Training Guide Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 R2 (2014)

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Resources for learning Windows PowerShell

If you’re new to Windows PowerShell, you can use its built-in help resources to learn about different cmdlets. There are also a number of helpful books you can learn from.

Using Windows PowerShell help

You can use the Get-Help cmdlet to display the syntax for other cmdlets and examples of how to use those cmdlets. For example, to display basic help for the Connect-PSSession cmdlet, use this command:

Get-Help Connect-PSSession

To show detailed help, use this command:

Get-Help Connect-PSSession -detailed

To show some examples of how to use Connect-PSSession, use this command:

Get-Help Connect-PSSession -examples

To show detailed help and examples, use this command:

Get-Help Connect-PSSession -full

Updatable help

Windows PowerShell 3.0 introduced the capability of downloading updated help files for the cmdlets in Windows PowerShell modules. To download the latest help files, use this command:

Update-Help

You can also use this cmdlet to download updated help files to a shared folder on your network so that you can install them on your servers without needing to allow those servers to connect to the Internet. To learn how to use the Update-Help cmdlet, use this command:

Get-Help Update-Help

Enhanced online help

Windows PowerShell 3.0 also introduced the ability to display the online version of the help for a cmdlet in your default Internet browser. To do this, include the –Online parameter with the Get-Help cmdlet, like this:

Get-Help Connect-PSSession -Online

Save-Help improvements

Windows PowerShell 3.0 introduced a cmdlet called Save-Help that you could use to download and save help content to your local computer. This made it somewhat easier to distribute help content for Windows PowerShell modules because instead of having to download the content to all your servers or workstations, you could just share the folder containing the content on your local machine. The catch, however, was that the Save-Help cmdlet could only download content for Windows PowerShell modules that are installed on the local machine. If you needed to distribute content for a module that wasn’t installed on the local machine, you needed to download it from a server or client computer that already has that module installed and then copy it to your shared folder.

To make downloading and distributing help content easier, Windows PowerShell 4.0 enables you to save help content for modules that are installed on remote computers so you can copy them to your local computer even if your local computer doesn’t have Internet connectivity.

For example, let’s say that a server named SEA-SRV-8 has a Server Core installation of Windows Server 2012 R2 installed. Windows PowerShell 4.0 has a new module called ServerCore that includes two cmdlets not previously available in earlier Windows Server versions:

Get-DisplayResolution Shows the current display resolution for a Server Core server

Set-DisplayResolution Changes the display resolution for a Server Core server

You can verify this by using the Get-Command cmdlet on any Windows Server 2012 R2 installation, like this:

PS C:\> Get-Command -Module ServerCore

CommandType Name ModuleName
----------- ---- ----------
Function Get-DisplayResolution ServerCore
Function Set-DisplayResolution ServerCore

Now, let’s say you want to install the help content for these commands on your local machine by copying the content from the remote server SEA-SRV-8. To do this from your local machine, first use the New-PSSession cmdlet to create a persistent connection to the remote server and assign it to a variable, like this:

$a = New-PSSession -computer SEA-SRV-8

Next, use the Get-Module cmdlet to get the ServerCore module from the remote server and assign it to another variable:

$b = Get-Module ServerCore -PSSession $a -ListAvailable

Finally, use the Save-Help cmdlet to copy the help for the ServerCore module from the remote server to a folder on your local machine:

Save-Help -Module $b -DestinationPath C:\PShelp

Recommended books

The following are some books that Windows PowerShell experts at Microsoft have recommended. These are listed in order, starting with books for beginners and ending with books for advanced users:

Learn Windows PowerShell 3 in a Month of Lunches, by Don Jones (Manning Publications, 2012)

Windows PowerShell 3.0 First Steps, by Ed Wilson (Microsoft Press, 2014)

Windows PowerShell Cookbook, 3rd Edition, by Lee Holmes (O’Reilly Media, 2013)

PowerShell in Depth: An Administrator’s Guide by Don Jones (Manning Publications, 2013)

More recommendations for learning about Windows PowerShell can be found in the Windows PowerShell Survival Guide in the TechNet Wiki at http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/183.windows-powershell-survival-guide-en-us.aspx.

Lesson summary

You can run Windows PowerShell background jobs asynchronously in the background to execute commands and scripts on remote servers.

You can use Windows PowerShell scheduled jobs to schedule PowerShell execution of commands and scripts on remote servers.

You can disconnect from a Windows PowerShell session running on a remote server and allow the commands and scripts in the session to continue to execute.

You can reconnect to a disconnected Windows PowerShell session on a remote server.

You can download updated help files for the cmdlets in Windows PowerShell modules.

Lesson review

Answer the following questions to test your knowledge of the information in this lesson. You can find the answers to these questions and explanations of why each answer choice is correct or incorrect in the “Answers” section at the end of this chapter.

1. Which of the following statements is not true about background jobs?

A. You can view them by using the Get-ScheduledJob cmdlet.

B. You can create them by using the Start-Job cmdlet.

C. You can temporarily stop them by using the Suspend-Job cmdlet.

D. You can delete them by using the Remove-Job cmdlet.

2. What action will typing the command New-JobTrigger –Daily –At “4:15 AM” –DaysInterval 3 perform when it is run?

A. It creates a new scheduled job that runs daily at 4:15 A.M. on the third day of each week.

B. It creates a new scheduled job that runs daily at 4:15 A.M. every third day.

C. It creates a new job trigger that can be used to run a scheduled job daily at 4:15 A.M. on the third day of each week.

D. It creates a new job trigger that can be used to run a scheduled job daily at 4:15 A.M. every third day.

3. What two cmdlets would you use to create a scheduled job?

A. New-Job and New-JobTrigger

B. New-Job and New-ScheduledJob

C. New-JobTrigger and New-ScheduledJob

D. New-JobTrigger and Register-ScheduledJob

4. Which of the following is not true concerning PSSessions in Windows PowerShell 3.0?

A. Any new sessions you create using the New-PSSession cmdlet are saved on the remote computer.

B. Once you start the remote PSSession, you can disconnect from it using the Disconnect-PSSession cmdlet without disrupting any commands running in the session.

C. You can later reconnect to a disconnected remote PSSession from the same or a different computer using the Connect-PSSession cmdlet.

D. You should use PSSessions only when you need to run a single command on a remote server, not multiple commands that share data such as a function or the value of a variable.

Practice exercises

The goal of this section is to provide you with hands-on practice with the following:

Installing roles and features

Managing alerts with the Dashboard

Scheduling tasks using Windows PowerShell jobs

To perform the exercises in this section, you need at least one clean installation of Windows Server 2012 R2 using the Server With A GUI installation option. The server should be a stand-alone server belonging to a workgroup, have Internet connectivity, and have no additional roles or features installed. You should be logged on interactively to the server using a user account that is a member of the local Administrators group but that is not the default Administrator account. For the purpose of these exercises, the name of the server is assumed to be SERVER1.

Exercise 1: Installing roles and features

In this exercise, you use both Server Manager and Windows PowerShell to install and remove roles and features from a server.

1. Open a Windows PowerShell console with administrative privileges using the Run As Administrator option.

2. Pipe the output of Get-WindowsFeature into Where-Object to display a list of currently installed roles and features. Note any roles and features that are installed by default on a clean installation using the Server With A GUI installation option.

3. Start Server Manager, switch to the All Servers page, and scroll down to the Roles And Features tile. Compare what you see in that tile with the output of the command in step 2.

4. Use Server Manager to launch the Add Roles And Features Wizard and install the DHCP Server role on the server, including the administration tools for this role.

5. Click the Notifications flag on the menu bar of the Dashboard to confirm that the feature installed successfully.

6. Run the command Get-WindowsFeature –Name *DHCP* to verify that both the DHCP Server role and DHCP Server Tools feature are now installed.

7. Pipe the output of the previous command into Uninstall-WindowsFeature to uninstall both the DHCP Server role and DHCP Server Tools feature from the server.

8. Notice the warning message that says you must restart the server to finish the removal process. Do not restart the server yet.

9. Run the command Get-WindowsFeature –Name *DHCP* again and examine the Install State of the DHCP Server role and DHCP Server Tools feature.

10. Use the Shutdown command to restart the server.

11. When you log on again, use the command Get-WindowsFeature –Name *DHCP* again and note the Install State of the DHCP Server role and DHCP Server Tools feature.

12. Disconnect your server from the Internet.

13. Launch the Add Roles And Features Wizard again and select .NET Framework 3.5 Features on the Select Features page.

14. Note the yellow warning message on the Confirm Installation Selections page and click Install.

15. Note the error message. The installation of this feature failed because the binaries for .NET Framework 3.5 (which includes .NET Framework 2.0 and .NET Framework 3.0) are not included in a Windows Server 2012 R2 installation and must either be downloaded from Windows Update or made available on your network. Read http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831809#BKMK_FoD for more information.

16. Close the Add Roles And Features Wizard and reconnect your server to the Internet.

Exercise 2: Managing alerts with the Dashboard

In this exercise, you configure and raise alerts on the Dashboard of Server Manager.

1. Open Server Manager and select the Dashboard page.

2. Click the Notifications flag on the menu bar at the top to display any error, warning, or information alerts that have been raised. Read the alerts and dismiss them by clicking Remove Task (the X button) at the upper right of each alert.

3. Switch to the All Servers page and review the events listed in the Events tile.

4. Click the Tasks control in the Events tile and configure the tile to display only Error events that occurred in the System event log during the last six hours.

5. Configure the Events tile again to display only Warning events that occurred in all event logs during the last six hours.

6. Filter the list of events by entering the event ID of one of the listed events into the Filter text box.

7. Click the right-side Query control, type a descriptive name for your query, and save your query.

8. Clear the filter you applied in step 6.

9. Click the left Query control and select your previously saved query.

10. Delete your saved query and clear the filter again.

11. Sort the list of services in the Service tile by Display Name.

12. Verify that the Print Spooler service is running and then right-click the service and stop it.

13. Switch to the Dashboard page and note the alert raised for the Services thumbnail in the Local Server tile.

14. Click on this alert, restart the Print Spooler service, and note that the alert previously raised has been removed.

15. Click on the Services thumbnail in the Local Server tile and configure the tile so that a stopped service will not raise an alert.

16. Return to the All Servers page and use the Services tile to stop the Print Spooler service again.

17. Return to the Dashboard and note that this time no alert has been raised in the Services tile.

18. Return to the All Servers page and restart the Print Spooler service.

Exercise 3: Scheduling tasks using Windows PowerShell jobs

In this exercise, you create a Windows PowerShell scheduled job to install a role on the server.

1. Run the Get-ScheduledJob command and verify that there are currently no Windows PowerShell scheduled jobs on the server.

2. Run the following command to create a new job trigger that will cause a scheduled job to run the next time the user logs on:

$trigger = New-JobTrigger -AtLogon -RandomDelay 00:01:00

3. Find out what the –RandomDelay parameter does in the preceding command by reviewing the syntax of the New-JobTrigger cmdlet at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh849759.

4. Run the following command to create a scheduled job that will install all role services of the Web Server (IIS) role when the trigger condition you created in step 2 occurs:

Register-ScheduledJob -Name MyJob -ScriptBlock {Install-WindowsFeature
-Name Web-Server -IncludeAllSubFeature -IncludeManagementTools}
-Trigger $trigger

5. Run the Get-JobTrigger MyJob command to display the trigger condition for the scheduled job you created in step 4.

6. Use the Tools menu of Server Manager to open Task Scheduler to verify the creation of the Windows PowerShell scheduled job you created and examine its properties. Then answer the following question:

Question: What would happen if you right-clicked MyJob in Task Scheduler and selected Run?

Answer: The job MyJob would run immediately to install the Web Server (IIS) role with all its role services on the server.

7. Close Task Scheduler and return to the Windows PowerShell console.

8. Log off the server and then log on again.

9. Open an elevated Windows PowerShell console and repeatedly run the command Get-Job | Select-Object State until the output shows Running, indicating that the scheduled job has begun to execute. (Hint: Press the Up arrow key followed by Enter to rerun the command without having to retype it.)

10. Continue running the command Get-Job | Select-Object State until the output shows Completed, indicating that the scheduled job has finished.

11. Run the command Get-WindowsFeature –Name *Web* and view the Install State of all role services and features associated with the Web Server (IIS) role.

12. Use Windows PowerShell to uninstall the Web Server (IIS) role and all role services and features associated with it, including the applicable management tools.

Suggested practice exercises

The following additional practice exercises are designed to give you more opportunities to practice what you’ve learned and to help you successfully master the lessons presented in this chapter.

Exercise 1 If you have a domain controller available, join your two Windows Server 2012 R2 servers to the domain and try using the commands in the section “Disconnected sessions” in Lesson 4 to install the Windows Server Backup feature on SERVER2 by running Windows PowerShell commands on SERVER1.

Exercise 2 If you don’t have a domain controller available, try using the information found in the section “Add and manage servers in workgroups” at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831453 to use Server Manager on SERVER1 to add SERVER2 to the server pool.

Exercise 3 If you have a server running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 available, try enabling remote management on that server using the information found at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh921475 and then use Server Manager on SERVER1 to add the down-level server to the server pool.

Exercise 4 Create a configuration block that ensures a role or feature is installed on your local server and then invoke the configuration by using the Start-DscConfiguration cmdlet.

Answers

This section contains the answers to the lesson review questions in this chapter.

Lesson 1

1. Correct answers: B, C, and D

A. Incorrect: The Print Services page will be available in Server Manager as long as at least one of your print servers has been added to your server pool, even if all your print servers are currently offline.

B. Correct: At least one server must be running the Print And Document Services role, and the server must have been added to your server pool for the Print Services page to be available in Server Manager.

C. Correct: At least one server running the Print And Document Services role must be present in your server pool for the Print Services page to be available in Server Manager.

D. Correct: At least one server running the Print And Document Services role must be present in your server pool for the Print Services page to be available in Server Manager, and servers running an earlier version of Windows Server must be configured for remote management before they can be added to the server pool.

2. Correct answers: B and D

A. Incorrect: The Dashboard is used to display alerts and does not indicate whether remote management is enabled on the server.

B. Correct: If the Remote Management setting on the Local Server page displays Enabled, remote management is enabled on the server.

C. Incorrect: The All Servers page is used to add servers to the server pool, create server groups, configure event data, and perform other tasks, but it does not indicate whether remote management is enabled on the server.

D. Correct: The output of this command indicates whether remote management is enabled on the server.

3. Correct answer: B

A. Incorrect: Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8.1 includes tools for managing roles and features that run on Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012. In limited cases, you also can use the tools to manage roles and features that are running on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008. So you won’t be able to manage all roles and features on servers running Windows Server 2008 R2.

B. Correct: Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8.1 includes tools for managing roles and features that run on Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012. In limited cases, you also can use the tools to manage roles and features that are running on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008. So you will be able to manage some roles and features on servers running Windows Server 2008 R2.

C. Incorrect: Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8.1 includes tools for managing roles and features that run on Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012. In limited cases, you also can use the tools to manage roles and features that are running on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008. So you can manage some roles and features on servers running Windows Server 2008 R2.

D. Incorrect: Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8.1 must be installed on Windows 8.1 and cannot be installed on earlier Windows versions.

Lesson 2

1. Correct answer: D

A. Incorrect: To add a server to a server group, the server must first be present in your server pool. Because the two servers are not present in the server pool, this action cannot be performed.

B. Incorrect: There is only one server pool, and it represents all the servers that are currently being managed using Server Manager. You cannot create an additional server pool, so this action cannot be performed.

C. Incorrect: To add a server to a server group, the server must first be present in your server pool. Because the two servers are not present in the server pool, this action cannot be performed.

D. Correct: Servers must be added to your server pool before you can manage them using Server Manager. Find the servers by querying Active Directory or your DNS servers or by importing their names in a text file and then add them to your server pool.

2. Correct answers: B

A. Incorrect: Server groups cannot be used to assign privileges. They are simply a means of logically grouping managed servers in your environment.

B. Correct: By creating different server groups for the different geographical locations of your organization, you can facilitate server management by making it easy to determine what servers are located where.

C. Incorrect: Server groups cannot be used to delegate permissions. They are simply a means of logically grouping managed servers in your environment.

D. Incorrect: Server groups cannot be nested.

3. Correct answers: A and C

A. Correct: Performance counters must be started on a server before performance data can be collected from that server.

B. Incorrect: When performance counters have been started on a server, performance data will be collected. It might take several minutes until that data is displayed. After three hours have elapsed, however, you should certainly see some performance data displayed in graph form.

C. Correct: The refresh period for Server Manager can be configured in minutes from 1 minute to 14,400 minutes (10 days). If you configure the refresh period to be more than three hours, the Dashboard display will not change until a refresh occurs and you won’t see any new alerts raised until it refreshes.

D. Incorrect: Server groups are simply a means of logically grouping managed servers in your environment. They have no effect on any configuration you perform on the All Servers page.

4. Correct answer: D

A. Incorrect: One or more running services can be stopped by right-clicking them in a Services tile and selecting Stop Services.

B. Incorrect: One or more running services can be paused by right-clicking them in a Services tile and selecting Pause Services as long as their Startup Type is Manual.

C. Incorrect: One or more stopped services can be started by right-clicking them in a Services tile and selecting Start Services as long as their Startup Type is not Disabled.

D. Correct: You cannot change the Startup Type of services from a Services tile. To do this, you can use the Services MMC console, which you can launch from the Tools menu of Server Manager.

Lesson 3

1. Correct answer: D

A. Incorrect: You can use the Uninstall-WindowsFeature cmdlet to uninstall features.

B. Incorrect: Remove-WindowsFeature is an alias for the Uninstall-WindowsFeature cmdlet added for backward compatibility, and you can use it to uninstall features.

C. Incorrect: Piping the output of the Get-WindowsFeature cmdlet into Uninstall-WindowsFeature like this will uninstall all features that match the wildcard *Backup*.

D. Correct: Delete-WindowsFeature is not a Windows PowerShell cmdlet or standard alias, but if you change Delete to Uninstall, this command will work.

2. Correct answer: C

A. Incorrect: The final command in the pipeline is Uninstall-WindowsFeature, which uninstalls features, not installs them.

B. Incorrect: If a role or feature is available, it can be installed, not uninstalled.

C. Correct: Typing the command Get-WindowsFeature –Computer SERVER9 | Where-Object InstallState –eq Installed will get all roles and features that are currently installed on the remote server. Piping the output of this command into the Uninstall-WindowsFeature cmdlet will then uninstall all installed roles and features on the server

D. Incorrect: The syntax is valid; see answer C for the explanation.

3. Correct answer: B

A. Incorrect: The presence of the –IncludeAllSubFeature parameter in this command indicates that the command will install not only the Web Server (IIS) feature but also all of its subordinate role services and features.

B. Correct: The presence of the –IncludeAllSubFeature parameter in this command indicates that the command will install the Web Server (IIS) feature and all of its subordinate role services and features.

C. Incorrect: The absence of the –IncludeManagementTools parameter in this command indicates that the command will install the Web Server (IIS) feature and all of its subordinate role services and features but none of the applicable management tools for the role and its subordinate role services and features.

D. Incorrect: The syntax is valid; see answer B for the explanation.

4. Correct answers: A, B, and C

A. Correct: If no local source for these binaries is present on the network and configured to be used by Server Manager or the Install-WindowsFeature cmdlet, and if Group Policy has not been configured to prevent the needed binaries from being downloaded from Windows Update, Windows will attempt to download the needed binaries from Windows Update unless Internet connectivity is down, in which case the install will fail.

B. Correct: If Group Policy has been configured to prevent the needed binaries from being downloaded from Windows Update, and if there is no local source for these binaries present on the network and configured to be used by Server Manager or the Install-WindowsFeature cmdlet, the binaries for installing the role are not available and the install will fail.

C. Correct: If Group Policy has been configured to prevent the needed binaries from being downloaded from Windows Update, and if a local source for these binaries is present on the network but has been configured incorrectly to be used by Server Manager or the Install-WindowsFeature cmdlet, the binaries for installing the role cannot be used to install the feature.

D. Incorrect: This scenario is possible but very unlikely because Microsoft tries to ensure that Windows Update is always available.

Lesson 4

1. Correct answer: A

A. Correct: The Get-ScheduledJob cmdlet can be used to manage only scheduled jobs, not manually started background jobs.

B. Incorrect: The Start-Job cmdlet can be used to start background jobs.

C. Incorrect: The Suspend-Job cmdlet can be used to pause background jobs.

D. Incorrect: The Remove-Job cmdlet can be used to delete background jobs.

2. Correct answer: D

A. Incorrect: The New-JobTrigger cmdlet is used to create job triggers, not scheduled jobs.

B. Incorrect: The New-JobTrigger cmdlet is used to create job triggers, not scheduled jobs.

C. Incorrect: The –DaysInterval parameter specifies the number of days between occurrences on a daily schedule, not on a weekly schedule.

D. Correct: The –DaysInterval parameter specifies the number of days between occurrences on a daily schedule. See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh849759.

3. Correct answer: D

A. Incorrect: The New-JobTrigger cmdlet is needed to create a job trigger for your scheduled job, but the New-Job cmdlet can be used to create only background jobs, not scheduled jobs.

B. Incorrect: The New-Job cmdlet can be used to create only background jobs, not scheduled jobs; however, New-ScheduledJob is not a valid Windows PowerShell cmdlet. See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh849778.

C. Incorrect: The New-JobTrigger cmdlet is needed to create a job trigger for your scheduled job, but New-ScheduledJob is not a valid Windows PowerShell cmdlet. See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh849778.

D. Correct: The New-JobTrigger cmdlet is needed to create a job trigger for your scheduled job, and the Register-ScheduledJob cmdlet is then used to create the scheduled job and associate it with the job trigger.

4. Correct answer: D

A. Incorrect: In Windows PowerShell 3.0, any new sessions you create using the New-PSSession cmdlet are saved on the remote computer.

B. Incorrect: You use the Disconnect-PSSession cmdlet to disconnect from a remote PSSession without disrupting any commands running in the session.

C. Incorrect: You use the Connect-PSSession cmdlet to reconnect to a disconnected remote PSSession from the same computer or a different one.

D. Correct: PSSessions can be used to run multiple commands that share data, such as a function or the value of a variable.