Introducing Windows Server 2008 - MCTS Guide to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration - page 24

5. Click the Configuration node to see five tools for performing configuration and maintenance
tasks.
6. Click the Storage node. Here you find the Windows Server Backup program and the Disk
Management tool that's part of the Computer Management MMC.
7. Close Server Manager.

Server Core
As mentioned previously, Microsoft recognized the need for a light version of Server 2008: Server
Core. You can install it with the main editions discussed earlier, but it's not available in Itanium
Edition. Server Core provides a minimal environment for running specific server roles. It doesn't
include a full GUI and doesn't run the MMC. Server Core is intended to be managed from a com-
mand line or remotely by using an MMC, PowerShell, or Windows remote shell from another
server running a full Windows Server 2008 installation. Figure 1-13 shows the standard Server
Core interface with a command prompt window open.

Figure 1-13 The Server Core interface

Not much to see, is there? Server Core has no Start menu or taskbar, just a command prompt
window on a plain background. So what can you use this mode for? It might not be obvious,
but Server Core has quite a bit under the hood. However, it lacks many of the user interface fea-
tures that consume valuable hardware resources and slow critical processes down. Following is
a list of server roles that can be installed on Server Core:
• Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)
• Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS)
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Server
• DNS Server
• File Services