Windows Server Deployment Proposal

New Features of Windows Server 2012

·         Data Deduplication: Information deduplication includes finding and discarding duplication within data. The objective is to store more information in less space by sectioning records into little variable-sized pieces, recognizing duplicate pieces, and maintaining a single duplicate of every piece (Microsoft, 2015).

·         Server Manager: A management console in Windows Server 2012 that helps IT experts provision and oversee both local and remote Windows-based servers from their desktops, without requiring either physical access to servers (Microsoft, 2013). Using server manager can make the tasks for the system administrators somewhat simpler.

·         Server Core: A minimal server installation option for Windows Server that provides a low-maintenance server environment with limited functionality (Microsoft, n.d.). Utilizing server core will ensure your system by diminishing the attack surface, while requiring less administration and become further stable. In the event that you require GUI to deal with an application, you can simply change to the GUI to oversee it then afterward transition back to the server core.

Deployment and Server Editions

The standard for what number of servers an organization ought to have is one server for every ten employees. Since the organization expressed that they will be beginning with 90 employees I believe it is clear to speculate that they anticipate expanding much further in the near future. With that being said, we must leave some space for the developing organization the aggregate number of servers that will be required is ten. There will be four servers based in Chicago and six servers based in Dallas. In addition, each server must have a license, so we must acquire ten licenses.

The file and print service and DHCP and DNS are the roles that will be combined on the Dallas server. Furthermore, Windows Server 2012 will be installed on all ten servers. Considering there was no notice of any virtualization needs, we will implement the Microsoft Essentials edition. The Essentials edition has 25 accounts per server, no virtualization rights and Simple administration (Lowe, 2012).

Windows 2012 gives you the option where you can switch between modes such as Server Core, Minimum Shell and the standard full UI version. Server Core acts as a command window, all changes must be made through a command prompt or PowerShell commands. MinShell (Minimum Shell) is a hybrid between full server and server core. But you are able to activate some of the GUI configuration utilities such as Server Manager. Lastly, the full server is the standard operating mode with the full graphic interface of a Windows Installation (Rhoads, 2013).

We will begin with a full server mode to ensure that everything is configured to your preference. After we have had an opportunity to run it, we will then configure anything that required changes, and then we can change all of the servers to Server Core. With Server Core as the main server, it will be more secure and low maintenance needed.

Listed below are servers that will be deployed in Chicago and Dallas with the accompanying roles. The servers are conveyed like this to give accessibility and fault tolerance to each application that every site may require.

 

We will utilize Windows Deployment Services (WDS) to deploy the OS and servers to ease the process. Using WDS will help spare the organization money as well as significantly lessen the quantity of work hours involved for the installation as well as any errors that might occur. In order to complete this, we will utilize WDS with a standalone server. By utilizing Windows System Image Manager, we can make an answer file in a GUI; we then will have the capacity to utilize windows Setup to install Server 2012 (Microsoft, 2013). It will take roughly three days and also involves two system administrators to deploy these servers.

Active Directory

Active Directory is the foundation of every organization. If an accident occurs, such as a crash of your AD, then that could bring about loss of efficiency, an abundance of work hours to troubleshoot and reconstruct and most importantly, loss of information. In light of that, we must ensure that we have sufficient domain controllers arranged for fault tolerance.

We will deploy three Active Directory servers. There will be two primary domain controllers based at the Chicago office and there will be one Read-only domain controllers (RODC) based at the Dallas office. The RODC will generate a fault tolerance for just in case something wrong happens on the DCs in the primary offices, then the information will still be accessible on the RODC. On the off chance that something goes wrong on the RODC, the information will in any case be accessible in the primary office on the two AD servers. For better performance, each AD will require a devoted server. To transpire replication, first we will produce both sites with the sites for the AD domain controllers. At that point both sites will have the subnet as well. Finally, for replication to occur, we will then produce a site link that will connect both sites. In order to arrange the WAN link to connect to the two LANs, we will utilize Active Directory Sites and Services tool.

 

 

 

 

 

The Active Directory (AD) Organizational Units (OU) will be sorted out by sites and departments. Every department will require its own particular OU. Group Policy Objects (GPO) will be made and connected to each OU and afterward connected to active directory. Each department will require their own folder with permissions to ensure that just approved users will gain entry to the specific folder. The primary system administrator will have admittance to all folders so they can manage authorizations. With only one system administrator, it will take roughly four hours to deploy and set up the active directory.

DNS and DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a procedure that automatically delivers an IP host with its IP address (Microsoft, 2014). We will construct for fault tolerance and load balancing for DHCP. We will have two DHCP servers, one at Chicago and one DHCP server at Dallas. The entire DCHP servers will be arranged in failover load balance mode, in addition the DHCP servers will be configured in load balance mode. In the event that one server comes up short, the other will take control. If they are all working legitimately then they will share the load balance. We will make 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.110 as a location scope.

All servers inside both sites will utilize DHCP reservations so they will receive the same IP address inevitably. By utilizing DHCP reservations, it will accelerate the reaction time from the server and ensure that clients won't have any problems locating the servers. To guarantee that there will be enough IP addresses, the lease time will be set to default so it can be accessible all the time. With two system administrators, it should take roughly three hours to deploy the DHCP servers.

If DNS somehow managed to fail, the clients would experience difficulties connecting to any of the sites. Each site will require one server. By acquiring one server at every site, the odds that both servers will fail concurrently are less likely. This will administer fault tolerance and consequently ensuring that the users will have admittance to sites.

We will implement split DNS with two distinct scopes for internal records and external records. They will be hosted on the same DNS server. By doing this, it will protect the data on the internal DNS server. At the point when a name resolution query is incident on the DNS server so designed, every name resolution request is analyzed against the policies on the DNS server. In the event that the server interface on which the inquiry has been gotten matches any of the policy, the related zone scope is utilized to react to the query (Microsoft, 2015). In addition, we will utilize an internal private domain. The DNS name space configuration will incorporate ch.wai.localhost as the parent and da.wai.localhost as the child. With two system administrators, it should take roughly four hours to deploy the DHCP servers.

Applications Services

We will utilize group policy in order to deploy applications. By utilizing group policy, the applications will be installed quicker and with fewer mistakes. To start with we need to make a shared folder; where we will then place the MSI file in the folder. Then we will deploy the application to the PCs and clients by generating a GPO. We will appoint the application to the users so we are aware that they can access it. Lastly we will update the GPO.

Software applications are very essential to any business. Since the organization is simply beginning and generally small, I suggest beginning with a couple of the essential software applications, the applications that can be implemented are: Mozilla Firefox to permit access to the internet, Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition to help protect against antivirus, FreshBooks accounting software service and lastly, Microsoft Office 365 to produce documents, PowerPoints and spreadsheets, which will be utilized by all of the departments. With one system administrator, it will take roughly five hours to install the application services.

File and Printer Sharing

All of the servers will have the file and printer sharing feature. We will deploy two file servers and two print servers, one file server and print server per site. With two file and print servers. we can guarantee that documents and printers will be accessible endlessly. With two system administrators, it will take about one day to deploy the file servers.

We will begin with utilizing SMB share quick with five shares for all of the departments. We will implement File and printer sharing with NTFS permission because some departments may want their information to stay private from different departments. By using that, we can restrict access to the shares. System administrators will authorize the minimal measure of access to every client so they can only access what is needed to complete their job. We will enable access-based enumeration for all users, with the exception of the administrators. This will permit clients to see just the folder that every client has admittance to. With one system administrator, it will take about four hours to create the shares.

Distributed File System (DFS) will be utilized to sort out the shared assets that are located on the network. DFS Namespaces allows you to gather shared organizers that are stationed on various servers into one or more legitimately organized namespaces. Every namespace looks to clients as a single shared folder to a progression of subfolders. DFS Replication allows you to productively duplicate folders over different servers and sites. DFS Replication utilizes a compression calculation identified as remote differential compression (RDC). RDC recognizes modifications to the information in a file, and it facilitates DFS Replication to imitate just the altered file block rather than the whole document (Microsoft, 2015).

We will be utilizing File Server Resource Manager (FSRM) to deal with the quotas and also all information that is saved on the file servers. We will create quotas for every department utilizing the template. To begin every client will receive a certain amount depending on the needs, for example, 500 MB each. We will enable soft quotas so users will be notified if they reach a certain limit, so they can be able to save any important information. On the off chance that any circumstances or changes should be made later the quotas can be changed. Furthermore, FSRM will be utilized to make reports regarding storage for the system administrators so they can keep an eye on the storage before it reach its limit. With one system administrator, it will take about two hours to configure FSRM.

The print server will be created with V4 printer drivers to make sharing easier and more productive by eliminating the need to manage drivers across processor architectures (Microsoft, n.d.). In addition, it will be managed by utilizing the print management console. The print servers will be deployed by utilizing group policy hence we can ensure that every client can access the printer in their office. With one system administrator, it will take roughly five hours to deploy.

 

References

Deuby, S. (2013, March 1). Windows Server 2012 Deployment. Retrieved April 28, 2016, from http://windowsitpro.com/windows-server-2012/windows-server-2012-deployment

Microsoft. (2014, July 3). What's New in DHCP. Retrieved April 28, 2016, from https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn305900.aspx

Microsoft. (2015, May 12). Split-Brain DNS Deployment Using Windows DNS Server Policies. Retrieved April 28, 2016, from https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/networking/2015/05/12/split-brain-dn...

Microsoft. (2015, December, 11). "Data Deduplication Overview." Data Deduplication Overview. Microsoft, 11 Dec. 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. <https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831602.aspx>.

Microsoft. (n.d.). V4 Printer Driver. Retrieved April 28, 2016, from https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/hh706306(v=vs.85).aspx

Rhoads, T. (2013, May 13). Windows Server 2012: Switching between Server Core, MinShell, and Full Server – DIY IT Shop. Retrieved April 28, 2016, from http://www.diyitshop.com/2013/05/windows-server-2012-switching-between-s...

Server Core for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2016, from https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh846323(v=vs.85).aspx