Best Windows Server OS Choice

CrimsonKnight13

CrimsonKnight13

Lord Stabington of [H]ard|Fortress
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Jan 8, 2008
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I will be building a mini server this week & I'd like to know what the best choice would be for a Windows Server OS.

I'll be using the Foxconn D51S with 4GB DDR2-800 RAM & the OCZ Agility 4 64GB SSD. HDDs will be added later on.
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/ProductDetail.aspx?T=motherboard&U=en-us0000480

The roles I'm looking to use will be DNS & SMB. DHCP is a possibility as well. I may implement other low resource roles in the future.

I'd prefer to utilize RSAT. RDP would be great but it's not required.

What edition should I go for with Server 2008 R2? What equivalent of Server 2012 should I upgrade to when its released?

Thanks for any insight.
 
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Standard is probably overkill unless you are getting it for the purposes of learning (i.e. for job skills).

How familiar are you with Powershell?
 
damicatz said:
Standard is probably overkill unless you are getting it for the purposes of learning (i.e. for job skills).

How familiar are you with Powershell?
Click to expand...

I know how to utilize PS scripts but a bit clueless about creating them.
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
I know how to utilize PS scripts but a bit clueless about creating them.
Click to expand...

For Server Core 2012 you are going to want to know Powershell because that is the default interface.

Microsoft is pushing Server Core as the recommended setup now for servers and I wouldn't be surprised if they remove the GUI altogether in a later version.
 
damicatz said:
For Server Core 2012 you are going to want to know Powershell because that is the default interface.

Microsoft is pushing Server Core as the recommended setup now for servers and I wouldn't be surprised if they remove the GUI altogether in a later version.
Click to expand...

I'd say I'm quite good with utilizing CLI-based apps on any OS, so this wouldn't be much of a leap to move to.

Does remote shell through PS work similarly to SSH? Does IIS FTP work with PS to allow SFTP? I've considered installing OpenSSH.

Admittedly, I'd miss using RDP but I can live w/o it. Does RSAT work with Server Core well?
 
damicatz said:
For Server Core 2012 you are going to want to know Powershell because that is the default interface.

Microsoft is pushing Server Core as the recommended setup now for servers and I wouldn't be surprised if they remove the GUI altogether in a later version.
Click to expand...

Great. We degrade back into the old days of Novell interfaces.
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
I'd say I'm quite good with utilizing CLI-based apps on any OS, so this wouldn't be much of a leap to move to.

Does remote shell through PS work similarly to SSH? Does IIS FTP work with PS to allow SFTP? I've considered installing OpenSSH.

Admittedly, I'd miss using RDP but I can live w/o it. Does RSAT work with Server Core well?
Click to expand...

1.RSAT does work with Server Core but you have to enable it first in the CLI.
2.RDP is still used but it brings you to a CLI instead of the normal desktop.
3.You can administer IIS through Powershell.
4.Typically, remote CLI is accessed through WinRM/WinRS rather than through SSH. Server Core does not come with SSH support; there are various third party tools that can do this.
 
damicatz said:
1.RSAT does work with Server Core but you have to enable it first in the CLI.
2.RDP is still used but it brings you to a CLI instead of the normal desktop.
3.You can administer IIS through Powershell.
4.Typically, remote CLI is accessed through WinRM/WinRS rather than through SSH. Server Core does not come with SSH support; there are various third party tools that can do this.
Click to expand...

I guess I'll need to figure out if I want full GUI or simply CLI. Thanks for the info. :)
 
Go full GUI.

Worst case scenario, you can fall back to it as an option if you want to use mostly CLI stuff, but at least its available to you.

4GB is suitable, but I'd stuff more than that into the box, just cause memory is retarded cheap and once you start playing with 2K8 you're gonna wanna play with Hyper-V and start to enjoy the benefits of VM's

** EDIT, I read the board specs, derp derp on me***
 
stiltner said:
Go full GUI.

Worst case scenario, you can fall back to it as an option if you want to use mostly CLI stuff, but at least its available to you.

4GB is suitable, but I'd stuff more than that into the box, just cause memory is retarded cheap and once you start playing with 2K8 you're gonna wanna play with Hyper-V and start to enjoy the benefits of VM's

** EDIT, I read the board specs, derp derp on me***
Click to expand...

I went full GUI due to a strong want for RDP. :)
 
How well are these atom processors working for server roles? I've been wanting to bulid a server lately for learning purposes as well and media purposes.
 
rcashier said:
How well are these atom processors working for server roles? I've been wanting to bulid a server lately for learning purposes as well and media purposes.
Click to expand...

I'll do a bit of testing & let you know. It appears quite responsive from the start but I'm only at the configuration phase (after the first login).
 
Fair Enuff! I mean I don't intend to make it a SQL box or anything crazy like that. Just media hosting. Maybe some basic web hosting.
 
You could pretty much do all that on a win7 box for much cheaper either via homegroup or shares
 
If your interest in a home server is more about the journey than the destination then you should probably just get a technet account and start installing things
 
rcashier said:
Fair Enuff! I mean I don't intend to make it a SQL box or anything crazy like that. Just media hosting. Maybe some basic web hosting.
Click to expand...

So far the Intel Atom has worked great. I'm using the system for AD, DNS, & File Sharing. The memory usage is sitting at around 50%, so I have some room to spare.
 
Oh wow! An A\D and DNS doesn't need much. I've been looking at getting a HP Proliant server lately. Newegg keeps having a sale on this i5 one with WHS for 399.00. It's very tempting to just buy it and throw VMware's ESXi on it.

And to the other poster. Yes I've been thinking about getting a Technet acct. lately. Just no funds currently allotted for it.
 
damicatz said:
For Server Core 2012 you are going to want to know Powershell because that is the default interface.

Microsoft is pushing Server Core as the recommended setup now for servers and I wouldn't be surprised if they remove the GUI altogether in a later version.
Click to expand...

Partly correct.

Microsoft is pushing Server Core for all servers but one or two. These servers than can run the GUI for the other servers by selecting those servers to be managed and doing every action you could normally do like you were on the server.

It's a really good idea, and works well in practice.
 
Vashypooh said:
Partly correct.

Microsoft is pushing Server Core for all servers but one or two. These servers than can run the GUI for the other servers by selecting those servers to be managed and doing every action you could normally do like you were on the server.

It's a really good idea, and works well in practice.
Click to expand...

Yes it does. I like the idea and I like PS.
 
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