Microsoft Lab 2 – Windows Server 2016 Basic Configuration and Settings

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Windows Server 2016 Basic Configuration and Settings

In Lab 2 - Windows Server 2016 Basic Configuration and Settings, participants typically focus on the initial setup and fundamental configurations of a Windows Server 2016 installation. This lab involves tasks such as specifying server roles, setting up network configurations, and configuring essential settings for security and performance. Participants may also explore features like Windows Update, time synchronization, and system properties to tailor the server environment to their specific requirements. The lab aims to provide hands-on experience in performing basic configurations, ensuring the server is optimally configured and ready for additional roles and functionalities. Successful completion of Microsoft Lab 2 equips participants with essential skills in the foundational setup of Windows Server 2016, laying the groundwork for subsequent server administration tasks in a Microsoft-centric environment.

Lab:

Active Directory Domain Controller Hardware Requirements –

Minimum

  • 1.4Ghz 64-bit processor or faster
  • 512MB of RAM or greater
  • 32GB of disk space or greater
  • Ethernet network adapter

Recommended

  • 2-Core CPU
  • 8GB RAM
  • 60GB Thin Provisioned Disk
  • VMXNET3 Network Adapter

[Note: it really depends on what you’re running on the Domain Controller and how large of an organization it’s supporting. ]

  1. First we need to open the Start Menu and then click to open Server Manager.

From Server Manager we click Configure this local server.

  • On the Local Server Properties page we have links to most of the things we need to change first thing.  After each item is configured we’ll be jumping back to this page to move onto the next configuration item.

2.  By clicking on the Computer name or Workgroup we get the System Properties dialog.

3. Clicking the Change button we get the Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog.  Here we change the Computer name to what we want the Domain Controller to be named and click OK.

4. After clicking OK we get another dialog indicating we will need to restart for the changes to be applied.

5. Now the changes will take effect after we restart this computer. If we hit close button we will get another dialog box indicating if we want to Restart Now or Restart Later.  You can restart now or wait until we’ve completed all the changes to reboot.

6. On the Local System Properties in Server Manager we click Remote Desktop.

7. This takes us to the Remote tab on System Properties and we click the radio button for Allow remote connections to this computer to enable Remote Desktop.

8. On the Local System Properties in Server Manager we click on the Ethernet Adapter which brings us to the Network Connections window.

9. Right-click the Ethernet adapter and click Properties

10. From there we click on the IPv4 Properties where we set the IP address, SubnetMask and DefaultGateway.  We also set the Preferred and Alternate DNS.

[Note: since this is our first Active Directory Domain Controller and it’s our first DNS server we need to set the Preferred DNS to the servers own IP and the Alternate DNS to an external DNS source to get started.]

11. On the Local System Properties in Server Manager we click on the Time Zone which brings us to the Date and Time dialog.

12. We set the local date, time and time zone as necessary here and click OK.

13. On the Local System Properties in Server Manager we click on the IE Enhanced Security Configuration.

14. We need to set the Administrators option to Off.  This allows Internet Explorer to open webpages without a bunch of crazy prompts for Administrator users.

15. On the Local System Properties in Server Manager we click on the Feedback & Diagnostics Settings.

16. Here you should set the Feedback Frequency option to Never and the Diagnostic and usage data to Basic. 

17. On the Local System Properties in Server Manager we click on the Windows Defender option.