Creating of Windows domain has always been a rock on which admins split. There are ones who will vouch for GUI. The others are more prone to PowerShell use. What do I think? Well, PowerShell is a flexible and universal tool, unlike GUI. So, no wonder this article is dedicated to creating and configuring a domain on Windows Server 2016 via PowerShell exclusively. I want to establish whether it will be helpful in the automation of this whole process.
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How to reset the 120-day RDS grace period on Windows Server 2016 without GUI
Sometimes, guys running home labs do not have licenses for Remote Desktop Services (RDS). Well, that’s not a big deal, you know, because Microsoft provides the 120-day grace period for the platform! However, one day the time runs out and RDS server breaks all the client connections. That day, admins are to choose between reinstalling the server and cheating a bit to reset the 120-day RDS grace period.
Performance or protection? How Microsoft patches against Meltdown and Spectre influence CPU, RAM and Disks performance
In today’s topic, I’d like to talk about the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. But not about the harm they cause, this has been covered widely in numerous articles, but how Microsoft patches intended to protect you from the vulnerabilities, affect (if they do) the hardware performance. Before we take a deep dive into the tests and numbers, let me tell a few words about Meltdown and Spectre and outline the testing scope to make sure we speak one language.
How Can I Replace a Failed Physical Disk on Storage Spaces Direct in Windows Server 2016?
So, we all know about Microsoft’s Storage Spaces Direct (S2D to put it simple) by now. It’s the feature introduced in Microsoft Server 2016 (Datacenter Edition) that pools together server’s storage allowing to build…that’s right: highly available and easily scalable software-defined storage systems. In this article, I’m gonna talk about not as much about its fault-tolerance characteristics themselves, but some hands-on experience, namely: how to replace a failed disk.
Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V VM Licensing
What’s new in Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2016 differentiated Standard and Datacenter licenses. The functions available to Datacenter users are mentioned below:
- New storage functions (including Storage Spaces Direct and Storage Replica)
- New shielded Virtual Machines
- The new network stack
The features enabled in new editions are designed for virtual environments. It should also be noted that Windows Server 2016 supports Docker-powered Windows Server containers
Fortunately, Windows containers are available without any additional licensing and do not have any restrictions regarding the number of running instances. The storages are expected to be available on Pro and Enterprise Windows 10 version, starting from the 1607 (Anniversary Update) one.