[geeks] The best things in the world

[Ido Dubrawsky]

geeks-request at sunhelp.org wrote:
> Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:58:28 -0500 (CDT)
> From: Lionel Peterson <lionel4287 at verizon.net>
> Subject: Re: [geeks] The best things in the world
> To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
> Message-ID:
<17092095.563911221231508528.JavaMail.root at vms126.mailsrvcs.net>
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>
>>From: Micah R Ledbetter <vlack-lists at vlack.com>
>>Date: 2008/09/12 Fri AM 03:39:00 EDT
>>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>>Subject: Re: [geeks] The best things in the world
>>
>>On Sep 11, 2008, at 2:40 PM, Lionel Peterson wrote:
>>
>>> He thinks headless servers, command-line interfaces, and reduced-
>>> surface servers are a response to Linux innovations and a buckling 
>>> by MS to the awesome-ness of Linux, in all it's many splendored 
>>> flavors...
>>
>>Is Server 2008 capable of real headless anyway? I thought you still 
>>needed a graphical display, it just only supported like cmd.exe and 
>>notepad.exe, but I would love to be wrong.
>
> Define headless.
>
> Can you install the OS without a head - no, not that I am aware of.
>
> Can you run a server truely with no local console, yes - you can
access it via RDP, you can use management GUI to controll what happens
on the machine, > etc. There is a small boot-strapping issue, in that
you need to get into the machien and set the IP address manually, but
one it is set, it is remotely
> manageable, as if youhad a local console. Of course, all remote
management options in Windows Server remain.
>
> You can work sround the install issue by using "Ghost" or other
utility to get the initial OS install on the system, then configure it
remotely.
>
> Lionel

You can install Server 2008 without any local console.  Windows
Deployment Services allows you to configure a network setting and other
parameters such that you don't need to touch the machine locally for any
configuration -- I've done it myself.  As for management...RDP will just
give you a cmd.exe windows and that's it (although, you can open up
notepad.exe as well as regedit.exe and a few others if you want).  
However, using WMI with powershell scripts or SCCM you can manage the
machine completely remotely and never need local access (unless you need
access to the system BIOS...but there are solutions there as well).

Ido

-- 
Ido Dubrawsky
Network Security Architect
dubrawsky.org
http://www.dubrawsky.org/blogs
http://idubrawsky.wordpress.coms


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