Windows Server 2008 'Longhorn' Beta 3

Microsoft is on its way to release a new Server OS 'Windows Server 2008

codename Longhorn' sometime early next year. We will pick up one of the

following features of the server every month and talk about it in more detail

through a Hands-On approach. The aim is to equip you with a complete guide till

the time the server gets released. So now fasten your seat belts to explore some

new features offered by Beta 3.

Windows Power Shell



If you are someone from the *Nix background then you must be a lover of

command line. But while working on or while administrating a Windows Server you

never had a chance to power use the command prompt. Since the days of Windows

NT, Microsoft has been stating that they will make desktop environment more

graphical and easy. And finally with the advent of Beta 3, Microsoft has

realized the need of a powerful command line or shell which not only gives a

good set of administrative tools but also provides a good framework for Shell

scripting. Power Shell is not just an enhanced Shell for Windows but also a

scripting framework. To work on this you just need a basic knowledge of batch

scripting. Power Shell is now shipped with Windows Server 2008, but you can even

download and install it on Windows XP or Windows 2003 from



http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/topics/msh/download.mspx.

From this new server management interface get an overview of server, change system properties, and add or remove policies

Server Core Install



Again, something very common and old for *Nix users, but a new functionality

for Windows Server users. The Server Core Install is a minimal install option

for Windows Server 2008 which gives you the liberty to install only the Role or

the component that you want to run on a particular server. So, let's say if you

want to build a DHCP server in your organization but don't want to install and

manage a full-blown Windows Server with GUI, and all the unnecessary

applications, then you can do a Core Installation of Windows Server 2008 and

install the DHCP role on top of it. This not only gives you better manageability

and resource conciseness but also provides more compact attack surface by

reducing unnecessary applications and services. The Core install will be

available with all the versions of upcoming Windows 2008 Server (i.e. Standard,

Enterprise, and Data Center) and will appear as an install option. While using

Server Core for the first time you get a feel of FVWM, a Window manager in

Linux. But of course the graphical capability is kept very less in Windows Core

install than in FVWM. This kind of a setup can also be very useful in cases

where you have to run multiple servers under a virtualized environment. This is

because such kind of an install will have smaller footprints and will require

minimal resources in your Virtualization setup.

Network Access Protection



A very innovative feature from Microsoft. NAP or Network Access Protection

is a framework, which provides a mechanism to the network admins to control and

check the health status of the machines connected to the network. And based on

the status of the client machine, the framework can either let the machine enter

the network or quarantine it to an isolated subnet for cure. NAP is essentially

an agent-based model and you require an SHA or System Health Agent to be

installed on all the client machines connected to the network. SHA is at present

available as an independent download or as an update pack for Windows XP and

ships with Windows Vista. Microsoft also plans to bundle the agent with Windows

XP SP3. NAP also checks for certain criteria such as whether the client machine

has the Firewall enabled, antivirus installed, enabled and updated, and so on.

NAP can even change the settings on the client machines and cure these by

enabling the components such as Firewall. At present NAP has been bundled with

Beta3.

Read Only Domain Controllers



This is essentially a way to tighten the security of branch offices. In

branch offices one must have local administrators managing local Domain

Controllers which are connected to the central ADS. But if you provide full

right to the local administrator on the Domain then he or someone who has

compromised the local DC can even get illegitimate access to the central ADS

which can be a major security risk. So to fight against such risks Microsoft has

bundled RODC in Windows Server 2008, providing a one-way synchronization of the

Global ADS with the DC. It also doesn't allow sensitive information to get

cached on the DC. And provides options for delegating Administrative privileges

to local users under the DC. This kind of a setup is very helpful for servers

kept in remote locations without any physical security.

Running 'Get-Command' in the new Power Shell window will list all the available commandlets

Virtualization



This component is still not bundled with Windows Server 2008, but Microsoft

promises to ship it with its first RTM. With the popularity of other Hypervising

technologies, Microsoft also planned to jump into this bandwagon and is coming

out with its own Hypervisor. This will work parallel with the pre-existing

Micorosft's Virtual Servers and Virtual PC, but will be specifically for those

who want to get benefited from the hardware-level virtualization provided in new

generation processors and full virtualization. Microsoft also claims that it

will have interoperability with the Xen kernel of Novell's SuSE Enterprise

Server and Desktop versions of Linux, an outcome of Micorosft's and Novell's

partnership.

Terminal Services



With Windows Server 2008, terminal services have been completely revamped.

The first thing to notice is the remote desktop getting upgraded to version 6.0.

This version is available for Vista, XP SP2, and Windows 2003. Using remote

desktop 6 in conjugation with terminal services running on Server 2008 provides

you with 32-bit color and most of the animation including the aero theme of

Vista. It also supports wide aspect ration display and spanning the desktop over

multi monitors. With it you can even cut and paste between remote sessions and

local desktop.

A new feature called 'Terminal Service Easy Print' lets you easily select on

the printer (remote or local) you want to fire a print over terminal services.

Another feature is the 'Terminal Service Gateway,' which essentially provides

terminal services to your users over the Internet through HTTPS. The beauty of

it is that you don't even need a VPN setup to do so. Yet another feature offered

by terminal services is the 'Terminal Services RemoteApp.' It is essentially a

mechanism for streaming through terminal services instead of the full desktop.

Something very similar to Citrix's Presentation Server. Yes it is, but now it is

going to be bundled with your Windows Server and you don't need a third party

for such a kind of feature.