our networks so you can choose the one you want to use.

2. At this point, the Network ID is needed for the zone, specify the Network ID then hit Next ( The Network ID is your network’s IP address.

3. Select the Allow only secure dynamic update option and click on Next button then finish the wizard to completely finish the configuration.

4. Run PowerShell as administrator. Type this command: ipconfig /registerdns. Press Enter button.

5. Refresh the Forward Reverse Zone node, you will see that an IP address is added there and you are done!

Conclusion: The DNS configuration is completely done. Yes, this was the basic configuration of DNS and the Advanced configuration of the DNS is more complicated, Practice till the time you feel you’ve already learned the configuration. For any further question leave a comment below.

Tags DNS, MCSA, Servers, windows server, Windows Server 2016

MCSA MCSE Servers

Install DNS Server on Windows Server 2016 fully step by step

Post author By Mehdi Karimi
Post date May 2, 2016
2 Comments on Install DNS Server on Windows Server 2016 fully step by step

Windows Server

When you install windows server it is just a box, nothing it there like services, if you want to use the services you should install and configure the services when you need them. The DNS stands for Domain Name System. When you create an account on a server or domain controller, your computer, and server communicates with each other by their IP addresses; you can’t remember a lot of IP addresses. Here the DNS comes to action. It means it changes the IP address to the name and name to the IP address. When you type a server name like tactig-dc01, it changes the name to IP:192.168.10.1 and vice versa. In this article, you’ll learn how to install DNS on Windows server 2016 server graphically and through PowerShell.

Topics covered in this article:

Install DNS server graphically
Install DNS server through PowerShell

Install DNS Server Graphically

1. In order to open Server Manager, press the Start Menu button; click on the Server Manager icon.

2. When the Server Manager opened, click on the Add roles and features option.

3. Skip the Before you begin page clicking on Next button. In the Select installation type page, just let Role-based or featured-based installation option selected. Click on Next button.

Role-based or feature-based installation

4. In the Select server destination server page, select the Select the server from server pool. Select the server from server pool which you want to install the DNS role on. Click on Next button.

5. Select the DNS from roles. A page will open that wants you to give permission to install management tools for DNS server. Click on Add features button. At the end click on Next button.

6. Here on the Select feature page, no feature is needed to be installed. So just hit Next. On the DNS Server page you can read some important information about the DNS server and hit Next button. Click on the Install button to install the role on the server. Be patient; it will take some time.

No reboot is needed after the role installation. So directly go toward configuring DNS server.

Install DNS server through PowerShell

You easily can install DNS server through PowerShell. If you’re preparing for MCSA or MCSE certifications, make sure that you learn this easy command line: Install-WindowsFeature DNS -IncludeManagementTools.

Install-WindowsFeature is PowerShell command which is used for installing Windows server roles and feature. After that type name of the role, in this case DNS. Install-WindowsFeature DNS command installs the core services for the DNS. You need to install the management tools. For the purpose type -IcludeManagementTools for adding management tools to the core services.

Maybe it looks scary to install DNS server through PowerShell, but is really easy. PowerShell makes your life easy.

Conclusion

The DNS server is now installed and ready for configuration, no reboot is needed. To configure it check out the below article and read it out. For any question, feel free and leave a comment. I would answer your questions as soon as possible. As well as, don’t forget to configure it to start and let it work otherwise you can’t.

We are done with the installation of DNS role. It is the time to move on and configure the DNS server and use the services.

Don’t Forget: Configure DNS Server Fully on Windows Server 2016?

The best way to learn is practice. Don’t forget to do it till the time that you feel you’ve completely learned.

Tags DNS, DNS Server, server 2016, Servers, windows server, Windows Server 2016

MCSA MCSE Servers

Install Windows Server 2016 Step by Step

Post author By Mehdi Karimi
Post date April 27, 2016
7 Comments on Install Windows Server 2016 Step by Step

Install Windows Server 2016

Windows Windows Server 2016 installation is one of the key tasks in the network. As an administrator you should know how to install and configure Windows server. To start administrating your network, surely you first need to install Windows server and configure it. Before installing Windows server make a plan for the installation. Surely you can plug installation media (DVD, USB flash, etc) to the server and click on next button several times. Then you’re done and Windows server is installed. But that doesn’t work surely.

Make a plan

Choose an appropriate edition of the Windows server. An edition of Windows server supports specific role/roles that others doesn’t support. Think of your present needs and what you may need in the future. How many virtual machines (VM) do you need? How many VMs you may need in the future? Does your network need Web server now? What about the future? How many users work in your network? They are all the things that you should pay attention to while making a good plan for Windows server installation.

If you work on your personal lab, click on the link below to learn how to install Windows server 2016 on VMware Workstation.

Install Windows Server 2016 on VMware Step by Step

Install Windows Server 2016 Step by Step Guide

Prepare the installation media (DVD, USB flash, etc) and start the installation process. If you don’t have the Windows Server 2016 installation software, click here and download the software from Microsoft website.

1. Plug the Windows Server 2016 boot drive (DVD, USB) to the computer and boot your computer. When the Windows Setup page appears, select your language, time format and keyboard then click on Next button.

2. Now click on Install now button to start the installation process.

3. Select the appropriate version of the windows server that meets your organization’s needs then click Next. Make sure that you’ve chosen an appropriate edition of Windows server.

Select the operating system you want to istall

4. Put a check mark in the box next to the I accept license terms and click on the Next button. License term is about the way you want to buy license for your server from Microsoft.

5. Select the Custom: Install Windows only (advanced) option for clean installation. Clean installation is the term used against upgrade. When you upgrade a Windows server you can have your settings, apps, etc from previous version of Windows. When you do the clean installation you can’t have the settings, apps, etc.

6. Select the hard drive that you want to install the windows server on, then click on the New button to do the partitions.

7. After clicking on the New button, some options appear. Specify the amount of the drive based on MB and click on the Apply button. A warning appears which wants you to give the permission to system to create a drive for system files. Click on ok button, if you want to add more drives do this process again. When finished hit Next.

8. After clicking Next the System starts coping all the files from the external drive to internal hard drive. It will take a while so be patient. Be aware that your system will be restarted several times.

Files copy — Copying files on machine’s hard drive

9. When the system copied all the files and restarted, finalize your task by entering the required details. Type complex password (composed of uppercase, lowercase, symbol and numbers) twice in the boxes and click on the Finish button. User name is Administrator by default.

10. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del buttons to jump start the screen to a login page and inside the box below the administrator user name, enter the password and press Enter button from the keyboard to sign in the Windows.

11. After you logged in the Windows you see the some thing like the picture below. Welcome to Windows Server 2016.

Conclusion

Finally, we’ve installed the Windows Server 2016 successfully and is ready to work. When Windows installed you can’t go back and for example change the edition. If so, do the clean installation again. For any question leave a comment below. I answer your questions as soon as possible.

Now you need to initially configure Windows Server. Click on the link below to learn how to do the initial configurations.

Install Active Directory on Windows Server 2016 step by step

Tags Install Server, Install Windows Server, windows server, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server installation

MCSA MCSE Servers

Install Windows Server 2016 on VMware Workstation step by step

Post author By Mehdi Karimi
Post date April 22, 2016
4 Comments on Install Windows Server 2016 on VMware Workstation step by step

Installing Windows Server 2016 on VMware Workstation

Installing Windows Server 2016 upgrades us once again from Windows Server 2012/R2 that provides the latest and the essential updates we need. As well as this time, it has includes lots of new and features. In this lesson, you will learn about installing Windows Server 2016 step by step. Also, before installing, make sure you have pre-planned for selecting which edition to install and what to do in it.

Before installing Windows Server 2016 you need to plan for the installation. Making plan means you should choose an appropriate edition of Windows server. You should think of Hyper-v server you need for your network. You must choose an edition which have enough the Hyper-v license. Also think of more licenses you may need in the future.

Every edition of Windows server may support limited number of users. Choose the edition that meets your needs. When we talk about limitations, we don’t talk about software limitations. If you want more license you should pay for. You can upgrade from one edition to another edition. And you can buy more license for physical and virtual servers also users.

Windows server 2016 editions

Datacenter: Highly virtualized, enterprise network and cloud environment.
Standard: Only different with Datacenter edition is the number of Virtual servers. Datacenter edition supports more virtual servers.
Essential: For small business up to 25 users and 50 devices.

Hardware Requirements

Processor: 1GHZ
RAM memory: Minimum of 2GB
Hard Drive Space: 20GB free space

Installing Windows Server 2016 on VMware

Like the previous versions (Windows Server 2012…), the Windows Server 2016 installation is simple, what’s new is the editions that you can choose them wisely during installation.

In order to install Windows Server 2016, first, you must have an ISO image file of it and also make sure you have pre-planned choosing which edition of Windows Server 2016 and have fulfilled the system requirements.

Download Now: Windows Server 2016

Create and Customize the Virtual Machine

1. Open VMware and click on the Create a New Virtual Machine(Ctrl+N) icon. If you don’t have VMware installed on your computer, click here to download one.

2. Now select Custom (Advanced) option to specify the virtual machine with advance options. If you want you can create virtual with less options, click on Typical option. When you are finished here, click on Next button.

3. Leave the Virtual Machine Hardware Compatibility settings as default. If you want you can select your VMware version. Then click Next button.

4. Here you should add an installer image into the virtual machine. Select the Installer disc image file (ISO) option and click on the Browse button. Specify .iso file path and import it. Then click on Next button.

Note: Make sure that you are using an ISO image file, otherwise unzipped file won’t boot.

5. Specify which operating system type you want to install on the virtual machine. Select Windows Server 2016 version from the dropdown menu and click on Next button.

6. Enter a name for the virtual machine and browse a place where you want to store the installation files. For the purpose click on Browse button and specify the place. When finished, click on Next button.

7. On the Processor Configuration specify then number of processors your server need to use and click on Next button. Also notice that it refers to your virtual machine speed that how much speed the server should be.

8. Specify the amount of the memory for the virtual machine (based on MB) and click on Next button.

9. Select Use Network Address Translation(NAT) or Use bridged networking to directly connect and use internet, as a network type. Then hit Next.

10. Let the I/O Controller types by default because you don’t have the option to change the SCSI type. just hit Next.

11. Now to create new virtual disk, select create a new virtual disk for the virtual machine.

12. Specify the disk amount by typing the disk size(Recommended 60 GB) and click on Next button.

13. At this point, just check out the settings you’ve done or you can customize if you want and click Next.

Step 2. Install Windows Server 2016

Now it’s time to boot up and start the virtual machine, just click on Power on this virtual machine then wait until it boots.

1. Open VMware Workstation on your host computer. Click on Power on this virtual machine in top left.

2. When the virtual machine powered on, specify the language, time zone and keyboard then click Next.

3. Install now to install the windows server 2016 on virtual machine.

4. Select one the Windows Server editions you’ve decided and click on Next button.

5. Put a mark in the box next to I accept the license terms, then click on the Next button.

6. Go on and click on the Custom: Install Windows only (Advanced) option for installing the server custom.

7. Select the disk, you want to install the widows on and select the disk, click on New, then specify the amount (based on MB) and click on Apply button then click on Next button.

8. Now the server copies all the files to the disk, amount the files from the windows image, install features, updates, so it will take time and when finished it will reboot.

9. After the reboot, type a complex password composed of (uppercase, lowercase, symbols and numbers) and click on Finish button.

10. When the customization finished, now you’ll need to sign in, but first click on the button that is composed of three buttons (ctrl+alt+del) shown in image below or simply press Ctrl+Alt+Del and sign in to Windows Server.

And that’s it, after you have signed in, your windows server installation is completed like the shot below.

Conclusion

The Windows server 2016 is installed successfully and your server is now ready to work now. But before doing that don’t forget to install VMware tools + do initial configuration of Windows Server from the article below. For any questions, leave a comment.

Check out: Install Active Directory on Windows Server 2016 step by step

If you find it helpful, let your friends know it too by sharing this article on social media.

Tags How to, Install Windows Server, Servers, Windows Server 2016

MCSA MCSE Servers

Promote Windows Server 2016 to Domain Controller step by step

Post author By Mehdi Karimi
Post date April 13, 2016
5 Comments on Promote Windows Server 2016 to Domain Controller step by step

Promte Windows Server to Domain Controller

Active Directory which is the management service in Windows Server is installed on a server that is called Domain Controller (DC). When active directory have been installed on a server. You can promote the server to a domain controller. Every network needs at lest two domain controllers. When one of them is down, the other domain controller take the place and respond to clients. The Domain controllers respond to security authentications like logging in, checking permissions, files access, system check up and many more.

When you want to log in to a server from a client computer, you should have a user name and a password. Your system will be checked to have updated anti-virus and etc.

Permissions are the level of the tasks that you can do in the domain. File access is about the level of your access to sources. These and a lot more duties are done through domain controller.

In this article, I am going to show some easy steps outlined to promote server to domain controller. First, make sure that you logged in as an administrator.

Prerequisites

Install Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) role on the server you want to promote it to domain controller (DC).

Promote Server to Domain Controller

Follow the following steps to promote server to domain controller.

1. After the role installation, open Server Manager. Click on the flag, then click on Promote this server to a domain controller hyperlink.

Promote this server to domain controller

2. When the Deployment Configuration page appears, you see three options.

Add domain controller to existing domain: This option is used when you want to add additional domain controller.
Add a new domain to an existing forest: This option is used for adding a new domain to existing forest.
Add a new forest: It is used for creating a new forest.

Select the third option: Add a new forest. Enter a Root domain name and click on Next button.

3. Specify the forest and domain functional levels (2008, 2008R2, 2012, 2o12R2, 2016). Type a complex password (composed of capital letters, small letters, numbers, symbols).

By default, Domain Name Services (DNS) server is installed at the same time when you are promoting the server to domain controller. If you want to install DNS server later, remove the selection from the box next to Domain Name Services (DNS) server. Click on Next button when you’re finished here.

4. On the Additional options page, let the NetBIOS domain name as selected by default. If you want, you can change the NetBIOS name. Click on Next button to move on next page.

5. Thus you can specify the path that you want to restore your Database files, log files and SYSVOL files. The path page give you the options to specify location of the sources to be restored. When you finished your work, click on Next button.

6. The next page is Review options. You go nothing to do. Click on Next button. The Prerequisites Check page shows you the summary of all prerequisites that are verified or not. If it’s verified click Next. If not, recheck the steps you did just before and be sure you have done all correctly. Click on Install button. After the installation succeeded, the system automatically reboots.

Conclusion

After the restart, the server is domain controller. It is really easy to promote server to domain controller (DC). Also, you can start managing and controlling users from your server. For any questions leave a comment below. I would be glad to answer your questions as soon as possible.

Tags active direcotory, DC, Domain Controller, Promote server to domain controller, Windows Server 2016

MCSA MCSE Servers

Install Active Directory on Windows Server 2016 step by step

Post author By Mehdi Karimi
Post date April 11, 2016
3 Comments on Install Active Directory on Windows Server 2016 step by step

Install Active Directory on Windows Server

Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) is the center for management tasks (Users, Groups, Computers, Organizational Units, Schema) in Windows networks. You can manage the network by AD DS easily. Imagine if you were a network administrator. You could create user accounts and gave them access to special files manually. It was practical if you were engaged with less than 50 users and computers. If you were engaged with 12000 users and computers, what did you do? You can do the complete the task with AD DS easily. You create a group and add user accounts as members and define to which files the group access by installing Active Directory to manage the network easily. It is a simple task that you can do in Windows network using AD DS.

You can find every kind of information about the users, computers, hardware, software and etc in the Active Directory Domain Services. Windows Server 2016 is the latest version of Windows Server and in this article I show you how to install active directory.

Install AD DS Graphically

Follow the steps below to install Active Directory Domain Services on Windows Server 2016.

1. Press the Start Menu button and click on the Server Manager icon which is the management tool in Windows Server 2016.

2. Active Directory Domain Services is a Windows Server role. Click on Add Roles and features option to install the role.

3. In the Before you begin you have nothing to do. Click on Next button. In the Select Installation Type page, Select the Role-based or Feature-based Installation option. Click Next on button.

4. Let the Select a server from the server pool option selected. Specify the server that you want to install the role on, from the Server Pool. Click on Next button.

5. Select the Active Directory Domain Services role. A new windows opens and ask you to install management tools. Installing AD DS role, you just install the core services. Click on Add Features button to install management tools. then click on Next button.

6. In the Feature page, you got nothing to do. Just click on Next button. In the Active Directory Domain Services page you can read some information about AD DS. Click on Next button to move in the next page.

7. At the last step of the Active Directory installation is the confirmation of the selections. So confirm the selection by clicking on the install button. After the installation of the role, the server needs to be rebooted. You can restart it manually or let the system decide by putting the mark on Restart the destination server automatically if required option. Click on Install button to start the installation.

Install AD DS though PowerShell

You can install AD DS through PowerShell. You need to run Install-WindowsFeature cmdlet. This cmdlet helps you to install roles and featues on Windows Server. After that, you need to type name of the feature you want to install. Type AD-Domain-Services for installing AD DS role.

Complete cmdlet: Install-WindowsFeature AD-Domain-Services

After typing the cmdlet press the Enter button.

Conclusion

While server rebooted, log in to server with your domain account. Default user name is Administrator. After that you can do post-installation configurations to promote this server to domain controller.

For any kind of question feel free and leave a comment below.

Watch out: Promote Windows Server 2016 to Domain Controller step by step

Tags active directory, Active Directory Domain Services, AD DS, Servers, windows server, Windows Server 2016