Slides from a session on Nano Server (Windows Server 2016) at Advanced Technology Days 11 in Croatia.

1. Advanced
Technology Days
18. i 19. studenog 2015., Cinestar Arena Centar

2. Nano Server:
Sve što trebate znati!
Tomica Kaniški, Vipnet
tomica@kaniski.eu

3. I want just the components
I need
and nothing more.

4. Complaints…
• „server restarts disrupting my business!”
‐ why should I restart my servers after patching a component I don’t even use?
‐ restarts should not take long!
• „server images are too big!”
‐ (too) long installations and configurations
‐ transfers take considerable amount of time (and bandwidth)!
‐ too much space wasted… in general!
 well, there is dedup, but… 
• „resource consumption is too high!”
‐ less resources for the OS = more VMs, more important stuff!
‐ more VMs per host = lower costs, higher efficiency!

5. Windows Server until now…
Do we really need GUI on servers?

6. … and then there was CLOUD!
• Azure
‐ patches and restarts disrupting services
‐ high number of servers * high load (OS side) => TROUBLES!
‐ provisioning of large host images (bandwidth impact)
• Cloud Platform System (CPS)
‐ Cloud-in-box (1-4 racks with System Center & Windows Server)
‐ need to decrease setup and configuration times
‐ patches and restarts disrupting services
‐ network bandwidth usage needs to be lowered
‐ restarts – compute host ~2 minutes, storage host ~5 minutes

7. Windows Server… from now on
• totally new, (only) 64-bit installation option
• „like Core but optimized for the cloud”
• built with focus on:
‐ CloudOS infrastructure
‐ cloud applications

8. Nano Server roles & features
• zero-footprint model
‐ server roles and features are outside of the Nano Server
installation
‐ standalone packages install as applications
• main roles and features
‐ Hyper-V, Storage (SoFS) i Clustering
‐ Core CLR, ASP.NET 5, Defender
• full support for Windows Server drivers
• System Center i Apps Insight agents – TBR 

9. Getting started…
• Nano Server is an installation option
• like Server Core (but better )
• cannot be selected during Setup
• must be customized with drivers
• located on the Windows Server installation
media

10. Nano Server – availability
• available everywhere
‐ host OS for physical
‐ guest OS in virtual machine
‐ container
• future?
‐ PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC)
‐ PackageManagement (OneGet)
‐ additional roles and applications support

11. Deploying Nano Server (1)
• roles and features:
Role / Feature
Physical /
Guest
Description
Compute Physical Hyper-V role
Storage Both Storage role
Clustering Both Failover Clustering role
Reverse
Forwarders
Both Helps in testing legacy tools on Nano Server
Defender Both Anti-malware Defender package
OEM drivers Physical Select drivers that ship in-box with Server Core
Guest drivers Guest Drivers needed to host Nano Server in a VM

12. Deploying Nano Server (2)
• physical server (example):
Generate a VHD from NanoServer.wim, specify computer name and admin password,
and add the Hyper-V (Compute), Failover Clustering, and OEM drivers packages:
New-NanoServerImage –MediaPath D: –BasePath C:NanoServer –TargetPath
C:NanoServerVM –Compute –OEMDrivers –Clustering –ComputerName NanoServer
–AdministratorPassword (“P@ssw0rd” | ConvertTo-SecureString –AsPlainText -
Force)
Mount the ISO (mounted as D:), run the following:
md C:NanoServer
copy D:NanoServer*.ps1 C:NanoServer
Copy the scripts from the mounted image and dot-source them:
cd C:NanoServer
. .Convert-WindowsImage.ps1
. .New-NanoServerImage.ps1

13. Deploying Nano Server (3)
• virtual machine (example):
Generate a VHD from NanoServer.wim, specify computer name and admin password,
and add the Reverse Forwarders and guest drivers packages
New-NanoServerImage –MediaPath D: –BasePath C:NanoServer –TargetPath
C:NanoServerVM –GuestDrivers –ReverseForwarders –ComputerName NanoServerVM
–AdministratorPassword (“P@ssw0rd” | ConvertTo-SecureString –AsPlainText
-Force)
Mount the ISO (mounted as D:), run the following:
md C:NanoServer
copy D:NanoServer*.ps1 C:NanoServer
Copy the scripts from the mounted image and dot-source them:
cd C:NanoServer
. .Convert-WindowsImage.ps1
. .New-NanoServerImage.ps1

14. Drivers, roles and features… (1)
• driver installation
‐ only what’s needed
 Dism /Add-Driver /Driver:<path> /recurse
‐ out-of-the-box driver package (additional installation)
 Dism /Add-Package /PackagePath:.packagesMicrosoft-NanoServer-OEM-Drivers-Package.cab
‐ VM (guest) package for Nano Server
 Dism /Add-Package /PackagePath:.packagesMicrosoft-NanoServer-Guest-Package.cab
• customizations
‐ unattend.xml

15. Drivers, roles and features… (2)
• roles and features
‐ folder Packages on the installation media
 Dism /Add-Package /PackagePath:.packages<package>
 Dism /Add-Package /PackagePath:.packagesen-us<package>
 (no support for localized packages at this time, so use en-us)
• agents and tools
‐ no MSI support! (xcopy or PowerShell scripts)
‐ the new installer will be available by RTM
(installations, deinstallations, inventory, online and offline installations, …)

16. Managing Nano Server
• sitting in front of a server today…
‐ …it makes no sense!
• options:
‐ PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC)
‐ Remote management/automation with Core PowerShell and WMI
‐ Server Manager
‐ Remote Server Management Tool (RSMT)
‐ 3rd party tools (5nine, …)
‐ integration with DevOps tools (Visual Studio 2015)

17. Core PowerShell (1)
• built on .NET Core Runtime
‐ lean, composable, open source, cross platform
• reduced disk footprint: 55MB total
‐ CoreCLR (45MB) + PowerShell (8MB) + Modules (2MB)
• full language, subset of features, most cmdlets
• PowerShell remoting (server-side only)
‐ backwards compatible with existing PowerShell remoting clients to PS 2.0
‐ file transfer over PowerShell remoting
‐ remote script authoring & debugging in ISE
• cmdlets for managing Nano Server components

18. Core PowerShell (2)

19. Remote Server Management Tools
• web interface containing management tools (like Azure portal)
• includes „replacements” for local tools like:
‐ Task Manager, Registry Editor
‐ Event Viewer, Device Manager
‐ SConfig
----------------------------
‐ Control Panel, File Explorer
‐ Performance Monitor
‐ Disk Management
‐ Users/Groups Manager
• management of Server Core/Server with GUI versions also
http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Nano-Server-Team/Remote-Server-Management-Tools-on-Nano-Server

20. Emergency Management Console
• new in Technical Preview 3
• provides local access to basic configuration and network
settings:
‐ Computer name
‐ Domain or workgroup name
‐ ipconfig /all information for each network
adapter
• next release will include ability to modify
network settings

21. Improvements – servicing
* analysis based on all patches released in 2014

22. Improvements – security

23. Improvements – resources

24. Improvements – installation

25. Building the demo…
• VMware Workstation 11 on Windows Server 2012 R2
‐ will be replaced with WS 2016 and Hyper-V 
‐ VM version configured as „Hyper-V (unsupported)”
‐ network adapters configured as vmxnet3 (not e1000e!)
 Nano Server image with OEMDrivers!
• components:
‐ 1 x AD, DNS, DHCP, management server
‐ 4-node Hyper-V cluster (Nano Server)
 using Storage Spaces Direct (with SATA drives!)
 2 networks (domain, storage)

26. DEMO

27. What’s next?
• install Nano Server, applications and tools
‐ deployment guide – https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt126167.aspx
• take a look at
‐ http://channel9.msdn.com/Tags/nano-server
‐ http://www.mattmcspirit.com/big-training-on-little-servers-its-nano-server-on-
mva/
‐ http://blogs.technet.com/b/ausoemteam/archive/2015/06/09/ignite-sessions-
for-oem-and-system-builder-partners-nano-server.aspx
• share your thoughts (on Nano Server )
‐ http://windowsserver.uservoice.com/forums/295068-nano-server
‐ http://windowsserver.uservoice.com/forums/295071-remote-management-tools

28. Conclusion
• not everything works (and it probably never will) on top of
Nano Server, but it has its purpose!
• no reason not to use it in supported scenarios… or maybe
there are some?
• this session is based on Technical Preview 2 & 3 content,
so stay tuned for changes until the RTM! 

29. THANK YOU!
http://blog.kaniski.eu/
tomica@kaniski.eu
Session content
• http://1drv.ms/1QsYodM