Windows Server 2012 odds and ends

I’ve started getting into Windows Server 2012 and IIS 8 (currently beta 2).  It’s not as exciting today with all the other technology things happening in the world.   The quality of beta’s are worlds better than early days of betas, evaluating doesn’t take as long.   Here are a few things I wanted to pass along. 

Windows Server 2012 comes in three variations

1) Server Core – No GUI (Linux guys rolling their eyes now )

2) Server Core with Minimal GUI (Server Manager, Event viewer, IIS Manager, among other things, No Explorer, No Control Panel, No IE)  (Linux guys still rolling their eyes)

3) Server with FULL GUI (Windows guys without a start button)

Powershell 3.0 on Win2012 offers 10x amount of cmdlets, 2300+ mentioned at MMS 2012.  With #2, you need to think differently how machines are setup and administered.  The concept of logging into the server, browsing locally to see what the error is can’t happen, there is no IE!  I’m realizing Windows admins RDP to boxes, *nix guys SSH.

Troubleshooting .NET applications require a little different mentality.  Today, people set <customErrors to RemoteOnly), so when you are on the local system, you can see the full error.  .NET offers the option to show errors in various levels, which is necessary to see the raw error, or have rich enough logging to capture the error, write to a central database.  Whatever option you chose is something to think about.   Here is a few articles to think about.

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2006/08/12/Tip_2F00_Trick_3A00_-Show-Detailed-Error-Messages-to-Developers.aspx

http://weblogs.asp.net/owscott/archive/2010/07/29/troubleshoot-asp-net-errors-remotely-while-appearing-local.aspx

http://forums.iis.net/p/1149471/1870011.aspx

Another new feature is generating PowerShell IIS commands has been built into Configuration Editor.  To use the PowerShell, import the WebAdministration module 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee790599.aspx

 

Some tips/tricks

When you are installing the OS, there is two options.  I chose Server Core #1, then run the following command to add the minimal GUI

Add-WindowsFeature -Name Server-GUI-Mgmt-Infra

Here is how to DISABLE UAC

Please follow steps in below link to disable UAC.

How to disable UAC: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/winserversecurity/thread/0aeac9d8-3591-4294-b13e-825705b27730/

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The best way is to change the registry key at registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionpoliciessystem; key = EnableLUA

You can use the following powershell code to check the value:

Code Snippet

$UAC = Get-ItemProperty -Path registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionpoliciessystem -Name EnableLUA

$UAC.EnableLUA

To change the value and disable UAC:

Code Snippet

Set-ItemProperty -Path registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionpoliciessystem -Name EnableLUA -Value 0

You need to reboot to make it take effect.

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Enable Remote Desktop (Only needed on minimal install)

http://blogs.technet.com/b/mempson/archive/2008/03/11/enable-remote-desktop-via-the-registry.aspx

These are few basic things which I hope help your evaluation of IIS8 and Windows Server 2012.  

Enjoy,

Steve Schofield
Microsoft MVP – IIS