• Windows 2000 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 13
• Windows Server 2003 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 30
• Windows Server 2003 R2 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 31
• Windows Server 2008 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 44
• Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM with all Service packs = Schema version 47

Check the schema version in the Registry:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Parameters\<Schema Version>

Check the schema version with dsquery:

dsquery * CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=Root-Domäne -Scope Base -attr objectVersion

Create a new partition and format a partition

SELECT DISK 0
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
ASSIGN LETTER=E
SELECT PARTITION 1
FORMAT FS=NTFS LABEL="New Volume" QUICK
EXIT

Commands you may then issue at the DISKPART prompt:

LIST Disk
LIST Partition
LIST Volume

SELECT Disk n
SELECT Volume n
SELECT Partition n

DETAIL Disk
DETAIL Partition
DETAIL volume

HELP
REM (remark/comment)
EXIT

Commands to Manage Basic Disks:

(set the current in-focus partition to be the system partition)

ASSIGN (allocate the next free drive letter)
ASSIGN LETTER=l (Choose a free letter)

CREATE PARTITION Primary Size=50000 (50 GB)
CREATE PARTITION Extended Size=25000
CREATE PARTITION logical Size=25000

DELETE Partition

EXTEND Size=10000

REMOVE letter=l (Remove drive letter l from the in-focus partition)
REMOVE /ALL (Remove ALL current drive letters and mount points)

Commands to Manage Dynamic Disks:

(set the current in-focus partition to be the system partition)

ASSIGN (allocate the next free drive letter)
ASSIGN LETTER=l (Choose a free letter)

ADD disk=n (Add a mirror to the in-focus SIMPLE volume on the specified disk.)

BREAK disk=n (Break the current in-focus mirror)

CREATE VOLUME Simple Size=n Disk=n
CREATE VOLUME Stripe Size=n Disk=n,n,...
CREATE VOLUME Raid Size=n Disk=n,n,...

DELETE DISK
DELETE PARTITION
DELETE VOLUME

EXTEND disk=n [Size=n]
IMPORT
ONLINE

REMOVE letter=l (Remove drive letter l from the in-focus volume)
REMOVE /ALL (Remove ALL current drive letters and mount points)
RETAIN

Commands to Convert Disks:

CONVERT mbr
CONVERT gpt
CONVERT dynamic
CONVERT basic

CLEAN ALL (remove all partition and volume info from the hard drive)
RESCAN

1. Download the latest HP ProLiant Support Pack for Windows Server 2008 R2
2. Eable SNMP on Windows Server 2008 R2 Core by typing start /w ocsetup SNMP-SC
3. Extract the HP ProLiant Support Pack on a Management Machine to C:\Supportpack
   
4. Connect to the Remote Windows Server Core for example \\hyperv01\c$
   
5. Create the folder C:\hp on the Remote Core Server
6. Copy the files from C:\supportpack to \\hyperv01\c$\hp
   
7. On the Core Server execute C:\hp\hpsum.exe
   
8. Install the HP Supportpack as usual
   
9. Reboot the Server

You also can enable Remote MMC and Remote Server Manager to simply connect from a management server to the core server and add roles with GUI. This may only work within a domain environment. You can enable remote management pretty easy with the sconfig.cmd. Find out more about configuring Windows Server 2008 R2 Core installations here.

List available server roles and features:

oclist

Install, uninstall and configure Active Directory Domain Service role:

dcpromo

Help for dcpromo:

PS C:\> dcpromo /?

Command line parameters include:

/unattend[:filename]
Used to specify the unattend operation mode or supply an unattended install script file.

/adv
Enables advanced user options.

/uninstallBinaries
Used to uninstall Active Directory Domain Services binaries.

/?[:{Promotion | CreateDcAccount | UseExistingAccount | Demotion}]

/?:Promotion, /?:CreateDCAccount, /?:UseExistingAccount, and /?:Demotion
will display unattend parameters applicable to the specified task. /CreateDCAccount and /UseExistingAccount:Attach are mutually exclusive.

/CreateDCAccount
Creates an RODC account.

/UseExistingAccount:Attach
Attaches the server to an RODC account.

/forceRemoval
Forcefully uninstalls Active Directory Domain Services on this domain controller. The account for the domain controller will not be deleted in the directory, and changes that have occurred on this domain controller since it last replicated with a partner will be lost.

/?
Will display this help.

Unattend parameters can also be specified on the command-line. For example:

dcpromo.exe /ReplicaOrNewDomain:Replica

Press any key to quit ...

Install a role or feature its basically always the same:

start /w ocsetup <roleorfeature>

start /w ocsetup DNS-Server-Core-Role

Uninstall a role or feature:

start /w ocsetup <roleorfeature> /uninstall

start /w ocsetup DNS-Server-Core-Role /uninstall

Install SNMP feature:

start /w ocsetup SNMP-SC

Install Microsoft Hyper-v role:

start /w ocsetup Microsoft-Hyper-V

Basically the setup is the same as the none Core Edition or GUI Edition. But after the installation you have to configure the server without a GUI, your only way to do the basic configuration is the command promt. Btw if you close the command prompt, you can easily recover the prompt by pressing CTRL-ALT-DELETE, click Start Task Manager, click New Task and type cmd.exe.

To do the basic configuration of your Windows Server 2008 (R2) Core, you need the following commands:

Checkout the existing Hostname / Computername:

hostame or ipconfig

Change the Computername / Hostname:

netdom renamecomputer <ComputerName> /NewName:<NewComputerName>

Change the Computername / Hostname without writing the old name:

netdom renamecomputer %computername%   /NewName:<NewComputerName>

Show network interfaces:

netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces

Set Static IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Default Gateway (ID is the shown number in the Idx column when you show your network interfaces):

netsh interface ipv4 set address name="<ID>" source=static address=<StaticIP> mask=<SubnetMask> gateway=<DefaultGateway>

Set DNS Server (index= is the priority of the DNS Server):

netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver name="<ID>" address=<DNSIP>index=1

Join a Domain:

netdom join <ComputerName> /domain:<DomainName> /userd:<UserName> /passwordd:*

Add a Domain User to the local administrator group:

net localgroup administrators /add <DomainName>\<UserName>

Change or set the product key of your server:

slmgr.vbs –ipk<productkey>

Active the server licence:

slmgr.vbs -ato

If activation is successful, no message will return in the command prompt

Configure the firewall:

netsh advfirewall

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Remote Administration" new enable=yes

Enable Remote Desktop:

cscript c:\windows\system32\scregedit.wsf /ar 0

Restart the Computer:

shutdown /r /t 0

Open Task Manager with the command prompt:

taskmgr

List event logs:

wevtutil el

Find something in the event log:

wevtutil qe /f:<text>

List running services:

sc query

or

net start

List running tasks:

tasklist

to active Powershell type:

powershell

For the most of this simple tasks there is also a configuration tool, which makes it very easy to do your first configuration with Windows Server 2008 Core Edition. The Tool is called sconfig, and its very simple, just start the program with the following command:

sconfig.cmd

Now this will open the following configuration utility:

1. Download Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool and install it
2. Start the programm and choose the .iso Image (Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2)
   
3. Choose which media you want to create (USB)
   
4. Choose USB device
   
5. Begin Copying and after some minutes your USB Stick is ready to use

• stsadm -o export -url http://sharepointsite -filename c:\backup\sharepointsite.bak -includeusersecurity -versions 4 -nofilecompression

Hot to do a Sharepoint site import:

• stsadm –o import –url http://sharepointsite -filename c:\backup\sharepointsite.bak –includeusersecurity

More information to stsadm:

C:\>stsadm -help export

stsadm.exe -o export
           -url <URL to be exported>
           -filename <export file name>
               [-overwrite]
           [-includeusersecurity]
           [-haltonwarning]
           [-haltonfatalerror]
           [-nologfile]
           [-versions <1-4>
               1 - Last major version for files and list items (default)
               2 - The current version, either the last major or the last minor
               3 - Last major and last minor version for files and list items
               4 - All versions for files and list items]
           [-cabsize <integer from 1-1024 megabytes> (default: 25)]
           [-nofilecompression]
           [-quiet]

C:\>stsadm -help import

stsadm.exe -o import
           -url <URL to import to>
           -filename <import file name>
           [-includeusersecurity]
           [-haltonwarning]
           [-haltonfatalerror]
           [-nologfile]
           [-updateversions <1-3>
               1 - Add new versions to the current file (default)
               2 - Overwrite the file and all its versions (delete then insert)
               3 - Ignore the file if it exists on the destination]
           [-nofilecompression]
           [-quiet]

1. Copy your original SQL Server 2008 source media to c:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1

2. Download Service Pack 1 from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=66ab3dbb-bf3e-4f46-9559-ccc6a4f9dc19. The three architectures of Service Pack 1 should be included, the package names are as follows:

• SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-IA64-ENU.exe
• SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-x64-ENU.exe
• SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-x86-ENU.exe

3. Extract the packages as follows:

• SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-IA64-ENU.exe /x:c:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU
• SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-x64-ENU.exe /x:c:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU
• SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-x86-ENU.exe /x:c:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU

4. Copy Setup.exe and Setup.rll from the PCU extracted location to original source media location

• robocopy C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU c:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1 Setup.exe
• robocopy C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU c:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1 Setup.rll

5. Copy all files not the folders, except the Microsoft.SQL.Chainer.PackageData.dll, in c:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU\<architecture> to C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1 \<architecture> to update the original files.

• robocopy C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\pcu\x86 C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\x86 /XF Microsoft.SQL.Chainer.PackageData.dll
• robocopy C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\pcu\x64 C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\x64 /XF Microsoft.SQL.Chainer.PackageData.dll
• robocopy C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\pcu\ia64 C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\ia64 /XF Microsoft.SQL.Chainer.PackageData.dll

6. Determine if you have a defaultsetup.ini at the following locations:

• C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\x86
• C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\x64
• C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\ia64

If you have a defaultsetup.ini, add PCUSOURCE=”{Full path}\PCU”.

NOTE: The {Full path} needs to be the absolute path to the PCU folder. If you will just be running from local folder it would be C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1. If you will eventually share this folder out, {Full path} would be \\MyServer\SQLServer2008_FullSP1.

See question #11 here if you would like to use a relative path.
;SQLSERVER2008 Configuration File

[SQLSERVER2008]

…

PCUSOURCE=”{Full path}\PCU”
If you do NOT have a defaultsetup.ini, create one with the following content:
;SQLSERVER2008 Configuration File

[SQLSERVER2008]

PCUSOURCE=”{full path}\PCU”
and copy to the following locations:

C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\x86

C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\x64

C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\ia64
This file will tell the setup program where to locate the SP1 source media that you extracted in step 3.
7. Now run setup.exe as you normally would.

More Information can be found on this msdn blog. Thanks to Peter Saddow.

The Big Bang Theory: Windows 7 is much more userfriendly than Windows Vista

To enable IIS 6.0 in Windows Server 2003 or IIS7 in Windows Vista RTM with the appropriate MIME Types, add:

• .xap     application/x-silverlight-app
• .xaml    application/xaml+xml
• .xbap    application/x-ms-xbap

Adding MIME Types by a simple VB script:

• Here is a VBS script you could run to enable each of these types:


Const ADS_PROPERTY_UPDATE = 2
'
if WScript.Arguments.Count < 2 then
WScript.Echo "Usage: " + WScript.ScriptName + " extension mimetype"
WScript.Quit
end if
'
'Get the mimemap object.
Set MimeMapObj = GetObject("IIS://LocalHost/MimeMap")
'
'Get the mappings from the MimeMap property.
aMimeMap = MimeMapObj.GetEx("MimeMap")
'
' Add a new mapping.
i = UBound(aMimeMap) + 1
Redim Preserve aMimeMap(i)
Set aMimeMap(i) = CreateObject("MimeMap")
aMimeMap(i).Extension = WScript.Arguments(0)
aMimeMap(i).MimeType = WScript.Arguments(1)
MimeMapObj.PutEx ADS_PROPERTY_UPDATE, "MimeMap", aMimeMap
MimeMapObj.SetInfo
'
WScript.Echo "MimeMap successfully added: "
WScript.Echo " Extension: " + WScript.Arguments(0)
WScript.Echo " Type: " + WScript.Arguments(1)

• If you copy and paste the code above into a VBS file and save it as ADDMIMETYPE.VBS the syntax to add each type would be:

ADDMIMETYPE.VBS .xap application/x-silverlight-app ADDMIMETYPE.VBS .xaml application/xaml+xmlADDMIMETYPE.VBS .xbap application/x-ms-xbap

or you could add it very simple over the IIS Manager.