Microsoft INF200.1x, Windows Server 2012 Fundamentals: Infrastructure - Nano Servers

What is Nano Server?

Nano Server is a new installation option in Windows Server 2016.

Nano Server is a remotely administered server operating system optimized for private clouds and datacenters. It is similar to Windows Server in the Server Core mode, but significantly smaller, has only limited local sign-in capability, and only supports 64-bit applications, tools, and agents. It consumes far less disk space, can be set up significantly faster, and requires far fewer updates and fewer and faster restarts than Windows Server.

Nano server is ideal for the following scenarios.

• As a compute host for Hyper-V virtual machines.
• As a storage host for Scale-Out File Server.
• As a DNS server.
• As a web server running Internet Information Services (IIS).
• As a host for applications that are developed using cloud application patterns and run in a container or virtual machine guest operating system.

What Roles and Features Can Nano Server Support?

Here are the server roles and features that you can install when you deploy Nano Server or subsequently install with Windows PowerShell.

• The Hyper-V role.
• Failover Clustering.
• Hyper-V guest drivers for hosting Nano Server as a virtual machine.
• Basic drivers for a variety of network adapters and storage controllers.
• The File Server role and other storage components.
• Windows Defender Antimalware, including a default signature file.
• Reverse forwarders for application compatibility—for example, common application frameworks, such as Ruby and Node.js.
• The DNS Server role.
• Desired State Configuration (DSC).
• IIS.
• Host support for Windows Containers.
• System Center Virtual Machine Manager agent.
• Network Performance Diagnostics Service (NPDS).
• Data Center Bridging.

 

How Do You Manage Nano Server?

Nano Server is designed to be managed entirely remotely. Although you can sign in locally to use the recovery console for very basic configuration, you must perform all other management tasks remotely.

There are many options for managing Nano Server remotely.

• Windows PowerShell
• Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
• Windows Remote Management
• Emergency Management Services (EMS)
• Remote Server Management Tools
• Windows PowerShell DSC
• Hyper-V Manager
• Failover Cluster Manager
• Server Manager
  Tools like Perfmon, Event Viewer, Disk Manager, and Device Manager.