Chapter 1, Getting Started with Windows Server

2019
Introduces the latest Server operating system and an overview of the
new technologies and capabilities that it can provide. Updated interface.

Figure 1 List of chapter 1 items (Krause, 2021)

1. Learning outcome:
Install and develop an understanding of the management of
Windows Server 2019.

2. Assessment Criteria:
1.1 Describe the purpose of Windows Server.
1.2 Differentiate between Windows Server versions and licensing.
1.3 Give an overview of new and updated features.
1.4 Using the newer settings screen.
1.5 Understanding Task Manager.
1.6 Technical requirements.
1.7 Installing Windows Server 2019.
1.8 Installing roles and features.
1.9 Understand Centralized management and monitoring.
1.10 Understand Windows Admin Center (WAC).
1.11 Understand fast server rollouts with Sysprep.
3. Introduction to Windows Server
Building resilient, secure, scalable and efficient IT
infrastructures.

3.1 Key highlights of Windows

Server 2019
Hybrid Cloud Integration – seamlessly integrates with
MS Azure
Enhanced Security Features – Advanced Threat
Protection
Improved Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) –
scalable
Enhanced Administration Tools – Windows Admin
Centre
Container Support – native Windows Containers and
Kubernetes
SDN – improved virtual networks management

3.2 The purpose of Windows

Server.
Windows Server 2019 is the latest version of Microsoft's
server operating system, and it provides users with a
range of roles and features to enable them to securely
manage, protect, and serve up their data. It is designed
to be the brains of an organization's network, and it can
be used to authenticate users, access resources, and
open files. With Windows Server 2019, Microsoft has
provided new capabilities such as PowerShell, Windows
Admin Centre, software-defined storage, and software-
defined networking to make managing and sizing
computing environments easier.
The cloud fabric enables users to spin up new servers
on a whim and allows services to increase or decrease
their needed resources automatically based on
utilization. This can help drastically reduce the total cost
of services and websites, as companies no longer need
to size their environment to fit maximum requirements all
the time.
Public cloud services store data on servers accessed via
the internet, such as Office 365, Google Drive,
OneDrive, and Dropbox. Cloud hosting providers, such
as Azure, AWS, and Google, offer cloud computing
architecture that can host data, services, or entire
networks, allowing companies to pay ongoing
operational costs rather than high initial capital
expenses.

Figure 2: Advantages of the cloud (Krause, 2021)

4. Windows Server versions and licensing

 Standard version which includes most traditional roles.
Windows Server Standard has a limit of running two
Hyper-V containers.
 More expensive Datacenter version that has additional
features and roles, requires specific hardware, and can
host unlimited virtual machines. If you are building a
Hyper-V server, it is recommended to use the Datacenter
edition for its unlimited VM hosting capabilities.
 Datacenter edition can run unlimited Hyper-V containers as
each Hyper-V container is treated as a separate VM.

Licencing models
 Microsoft’s Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) of Windows
Server have a shorter release cadence than previous
server versions, with two major releases each year and
support lasting 18 months. These releases are primarily
meant for running containers and containerised
applications, as they provide a flexible and high-
performing environment. Regular server administrators are
not expected to use this model for their everyday servers.
 Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) is the new name for
the Long-Term Servicing Branch. Windows Server 2019 is
an LTSC release, similar to previous traditional versions of
Windows Server, while the SAC release have a shorter
release cadence and are more focused on DevOps and
containers. LTSC releases are suitable for deploying
server roles such as domain controllers, certificate
servers, and file servers. They also include graphical
interface support, which is not available in SAC releases.
LTSC releases receive five years of mainstream support
and five years of extended support.

Three different interfaces

 Most administrators choose to use the GUI based Desktop
experience. The navigation is very similar to Windows 10
 The Server Core is the default Windows Server 2019
interface. much faster and more efficient compared to the
Desktop experience.
Does not have to run the extra code for setting up and
supporting the GUI.
Better security as most malware attacks rely on GUI
elements.
 The Nano Server is also headless, much has a much
smaller footprint used mainly in containers
4.1 An overview of new and updated features
The newest version of the Windows Server operating
system is always an evolution of its predecessor.

 Logging in and using Windows Server 2019 is, in

a lot of ways, the same experience that you have
had inside Windows Server 2016.
 Hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) is a
combination of different technologies that work
together to create a software-defined datacenter
(SDDC) and can be managed together.
 Windows Admin Center (WAC), is a free, centrally
managed server infrastructure tool that is
continuously updated and improved since its
release, and can be used to manage servers, build
out clusters and HCI environments, and as a
centralised administration tool for on-premise
servers as well as those in Azure. Although it
cannot fully replace traditional administration tools
like PowerShell, RDP, and MMC, it allows users to
perform daily tasks from a single interface.
 Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection
(ATP) is a cloud-based service that is much more
than just built-in antivirus or anti-malware
capabilities. ATP uses the power of AI and machine
learning to generate real-time data about new
threats, viruses, and intrusions by tapping into
large, crowd-sourced information.
 Active Directory stores user account information,
including passwords, and has not seen many
updates in recent Windows Server releases.
However, Microsoft is continually developing new
 features in their Azure AD environment, one of
which is banning certain passwords.
 Soft restart is a feature introduced in Server 2016,
which allows for a restart of the operating system
without restarting the whole machine, thus speeding
up reboot times.
shutdown /r /soft /t 0
Here /r is for restart, /soft is for soft restart, and /t 0
is for zero seconds until reboot initiates.
 Integration with Linux - Windows Server 2019
allows for the integration of Linux VMs within
Microsoft Hyper-V, enabling the running of Linux-
based containers on top of the Server 2019. Linux
virtual machines can be encrypted for protection
through shielded virtual machines.

For those comfortable navigating in Windows 10, the

interface of Windows Server 2019 will not be difficult.
5. Practical Work
Exploring updates made to Windows Server 2019:
Activity 1
The updated Start menu.

Figure 3: The new start menu (Krause, 2021)

The Quick Admin Tasks menu

Figure 4: The quick start menu (Krause, 2021)

Using the Search function

Figure 5: The search function (Krause, 2021)

Pinning programs to the taskbar

Figure 6: Pinning programs to the task bar (Krause, 2021)

The power of right clicking

Figure 7: The power of right clicking

Activity 2
You need to access the Settings menu by clicking on your Start
button, then on the gear button above the power controls to see
the new interface.

Figure 8: Windows Settings (Krause, 2021)

Search Control Panel for Windows Update, where you
can view the installed updates.
Select network and Internet to access the Ethernet connections
and see the status of your network interface cards.

Figure 9: Network Interface Cards (Krause, 2021)

Add a user account on the User Accounts heading.

Figure 10: Adding a user account (Krause, 2021)

Add someone else to the PC by using Other Users heading.

Figure 11: Adding a user via Settings (Krause, 2021)

6. Task Manager
Task Manager is still typically invoked by any of the following:
 Ctrl + Alt + Del on your keyboard then clicking on Task
Manager
 Right-clicking on the taskbar and then choosing Task
Manager.
 Key combination Ctrl + Shift + Esc or typing taskmgr inside the
Run or Search dialog boxes.
Figure 12: Task manager (Krause, 2021)

The first thing noticeable is that very little information exists in

this default view, only a simple list of applications that are
currently running. This is a useful interface for forcing an
application to close that may be hung up, but not for much else.
Go ahead and click on the More details link, and you will start
to see the real information provided in this powerful interface.

Figure 13: Expanded Task Manager (Krause, 2021)

We immediately notice that the displayed information is more

user-friendly than in previous years, with both Apps and
Background processes being categorized in a more intuitive
way and multiple instances of the same application being
condensed down for easy viewing. This gives a faster overhead
view of what is going on with our system, while still giving the
ability to expand each application or process to see what
individual components or windows are running within the
application.
Make sure to check out the other tabs available inside Task
Manager as well. Users will show us a list of currently logged-
in users and the amounts of hardware resources that their user
sessions are consuming. This is a nice way to identify on a
Remote Desktop Session Host server, for example, an
individual who might be causing a slowdown on the server. The
Details tab is a little bit more of a traditional view of the
Processes tab, splitting out much of the same information but
in the older style we were used to seeing in versions of the
operating system long ago.
Then, the Services tab is pretty self-explanatory; it shows you
the Windows services currently installed on the server, their
status, and the ability to start or stop these services as needed,
without having to open the Services console separately.
The Performance tab is a pretty powerful one where you can
quickly monitor CPU, memory, and Ethernet utilization.

Figure 14: Performance tab (Krause, 2021)

Still inside the Performance tab, go ahead and right-click on

the CPU information. This opens up a dialog box with a few
options, click on Summary view.
Figure 15: Condensed Performance Tab

This condenses the data that was previously taking up about

half of my screen real-estate, into a tiny little window, which I
can move to the corner of my screen. This is a nice way to
keep hardware utilization data on the screen at all times as you
navigate through and work on your server so that you can
watch for any spikes or increases in resource consumption
when making changes to the system.
If you are interested in viewing more in-depth data about server
performance, there is a link at the bottom of this Task Manager
window where you can Open Resource Monitor. Two
technologies provided inside Server 2019 for monitoring system
status, particularly for hardware performance, are Resource
Monitor and Performance Monitor. Definitely open up these
tools and start testing them out, as they can provide both
troubleshooting information and essential baseline data when
you spin up a new server. This baseline can then be compared
against future testing data so that you can monitor how new
applications or services installed on a particular server have
affected their resource consumption.
7. Task view activity
Click on Task View and then on the button + New Desktop to
see Desktop 1 and Desktop 2 available for you to use.
Select Desktop 2 and open some new programs, or drag and
drop existing windows between different desktops, right on this
Task View screen.

Figure 16: Task View (Krause, 2021)

References
Krause, J., 2021. Mastering Windows Server 2019. 3rd ed. Birmingham - Mumbai: Packt
Publishing.