1. Understanding the Supported Roles
Server Core has a limited number of services that it
can support. Because of this, it has a limited number of roles that you
can add. The following table shows the supported roles in Windows
Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
Note
Some adventurous administrators have configured
Server Core installations to support more roles than the ones listed;
however, these installations are not fully tested by Microsoft and are
not supported.
| Role | Server 2008 | Server 2008 R2 |
|---|
| Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) | X | X |
| Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) | X | X |
| Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) | | X |
| DHCP Server | X | X |
| DNS Server | X | X |
| File Services | X | X (including File Server Resource Manager) |
| Print Services | X | |
| Print and Document Services | | X |
| Web Server (IIS) | X | X (including a subset of ASP.NET) |
| Streaming Media Services | X | X |
| Hyper-V | X | X |
The following table shows some differences in
features that are available in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server
2008 R2. Most of the changes show additional features supported in the
R2 version. The only feature no longer available in Windows Server 2008
R2 is the Removable Storage feature.
| Feature | Server 2008 | Server 2008 R2 |
|---|
| .NET Framework | | X |
| PowerShell | | X |
| ASP.NET in Web Server role | | X |
| File Server Resource Manager component of File Services | | X |
| Print and Document Services | | X |
| Removable Storage feature | X | |
2. Using ocsetup to Add Roles to Windows Server 2008
On a regular installation of Windows Server 2008,
you use the Server Manager to install additional roles; however, the
Server Manager is not available in Server Core. Instead, use ocsetup to add additional roles. The basic syntax is
start [/w] ocsetup role-name
Tip
The role-name must be entered using the exact case.
This is one of the few times when upper- and lowercase matters with the
command prompt. Figure 1 shows the error message you see if the case is not entered exactly.
Tip
The /w switch
prevents the command prompt from returning until the installation of
the role completes. This is useful to provide feedback indicating that
the role was successfully installed when the command prompt returns.
Some roles require additional steps to configure. The following sections show how to add and configure various roles.
Note
The following section shows the basics to add roles with ocsetup. For a full listing of command options you can use with the ocsetup command, check out this TechNet page: http://technet.microsoft.com/library/dd799247.aspx.
