Lab: Managing Windows Server

Scenario

Contoso, Ltd. wants to implement several new servers in their environment, and they have decided to use Server Core. They also want to implement Windows Admin Center for remote management of both these servers and other servers in the organization.

Note: An interactive lab simulation is available that allows you to click through this lab at your own pace. You may find slight differences between the interactive simulation and the hosted lab, but the core concepts and ideas being demonstrated are the same.

Objectives

  • Implement and configure Windows Admin Center

Estimated time: 45 minutes

Lab setup

Virtual machines: AZ-800T00A-SEA-DC1 and AZ-800T00A-ADM1 must be running. Other VMs can be running, but they aren’t required for this lab.

Note: AZ-800T00A-SEA-DC1 and AZ-800T00A-SEA-ADM1 virtual machines are hosting the installation of SEA-DC1 and SEA-ADM1.

  1. Select SEA-ADM1.

  2. Sign in using the following credentials:

    • Username: Administrator
    • Password: Pa55w.rd
    • Domain: CONTOSO

For this lab, you’ll use the available VM environment and an Microsoft Entra tenant.

Exercise 1: Implementing and using remote server administration

Scenario

Now that you have deployed the Server Core servers, you need to implement Windows Admin Center for remote administration.

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

  1. Install Windows Admin Center.
  2. Add servers for remote administration.
  3. Configure Windows Admin Center extensions.
  4. Verify remote administration.
  5. Administer servers with Remote PowerShell.

Task 1: Install Windows Admin Center

  1. On SEA-ADM1, start Windows PowerShell as Administrator.

  2. From the Windows PowerShell console, run the following command to download the latest version of Windows Admin Center:

    Start-BitsTransfer -Source https://aka.ms/WACDownload -Destination "$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\WindowsAdminCenter.msi"

  3. Enter the following command and then press Enter to install Windows Admin Center:

    Start-Process msiexec.exe -Wait -ArgumentList "/i $env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\WindowsAdminCenter.msi /qn /L*v log.txt REGISTRY_REDIRECT_PORT_80=1 SME_PORT=443 SSL_CERTIFICATE_OPTION=generate"

    Note: Wait until the installation completes. This should take about 2 minutes.

    Note: After installation completes, you may encounter the error message ‘ERR_Connection_Refused’. If this occurs, restart SEA-ADM1 to correct the issue.

Task 2: Add servers for remote administration

  1. On SEA-ADM1, start Microsoft Edge, and then go to https://SEA-ADM1.contoso.com.
  2. When prompted, sign in by using the CONTOSO\Administrator username and Pa55w.rd password.
  3. Review the All connections page and note that it includes the sea-adm1.contoso.com entry.
  4. In the All connections pane, add a connection to sea-dc1.contoso.com.

  5. When prompted, sign in by using the CONTOSO\Administrator username and Pa55w.rd password.

    Note: To perform single sign-on, you would need to set up Kerberos constrained delegation.

Task 3: Configure Windows Admin Center extensions

  1. On SEA-ADM1, in the upper-right corner, select the Settings icon (the cog wheel).
  2. Review the available extensions.

  3. Install the Security (Preview) extension. The extension will install and Windows Admin Center will refresh.

    Note: If the Security (Preview) extension is not available, choose another Microsoft extension.

  4. Verify that the list of installed extensions includes the DNS (Preview) extension.
  5. On the top menu, next to Settings, select the drop-down arrow, and then select Server Manager.
  6. Within Windows Admin Center, connect to sea-dc1.contoso.com, and if needed, sign in by using the CONTOSO\Administrator username and Pa55w.rd password.
  7. Connect to the DNS server on sea-dc1.contoso.com and install the DNS PowerShell tools.
  8. Select the Contoso.com zone and review the list of its DNS records.

Task 4: Verify remote administration

  1. On SEA-ADM1, in Windows Admin Center, while connected to sea-dc1.contoso.com, review the Overview pane. Note that the details pane of Windows Admin Center displays basic server information and performance monitoring.
  2. In Windows Admin Center, install Telnet Client on sea-dc1.contoso.com by using the Roles & features tool.
  3. In Windows Admin Center, use the Settings interface to enable Remote Desktop on sea-dc1.contoso.com.
  4. In Windows Admin Center, connect via Remote Desktop to sea-dc1.contoso.com.
  5. Disconnect from the Remote Desktop session.
  6. Close the Microsoft Edge window.

Task 5: Administer servers with Remote PowerShell

  1. On SEA-ADM1, switch to the Windows PowerShell console.

  2. In the Windows PowerShell console, run the following command to start a PowerShell Remoting session to SEA-DC1:

    Enter-PSSession -ComputerName SEA-DC1

  3. From the [SEA-DC1] prompt, run the following command to display the status of the Application Identity service (AppIDSvc):

    Get-Service -Name AppIDSvc

    Note: Verify that the service is currently stopped.

  4. From the [SEA-DC1] prompt, run the following command to start the Application Identity service:

    Start-Service -Name AppIDSvc

  5. From the [SEA-DC1] prompt, run the following command to display the status of the Application Identity service (AppIDSvc):

    Get-Service -Name AppIDSvc

    Note: Verify that the service is currently running.

Results

After completing this exercise, you will have installed Windows Admin Center and connected it to the servers in your lab environment. You performed a number of remote management tasks including installing a feature as well as enabling and testing Remote Desktop connectivity. Finally, you used PowerShell Remoting to check the status of a service and then to start it.