SERVER 2016

Server Installation options

Server Core: - Include limited local graphical tools such as Task Manager and
PowerShell for local or remote management and Does not include Server Manager or
MMC tools.
Server with Desktop Experience (known as Server with a GUI): - Use with
PowerShell or GUI solutions such as Server Manager or Microsoft Management Console
(MMC) tools
Windows Server 2016 edition
Windows Server 2016 Datacenter
Windows Server 2016 Standard
Windows Server 2016 Essentials
“Windows Server 2016 Datacenter for highly virtualized datacenter and cloud
environments. • Features exclusive to the Datacenter Edition include Shielded Virtual
Machines, software-defined networking, Storage Spaces Direct, and Storage Replica.”
“Windows Server 2016 Standard for physical or minimally virtualized
environments.”
“Windows Server 2016 Essentials for small businesses with up to 25 users and 50
devices.”
“Management options Microsoft System Center 2016 Whether you have a few servers or
thousands, System Center provides efficient deployment and management functionality
for your virtualized, software-defined datacenter to bring you increased agility and
performance.
PowerShell and Desired State Configuration Define, deploy, and manage your software
environment through PowerShell scripting and Desired State Configuration, using a
single console.
Azure security and management To manage and help protect workloads in multiple
cloud types, Azure offers security and operations management services to give you
visibility and control across Azure, on-premises, and other third party clouds.”
 Windows Server 2016 features
 Containers
 Nano Server
 Storage Replica
 Storage Spaces Direct
 ReFS as primary file system
 Hyper-V rolling upgrades
 Hyper-V hot add NICs and memory
 Networking enhancements
 Storage QoS updates
 PowerShell updates

“Containers Microsoft supports two different container models: Windows Server

Containers and Hyper-V Containers. Windows Server Containers use the standard
Docker concepts, running each container as an application on top of the host OS. Hyper-
V Containers will be completely isolated virtual machines, incorporating their own copy
of the Windows kernel, but more lightweight than traditional VMs. Hyper-V Containers
will make it possible to do nested virtualization within Hyper-V.’”
Nano Server a Nano instance is managed remotely using Windows PowerShell, or
other tools, to include the process of adding new roles.
A Nano instance consumes not much more than 512MB of disk space and less than
256MB of memory, depending on your configuration. This will make a huge difference
for all virtual machines built on top of Nano, which will function as an infrastructure
host installed on bare metal and as a guest OS running as a virtualized machine. New in
Technical Preview 3 is an Emergency Management Console that allows you to view and
fix networking issues directly from the Nano Server console.
Storage Replica Microsoft has supported replication in the world of Hyper-V, but it
has been limited up to this point to asynchronous replication of virtual hard disks.
changes with Windows Server 2016, as you now have the ability to replicate entire
volumes at the block level. Further, you can choose between synchronous and
asynchronous replication. This feature, called Storage Replica,

Storage Spaces Direct Both Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 shipped with
Storage Spaces, which provides similar functionality to RAID but in software. Windows
Server 2012 R2 added the ability to build a highly available storage cluster based on the
same Storage Spaces technology and Microsoft clustering. The one big requirement for
this high-availability cluster is making all storage accessible to participating nodes
through an external JBOD array. The JBOD array must also contain SAS drives for their
multi-initiator support. A minimum of four nodes must be available to create a cluster
with Storage Spaces Direct.
ReFS as primary file system The Resilient File System (ReFS) is another feature
that was introduced with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. ReFS brings many
advantages to the NTFS on-disk format. Microsoft has elevated both the usefulness and
the importance of ReFS in Windows Server 2016 TP2 by making it the preferred file
system for Hyper-V workloads.
Hyper-V rolling upgrades Windows Server 2016 supports rolling cluster upgrades
from Windows Server 2012 R2, meaning you can perform these upgrades without taking
down the cluster or migrating to new hardware.
Hyper-V hot add NICs and memory Previous versions of Hyper-V did not allow
you to add a network interface or more memory to a running virtual machine. Because
downtime. Microsoft now allows you to make some critical machine configuration
changes without taking the virtual machine offline. The two most important changes
involve networking and memory.
Networking enhancements
Storage QoS updates Windows Server 2012 R2, making it possible to place limits on
the amount of IO that individual VMs could consume. Windows Server 2016 allows you
to centrally manage Storage QoS policies for groups of virtual machines and enforce
those policies at the cluster level.
PowerShell updates Windows Server 2016 will see a significant number of new
PowerShell cmdlets focused on specific functionality. You can even use PowerShell
commands to check each new release to see the differences.
Question. What Are the Roles Of System Administrator?
Answer: The role of System Administrator differs in the organization. The three main
task of a System Admin is Installing, Supporting and maintaining servers & computers.
Install patches & OS Updates
Review system logs access administration
Access administration for users
Disaster recovery planning
Creating and Restoring system backups
Comply with password requirements
Access control
System audit logging
Question. What Is the Different Version of Windows Server?
Answer: The following are the different version of windows servers:

Windows Server 2003 (2003)

Windows Server 2003 R2 (2005)
Windows Server 2008 (2008)
Windows Server 2008 R2 (2009)
Windows Server 2012 (2012)
Windows Server 2012 R2 (2013)
Windows Server 2016 (upcoming – 2016)

Question. What Are the Different Roles in Windows Server?

Answer: The following are the different roles in Windows server:
Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS)
Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS)
Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)
Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (ADLDS)
Active Directory Rights Management Services (ADRMS)
Application Server
DHCP Server
DNS Server
FAX Server
File and Storage Services
Hyper-V
Print and Document Services
Network Policy and Access Services
Remote Access
Remote Desktop Services
Volume Activation Services
Web Server (IIS)
Windows Deployment Services (WDS)
Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)

Question. What Are the Types Fsmo Roles?

Answer: The are five FSMO roles:
Primary Domain Controller (PDC)
Infrastructure master
Relative ID (RID) master
Schema master
Domain naming master
Question. What Do Forests, Trees, And Domains Mean?
Answer: Domain, tree and forest are a logical structure in Active Directory.
Domain: A domain is a collection of computers, users, and objects which share common
AD and has trust relationships.
Tree: A tree collection of one or more domain.
Forest: The forest is the top of the Active Directory structure. It is consists of multiple
trees which share a common global catalog.

Question. What Is Domain Controller?

Answer: Domain Controller is used in windows based operating systems for security
authentication of users, computers etc. It is a central database for storing users account
information and security enforcement. For example, DC helps which users to allow or
deny the access to a particular folder in a particular domain.

Question. What Is Wds?

Answer: Windows Deployment Services helps for installing Windows operating
system(OS) remotely over the network

Question. What Is Wsus?

Answer: Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) is developed by Microsoft to manage
the distribution of updates in Windows environment.

Question. What Is Powershell?

Answer: Windows PowerShell is Command-Line Shell developed by Microsoft. The
main purpose of the PowerShell is to automate administrative tasks which work both
local and remote windows machines. PowerShell is built on .NET Framework.

Question. What Is Replication?

Answer: Replication is a process in active directory which keeps domain controller syncs
with other DC over the network.

Question. What Is Trust Relationship?

Answer: Trust relationship allows access between different domains or forest.
 Question. Tell Me About Active Directory Database and List the Active Directory
Database Files? The Active Directory database files as follows:

 DIT
 Log
 Che
 log and Res2.log

All the Active Directory changes are not written directly to the NTDS.DIT database file.
They are first written to EDB.Log and thereon from the log file to the database.
EDB.Che is used to tracking the updates to the database it acts as an update log file to
check what operations are performed to the database.
NTDS.DIT: This is the Active Directory database and contains all the AD objects. The
default location is %system root%nrdsnrds.dit, this database is based upon the Jet
database.
EDB.Log: This file is to track the transactions on the database, when EDB.Log is full it
gets renamed to EDB Num.log where a num is a number starting from 1 like EDB1.log
EDB.Che: This file is used to check for the data that is not yet written to a database. This
file has the starting point to the data can be recovered during failures.
Res1.log and Res2.log: Res stands for reserved transaction file which provides the
transaction log file enough time to shut down if the disk runs out of space.

Question. where is the AD database is held?

AD database is saved in %systemroot%/ntds. Files that controls the AD structure are
ntds.dit
edb.log
res1.log
res2.log
edn.chk
Question. What Is Use Active Directory Partitions? And How To Find The Active
Directory Partitions And There Location?
Schema Partition–This partition stores all the details of the objects and their attributes,
it also replicates to other domain controllers which are present in the Forest
Configuration Partition– This partition stores all the information about the Active
Directory. The information includes Site, site-link, subnet etc. this partition also
replicates to all domain controllers which are present in the Forest
Domain Partitions– This partition stores the information of the domain which includes
user, computer, group, printer etc. this partition also replicates to all domain controllers
which are present in the domain.
Application Partition– This partition stores the applications information in Active
Directory.Exampels– ForestDNSZones and DomainDNSZones

Question. What are GPOs (Group Policy Objects)?

The settings that control the working environment of user accounts and computer
accounts are known as Group Policy Object (GPO). This help is defining the security
options, software installation, registry-based policies and maintenance options, script
options and folder redirection options
There are two types of Group Policy Objects:
Nonlocal Group Policy objects: These are available only in an Active Directory
environment and are stored on a domain controller
Local Group Policy Objects: These are stored on local computers (individual computers)

Question. Explain in windows DNS server what is Primary, Secondary and Stub zone?
Primary Zone: In the primary zone, the file is saved as a text file with extension being
(.dns)
Secondary Zone: This is a backup for the primary server which acts as load balancing
and also provides fault tolerance. This is usually read-only file which is placed in
another DNS server
Stub Zone: This consists of the name server and SOA records which help in reducing the
DNS search orders
Question. what is RAID in Windows Server
RAID storage uses multiple disks in order to provide fault tolerance, to improve overall
performance, and to increase storage capacity in a system. This is in contrast with older
storage devices that used only a single disk drive to store data.
RAID allows you to store the same data redundantly (in multiple paces) in a balanced
way to improve overall performance.
Question. Active Directory real time issues and solutions
Active Directory real time issues
Group Policy (GPO) real time issues
Printer, User Profile and Account lockout
Question. What Is VOIP.
VOIP - Short for Voice Over Internet Protocol, a category of hardware and software that
enables people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls by
sending voice data in packets using IP rather than by traditional circuit transmissions.
Question. What is loop back
loopback is a method used to perform transmission tests of the lines at the switching
center. Loopback is a communication channel with only one endpoint. TCP/IP networks
specify a loopback that allows client software to communicate with server software on
the same computer. users can specify an IP address, usually 127.0.0.1, which will point
back to the computer's TCP/IP network configuration. The range of addresses for
loopback functionality is the range of 127.0.0.0 to 127.255.255.255.
Question. Differentiate between FIREWALL/ANTIVIRUS.
Antivirus: The prime job of an anivirus is protect your system from computer viruses.
Your computer may be standalone or part of network or connected to Internet you need
an antivirus program. It actively monitors when you are using your system for any virus
threat from different sources. if it found one it tries to clean or quarantine the virus
ultimately keeping your system and data safe.

Firewall:
Firewall is in other hand a program which protects your system from
outsider/intruder/hacker attacks. These attacks may not be virus type. In some cases
hackers can take control of your system remotely and steal your data or important
information from system. If your system is directly connected to internet or a large
network than you can install a software firewall in your PC to protect your self from
unauthorized access. Firewall is available either in software or in hardware form. For a
single PC you may need a software firewall while a large corporate implements hardware
firewall to protect all of their systems from such attacks.
Question. Difference b/w sata and IDE.
IDE and SATA are different types of interfaces to connect storage devices (like hard
drives) to a computer's system bus. SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology
Attachment (or Serial ATA) and IDE is also called Parallel ATA or PATA. SATA is the
newer standard and SATA drives are faster than PATA (IDE) drives. For many years
ATA provided the most common and the least expensive interface for this application.
But by the beginning of 2007, SATA had largely replaced IDE in all new systems.
Question. Main Difference Between Windows server 2012R2 and 2012
1) New Server Manager: Create, Manage Server Groups

2) Hyper-V Replication : The Hyper-V Replica feature allows you to replicate a virtual
machine from one location to another with Hyper-V and a network connection—and
without any shared storage required. This is a big deal in the Microsoft world for
disaster recovery, high availability and more. VMware does this, too, but the vendor
charges new licensees extra for the capability.

3) Expanded PowerShell Capabilities

4) IIS 8.0 and IIS 7 in 2012R2
5) Hyper-V 4.0
6) PowerShell 4.0
Question. How Long My Computer Has Been Running? Get to Know My Computer’s
Uptime.
Start Task manager, and select Performance tab. In performance tab we can see
system up time
Method 2: By typing systeminfo in command prompt we can find out up time of your
server
In system boot time.

Question. Define virtualization.

Hyper-V virtualization will provide an environment in which we can run multiple
operating systems at the same time on one physical computer, by running each
operating system in its own virtual machine.

Question. Command to Add client to Domain

NETDOM /Domain:MYDOMAIN /user:adminuser /password:apassword MEMBER

MYCOMPUTER /JOINDOMAIN
Question. Flexible Single Master Operation Roles (FSMO)
The 5 FSMO server roles:
Schema Master Forest Level One per forest
Domain Naming Master Forest Level One per forest
PDC Emulator Domain Level One per domain
RID Master Domain Level One per domain
Infrastructure Master Domain Level One per domain

What is group nesting.Adding one group as a member of another group is called

'group nesting'. This will help for easy administration and reduced replication traffic

Where are group policies stored? C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy.

How frequently is the client policy refreshed? 90 minutes give or take.

what is the port no of DNS? UDP and port number - 53

DHCP, How DHCP work?

DHCP Stands for Dynamic host configuration protocol.

DHCP is a protocol used for automatic configuration IP address in client computers
connected to IP networks. DHCP operates on a client server model in four phases.

Discover: A client broadcasts DHCP Discover message when it comes alive on the
network.

Offer: When a DHCP server receives the DHCP Discover message from the client, it
reserves an I P address for the client and sends a DHCP Offer message to the client
offering the reserved IP address.

Request: The client receives the DHCP offer message and broadcasts a DHCP request
message to show its consent to accept the offered IP address.

Acknowledge: When the DHCP server receives the DHCP Request message from the
client, it sends a DHCP Ack packet to the client. At this point the IP configuration
process is complete.

What is DHCP Scope? A range of IP address that the DHCP server can assign to
clients that are on one subnet.

What protocol and port does DHCP use? UDP protocol and 67 port in client and
68 port in server.
How to Backup and Restore DHCP in Windows Server 2012R2

In Windows Server 2012R2, backup of DHCP database and settings has gotten simpler.
You may want to back up your DHCP server from time to time to prepare for disaster
recovery scenarios or when migrating DHCP server role to a new hardware.

Backup DHCP Server

1. Open Server Manager > DHCP role
2. Right click server name, choose Backup.
3. Choose a location for backup, click OK

Restore DHCP Server

1. Open Server Manager > DHCP role
2. Right Click server name, choose Restore
3. Choose the location of the backup, click OK
4. Restart the DHCP Service

DHCP Databse location: C:\WINDOWS\System32\DHCP directory.

What happens when we type URL in browser?

First the computer looks up the destination host. If it exists in local DNS cache, it uses
that information. Otherwise, DNS querying is performed until the IP address is found.

Then, your browser opens a TCP connection to the destination host and sends the
request according to HTTP 1.1 (or might use HTTP 1.0, but normal browsers don't do it
any more).

The server looks up the required resource (if it exists) and responds using HTTP
protocol, sends the data to the client (=your browser)
The browser then uses HTML parser to re-create document structure which is later
presented to you on screen. If it finds references to external resources, such as pictures,
css files, javascript files, these are is delivered the same way as the HTML document
itself.

DORA process in DHCP

When a computer or other device connects to a network, the DHCP client software sends a broadcast query
requesting the necessary information. The DHCP server manages a pool of IP addresses and information about client
configuration parameters such as default gateway, domain name, the name servers, and time servers.

DHCP process goes through 4 stages while assigning an IP address to the client. These stages are often abbreviated as
DORA for discovery, offer, request, and acknowledgement.

DHCP discovery, the client discovers the DHCP server

DHCP offer, the server offers an address lease to the client.
DHCP options, the client picks one of the offers that it has received and requests that address be assigned.
DHCP acknowledgement, the server acknowledges the request, committing to the lease.
TOOLS
Ntdsutil: - Ntdsutil.exe is a command-line tool for accessing and managing a Windows
Active Directory (AD) database.

Difference between windows server 2012 and R2

Windows Server 2012 Schema version is 56 and Windows Server 2012 R2 is 69, schema
will be updated while doing Forest preparation/installing Windows Server 2012 R2

Active Directory Health Check in windows server 2012

Command to check the replication to all the DC’s (through this we can check Active
Directory Health)
Repadmin /replsum /bysrc /bydest /sort:delta

You can also save the command output to text file, by using the below command
Repadmin /replsum /bysrc /bydest /sort:delta >>c:replication_report.txt