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Windows Server Technical Documentation

repository·main·Indexed 23 days ago

https://github.com/microsoftdocs/windowsserverdocs

Technical documentation for Windows Server, including guides on Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV), Hyper-V GPU partitioning in Windows Server 2025, Software Inventory Logging (SIL) configuration, and developing extensions for Windows Admin Center.

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What's inside Windows Server documentation

  1. What is Network HUD for Windows Server?

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    Network HUD is a host networking diagnostics and operational tool designed for Windows Server clusters. It runs continuously to analyze and remediate host networking issues by correlating physical switch links, host adapter settings, and cluster roles.

    Key capabilities include:

    • Physical Network Misconfiguration Identification: Detecting missing VLANs or Priority Flow Control (PFC) settings.
    • Hardware Issue Detection: Identifying flapping/unstable adapters and PCIe oversubscription.
    • Configuration Optimization: Validating host configuration symmetry and driver readiness.
    • Autoremediation: Automatically removing persistently unstable adapters from service when safe to do so.

    Note: Network HUD is currently in PREVIEW.

  2. Overview of Setup and Boot Event Collection

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    Setup and Boot Event Collection is a feature in Windows Server 2016 that allows a designated collector computer to gather events occurring on target computers during their boot or setup processes. This enables monitoring of events that occur before the standard monitoring infrastructure is fully initialized, such as kernel module loading, device enumeration, file system mounting, and system update status.

    Supported Environments:

    • Collector Computer: Must run Windows Server 2016 (Desktop Experience or Server Core).
    • Target Computer: Must run Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016.
    • Virtualization Support: The service can run on a virtual machine even if the host is not Windows Server 2016. Known working combinations include:
      • Host: Windows 8.1 | Collector VM: Yes | Target VM: Yes
      • Host: Windows 10 | Collector VM: Yes | Target VM: Yes
      • Host: Windows Server 2016 | Collector VM: Yes | Target VM: Yes
      • Host: Windows Server 2012 R2 | Collector VM: Yes | Target VM: No

  3. What is System Insights?

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    System Insights is a predictive analytics feature for Windows Server (2019 and newer) that uses machine learning models to forecast and manage server resources proactively. It analyzes local system data to help anticipate potential issues and optimize resource usage.

    Key characteristics:

    • Preinstalled: It is included with Windows Server.
    • Local Execution: All data collection, persistence, and analysis occur locally on the machine. No cloud connectivity is required for the predictive analytics to function.
    • Deployment Flexibility: Runs on host and guest machines, on any hypervisor, and in any cloud environment.

  4. What is Remote Desktop Services (RDS)?

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    Remote Desktop Services (RDS) is a role-based infrastructure in Windows Server used to securely deliver managed desktops and applications to users over a network. Instead of installing applications on individual endpoints, you manage them centrally on hosts. Endpoints interact with the remote UI using the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

    Key Capabilities:

    • Full Desktops: Provides session-based (multi-user) or virtual machine-based (single-user) desktops.
    • RemoteApp: Publishes individual applications that appear and behave like locally installed apps (supporting taskbar pinning, multi-monitor workflows, and standard window controls).
    • Centralized Management: Reduces overhead by allowing you to patch and secure resources in one location rather than across many endpoints.

  5. What is DHCP Server in Windows Server?

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    Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Server is an optional networking server role in Windows Server that automates the assignment and management of IP addresses and related network configurations. It centralizes TCP/IP configuration tasks, reducing manual effort and minimizing errors like address conflicts or typographical mistakes.

    Key functions include:

    • Automated IP Management: Maintains a pool of IP addresses and leases them to DHCP-enabled clients.
    • Centralized Configuration: Stores valid TCP/IP parameters, IP pools, excluded addresses, and reserved IP addresses in a database.
    • Lease Management: Manages the duration (lease time) for which an IP address is valid before renewal is required.
    • DHCP Options: Assigns additional parameters such as Router (default gateway), DNS Servers, and DNS Domain Name to clients.

    All Windows-based client operating systems include a DHCP client by default as part of the TCP/IP stack.

  6. What is Windows Admin Center Virtualization Mode?

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    Windows Admin Center Virtualization Mode (currently in PREVIEW) is a purpose-built management experience designed for large-scale virtualization infrastructure. It allows IT professionals to centrally administer Hyper-V hosts, clusters, storage, and networking.

    Key capabilities include:

    • Contextual Search: Search across navigation objects with filtering.
    • Architecture Support: Supports SAN, NAS, hyperconverged, and scale-out file server architectures.
    • VM Templates: Standardized provisioning for virtual machines.
    • Scale: Optimized for environments up to 1,000 hosts and 25,000 VMs per instance.

    Note: Virtualization Mode must be installed on a separate system from Windows Admin Center Administration Mode.

  7. What is the Certification Authority Role Service?

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    The Certification Authority (CA) role service for Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) allows a Windows Server to act as a CA. A CA is responsible for attesting to the identity of users, computers, and organizations by issuing digitally signed certificates. It also manages the lifecycle of these certificates, including revocation and renewal.

  8. What is DCDiag and how to use it

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    DCDiag (DCDiag.exe) is a command-line diagnostic tool used to analyze the health of domain controllers (DC) within an Active Directory forest or enterprise. It performs network connectivity tests and verifies functional areas such as DNS location, ICMP responsiveness, LDAP connectivity, and AD RPC interface binding.

    Prerequisites

    • Permissions: Must be run with administrative rights from an elevated command prompt (CMD) or PowerShell.
    • Availability: Readily available when logged into a DC. Alternatively, you can install the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) on your device to access it.

    Important Network Note

    Blocking ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) prevents DCDiag from functioning correctly. While blocking ICMP at the network edge is common, blocking it internally can break legacy group policies, black hole router detection, and MTU discovery.

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  9. Overview of the VM Conversion extension in Windows Admin Center

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    The VM Conversion extension (currently in PREVIEW) allows you to migrate VMware virtual machines from vCenter to Hyper-V. It is a lightweight tool designed for online replication with minimal downtime for both Windows and Linux virtual machines.

    Key Capabilities:

    • Bulk migration: Batch migrate up to 10 VMs at a time based on application dependency, cluster dependency, business boundaries, or rack dependency.
    • Cluster-aware migration: Migrate VMs from ESXi hosts to Windows Server Failover clusters.
    • Static IP preservation: Maintains static IP configurations from the source to the destination Hyper-V hosts.
    • Secure Boot and UEFI support: Automatically configures Secure Boot and UEFI templates based on the detected OS (Windows or Linux).
    • Multi-disk and Multi-vCenter support: Handles complex workloads with multiple disks and allows switching between multiple vCenter endpoints.
    • Post-migration cleanup: Automatically removes VMware Tools from Windows VMs after the migration is complete.

  10. Manage Remote Access Service (RAS) with netsh ras

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    The netsh ras command is used to manage Remote Access Service (RAS) settings in Windows. It allows administrators to configure, monitor, and troubleshoot remote access features such as VPN or dial-up connections, including user authentication, connection profiles, and server settings.

    General syntax: netsh ras [aaaa | add | delete | diagnostics | dump | help | ip | ipv6 | set | show | ?]

    netsh ras [aaaa | add | delete | diagnostics | dump | help | ip | ipv6 | set | show | ?]

  11. Plan for deploying devices using Discrete Device Assignment (DDA)

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    Discrete Device Assignment (DDA) allows physical PCIe hardware to be directly accessible from within a virtual machine (VM). This is primarily used for Graphics Adapters and NVMe Storage devices.

    Supported Environments

    • VM Generation: Generation 1 or 2 VMs.
    • Guest OS: Windows 10 or later, or Windows Server 2016 or later.

    System and Device Requirements

    • Hardware: Server-class hardware capable of Native PCI Express Control and a PCIe Root Complex that supports Access Control Services (ACS). In BIOS, you may need to enable "Enable SR-IOV" to expose these capabilities.
    • Device Compatibility: Devices using legacy (INTx) PCI Interrupts are not supported.
    • Drivers: A host driver is not required to mount the device, but installing one on the host helps identify the device (otherwise it may appear as a 'Microsoft Basic Render Device'). The manufacturer's driver must be installed inside the guest VM.

    VM Limitations

    When a device is attached via DDA, the following features are unavailable for that VM:

    • VM Save/Restore
    • Live migration
    • Dynamic memory
    • Adding the VM to a high availability (HA) cluster

  12. Migrate DHCP server to Windows Server

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    DHCP server migration involves moving settings from an existing DHCP server to a new Windows Server. This process ensures that the new server provides DHCP leases without perceptible changes to client computers.

    Key Migration Notes:

    • Supports migrations between physical and virtual operating systems.
    • Unsupported: Migration between servers with different system user interface (UI) languages.
    • Recommendation: Perform a migration instead of an in-place upgrade, even on native x64 hardware.
    • Constraint: If the source server runs multiple roles, it is recommended to design a custom migration procedure to avoid service disruptions.