Windows 2012 FAQ |
Updated: 18 Dec 2022
a) List of Roles Windows 2012 and 2012 R2 supports
Role | Description | Step by Step Guides |
---|---|---|
Active Directory Certificate Services | Create a Certificate authority to manage certificates for users and computers | Certificate Services |
Active Directory Domain Services | Create a Domain Controller for a domain to manage users, groups, computers for an organisation | Domain Services |
Active Directory Federation Services | Create a simple federation and single sign on service to access web sites and applications | Federation Services |
Active Directory Lightweight Directory Service | Create an LDAP database to store application specific attributes and values | LDS |
Active Directory Rights Management Service | Create a secure rights management datastore to authorize users to certain information | RMS |
Application Server | Manage and host business applications esp. those using .NET | Application Server |
DHCP Server | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol - Provide IP addresses to local subnets | DHCP |
DNS Server | Domain Name Service - Provide name resolution for TCP/IP networks | DNS |
Fax Server | Provide facsimile services on this computer over a telephone network | Fax Server |
File and Storage Services | Manage and store documents and files on this server | File and Storage |
File and iSCSI Services | Manage file servers and storage using File server, Branchcache, Data deduplication, DFS namespace and replication, File Server Resource Manager,
|
iSCSI Services |
Storage Services | Storage management functionality | Storage |
Hyper-V | Server Virtualisation | Hyper-V |
Network Policy and Access Service | Provide NPA, R&RA, HRA and HCAP services to protect and maintain your network | NPS and Access Services |
Print and Document Services | Provide central printing and remote scanning services | Printing |
Remote Services | Seamless connectibity and Always on or manager experience with DirectAccess, Routing, Remote, Access, Web App Proxy. | Remote Access |
Remote Desktop Services | Provide remote login facilities to applications | RDS |
Volume Activation Services | Key Management service for Windows and Office application activation | Activation |
Web Server (IIS) | Web server including ASP, ASP.Net CGI | Web Server |
Windows Deployment Services | Deploy windows to clients | Deployment Services |
Windows Server Essentials Experience | New for 2012 R2 - PC Backups and Remote Web Services. | Essentials |
Windows Server Update Services | Deploy regular security and bug fixes to clients | Update Services |
b) List of Features in Windows 2012
Feature | Description |
---|---|
.NET Framework 3.5 Features | Microsoft .NET Framework, XPS Viewer and WCF Activation |
.NET Framework 4.5 Features | Microsoft .NET Framework |
Background Intelligent Transfer Service | Recieve files from clients using BITS |
Bitlocker Drive Encryption | Encrypt entire drives for data protection |
Bitlocker Network Unlock | Use a network based key protector for auto unlock system drives in a domain. |
Branch Cache | Configure a hosted cache or branch cache content server for HTTP or BITS. |
Client for NFS | Enable access to files on Unix based NFS file systems. |
Data Center Bridging | Provide standards for hardware based bandwidth and transport reliability. |
Direct Play | New for 2012 R2 - Direct play features |
Enhanced Storage | For access to additional functions for Enhanced Storage devices. |
Failover Clustering | Provide high availability for servers. See link. |
Group Policy Management | Enable GPMC tool for group policy management |
IIS Hostable Web Core | New for 2012 R2 - Cut down web server. |
Ink and Handwriting Services | Ink support and handwriting recognition (2008 R2) |
Internet Printing Client | Enable IPP printing via the web |
IP Address Management Server | Provide central framework for managing IP such as DHCP and DNS. |
iSNS Server service | Provide Internet Storage Name Server for discovering iSCSI SANs. |
LPR Port Monitor | Enable Line Printer Remote port monitoring used by Unix devices |
Management oData IIS Extension | Provide Powershell cmdlets through ODATA based web service under IIS. |
Media Foundation | Windows Media foundation, Media SDK and DirectShow for media files. |
Message Queuing | Enable message queuing between computers, http, DCOM and remotely. |
Multipath I/O | Provide muliple support paths to devices using a Device Specific Module. |
Network Load Balancing | Provide IP load balancing across 2 or more computers for services such as IIS |
Peer Name Resolution Protocol | Provide name resolution for applications across computers |
Quality Windows Audio Visual Experience | Provides QoS for streaming audio and video files over network |
RAS Connection Manager Admin Kit | Tool to create profiles for remote services and networks. |
Remote Assistance | Enable remote assistance tools to allow other users help to resolve problems |
Remote Differential Compression | Computes and transmits differences between objects over the network |
Remote Server Administration Tools | Enables tools to manage Domain, DNS, DHCP and other roles and features |
Removable Storage Manager | Enables management of remote storage devices such as tape devices, disks for backups |
RPC over HTTP Protocol | Enables Remote Procedure Calls over HTTP for access to Exchange using Outlook over internet |
Simple TCP/IP Services | Provides some simple TCP/IP services e.g. Char Gen, Daytime, Discard, Echo, Quote of the Day |
SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support | New for 2012 R2 - Support for SMB 1.0, CIFS and Computer Browsing |
SMTP Server | Simple Mail Transport Protocol server for delivering email for another application |
SNMP Services | Simple Network Management Protocol for providing system information over network |
Storage Manager for SANs | Provide facility to create and manage LUNs for Fibre Channel and iSCSI storage |
Subsystem for Unix based Applications | Allow to compile and run unix programs on Windows |
Telnet client | Command line telnet tool to remote systems |
Telenet Server | Provide telnet server for clients to access |
TFTP Client | Trivial File Transfer Protocol client to access TFTP servers |
User Interfaces and Infrastructure | Provides user experience and infrastructure options including Desktop Experience. |
Windows Biometric Framework | Allows fingerprint devices to be used to logon to Windows. |
Windows Feedback Forwarder | Provide feedback to Microsoft after setting group policy on an OU See CEIP. |
Windows Identity Foundation 3.5 | Provides a set of .NET Framwork clased for claims based identity in .NET apps. |
Windows Internal Database | Relational data store used by UDDI, AD RMS, Windows Update service etc |
Windows Powershell | Install Powershell command line and scripting tool |
Windows Process Activation System | Generalises the IIS process model for WCF applications |
Windows Search Service | Provides fast file searches on a server. |
Windows Server Backup | Install new Windows Backup tool. See link |
Windows Server Migration Tools | Tools to allow migration of roles, settings, files, shares from earlier versions of Windows to 2012. |
Windows Standards-Based Storage Management | Ability to discover and manager storeage devices using the SMI-S standard. |
Windows System Resource Manager | Tool to control how CPU and memory is used |
Windows TIFF Filter | Perform OCR on TIFF 6.0 compliant files for indexing and searching (2008 R2) |
WinRM IIS Extension | Allow management requests via WinRM from clients (2008 R2) |
WINS Server | Windows Internet Naming Service for Netbios names |
Wireless LAN Service | Configures and starts the WLAN service |
WoW64 Support | Allows Wow64 to support 32 bit applications on Server Core installations. |
XPS Viewer | Install XPS Viewer application to view XPS files (2008 R2) |