Network Set-up cheat sheet

Key terms

Microsoft Windows Server

The dominant choice in organisations already standardised on Microsoft technology, with tight integration with Active Directory and Windows clients (Network Operating Systems, Windows Server Roles and Features), a graphical management interface, and a large pool of administrators already familiar with it.

Unix server

A long-established family of server operating systems, known for stability and a strong track record in demanding, high-uptime environments, prevalent in enterprise and legacy environments where systems have run continuously for years.

Linux server

An open-source, highly configurable option, dominant for web servers and cloud infrastructure, with no per-server licensing cost, though it demands more command-line comfort from its administrators than Windows Server typically does.

Features

The built-in capabilities each platform offers out of the box, which roles are available and how mature their implementation is.

Functionality

How well a platform performs the specific roles the organisation actually needs, not simply how many features it lists on paper.

Suitability

How well a platform fits the organisation's existing skills, infrastructure and budget, not just its technical capability in isolation, since the best platform on paper is the wrong choice if nobody on staff can administer it.

Active Directory

Centralised directory service for users, computers and policy (Network Operating Systems, under configuring the operating system), the role most other roles and the whole domain structure depend on.

Proxy server

Sits between clients and the wider internet, forwarding requests, and often filtering or caching them, both improving performance (cached content served locally) and enforcing policy (blocking disallowed sites).

Web server

Hosts websites and web applications, serving content to client browsers, an intranet portal or a customer-facing site.

File server

Provides centralised, shared file storage with access control, the role most directly delivering everyday resource sharing.

DHCP

Automatically assigns IP addresses and network configuration to devices, developed in full computational depth in the chapter on configuring server roles.

DNS

Translates human-readable names into IP addresses, without which every other service would need to be reached by a memorised address.