Windows Server 2012: Roles & Features
A colleague asked me earlier today if I knew off the top of my head how many roles and features there are in Windows Server 2012, and I had to admit that I did not know. As Albert Einstein once said, why memorize what you can reference. However as a quick exercise I decided to not only count them, but type them up into an article for Kalvin… and for all of you!
NOTE: I included all of the sub-roles and sub-features as well for all except for the Remote Server Administration Tools, which would show a tool for all of the roles and features.
Roles:
1. Active Directory Certificate Services
2. Active Directory Domain Services
3. Active Directory Federation Services
4. Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
5. Active Directory Rights Management Services
6. Application Server
7. DHCP Server
8. DNS Server
9. Fax Server
10. File and Storage Services
a. File and iSCSI Services
i. File Server
ii. BranchCache for Network Files
iii. Data Deduplication
iv. DFS Namespaces
v. DFS Replication
vi. File Server Resource Manager
vii. File Server VSS Agent Services
viii. iSCSI Target Server
ix. iSCSI Target Storage Provider
x. Server for NFS
b. Storage Services
11. Hyper-V
12. Network Policy and Access Services
13. Print and Document Services
14. Remote Access
15. Remote Desktop Services
16. Volume Activation Services
17. Web Server (IIS)
Features:
1. .NET Framework 3.5 Features
a. .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0)
b. HTTP Activation
c. Non-HTTP Activation
2. .NET Framework 4.5 Features
a. .NET Framework 4.5
b. ASP.NET 4.5
c. WCF Services
i. HTTP Activation
ii. Message Queuing (MSMQ) Activation)
iii. Named Pipe Activation
iv. TCP Activation
v. TCP Port Sharing
3. Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)
a. IIS Server Extension
b. Compact Server
4. BitLocker Drive Encryption
5. BitLocker Network Unlock
6. BranchCache
7. Client for NFT
8. Data Center Bridging
9. Enhanced Storage
10. Failover Clustering
11. Group Policy Management
12. Ink and Handwriting Services
13. Internet Printing Client
14. IP Address Management (IPAM) Server
15. iSNS Server Service
16. LPR Port Monitor
17. Management OData IIS Extension
18. Media Foundation
19. Message Queuing
a. Message Queuing Services
b. Message Queuing DCOM Proxy
20. Multipath I/O
21. Network Load Balancing
22. Peer Name Resolution Protocol
23. Quality Windows Audio Video Experience
24. RAS Connection Manager Administration Kit (CMAK)
25. Remote Assistance
26. Remote Differential Compression
27. Remote Server Administration Tools
28. RPC over HTTP Proxy
29. Simple TCP/IP Services
30. SMTP Server
31. SNMP Server
a. SNMP WMI Provider
32. Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (Deprecated)
33. Telnet Client
34. Telnet Server
35. TFTP Client
36. User Interfaces and Infrastructure
a. Graphical Management Tools and Infrastructure
b. Desktop Experience
c. Server Graphical Shell
37. Windows Biometric Framework
38. Windows Feedback Forwarder
39. Windows Identity Foundation 3.5
40. Windows Internal Database
41. Windows PowerShell
a. Windows PowerShell 3.0
b. Windows PowerShell 2.0
c. Windows PowerShell ISE
d. Windows PowerShell Web Access
42. Windows Process Activation Service
a. Process Model
b. .NET Environment 3.5
c. Configuration APIs
43. Windows Search Service
44. Windows Server Backup
45. Windows Server Migration Tools
46. Windows Standards-Based Storage Management
47. Windows System Resource Manager (Deprecated)
48. Windows TIFF IFilter
49. WinRM IIS Extension
50. WINS Server
51. Wireless LAN Service
52. WoW64 Support
53. XPS Viewer
Now: Adding roles and features in Windows Server 2012 is easier than it was previously… either use the Add Roles and Features Wizard (See my article and video here). Or you can use Windows PowerShell (which is the preferred way to do it) by using the cmdlet Install-WindowsFeature. Even though there is a distinction between Roles and Features, the cmdlet to install them is the same for both.
Now go forth and serve, my fellow IT Pros!