Windows Server 2012

The investment that business incur in terms of business infrastructure is a vital in the competitive advantage and success of a business. Information technology is a central element of the business activities in the current business environment, especially in the advertising industry. The extensive application of the IT infrastructure will also determine the success of WAI. The success of the IT elements in the company is hinged on the ability of the company deploying and managing the windows server correctly. The correctness of the installation and the deployment will also help in a streamlined flow of activities and information in the business. The correctness of the configurations and the management of the server resources will be ensured in WAI via the evaluation of the security, reliability and efficiency of the other IT infrastructure in the business. The robustness of the IT department in WAI will also be a vital element in the management and running of the system. The selected server functionally in WAI requires that the system be in tandem with the business activities and enable seamless communication and synchronization between the Washington DC, New York and the headquarters in San Francisco. This proposal will be prepared to deliver a guideline to the firm in terms of server infrastructure management.

The proposal will evaluate the features of the Windows Server 2012 and WAI can make use of the features to drive growth and productivity in all its three offices. The proposal will also present the deployment plan for the Windows Server and the key features that will drive productivity in the three offices in the business. The proposal will also present the various supporting features of the server that will be vital in the operation such as the active directory, DHCP and DNS and other sharing services such as printing and sharing. These features will be evaluated with regards to WAI’s infrastructures.

The recommendations from the research proposal will be such that they are in line with the requirements of WAI. The recommendations will be aimed at saving the company money in terms of IT investments. The Windows Server 2012 is a movement forward for the company.

New Features in Windows Server 2012

Some of the new features in the Windows Server 2012 that WAI can utilize.

Server Management

This is a new console that will permit the system administration to view all the servers and the services running as well as their health in a single location.  The feature also allows the administrators access to the basic tools required in the day-to-day management of the servers. These features reduce the work to be done by the system administrator.

Date Duplication

The server disk space is a costly investment and sometimes is even hard to come by. This new feature will permit the administrator to reduce the storage requirements of the company by eliminating the duplicate copies of files. The system will also save only one copy of the file in the system.

Server Core

This new feature in the Window Server 2012 allows the user to be able to switch between a server core installation and the GUI installation. The feature is a new and minimal installation that utilizes the command line to manage the servers. The new features reduce the areas that are exposed and prone to attacks. This feature also reduces the need for management and increase reliability. The feature permits the switching between the GUI for management of applications and the server core.

Deployment and Server Editions

The basic practice for the number of servers to be maintained by a company is that there should be a server for every ten employees. The company will be starting with 270 people then it will be safe that the company will be planning to expand in the future. Therefore any installations should provide room for the future expansion hence the server that will be used will be 28. There will be three servers for the Washington DC and New York offices. The San Francisco office will have 22 servers (Lowe, 2012). For each server there is the need for a license hence there will be a total of twenty-eight licenses.

The servers will have the combined role of DHCP and DNS, file and print services on the San Francisco servers. All the servers in all the offices will have Windows Server 2012 installed on them. The requirement of the WAI Company did not detail the need for virtualization hence the essential edition will be utilized on all the servers. The installation will give the company simple administration; there will be no virtualization rights hence permitting twenty-five accounts per server.

The Windows server 2012 allows the switching between the full installation, MinShell and the Server Core at the discretion of the administrator. The full installation is equipped with the GUI for the Windows Server. The Server core utilizes the command line or the Windows PowerShell Interface. MinShell has the OS pre-installed that permits the running of the basic GUI administrative tools, i.e. the Server Manager, the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and the Computer Management snap-in (Microsoft, 2013). The project will commence with the full installation to ensure that everything is configured according to the company specifications. After the installation, the test run will be used for fixing the flaws that will be identified. The servers can then be switched to the Server Core to improve the security of the system, reliability and reduce the amount of management required.

The deployment of the servers with the following roles in the following locations. The servers will be deployed in a fashion that it allows fault tolerance and then provide every application that each site requires.

Server

Roles

Location

Server1

AD primary

San Francisco

Server2

AD Secondary

San Francisco

Server3

DHCP primary & DNS primary

San Francisco

Server4

Application Services & WDS

San Francisco

Server5

File & Print services

San Francisco

Server6

DHCP secondary &Web services

San Francisco

Server7

Departmental servers

San Francisco

Server8

Departmental servers

San Francisco

Server9

Departmental servers

San Francisco

Server10

Departmental servers

San Francisco

Server11

Departmental servers

San Francisco

Server12

Departmental servers

San Francisco

Server13

AD primary

Washington DC

Server14

AD Secondary

Washington DC

Server15

DHCP primary & DNS primary

Washington DC

Server16

Application Services & WDS

Washington DC

Server17

File & Print services

Washington DC

Server18

DHCP secondary &Web services

Washington DC

Server19

AD primary

New York

Server20

AD Secondary

New York

Server21

DHCP primary & DNS primary

New York

Server22

Application Services & WDS

New York

Server23

File & Print services

New York

Server24

DHCP secondary &Web services

New York

The servers and the operating systems will be deployed using the WDS (Windows Deployment Services) ensuring the installation process is smoother. WDS will save the company a lot of money and reduce the company man hours used in the installation of the system. The WDS will also eliminate the possibilities errors in the installation. A standalone server will be utilized with the WDS in the installation process. The Windows System Image Manager (Window SIM) will be used in the creation of the answer file so as to use the window setup in the installation of the server 2012 and the settings specified by the answer file. The process will take five days with at least two system administrators.

Active Directory

This is a fundamental tool in the organization. The AD is so vital that it affects the productivity, data and man hours. These will mean that there is enough of the controllers set up for the fault tolerance. There are five Active Directory servers that will be deployed. The main domain controllers will be located at the head office at San Francisco while the RODC will be located at the New York NA Washington DC offices. The RODC will be a read-only domain controller while providing active directory services without the security perils associated. The RODC in the satellite office will be a failsafe system hence in case of failure in the main office. The failure of the RODC in the main office will also not be detrimental to the system due to the availability of the services in the main offices (Microsoft, 2015). The Ad will be assigned a dedicated server for the improvement of the performance. The sites for the AD domain controllers will be created first so as to allow the occurrence of replication. A subnet will be needed for the two sites. A site link will be created to connect the two sites for replication. Active Directory Sites and service tool are fundamental in the configuring of the WAN link that will connect the two LAN as illustrated in the figure below

  DC1                             DC2                                     RODC

The AD units will be organized initially based on the sites then departmentally. Every department will have an organizational unit, executives, IT Department, Human Resource and Finances Department, Creative, Media and Production Department and Accounts and Sales Departments. GPOs will be created and then implemented on each of the OUs and then connected to the AD. Every department will have their respective folders with every member given permission to access the folder (Microsoft, 2015). The overall system administrator will have permission to access all departmental folder so as to manage them. The deployment and the setup of the AD will take approximately 6 hours by the system administrator.

DNS and DHCP

The DCHP will be responsible for the handing IP addresses to the users and is useful in the establishing the connection to the internet. The DHCP will be configured for fault tolerance and load balancing due to its importance. The design will entail two DHCP at the San Francisco site while a single DHCP for Washington and the New York sites. The DHCP servers will be configured in the failover load balance mode. In case one of the DHCP servers fail the others will take over. When working properly, the DHCP server will share the load effectively (Lowe, 2012).

The DHCP reservation will be utilized for all the servers in the three sites so that the clients get the same IP addresses every time. The feature will speed the response of the servers reducing the issues of locating the servers. The lease time will be set at the default of 8 days. The lease time can be increased to increase the number of IP addresses available at all times. The deployment of the DHCP server should take at least 3 hours.

The DNS server will map the domain names to the IP addresses. The DNS server allows the users to connect to external websites. There will be one server at each location hence the changes of failure will be reduced. The design of the internal private domain DNS will have a name space design of sa.wai for the head office which will be the parent then wd.wai.localhost and ny.wai.localhost as the children. The split DNS will be set up for the two different scopes, i.e. internal DNS record and the external DNS records. The two scopes will be hosted on the same DNS server. The feature will prevent the information in the internal DNS server from foot printing. The scopes will be set up based on a variety of policies that will be created and implement during the installation. The name resolutions will be vetted against the policies in the DNS server. When the server interface of the query is matched with the policy, then the associated zone scope will be used in response to the query. The deployment of the DNS server will take 4 hours for two system administrators.

Application services

The applications will be deployed based on the group policy. The group policy will ensure a faster and error-free deployment of the applications. A shared folder will be used to store the .msi file (Microsoft, 2013). The GPO will be created and all the computer users added so that the application can be deployed. All the users will be granted access to the application then the GPO is updated at the end of the process.

The applications will be used to boost the productivity. Considering that the company is just starting the basic application software will be used such as a web-browser for the access of internet, antivirus, accounting software, word processing, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations and other specialized departmental software. The installation may take 8 hours by one administrator.

File and Printer Sharing

There will be three file and three print servers that will be deployed in the three sites. Each site will have a single file and print server. All the servers will have the file and printer sharing features enabled. This measure will act as a fault tolerant feature in case of failure. The deployment of the servers will take a day (Microsoft, 2015).

Five shares will be created with SMB for the following departments i.e. Executives, Accounts and Sales Department, Creative, Media and Production Department, Human Resources and Finances and IT. The NTFS feature will be used to create discretion in the file sharing between departments. The administrator will also determine the amount of access a user can have for a certain job. The users will only be able to views the folders to which they have access. The shares will be deployed within 4 hours.

The Distributed File System will be utilized in the organization of the shared resource in the network. The users from all the sites will access to the shared resources. The DFS Namespace will be used for the grouping of the shared folders located on various servers logically. The DFS is instrumental in the efficient replication of the folders on multiple sites and servers (Microsoft, 2013).

The file server resource manager (FSRM) will be utilized for the management of the quotas, data stored and file servers. The quotas will be created for the various departments based on the quotas template. All the users will be accorded a 500 MB space. Soft quotas will be used to prevent the loss of data of the users when they exhaust their storage. The quotas are essential to curtailing the use of the disk space. The FSRM is essential in the report creation. FSRM is implemented in 2 hours.

The print management console is the feature that will be used in the management of the print servers. The print servers will be set up with V4 printer devices to eliminate the installation of the printer drivers to all the users. The printer servers will be deployed using the group policies. The deployment will take 5 hours.

Conclusion

The areas tackled in this proposal are vital in the server deployment exercise, especially to the WAI Company. The accomplishment of each area will permit the business to run efficiently and smoother. Windows Server 2012 has numerous features that will appeal to the administrator and the users. The standard edition will be sufficient for the use of the company while the AD, DHCP and DNS will be an essential component of communication both internally and externally.

Reference

Deuby, S. (2013, March 1). Windows Server 2012 Deployment. Retrieved from Windows IT Pro: http://windowsitpro.com/windows-server-2012/windows-server-2012-deployment

Lowe, S. (2012, July 6). Microsoft announces four Windows Server 2012 editions: What you need to know. Retrieved from TechRepublic: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/data-center/microsoft-announces-four-windows-server-2012-editions-what-you-need-to-know/

Microsoft. (2013, October 20). Windows Setup Scenarios and Best Practices. Retrieved from TechNet: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh825163.aspx

Microsoft. (2015, May 12). Split-Brain DNS Deployment Using Windows DNS Server Policies. Retrieved from TechNet Blogs: http://blogs.technet.com/b/networking/archive/2015/05/12/split-brain-dns-deployment-using-windows-dns-server-policies.aspx