DCNSA Level II
Windows Servers Roles and Features cheat sheet
Every chapter's key points, formulas and definitions on one page, for the last week before the exam. Each heading links to the chapter that explains it.
Network components
- A network operating system is built to manage and coordinate resources across a network; a desktop operating system is for individual, everyday use and lacks the roles, the licensing for many simultaneous connections and the reliability features of a server edition.
- Server roles such as DNS, DHCP and file services are installed and enabled individually, according to what the organisation actually needs that server to do.
- Working with network components follows three steps in order: classification (what type of component and its role), selection (a specific model meeting the requirement and budget) and acquisition (procurement with enough lead time).
- Before deployment, check RAM, secondary storage with redundancy, a static IP address, and network speed and redundancy.
- Size a host's memory by adding every role's requirement plus the host's own reserve, then leave headroom; never size to the largest single role alone.
Key terms
- Network operating system
- An operating system built to manage and coordinate resources across a network (Network Operating Systems), the software layer that turns server hardware into something a whole organisation can depend on.
- Desktop operating system
- A general-purpose operating system for individual, everyday use, not built for continuous multi-user server workloads: it lacks the roles, the licensing for multiple simultaneous network connections, and the reliability features a server edition provides.
- Server
- A computer that provides resources or services to other computers on a network, typically running a network operating system on hardware built for continuous operation.
- Server roles
- Specific functions a server is configured to provide, DNS, DHCP, file services and others (Network Operating Systems, under configuring the operating system), installed and enabled individually according to what the organisation actually needs that server to do.
- Classification
- Identifying what type of component is needed, a switch, a router, a server-class machine, and the role it will play, before looking at any specific product.
- Selection
- Choosing a specific model or specification meeting the requirement and budget: port count and speed for a switch, throughput and features for a router, processor, memory and storage for a server.
- Acquisition
- Procuring the chosen component through the organisation's normal purchasing process, with enough lead time built in that a delayed delivery does not derail the whole project's schedule.
- RAM
- Sufficient memory for the expected number of concurrent users and the services running, sized to the roles the server hosts rather than a generic figure, since Active Directory, a database and a file server each place different demands on memory.
- Secondary storage
- Enough disk capacity, and appropriate redundancy (a RAID array so a single drive failure does not lose data), for the data and services the server will host, sized with headroom for growth rather than exactly to today's need.
- Static IP
- A server is normally given a fixed, unchanging IP address, unlike client devices which typically receive one dynamically from DHCP, so that other systems, DNS records and firewall rules referencing the server never break when a DHCP lease would otherwise renew and change it.
- Network speed and redundancy
- Sufficient bandwidth for the expected load, and redundant links or components (dual network cards, dual switches) so a single failure does not take the service down entirely.
The rest of the sheet covers
- Connect network components
- Configuring network components
- Virtualisation
- Test the network
- Exam technique and revision
- Glossary