What Roles Should My Server Play?

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chrisq

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May 20, 2010
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Hi All,

My server experience consists of installing Server 2008 and updating the drivers. I bought an old server to practice on and would appreciate suggestions as to what server roles would be good for a beginner to start trying to learn. Currently I work helpdesk but would like to graduate to server management, I'd like to know the best general area to begin studying. I am non-technical as of now so most of this is very foreign to me, please be gentle.

My short-term goal is to get this puppy set up as a DC and get my routers on the same subnet, my CURRENT config is: cable modem -> router1 (192.168.1.1) -> router2 (192.168.0.1), the server will sit on router 2. My long term goal is to learn the staples of server knowledge and eventually graduate to a specialty.

The server roles listed are:

Active Directory _______ Services:
..Certificate
..Domain
..Federation
..Lightweight Directory
..Rights Management
Application Server
DHCP Server
DNS Server
Fax Server
File Services
Network Policy and Access Services
Print Services
Terminal Services
UDDI Services
Web Server (IIS)
Windows Deployment Services


I've just found a web site outlining what each role does, some I was familiar with others I was not, my question is this: in real world server environments what are some basic areas I need to master? This would be in a generalized medium sized office setting as I know no two companies will have the exact same needs. I personally don't require any roles as I am just doing this for practice.

Thanks so much and hello forum, this is my first post :)
 
Hello and good luck with your studies.

Most small to mid-sized businesses will have more a generalist or two who over see all of the server roles.
In most of these situations you will need to know:
Active Directory with Group Policy
  1. - How and why to make new OUs.
  2. - How to make and apply group policies especially for
    • -- password complexity
    • -- folder redirection
    • -- various Internet Explorer settings
    • -- server security
  3. - How to make effective groups both for the business management and for managing network access (they aren't always the same)
  4. - Understanding replication
  5. - Sites
DNS -- you can't have AD without it.
  1. - issues of split DNS vs single DNS
  2. - AD integrated vs separate DNS
  3. - forwarding
  4. - replication
  5. - adding hosts to external DNS
  6. - mx priority
DHCP
  1. - basic configuration is sufficient for most small/med businesses. Understand how DHCP works, APIPA, and how reservations work.
  2. - larger networks may need DHCP forwarding/relay or multiple DHCP servers and scopes.
File Services
  1. - Know how to create shares and properly apply both Share and NTFS permissions and how the two interact
  2. - how to map drives through command line, scripts, group policy
Print Services
  1. - How to install and share a printer (includes permissions)
  2. - How to map printers to clients
  3. - how to upgrade drivers on printers and clients
  4. - how to migrate printers to a new server

Those are the very basics that just about every company that has a Windows AD domain is going to be using. Web servers are also very common. Terminal servers a bit less so, but still common. If you get all of the above down, you'll have a good idea of what else you want or need to know.
 
I couldn't have wished for a better response! Thanks so much Matt! Hopefully in a few months I'll be on here assisting people as well :)
-Chris
 
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