what are server roles and features in windows server 2016

what are server roles in windows server 2016

This articles describes in details about what are server roles in windows server 2016

Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS): The ADCS server role in Windows Server 2016 allows you to build a PKI and provide public key cryptography, digital certificates, and digital signature capabilities for your organization.

  1. Feature ADCS provides a customizable set of services that allows you to issue and manage PKI certificates. These certificates can be used in software security systems that employ public key technologies.
  2. Role ADCS in Windows Server 2016 is the server role that allows you to build a PKI and provide public key cryptography, digital certificates, and digital signature capabilities for your organization.

Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS): This allows you to create a scalable, secure, and manageable infrastructure for user and resource management and to provide support for directory-enabled applications, such as Microsoft Exchange Server.

Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS): Provides Internetbased clients with a secure identity access solution that works on both Windows and non-Windows operating systems. AD FS gives users the ability to do a single sign-on (SSO) and access applications on other networks without needing a secondary password.

Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (ADLDS): Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (ADLDS) is a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory service that provides flexible support for directory-enabled applications, without the dependencies and domain-related restrictions of ADDS.

Active Directory Rights Management Services (ADRMS): This is the server role that provides you with management and development tools that work with industry security technologies including encryption, certificates, and authentication to help organizations create reliable information protection solutions.

Device Health Attestation: Helps protect your corporate network by verifying that client systems meet corporate policy. For example, you can make sure that all computers that connect to your network have their proper updates, antivirus, and proper configuration policies before connecting to the network.

DHCP: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is an Internet standard that allows organizations to reduce the administrative overhead of configuring hosts on a TCP/IP-based network. Some of the features are DHCP failover, policy-based assignment, and the ability to use Windows PowerShell for DHCP Server.

DNS: Domain Name System services are used in TCP/IP networks. DNS will convert a computer name or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) to an IP address. DNS also has the ability to do a reverse lookup and convert an IP address to a computer name. DNS allows you to locate computers and services through user-friendly names.

Fax Server: Allows you to send and receive faxes, and it also allows you to manage fax resources such as jobs, settings, reports, and fax devices on a specific computer or on the network.

File and Storage Services: File and Storage Services allows an administrator to set up and manage one or more file servers. These servers can provide a central location on your network where you can store files and then share those files with network users. If users require access to the same files and applications or if centralized backup and file management are important issues for your organization, administrators should set up network servers as a file server.

Host Guardian Service (HGS): Allows you to have a more secure environment for your network’s virtual machines. The HGS role provides the Attestation & Key Protection services that enable Guarded Hosts to run Shielded virtual machines.

Hyper-V: The Hyper-V role allows administrators to create and manage a virtualized environment by taking advantage of the technology built into the Windows Server 2016 operating system. When an administrator installs the Hyper-V role, all required virtualization components are installed. Some of the required components include the Windows hypervisor, Virtual Machine Management Service, the virtualization WMI provider, the virtual machine bus (VMbus), the virtualization service provider (VSP), and the virtual infrastructure driver (VID).

MultiPoint Services: Allows multiple users, each with their own independent and familiar Windows experience, to simultaneously share one computer.

Network Controller: Provides the point of automation needed for continual configuration, monitoring, and diagnostics of virtual networks, physical networks, network services, network topology, address management, and so on within a datacenter.

Network Policy and Access Services: Use the Network Policy and Access Services server role to install and configure Network Policy Server (NPS), which helps safeguard the security of your network.

Print and Document Services: Allows an administrator to centralize print server and network printer tasks. This role also allows you to receive scanned documents from network scanners and route the documents to a shared network resource, Windows SharePoint Services site, or email addresses.Print and Document Services also provides fax servers with the ability to send and receive faxes while also giving the administrator the ability to manage fax resources such as jobs, settings, reports, and fax devices on the fax server. Remote Access Remote Access provides connectivity through DirectAccess, VPN, and Web Application Proxies. DirectAccess provides an Always On and Always Managed experience. Remote Access provides VPN access including site-to-site connectivity. Web Application Proxies enable web-based applications from your corporate network to client devices outside of the corporate network. Remote Access also includes routing capabilities, including Network Address Translation (NAT).

Remote Desktop Services: Remote Desktop Services allows for faster desktop and application deployments to any device, improving remote user effectiveness while helping to keep critical data secure. Remote Desktop Services allows for both a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and sessionbased desktops, allowing users to connect from anywhere.

Volume Activation Services: Windows Server 2016 Volume Activation Services will help your organization benefit from using this service to deploy and manage volume licenses for a medium to large number of computers.

Web Server (IIS): Allows an administrator to set up a secure, easy-to-manage, modular, and extensible platform for reliably hosting websites, services, and applications.

Windows Deployment Services: Allows an administrator to install a Windows operating system over the network. Administrators do not have to install each operating system directly from a CD or DVD.

Windows Server Essentials Experience: Allows an administrator to set up the IT infrastructure, and it also provides powerful functions such as PC backups to help protect your corporate data and Remote Web Access that allows access to business information from anywhere in the world. Windows Server Essentials Experience also allows you to easily connect to cloud-based applications and services.

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS): Allows administrators to deploy application and operating system updates. By deploying WSUS, administrators have the ability to manage updates that are released through Microsoft Update to computers in their network. This feature is integrated with the operating system as a server role on a Windows Server 2016 system.

windows server 2016 iso download can be found from microsoft evaluation center.

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