Windows Server Installations
This is a guide on Windows server installations.
Installing Windows Server 2019
Now, before we look at anything, I will tell you that there is a very large degree of variance here in terms of licensing costs, depending on a number of factors.
Of course, the size of your organization, the number of licenses that you will need. The physical configuration of the servers, and even the type of organization. In other words, if, for example, you were a non-profit organization or maybe an educational institution, you can expect to pay less than, let's say, a standard corporate environment.
So it's very difficult to throw out any actual numbers here. So it is strongly recommended that you work with a Microsoft partner or a reseller to determine what is most appropriate for your organization. But in terms of the licensing costs, one thing that you do need to be mindful of is that there are essentially two different licenses required.
You need a server license just to be able to install Windows Server 2019 on any given server. But then you also need client access licenses for any device that will connect to that server. Now, again, these can be bundled in various different configurations.
In many cases, just purchasing the operating system for the client system counts as the client access license. So again, you do need to work with your partner to determine what the best solution for you is.
But one thing that you also have to bear in mind in terms of the server license is that Windows Server 2019 uses what's known as the processing core model. In other words, you have to pay based on the number of cores in that server.
[Video description begins] Screen title: Windows Server 2019 Editions [Video description ends]
Now, in terms of the editions, you have Datacenter, Standard, and Essentials. And Datacenter and Standard both use that core-based model but Essentials does not. This is effectively a small business edition, if you will, that comes as a specialty license and supports up to 25 users and 50 devices and no CALs are required.
But again, this is only really appropriate for a small business environment. Datacenter, on the opposite end of the scale, is your most powerful addition, if you will. It's the most fully featured, and as such, will cost the most.
And then Standard is somewhere in between. You certainly can mix and match. If, for example, you are a larger organization but yet you have several smaller branch offices where the Standard edition will suffice, that's perfectly fine.
Then in your larger offices, you might implement the Datacenter edition, so that's perfectly fine. But again, Datacenter and Standard both use the core-based model, so you need to be mindful of the number of processing cores in those systems.
So then in terms of the key additional features, focusing on just Standard and Datacenter here because again, the Essentials is fairly stripped down, if you will, and fairly controlled. But as mentioned earlier, Datacenter is the highest level. So if we look at that one first, essentially it has every feature, nothing is restricted.
[Video description begins] The following features are used for comparison: Core Windows Server functionality, Hybrid integration, Hyper-converged infrastructure, Hyper-V containers, Windows Server containers, Shielded virtual machines, and Software-defined storage. [Video description ends]
And in terms of the Hyper-V containers and Windows Server containers, the number is unlimited. So even though Datacenter will cost a fair amount more than Standard in almost every case, you can have unlimited Hyper-V containers and Windows Server containers.
So you can really take advantage of the processing power on those larger servers and get better value. The Standard Edition does not support hyper-converged infrastructure and only two Hyper-V containers, so, much more restricted in that regard.
But it is unlimited on Window Server containers, but no shielded virtual machines, and no software defined storage. So again, this might be perfectly suitable in a smaller environment or a branch office, and if so, you certainly can save some money.
But you are limited in its functionality. So really, what you need to do is to determine which servers are going to be performing which roles and which services and running which applications to determine which edition is best suited for those servers before you start purchasing your licenses.
Hardware Requirements
In almost all documentation, this really is the baseline that they have to follow because no one really knows, apart from you, what the server is going to be doing.
So certainly, always bear that in mind. But beginning with the storage requirements, most documentation will typically reference 32 GB for the operating system. But that is based on the assumption that you are installing core. So if you want the desktop experience, then add another 4 gigabytes.
But what you often don't see included in a lot of documentation is the physical memory, you typically need three times the amount of disk space as what you have in total RAM. So even on a modest server that only has 8 gigs of RAM, then this is another 24 gigs of disk space required.
Then of course, you also need to take into account the roles that will be installed on that server. So maybe add another ten and then in many cases, there will be updates that are applied in fairly short order. So another ten and then just other miscellaneous requirements such as configuration that has to be stored and event log files.
So again, using that modest server that I mentioned a moment ago, with 8 gigs of RAM, we're already pushing up around, let's say 80 gigabytes, so in truth, I would take that value and immediately double it before really doing anything. So up to around 160 gigs in terms of a practical implementation.
Now that might be too high again depending on what it's going to be doing. But you really just have to try to take that all into consideration and of course you just would rather have more free space than not enough.
Then in terms of the hardware considerations, of course, you do need to bear in mind what the server is going to do. So the operating system considerations include, most notably, will you be running virtual machines on this system and if so, how many, so that is a major consideration in terms of the hardware.
You will absolutely need a lot more in terms of physical resources to support those virtual machines. Other considerations include Active Directory, DNS and certificate services, file sharing, and user-created data. If it's going to be just a file server, how large are the files going to be?
So of course, there are always a lot of things to take into account. As for processor requirements, a minimum of 1.4 gigahertz in terms of the speed and of course a 64-bit processor.
And then you would also want to see operating system protections such as DEP, or Data Execution Prevention, and Second Level Address Translation, or SLAT. And these requirements are typically for systems that will run virtual machines.
This helps to protect the host operating system and in fact the virtual machines from each other in terms of any kind of memory or processing corruption. And of course, you need to bear in mind how many processing cores you have to support the workload and also the licensing.
As far as memory is concerned, a minimum of 512 megabytes, now, again, this would be the absolute minimum just to get an installation up and running.
This would never be used in a practical server. Maybe if you were just testing virtual machine configuration, and it really wasn't going to be used for anything, then that might suffice, at least in the short term, but again, that is a Server Core installation.
So if you want the desktop experience at least another 1.5 gigabytes on top of that. And of course, you always need to plan for future needs. So what will this server be doing not just now but six months and/or maybe a year down the road.
And finally, some other key requirements include the network interface and the storage controller, both of which should be PCI Express and really just capable of handling the workload.
So you know again if it's a virtual machine host then you are going to have several virtual machines all competing for that network adapter, so you need to ensure it's got a lot of bandwidth available.
And as far as the storage controller is concerned, again, if it's something like a file server with a lot of I/O activity, there should be a lot of memory on that controller as well. And really just try your best to ensure that these devices are up to the task for which they will be implemented.
Server Roles
Now in this presentation, we'll take a look at finding a server functionality. Which really is something that needs a lot of attention because you really just need a good picture of what your servers are going to be doing to then determine how they will be configured.
Now, this is just a very short list of examples of common functionality that you will find in most organizations. So you might have a server that is going to handle IP configuration management.
So DNS and DHCP, for example. User identity management, or an Active Directory domain controller, application containers, device sharing, file sharing, and maybe virtual machine hosting. So again, that's a very short list, but you just need to know, what is this server going to do?
Then based on that, you can start looking at the roles that will be necessary. So depending on the functions that you have decided this server will do or that server will do, then you need to try to match that with the role requirements. Now, oftentimes these will match up one-to-one.
For example, if it's an identity server, of course, you will need something like Active Directory Domain Services, but that's not necessarily the only role. So you might also need to consider which roles will be mixed and matched.
For example, the IP configuration server might require both DHCP and DNS if it's going to have both roles. Now of course, that's up to you, but you just need to consider that. Then you also need to consider the security requirements.
Certain servers will need to be more secure than others. Now, I'm not trying to suggest that you shouldn't consider security for all of your servers, but for example, something like an Active Directory domain controller would certainly need higher security than something like just a print server.
And finally, you need to understand the resource requirements, again, based on the functionality and the roles, and even the security that will be required for that server. So you really have to map this all out, plan it to ensure that everything is addressed.
So toward that end, it might help to construct some kind of requirements matrix for your servers.
[Video description begins] The Requirements Matrix contains four columns named "Function requirements," "Role requirements," "Security requirements," and "Resource requirements." [Video description ends]
So again, list out the functions that are required, such as device sharing, IP configurations and centralized identity management. Again, using our fairly simple example here. Then identify the roles that need to be present to satisfy those function requirements.
So for device sharing, you need to have printer sharing installed and enabled. For IP configurations, maybe DNS and DHCP. For the centralized identity management, again, Active Directory Domain Services. Then try to identify the security requirements.
And as mentioned, something like printer sharing would certainly be at least lower than Active Directory Domain Services. But as mentioned, you really shouldn't ever consider the security of anything to be low, but lower, than others.
[Video description begins] The column titled "Security requirements" contains the text "Low" against "Printer sharing," "High" against "DNS/DHCP," and "High" against "Active Directory Domain Service." [Video description ends]
And then the resource requirements for something like IP configurations, such as DNS and DHCP, typically would be fairly low compared to something like Active Directory Domain Services. There's a lot of network demand for that service as well as for printer sharing.
[Video description begins] The "Resource requirements" column contains the text "Network" for "Printer sharing" and "Active Directory Domain Services." [Video description ends]
So again, this type of matrix can help you to identify what kind of resources will need to be present on any given server. And also, maybe to assist in terms of which rows can be combined on a server, and which one's should be separated.
Clean Installation
And the only thing I have done so far was to select the language and the keyboard layout and to insert the product key. So we'll begin at this screen right here where you simply choose your edition and/or the desktop experience, where you choose to install either the server core edition or the desktop experience.
[Video description begins] A dialog box titled "Windows Setup" displays. It contains a table with three columns named "Operating system," "Architecture," and "Date modified." Two operating systems display, "Windows Server 2019 Datacenter" and "Windows Server 2019 Datacenter (Desktop Experience)," both having the same architecture and the same date of modification. [Video description ends]
So it actually defaults to core and the description does say that this is recommended. But it omits most of the graphical environment so that you can manage it with a command prompt, or a PowerShell, or of course, remotely.
But in this case, we'll go with the desktop experience. So it does tell you that it installs the full graphical environment and does consume some extra drive space. But that's the option we'll go with. Then we'll click on Next. Okay, and of course we will accept the license terms. Click on Next.
So you do still get the option to upgrade at this point, if you have booted from the original DVD. Now, this of course depends on whether or not there is an existing installation. This system does not have an existing installation. So we will go with the custom install.
And you do have the option of course to configure your partitioning in this case. So again, this clearly is up to you but I am basically just going to go with everything at its defaults.
[Video description begins] The default partition name is "Drive 0 Unallocated Space" with a "Total size" of 80 GB. In this step, are three hyperlinks called "Refresh," "Load driver," and "New," and three options called "Delete," "Extend," and "Format." [Video description ends]
We don't really want to bother with any reconfiguration here. So we will just click on Next. And we see that the copy file process has begun.
[Video description begins] As the installation progresses, the Status of the listed steps display, denoted by check marks next to the step that completes. [Video description ends]
Now, this will certainly take some time. So we'll just pause at this point. And we'll come back when everything has completed to verify that the installation succeeded. Okay, so our installation has completed and this is the first reboot so it's just prompting me to customize the settings here.
[Video description begins] A login page displays for typing the User name and Password for the in-built administrator account. [Video description ends]
So I've just entered in an administrator password. And we'll just click on Finish. And it's just going to finalize the settings here. And basically, that's all there is to it. So again, when it comes to the clean install, of course anything that might have been on any given server prior to the installation, of course will be gone.
But in many cases, that's exactly what you want because you just want to start clean. It certainly depends on the circumstances. But in terms of performing a clean install, again, you can just boot from the original product DVD.
Specify whatever settings you want in terms of disk configuration, and then just verify that everything did complete successfully. Now, we'll just give this a few more minutes to get straight to the desktop before we finish up here.
But when performing a clean install, as long as all of the requirements are met, you shouldn't really have any issues. Okay, so there is our desktop, so our installation is complete. Let's just quickly access our system properties here, and
[Video description begins] He opens a File Explorer interface and right-clicks "This PC" in the Quick Access links on the left. [Video description ends]
Let's verify that we see Windows Server* 2019.
[Video description begins] A window titled "System" opens, containing "Windows Server 2019" as the Windows edition. The breadcrumb at the top is Control panel>System and Security>System. [Video description ends]
Okay, so again, that is essentially the clean installation and useful for when you just don't want to save anything on the existing system, and start fresh.
In-place Upgrade
And I just went through and answered the first few questions, which was really just to not download the updates, to enter in the license key, and a few miscellaneous questions. But really, this is what it comes down to. In terms of doing the in-place upgrade, it will prompt you in terms of what you want to keep.
[Video description begins] The Windows Server 2019 Setup wizard displays, showing the first step named "Choose what to keep." Buttons labeled "Back" and "Next" display at the bottom. [Video description ends]
So we will choose to keep personal files and apps. The other option is to keep nothing, which, of course, will delete everything and essentially do a clean installation. So we'll leave it set on keeping personal files and apps, we'll click on Next.
And essentially, it is going to do some checks here and basically go about and perform the installation. So everything has been checked out here.
[Video description begins] The settings chosen by the host display along with a link called "Change what to keep." [Video description ends]
So we'll go ahead and click on Install. Now, this will certainly take some time. And I should mention that the longer the more you have installed on this server already, the longer the installation will take. But, in this case, this is a relatively clean server, so it shouldn't take too long, but we'll let it install anyway.
And then we'll just come back and check to make sure that everything installed successfully. So let's go ahead and click on Install.
And, as mentioned, we'll come back when this has completed. Okay, so that certainly did take a few minutes, and there were a few reboots along the way, of course, as well.
[Video description begins] The "About Windows" interface now displays information about Windows Server 2019. [Video description ends]
But the installation has completed and we are now successfully running Windows Server 2019. And the server is in exactly the state it was before the installation began, so everything that was there is still there.
[Video description begins] He clicks the Start button on the Desktop. The Start menu lists all the Windows applications, such as "Windows Accessories" and "Windows PowerShell." [Video description ends]
So again, that's certainly useful when you need to retain the state of the server. Just perform the in-place upgrade. And effectively, there will be little to no reconfiguration of the server required.
Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade
Now, in many cases when you are upgrading your servers, those systems will be part of a cluster. So in this presentation, we'll take a look at the Cluster OS rolling upgrade process. Which allows you to upgrade cluster nodes to a new operating system.
Without affecting any existing Hyper-V workloads or Scale-Out File Server workloads. Now, those two are specifically listed because they would be the ones that aren't affected. That doesn't mean that you can't do this for other workloads, but if, for example, it was something like SQL Server or Exchange Server.
Then there can be some failover time associated with those workloads, and that may be noticeable. But Hyper-V and Scale-Out File Server workloads should be relatively unaffected. So this allows you to simply upgrade each node at a time so that you don't have to bring down the entire cluster.
And this of course prevents any kind of impact to service level agreements and avoids any downtime penalties that might be associated with that. So in terms of some of the key benefits, you can upgrade to Windows Server 2019 again, without any downtime.
This is something that is inherently available. You do not need any additional hardware to perform the upgrade. The clusters again remain unaffected. They do not need to be stopped or taken down. A new cluster is not required to take over the workload.
Support for patching and maintenance operations is still available during this process. Because again not every node is being taken down at the same time. And the process is reversible up to a certain point. Now, we'll come to that point in a moment, but again, recall that you are only upgrading one node at a time.
So while that is happening, things can still happen within the cluster, including adding new versions or removing old versions. And the state of the cluster can at any time be queried to find out essentially where you are at. You can issue the Get-Cluster statement with the argument of Select ClusterFunctionalLevel.
A value of 8 will indicate its level is Windows Server 2012 R2. And a value of 9 will indicate that it's set to Windows Server 2016. So then what you have while this process is ongoing are these transition states.
So originally, the nodes might have been running Windows Server 2012 R2 or 2016 in the Failover Cluster configuration. But then as soon as you start to upgrade any of the nodes, then you end up with this mixed mode configuration.
Now, the cluster still absolutely works in this mixed mode. There's no problem there. And again, this is where you can still make changes if you need to. So if you attempted to upgrade a node and let's say it failed, well you could certainly just continue operations and come back to that node later on.
But ultimately, once you get all systems upgraded to Windows Server 2019, then this is effectively the point of no return. Now, you essentially control when that happens. There is a PowerShell cmdlet that you run which is the update cluster functional level statement.
At which point you are saying all servers have successfully upgraded. Now that has to be the case. You can't just issue this cmdlet in the middle of the process. So once all of the servers have been upgraded, and they are all running.
Then you run this final command and that essentially is the point of no return. If you needed to make any changes at that point, you could not do so without taking the cluster down and physically removing a node. But once everything has completed, you issue that command. That raises your cluster functional level and everything from that point on runs at the Windows Server 2019 level.
[Video description begins] A workflow diagram displays the three cluster transition states, "Windows Server 2012 R2 or 2016 Failover Cluster," "Mixed- OS Mode Failover Cluster," and "Windows Server 2019 Failover Cluster." The first two states are interconnected by unidirectional arrows. A unidirectional arrow points from the second state to the last. [Video description ends]
But ultimately, of course, the idea is to be able to perform the upgrade without disrupting services. So the less disruption there is, of course the better for your overall organization.
Migration
In many upgrade projects, there are often changes to hardware, or perhaps at least to configuration. So in this presentation, we'll take a look at some considerations for migrating roles.
[Video description begins] Screen title: Types of Migration to Consider [Video description ends]
Now, when it comes to migrating a role, you can perform this between physical and virtual computers, or the other way around, and between Windows Server running the Desktop edition and those running Server Core.
So really, it just comes down to assessing what the configuration is like on the original source computer versus what it's like on the destination computer. And you just need to make sure that everything is in place.
For example, if any given role was running on a physical server, and that server was fairly dedicated to that task, then will the resources still be there if you move it to a virtual machine that is already running on a host supporting many other virtual machines.
You know, quite simply, will there be enough available resources for that role? Similarly, if it was running on the Desktop edition, are all of the other features necessary to support that role present on Server Core? So again, it's just a matter of knowing what you had on the original server and then comparing that to what you have on the destination server.
Some other key considerations include ensuring that you have the most current service packs available on the destination computers. And if you're migrating files servers or storage to Windows Server 2019, then it is recommended to use the Storage Migration Service.
This is exactly what this service is for. But for other roles, there certainly are other options. For example, you can use the Windows Server Migration Tools, which was introduced with Windows Server 2008 as a collection of PowerShell cmdlets.
But one way or another, there is probably a way to migrate that role to minimize its downtime, to minimize changes to the configuration and minimize the overall impact on your organization. But it will require a little bit of planning and assessment before doing so.
License Conversion
In this presentation, we'll talk about license conversion, which is an option that allows you to convert your edition. Now, this is done quite easily through a command and a license key that you have that, of course, is valid.
But it effectively says that you can upgrade, if you will, from something like Windows Server 2019 Standard Edition to Windows Server 2019 Datacenter edition. So it's not a change to the version. In other words, it's not something that you use to go from Windows Server 2016 to Windows Server 2019.
That's a complete upgrade of the operating system. But if you went with Standard for 2019 and then you feel like maybe you should have gone with Datacenter, then this can be done. This is the license conversion. Now that said, there is a caveat in terms of reversal.
Now, it's only one caveat, in that you cannot go back. So you can upgrade, as mentioned, from Standard edition to Datacenter edition, but you cannot downgrade from Datacenter to Standard. You would have to entirely format and reinstall the operating system to do that. But again, in some cases, you may have gone with the lower edition. And then maybe after a little while, you have discovered that you just need to upgrade.
And again, this can be done with a simple command, as long as you have the appropriate license key.
Server Core
In this video, we'll see how to perform an installation of Windows Server 2019 in the Server Core configuration. And there really isn't anything different in terms of the process. It really does come down to this choice right here.
So again, I have just booted from the product DVD. All I did up to this point was to enter the language, and the keyboard layout, and then the product key. So at this point, you just have to make sure that you choose the first option for Windows server 2019 Datacenter.
[Video description begins] The Windows Setup dialog box displays. [Video description ends]
Now, do take note it actually does not describe it, if you will, as Server Core. But the description below does say that this is recommended and that it omits most of the Windows graphical environment.
And that you can manage it with the command prompt or PowerShell, or remotely with the Windows Admin Center or various other tools. But the other option does say the Desktop Experience. So, of course, we can assume that the first option is for the Server Core.
[Video description begins] The first option is "Windows Server 2019 Datacenter." [Video description ends]
Now, this is the same system that I used earlier for the Desktop Experience installation. So we are going to see a prompt that says there is already an installation on the system. That's fine, we'll just ignore that, but let's just click on Next.
And in terms of the disk configuration, we'll see some options there as well. But all we have to do here is accept the license agreement. And we'll go with the Custom Install. And again, this is why I'm seeing this Partition 1 already present. It was because of the previous installation.
[Video description begins] He points to the following partition: "Drive 0 Partition 1: System Reserved." [Video description ends]
Okay, so I'm just going to install onto Partition 2 and click on Next. And as mentioned, here is the message informing me that there is already a previous installation.
[Video description begins] The notification also says that these files and folders will be moved to a folder named Window.old which you can access. But you won't be able to use your previous Windows version. [Video description ends]
Okay, so let's just click on OK, we won't worry about that. It's going to copy the files. And as mentioned, this will perform a Core installation. So we'll let that go. We'll come back when everything completes to verify that it succeeded.
But otherwise, that really is all you have to do to make sure that you install Core, is to simply choose that first option in the installation prompt. Okay, so our installation of Server Core has completed, and again, this is the first reboot.
So it comes up with a logonUI.exe whereby you are prompted to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to unlock, so let's just send that in.
[Video description begins] A Virtual Machine Connection window opens, displaying a file path "C:\Windows\system32\LogonUI.
And the first thing you need to do is to change the administrator password. So we'll just hit Enter there and type in a password.
[Video description begins] As he clicks Enter, prompts the display to enter "New password" and "Confirm password." [Video description ends]
Now, I do believe that if you hit Enter here, nothing will happen. Let's just test that. Yes, so I just tried to hit Enter. What you need to do here to confirm the password is hit your down arrow to get to the next line. And then type the password again. And then you could hit Enter to change the password, and that should now begin setting up, okay.
[Video description begins] As he clicks Enter, the text "Changing password" displays. [Video description ends]
And essentially that completes the installation. Now, from this point, of course, you can administer the system using the command prompt, PowerShell, or remote tools. But in terms of just getting the installation completed, that's really all you have to do is to just choose that first option again.
Which does not have the Desktop Experience included. And then when it reboots, just make sure you set the administrator password, and you should be set to go.
Azure
I didn't really configure anything specific for this particular deployment. So clearly, those options are up to you.
[Video description begins] The Azure portal interface opens to the page titled "Create a virtual machine." [Video description ends]
But what you will need is a subscription to Azure, a resource group to deploy the system to, and some of the basic information, such as a virtual machine name, a region, and most notably, the image to choose.
[Video description begins] In the Instance details section are the following fields: Virtual machine name, Region, Availability options, Image, and Size. [Video description ends]
So if you hit the drop down here for the Image, Windows Server 2019 is now available, but only the Datacenter edition. There is no option, at least at the time of this recording, for Windows Server 2019 Standard. So that is the option I have chosen.
And then of course, you need to set up a username and a password. And everything will come up with a green check mark if it passes all of the tests, because there are a few restrictions in terms of the password, for example. But it will let you know if anything is violated.
[Video description begins] By default, the "Username" is set to "W19admin." [Video description ends]
From that point, really, the only other thing that you have to set up is the disk type, and I just left it at the default for the Premium SSD.
[Video description begins] Two sections, "Disk options" and "Data disks" display in the Disks tab page. Disk options include a field labeled "OS disk type" and Data disks contain a blank table of disks. Below are two links called "Create and attach a new disk" and "Attach an existing disk." [Video description ends]
And if you do want to, of course, you can create and attach a new disk here, or you can attach an existing one. But again, of course, that's up to you. And then under Networking, you do have to assign a virtual network.
[Video description begins] The following fields display in a section called "Network interface": Virtual network, Subnet, Public IP, NIC network security group, Public inbound ports, and Select inbound ports. [Video description ends]
Now if you haven't created one yet, as soon as you specify the resource group back here, particularly by creating a new one, then in fact, under Networking, you'll get some default values here, which is exactly what happened for me.
[Video description begins] He switches back to the Basics tab. A link called "Create new" displays below a field labeled "Resource group." [Video description ends]
Okay, so back on the Basics page, I clicked on Create new and I just called it MyResGroup. And then as soon as I went back to Networking, the virtual network was set by default to MyResGroup-vnet. The Subnet and the Public IP were all set automatically.
So really, I haven't changed anything more than that. But I would like to also point out the inbound ports that you would probably want to enable. Again, RDP came up by default here, but that is also on the Basics page.
[Video description begins] Some of the inbound ports are "HTTP" and "SSH." [Video description ends]
If I scroll down to the bottom, inbound ports are an option right here.
[Video description begins] The list of inbound ports is the same as in the Networking page. [Video description ends]
And in fact, I did select this, so that's probably why it was set by default on the Networking page. But of course, you are probably going to want to be able to RDP into the system once it completes. So there are several other options that you can specify.
There's a Management page, an Advanced page, a Tags page. And then you can just go to Review and create to make sure that everything is validated. So you do get a message that tells you validation passed. It gives you a summary and even a breakdown of the approximate pricing.
[Video description begins] The summary contains sections such as "PRODUCT DETAILS" and "TERMS." [Video description ends]
Okay, so everything else is listed there, so I'll just go ahead and click on Create. And this, of course, will take some time. But we'll come back and check later to make sure that everything succeeded. All right, so our deployment has completed.
And once it does, you can just go back to your main home screen, then choose Virtual machines, and then click on the virtual machine that was just created. And it should show a status of Running, but if it doesn't, you can just click on the Start option here.
But most notably, to get into the interface, you can just click Connect. And this will download an RDP file, which of course, includes the public IP address. Now that's not necessary, but it does make it easier to establish the connection.
So I have already done that, and here is the system right here. And everything has completed, and as expected, it is running Windows Server 2019 Datacenter Edition.
And basically, everything has completed just fine. And I should mention that in fact this only took about, I'm going to say, maybe five minutes, possibly even less. So that's how quickly you can get a new server up and running if you deploy to Azure.
Post-Upgrade
Now, once you've completed your installation or upgrade of Windows Server 2019, there are some post-installation tasks that you might want to verify, just to ensure that everything did complete successfully. Beginning with just verifying the version and some other basic properties.
Now, there are several ways to obtain this information. And going into the registry editor might be a little more than what you would need. But we'll go through most of the options just in case you have a preference.
[Video description begins] The Registry Editor interface opens. On the left, a folder called "CurrentVersion" displays, with its sub-folders. To the right, a table of files displays, with columns labeled "Name," "Type," and "Date." [Video description ends]
So from your Registry Editor, the location is HKEY_Local_Machine\SOFTWARE\
[Video description begins] He highlights a file called CompositionEditionID. [Video description ends]
But as mentioned, this might be a little more than is necessary. You can also just click on your Start button, and the good old winver application is still there. So just start, then type in W-I-N-V-E-R, hit Enter.
[Video description begins] An application labelled "winver" displays in the "Best match" section. [Video description ends]
And there, we see the version is 2019.
[Video description begins] The version information displays in a dialog box called "About Windows." At the bottom is an OK button. [Video description ends]
And the version build is in here as well, as is the edition. So most of the basic information is here.
[Video description begins] He clicks the OK button to close the dialog box. [Video description ends]
And if we click on Start, again, you can also just start typing in System Information.
[Video description begins] "System Information" displays in the "Best match" section. Underneath its name, the text "Desktop app" displays. [Video description ends]
And you can obtain a lot of the same information from here.
[Video description begins] A window titled "System Information" displays. To the left, the following components of System information display: Hardware Resources, Components, and Software Environment. To the right, a table of system settings displays, with two columns called "Item" and "Value." Some of the Items are "OS Name" and "Version." [Video description ends]
And of course, you can also just go to any explorer window.
[Video description begins] A File Explorer window opens. [Video description ends]
Right-click this PC, choose Properties to get to your basic information, and most of that information is here as well.
[Video description begins] A window titled "System" displays, containing a page called "View basic information about your computer." System information is divided into sections such as "Windows edition," "System," and "Windows activation." To the left are quick access links to other Control Panel pages. [Video description ends]
So again, several ways to obtain that information in terms of just the installation, the version, the name, and the build. And once that has all been verified, really, it would just come down to ensuring that all of your applications are still supported.
Now, I don't really have a lot of applications on this server, but just go through whatever software might still be present.
[Video description begins] He clicks the Start button. [Video description ends]
Launch the applications, make sure that they load, make sure that they behave as expected and configure appropriately if they don't. And then of course, you might also want to check your updates. So if we just go into our Settings, we can go into Update & Security.
[Video description begins] He clicks the Settings icon in the Start menu and a window titled "Windows Settings" opens. Many sections such as "Apps" and "Update & Security" display here. [Video description ends]
And of course, check what updates are appearing, and go through that list, and certainly install any updates that you feel are applicable, okay?
[Video description begins] A page titled "Windows Update" displays a list of updates and their statuses. To the left is a menu group called "Update & Security," with options such as "Windows Update" and "Delivery Optimization." [Video description ends]
So again, those are just some of the basic post-installation tasks. I suppose it also wouldn't hurt to verify the hardware. So let's maybe right-click, and we can go into Computer Management, or Disk Management, or even Device Manager.
You know, any of those options. Just to make sure that everything is appearing correctly in terms of your devices and various other configuration options, okay?
[Video description begins] He selects the "Device Manager" option and its window opens, containing a list of devices such as "Batteries" and "Disk drives." [Video description ends]
But again, several things that you would want to do just immediately post-installation. And actually, let me mention one more thing here.
If we just go to the File Explorer and go to the C drive, and if you expect that there have been any issues in the Windows directory, you'll find a folder called Panther.
And if you are working with Microsoft support, this is likely one of the folders that they will want to see. So you could maybe just zip all of this up, or just copy it, and it can be sent to them for advanced diagnostics, okay?
[Video description begins] The Panther folder contains sub-folders such as "Resources" and "Rollback," and many other files. [Video description ends]
But ultimately, you really just want to make sure that the installation succeeded, and that everything looks as if it has been configured and upgraded, and that everything is working as expected.