Archive for September, 2010

Server Core Roles and Features in 2008 R2

 Server Core installations are versatile, secure and highly-optimized installations of Windows Server. Dubbed ‘Windows without Windows’ by some, these installation in Windows Server 2008 R2 are capable of providing more (infrastructural) services than ever! Just like Full installations of Windows Server 2008 R2, depending on the edition of your choice, or budget, the Server Roles and Features installable on a Server Core installation, vary, though.

The table below shows the individual roles and features in fresh Server Core installations of Windows Server 2008 R2, Web (column 1), Standard (column 2), Enterprise (column 3) and Datacenter (column 4) edition. It also lists the Server Roles features in a fresh installation of the special-purpose Hyper-V server 2008 R2. (column 5):

red, unavailable     green, available for installation     gray, installed by default

Server Roles and Features

W S E D H
Active Directory Certificate Services          
     Certificate Authority          
Active Directory Domain Services           
     Active Directory Domain Controller          
Active Directory Lightweight Domain Services          
DHCP Server          
DNS Server          
File Services            
     File Server          
     Distributed File System          
          DFS Namespaces           
          DFS Replication           
     File Server Resource Manager          
     Services for Network File System          
     Branchcache for network files          
Hyper-V          
Print and Document Services           
     Print Server          
     LPD Service          
Remote Desktop Services           
     Remote Desktop Virtualization Host          
Web Server (IIS)            
     Web Server          
          Common HTTP features          
               Static Content          
               Default Document          
               Directory Browsing          
               HTTP Errors           
               HTTP Redirection          
               WebDAV Publishing          
          Application Development          
               ASP.NET          
               .NET Extensibility           
               ASP          
               CGI          
               ISAPI Extensions          
               ISAPI Filters          
               Server Side Includes          
          Health and Diagnostics          
               HTTP Logging          
               Logging Tools          
               Request Monitor          
               Tracing          
               Custom Logging          
               ODBC Logging          
          Security          
               Basic Authentication          
               Windows Authentication          
               Digest Authentication          
               Client Certificate Mapping Authenti…          
               IIS Client Certificate Mapping Auth…          
               URL Authorization          
               Request Filtering          
               IP and Domain Restrictions          
          Performance          
               Static Content Compression          
               Dynamic Content Compression          
     Management Tools          
          IIS Management Scripts and Tools          
          Management Service          
          IIS 6 Management Compatibility          
               IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility          
               IIS 6 WMI Compatibility          
               IIS 6 Scripting Tools          
     FTP Server          
          FTP Service          
          FTP Extensibility          
     IIS Hostable Web Core          
.Net Framework 2.0 Features          
.Net Framework 3.5.1 Features          
     .Net Framework 3.5.1          
     WCF Activation          
          HTTP Activation          
          Non-HTTP Activation          
Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)          
     Compact Server          
BitLocker Drive Encryption          
BranchCache          
Failover Clustering          
MultiPath I/O          
Network Load Balancing          
Quality Windows Audio Video Experience          
SNMP Services          
     SNMP Service          
Subsystem for UNIX-based Application          
Telnet Client          
Windows Process Activation Service          
     Process Model          
     .NET Environment          
     Configuration APIs          
Windows Server Backup Features          
     Windows Server Backup          
     Command-line tools          
Windows PowerShell          
     Windows PowerShell Cmdlets          
Windows Server Migration Tools          
WinRM IIS Extension          
WINS Server          
WoW64 Support          
     WoW64          
     WoW64 for .NET Framework 2.0 and Win…          
          WoW64 for .NET Framework 2.0          
          WoW64 for Windows PowerShell          
     WoW64 for .NET Framework 3.0 and 3.5          
     WoW64 for Print Services          
WoW64 for Failover Clustering          
     WoW64 for Input Method Editor          
     WoW64 for Subsystem for UNIX-based ap…          

 

 

 

Note:
While some Server Roles and Features are available in multiple editions of Windows Server, the specific capabilities of the roles may vary between editions.

   

Further reading

Server Core changes in Windows Server 2008 R2
Server Core Installation Option Getting Started Guide
Edition Comparison by Server Core Installation Option
What are the new features in Server Core in Windows Server 2008 R2?
Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core – Sconfig and other new features
Implement Minimalist Solutions using Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core
MPIO with Windows 2008 R2 Server Core and iSCSI
Windows Tips & Tricks UPDATE
PDC-2008 Managed Development on Windows Server Core 2008 R2