New Features of Windows Server - Term Paper Example

Windows Deployment Proposal New Features of Windows Server Windows Server is packaged with new features that are very convenient to Worldwide Advertising Inc. in its quest to establish a windows network infrastructure. These features include: a. Enhanced IP Address Management (IPAM) Windows Server 2012 R2 has an internal database (Windows Internal Database) which can be used by IPAM .In addition to this; Windows Internal Database allows specification of external SQL Server instances which increases database availability, scalability and reporting. b. DNS Zone Statistics Windows Server 2012 R2 lets you view statistics of single zone instead of viewing statistics entirely for the whole DNS Server. This is good for Worldwide Advertising Inc., since both sites at LA and NY will get statistics independently. This is possible with Windows PowerShell which is used in the extraction and viewing of these statistics through querying, transferring and updating commands. c. Provision of work folders capabilities in Windows 7 and Windows 8.x By using Windows Server 2012, Worldwide Advertising Inc. employees can store work folders in their PCs and retrieve them from any location; a feature that increases convenience for employees. This feature was only available in Windows 8.x and above. 2. Deployment and Server Editions .Assuming that all the workstations used in the network are powerful enough to avoid incidences of network congestion; a total of 12 servers will be used in the Worldwide Advertising Inc. network. Eight of these servers will be located at Los Angeles main offices where network will be managed from. The rest four will be stationed at New York. The roles played by each server are as illustrated in Figure1. All the 95 workstations will run Windows 8.1 because of its support for Windows Server 2012 and its network operability. Five workstations will serve as backup for security and fault tolerance reasons. (Stanek, 2013) The network infrastructure will use Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter Edition. This is because this edition supports virtualized environments and unlimited license for supported instances. To improve security and reliability, Server Core will be used on all the 12 servers. Using Windows Deployment Service in a master workstation, all operating systems and servers will be automatically installed from images. Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) will be used in the installation of Windows System Image Manager (WSIM) which in turn will install all the answer files. Server Name Role of the Server Location of the Server Edition of the Server Virtual S1 Web Deployment Services File and printer sharing Printing Services Los Angeles Datacenter S2 Primary DHCP Primary DNS Main AD Los Angeles Datacenter Virtual S3 DHCP Split Scope Application Services Terminal Services IIS 8.0 Web Server Los Angeles Datacenter S4 Failover Cluster Los Angeles Datacenter Virtual S5 Failover Cluster Los Angeles Datacenter Virtual S6 Failover Cluster Los Angeles Datacenter S7 Application Services File and Sharing Los Angeles Datacenter Virtual S8 AD Backup Printing Services Los Angeles Datacenter Virtual S9 DHCP Cluster AD- RODC Ney York Datacenter S10 DHCP Cluster IIS 8.0 Web Server Application Services Terminal Services Ney York Datacenter Virtual S11 Printing Services File Sharing Failover Cluster Ney York Datacenter Virtual S12 DHCP Cluster Applications Ney York Datacenter 3. Active Directory To improve the efficiency of the network, there will be two domain controllers for the Worldwide Advertising Inc.; one for each Active Directory. Los Angeles main office will host the main domain controller while New York branch will have a Read Only Domain Controller (RODC) as the backup to the main domain controller at LA. The RODC is place at the NY site in order to reduce network traffic and improve its performance. The two domain controllers offer a universal scope through Active Directory integration that replicates traffic.  (Stanek, 2013) The organizational units are taken as departments i.e. Executives, Accounts and Sales Department, Creative Media and Production, Human Resources and Finances, HR and financial duties and IT. These units are organized such that the main office at LA is the parent and children are at NY. The units are configured such that sensitive data such as finances is treated independently and can only be accessed by authorized department’s employees only. This is achieved by treating the department as global units. The chief administrator in the executive department grants NTFS files access permission to the other employees in the active directory’s configuration settings. 4. DNS and DHCP The primary DHCP will be deployed at the main office in LA with several clusters both in LA and NY sites. These clusters are configured with the primary using Windows failover cluster configuration. This increases fault tolerance: if the primary fails, a cluster takes over assuming the role of the primary. To reduce network traffic, the each site will use automatic IP address allocation. The range of these addresses will be 10.0.0.1 up to 10.0.1.200 for the primary DHCP. For the exclusion: 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.90 and 10.0.0.91 to 10.0.1.200 for the DHCP exclusion split scope. The failover clusters at NY will be configured to assume the role of the primary and provide its services entirely to the workstations without reserving a specific DHCP for each server. DNS will be implemented using DNSSE a suite that will protect the WAI network DNS from spoofing. The DNSSEC will generate keys and host the signed zone i.e. LA or NY. This is a manual process using dnscmd.exe command line tool. 5. Application Services Using Microsoft Systems Management Services (MSMS), applications will be based on the server. A Remote Desktop Services (RDS) approach will be used to deploy the applications instead of the Group Policy because it: consumes low bandwidth, has less clients hardware requirements and is easy to configure and update. A Remote Applications Manager will install the applications from the .msi install files to all the remote clients using a wizard. Through Web Access port 3389 all the applications will be successfully installed and configured to the remote workstations. Through Microsoft SharePoint 2012, applications such as MS Word, Excel, Outlook, Access, Adobe Creative Suite 6.5 and Init Quick Book Pro will be available. Internet Explorer 9 will be used to access remote applications. Other applications will be constructed using HTML 5, CSS 4, ASP.Net 4.5, SQL Server 2012 and IIS 8.0 under .NET framework 4.5. 6. File Sharing and Printer Sharing WAI network will use SharePoint 2012 which implements a shared folder for public files and a home folder for private files. A Distributed File System (DFS) will be used to provide fault tolerance and increased files access transparency. File Server Resources Manager will be used to control and monitor file storage. The FSRM will keep track of disk usage and notify the WAI employees when usage has reached 90%. Remote files and printers will be accessed using remote files access protocols based on authentication procedures of the WAI network. Remote desktop infrastructure will enable remote printing of documents using the applications provided by SharePoint 2012. This will increase the efficiency of the system and hence productivity of the employees. (Stanek, 2013) Conclusion Due to the capabilities of Windows Server 2012 and its improved features, WAI network will surely be effective and efficient assuming that the recommendations in this document are implemented carefully. Works Cited 1. Stanek, W. (2013). Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Inside Out (1st Ed.).(W. Stanek) US: Microsoft Press 2. Tulloch, M. (2012). Introducing Windows Server 2012. (1st Ed.). (M. Tulloch) US: Microsoft Press 3. Zacker, C. (2009). Windows Server 2008 Administrator (1st Ed.). (C. Zacker, Ed.) US: John Wiley & Sons, Inc 4. Olson, E. (2010, March). Designing an Internet-Facing Web Site Using SharePoint 2010. 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