Windows Server 2012 Lab - Part 11 - WDS 3 - Configuration

Log on to the server.

Server Manager GUI starts automatically when you log in as a default window.

Click Tools, and then click Windows Deployment Services to launch the Windows Deployment Services MMC-snap (or console). Or you can start WDS from the Start Menu.

In the left pane of the Windows Deployment Services MMC snap-in, expand the list of servers.

Right-click the desired server, click Configure Server.


On the Before you begin page, click Next.

On the Install options page, choose Integrated with Active Directory.

On the Remote Installation Folder Locations page, choose the default path or enter your own path to the remote installation folder. Click Next.

Note: If your server is running as a DHCP Server, you will see the Proxy DHCP Server page.
Select Do not listen on DHCP and DHCPv6 ports and Configure DHCP options for Proxy DHCP. Click Next.


On the PXE Server Initial Settings page, choose desired option to define which client computers this server will respond to. Click Next. This will complete the configuration of Windows Deployment Services.
When the configuration is completed, click Finish.

If you want to modify any of the settings of the server, right-click the server in the MMC-snap in, and click Properties.

Windows Server 2012 Lab - Part 10 - WDS 2 - Installation

Sign in to the server as a member of the local Administrators group. In this case we will just use the standard Administrator account for login.

Server Manager will start automatically. If it does not automatically start, click Start, type servermanager.exe, and then click Server Manager. 

Server Manager usually starts automatically on user login.

Click Manage.

Click Add roles and features, click Next.

On Before you begin page of the Add Roles and Features Wizard, click Next.

On the Select installation type page, click Role-based or feature-based installation, and then click Next.

On the Select destination server page, select the appropriate server, and then click Next. The local server is selected by default.

On the Select server roles page, scroll down and then select the Windows Deployment Services check box. Click Next.

Remote Server Administration Tools are required to manage this feature. Select Include management tools (if applicable). Click Add Features. Click Next.

On the Select features page, click Next.

On the Select role services page, select the role services to install for Windows Deployment Services. If you wish to install both the Deployment Server and Transport Server, leave these role services selected. Click Next.

On the Confirm installation selections page, click Install.

Windows Deployment Services will now be added to the server. Installation progress will now be illustrated in the Add Roles and Features Wizard.

Restart your VM after you see the image below.

Windows Server 2012 Lab - Part 10 - Windows Deployment Services (WDS) 1

So what is WDS (Windows Deployment Services)?

WDS is a server role in Windows Server (from 2008 to 2012), that enables us to deploy Windows operating systems to client and server computers. The technologies we must be aware of here are PXE (Pre eXecution Environment), Active Directory, DNS and also DHCP (for handling IP addressing).

Before we step into WDS in Server 2012, I will cover few topics that are helpful.

Imaging
You have a clean install of Windows OS, and if you take a snapshot of that and store it as a file is called Imaging. And this image file would have the whole OS installation inside it. And by imaging method we can use this single (can be customized) image to deploy to various other machines, reducing our time and maintenance to physically go to each computer and install the OS with the installation media. We get to touch the concept of imaging in our WDS tutorial.

PXE (Pre eXecution Environment)
Often pronounced as Pixie is used to boot an end computer from the network using only its network card.
An example of how this works this way:

• A domain network.
• A PXE server.
• A configured image or boot file for client/or/server deployments.

In the picture below, the PXE server, serves the purpose of pushing the boot image file to clients that are requesting for deployments.

Windows Deployment Services
WDS in Server 2012 is a role that allows us to deploy Windows OS to client and server computers. By using WDS, client computers without the OS can boot from the network, contact the WDS server, download and install the operating system. WDS uses images for the installation.

Deployment Steps:

The requirements for WDS is to have an Active Directory environment with the DNS Server. I mentioned in my DHCP setup tutorial that we need DHCP role as well for WDS to handle IP addressing for client deployments.

Windows Server 2012 Lab - Part 9 - DHCP Configuration

Login to our server DC-1 as administrator.

From the server manager, click on Tools, and select DHCP.

You can see that the server for DHCP that is in-place is our domain controller, which is dc-1.labs.local (FQDN).

We will create a new scope for our lab client machines. A scope is a boundary or a range for organizing IP addresses in a network.

Since we have chosen 10.1.1.0/24 IP scheme for our lab, I am creating a scope of 20 IP addresses ranging from 10.1.1.50/24 - 10.1.1.70/24.

Minimize the tree dc-1.labs.local.

And then minimize the sub-tree IPv4.

Right click on IPv4 and choose "New Scope".

Click Next. Enter any name and description you wish and click Next again.

Now enter the Starting IP and Ending IP address in the scope we are creating. And make sure the length for our subnet is 24, i.e., 10.1.1.0/24 type and click Next.

On Add exclusions window, click Next.

Leave the default lease duration as it is (8 days) and click Next.

Select "Yes, I want to configure these options now".

Add the default gateway - 10.1.1.1 and click Add. Click Next.

Default gateway is our pfSense.

Leave the Domain Name and DNS servers window as this will detect our DNS server which is DC-1 and the IP you will see is 10.1.1.10. Click Next.

Click Next on WINS windows.

Select "Yes, I want to activate this scope now" and click Next. Finish.

Windows Server 2012 Lab - Part 8 - DHCP Installation 2

Sign in to the server as a member of the local Administrators group.

Server Manager will start automatically. If it does not automatically start, click Start, type servermanager.exe, and then click Server Manager. OR you can open server manager from home screen.

Click Manage.
Click Add roles and features, click Next.

On the Before you begin page of the Add Roles and Features Wizard, click Next.

On the Select installation type page, click Role-based or feature-based installation, and then click Next.

On the Select destination server page, select the appropriate server, and then click Next. The local server is selected by default.
On the Select server roles page, scroll down and then select the DHCP check box. Click Next.

Remote Server Administration Tools are required to manage this feature. Select Include management tools (if applicable). Click Add Features. Click Next.
On the Select features page, click Next.

Click Next again.
On the Confirm installation selections page, click Install.

DHCP will now be added to the server. Installation progress will now be illustrated in the Add Roles and Features Wizard.

Windows Server 2012 Lab - Part 7 - DHCP Installation 1

Before we get into WDS tutorial I would like to briefly cover DHCP server role and installation in Windows Server 2012, as we will need to have a DHCP server in place for IP assignments in WDS. (Will discuss in future tutorials).

I will write down few articles on DHCP administration and configuration in future tutorials. For now I will just touch base an overview about DHCP, server role installation, and creating scope for our lab for new clients.

What is DHCP?
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol!!!! Yay!
Whenever anyone asks me about DHCP, all I used to tell 'em that. But hey, I wondered how many out there actually or literally do visualize in their mind about DHCP.

Here is what I think. OR an example scenario.

There is a school (DOMAIN).

In that school there is a class (NETWORK SEGMENT).

For that class there is a class teacher (dedicated DHCP server).

And that class (NETWORK SEGMENT) has 10 students (CLIENTS or PCs or Devices for example).

In this scenario, teacher will handout unique roll number IDs to students in the class.
For example, John is 1, Bagga is 2, Ronaldo is 3, Rose is 4, Nigel is 5 etc.,

One day there is a new student to the class and he needs a new ID. Now the teacher cannot handout existing roll numbers 1 to 5 as they are in use. And in case if the teacher hands out existing roll number to new student, they would clash while attending their presence in the room. And if teacher calls any student by roll number, since there existing a duplicate ID, two students will answer his call at the same time leading to confusion and clash.

And more importantly in the teacher hands out the roll numbers to students on a lease basis (a term or semister in this case). After the lease the roll numbers will change and some students may get the same roll number (chances are there).

Now lets get into the technical terms:

In the above example, teacher (DHCP server) hands out IP addresses to new students (Clients, PCs etc.,) based on a lease period (default is 8 days in Windows DHCP).

Now if you have a new client PC installed (new student), our DHCP server (teacher) will assign a new IP address (roll number) from the address pool.

If any PC has an assigned or static IP address of already in user IP then DHCP will clash records.
E.g: same roll number for multiple students.

If I put in more technical words,
Source: an excellent article at Wikipedia.org
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a standardized network protocol used on Internet Protocol (IP) networks for dynamically distributing network configuration parameters, such as IP addresses for interfaces and services. With DHCP, computers request IP addresses and networking parameters automatically from a DHCP server, reducing the need for a network administrator or a user to configure these settings manually.

DHCP assigns an IP address when a system is started, for example:

1. A user turns on a computer with a DHCP client.
2. The client computer sends a broadcast request (called a DISCOVER or DHCPDISCOVER), looking for a DHCP server to answer.
3. The router directs the DISCOVER packet to the correct DHCP server.
4. The server receives the DISCOVER packet. Based on availability and usage policies set on the server, the server determines an appropriate address (if any) to give to the client. The server then temporarily reserves that address for the client and sends back to the client an OFFER (or DHCPOFFER) packet, with that address information. The server also configures the client's DNS servers, WINS servers, NTP servers, and sometimes other services as well.
5. The client sends a REQUEST (or DHCPREQUEST) packet, letting the server know that it intends to use the address.
6. The server sends an ACK (or DHCPACK) packet, confirming that the client has a been given a lease on the address for a server-specified period of time.

When a computer uses a static IP address, it means that the computer is manually configured to use a specific IP address. One problem with static assignment, which can result from user error or inattention to detail, occurs when two computers are configured with the same IP address. This creates a conflict that results in loss of service. Using DHCP to dynamically assign IP addresses minimizes these conflicts.

I believe that you got an idea of DHCP

Windows Server 2012 Lab - Overview of Part 1 to Part 6

I would like to quickly touch base some information so far that we have covered in the previous six parts.

Our lab topology or network consists of a virtual router (pfSense), a Windows Server 2012 server, and a client.
Please note that we will install one or more servers, one or more clients in our future tutorials.

So we have covered:

• how to install pfSense
• how to configure a private or internal network for lab
• how to install Windows Sever 2012
• how to assign a static IP for server and ping pfsense for confirming the connectivity
• how to install Active Directory and creating a new root domain for our lab
• how to setup pfSense with web URL

A small note of info on our VMs:
pfSense: 10.1.1.1
DC-1: 10.1.1.10
Client: ??

If you have noticed we do not have a client machine yet to start our lab.

For that I will cover WDS (Windows Deployment Services). I will try to cover as much as I can in the next tutorials on WDS.

After that we will deploy a windows image to our client in our VirtualBox Server 2012 lab.

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Windows Server 2012 Lab - Part 6 - Finishing up pfSense settings

So far we have successfully installed pfSense (our virtual router), Windows Server 2012 Standard (domain controller). Also we have installed Active Directory Domain Services on the Server 2012.

We have created a new forest called "LABS.LOCAL" in AD as our lab domain.

If you have noticed we have not configured anything in our pfSense web tool.

Lets jump into pfSense web configuration URL and play around a bit with some settings and install the basic setup.

From your server, open Internet Explorer and type the URL: http://10.1.1.1/ <ENTER>.

Default username: admin (all lower case).
Default password: pfsense (all lower case).

After that we will change the domain name, and check the IP address. Follow through the images below.

As you can see below, the default domain is localdomain. We will change this to our labs domain which is "labs.local".

And I am entering 10.1.1.10 (DC-1) IP address in the primary DNS Server entry.

Choose your time zone and select Next.

We will not configure any of the WAN settings, so skip this page. Scroll down and click Next.

You will be redirected to change your default password. Choose a password of your liking and click Next. After this page, the settings will be applied after pfSense reloads the system. Follow through the images below.

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Please leave your comments and/or suggestions if you have any.