Identifying Administration Tools

Identifying Administration Tools

The final step in delegating administrative duties is identifying the toolsets available to your delegates. Microsoft has provided us with the following tools to help with administrative tasks:

• Server Manager: Server Manager provides the ability to manage local or remote servers from a central location.
• Windows PowerShell Web Access: As we have seen previously, PowerShell is a powerful command-line tool that has been available since Windows Server 2008. As an improvement to Server 2012 R2, PowerShell now has the ability to be executed over the Web through the use of a Windows PowerShell Web Access Gateway. This is available as an installable feature through Server Manager.

NOTE

For additional information on installing and configuring PowerShell Web Access, refer to “Deploy Windows PowerShell Web Access” at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831611.

• Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC): PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) is a PowerShell extension released with Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1. We discuss DSC in more detail in the next section.
• Microsoft Management Console (MMC): As with previous versions of Windows, the MMC is still a powerful tool used by administrators to manage local and remote servers. You can create custom read-only MMC consoles with specific snap-ins containing only those tools required for the specific delegate function.
• Remote Server Administration Tools: Provides a set of tools to be used with client computers running Windows 8/8.1. It includes Server Manager, MMC snap-ins, PowerShell cmdlets, and additional command-line tools used to manage Windows Server 2012 R2 Core and Full installations. You can download Remote Server Administration tools from the Microsoft Download Center as a standalone installer.

NOTE

Before using administrative tools, you must first ensure that the necessary access rights have been granted and that you have addressed any prerequisites, such as .Net Framework 4.5, Windows Management Framework 4.0, or Firewall configurations.