Good Research Paper On Windows It Administration

Introduction

Information systems and infrastructure enables IT administrators to have a good plan on their administration of the IT systems and networks. With the expansion of computer networks to new locations, it is now important to ensure that new administration of information systems is done in order and with the right plan. It will allow expandability and planning easier to undertake. This paper will focus on how the Windows server 2012 will be implemented in Worldwide Advertising, Inc. (WAI). There are two locations in the company, one in Los Angeles and the other one in New York (Panek, 2014).

New features of Windows Server 2012

There are new features which have been integrated in Windows server 2012. These new features are to the advantage of WAI as they will find them useful in their plans and their administration of the systems in the two locations. The most important in the new features is that of tunneling. It is a feature that is called DirectAccess. It is a significant feature that is used to manage and enhance the access of the systems from a remote location. Now that the company has two locations, there would be the need to have tunneling so that access to IT infrastructure would be possible from any location. The effort and the cost that would be incurred in setting up the new system will now be avoided because of the new system.
Another significant feature that is useful is new way of managing access to information. There is now a dynamic way of access to information. With the Windows server 2012, there is a dynamic access control. WAI will now have a dynamic way of managing access to information in the two location. Security will be enhanced with the use of the new feature. It is a feature which can be useful in the new network.
Another feature is that of server management. There is a feature that has been integrated, called New Server Manager. It is useful in managing the groups that are creating during the administration process. With the many servers which will be created during the administration of the system and network, there is a need to have a way in which the servers will be managed. Server management is a critical aspect and function of the server management process.

Deployment and server editions

There are many server editions that are available in any network. The choice that WAI will adopt will depend on their requirements and the features that they would like to implement. WAI Company will be best suited to adopt the Standard edition. The standard edition has almost identical features like Datacenter edition. It will have virtualization feature that is most desirable in any environment. The deployment will require some minimum features in the IT infrastructure of WAI Company. Some of these requirements will include at least i3 Intel. The processor speed of the server should be at most 2.6GHz. There should be at least 2.5GB of random access memory. There will be a total of five servers in the design. These servers will include the file server, database server (SQL), Exchange server, BackupExec, and BES. They will be useful in the management of the server roles in the organization.
The design will also have different server roles on different servers. With the feature of virtualization now integrated in the server version, it will be possible to have virtual servers in place so that the server roles will be taken care. The server system that will be used in this design will be that of Virtual System. Safe for overhead costs, it will be expensive to have all the server roles combined in one hardware. There will be the need to combine the server roles which can be combined. DC can be used to put together the file servers on one location. There is also another possibility of doing this where the DC can be put together with the backup server. It is because of the working of the backup server where the backup server works when all the server functions have been stopped. It will minimize the competition that will be required for the network resources in this process.

Active Directory

There will be the need to have Active Directory management and design in the company. It will enable the company to have a new way of enhancing the features of the company. The company will require two Active Directory category. One of the AD category will serve Domain Name, RIC, PDC, and Scheme Master. The other Active Directory will serve the Infrastructure Master. The installation process will follow an automatic process. It will be useful to have automatic installation of the Active Directory so that if there will be failure in the switching to the new server, there will be reverting to the old server version. It will ensure that there is minimal disruption of service delivery.
The server configuration will be Read-Only which will be used in domain controllers. It will be appropriate to have Read-Only domain controllers because most of the server roles will be used for long periods of time without any changes. The user roles will be organized in terms of the user roles and groups. These groups will be created according to the levels of work in WAI. Another criteria that will be used will be the use of location where the group is located. The user profiles will also be another component which will be used in the creation of the groups in the company. The different roles that the users have in WAI will ensure that there is a better way in which the users will be managed within the organization.

DNS and DHCP

The Domain Name Service (DNS) and Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) are important function that are useful in networking. They have to be managed effectively in order to ensure that the computers which have these functions have the right roles in the entire management process. The appropriate lease time for DHCP will be eight days. This lease time will make it possible to have minimal adjustment to the active directory users. The address range of the server will be better left the way they have been set during installation and manufacturing time. In this case, most of the settings are left while in class C network. There will also be the need to have DHCP reservation in the network (Schwartz, 2013). It will enable the company to have private IP addresses which will not be shared by other hosts on the network. Having this arrangement will ensure that there is privacy of the access to the network. The DNS will be split in the network so that it will enable to have internal and internet usage IP addresses. The splitting will enable the network to have separation of the IP addresses. It is one measure that will ensure that there is security of the system. The namespaces will follow suit where they will be split.

Application services

The design will ensure that there are some application services. The applications will have to be designed so that there will be minimal alteration of these services. The application services will be installed in host computers and on the servers. Some of the common application services which will be installed include office packages, database server and client software. There will also be utilities that will be installed in the computers. Some of the utilities that will be installed in the infrastructure will include antivirus and network management software. They are useful in the network because they are used in the management of the software that is found on the network. There will be the use of Group Policy while deploying the application services on the network. The group policy will be useful in the management of the network as they are important in the entire process. The user profiles will be useful while deploying the Group Policy on the network. The roles and responsibilities of the users will be assigned according to their roles in the company. The definition of this will be included in the Group Policy that will be deployed.

Files and printer sharing

With the availability of two locations, there are sharing features and capabilities that will have to be enabled in the entire process. The sharing of the files will be a critical role in the entire process. There are some files which will have to be enabled in the entire company. Since there are users in two different locations, there will be the need to have sharing of files. The users of domains in Los Angeles and New York will have to share some privileges and roles. The installation and the setting of the application services will be done in such a manner that there is some sharing being done. The sharing will save the management in costs of licenses. Windows server 2012 has a shared folder which will enable the users who have the rights to share some of the files. The use of Distributed File System (DFS) will be a priority in the management of the files in Los Angeles and New York. There are files which are used in both locations. It is the reason why there is a need to understand the distributed file system so that there is proper management of the files in the two locations. The configuration of the quotas will be based on the user profile.

References

Panek, W. (2014). MCSA Windows Server 2012 R2 complete study guide.
Schwartz, J. (2013). GROUP CONTROL: Dynamic Access Control in Windows Server 2012 can help IT improve file server authorization and authentication by reducing Active Directory groups. Redmond: the Independent Voice of the Microsoft IT Community, 19(1), 22-29.