How To Manage Windows Server

In this blog post we are going to have a look at how you can manage Windows Server and what the right management tools are for you. To manage Windows Server, we offer a couple of different management tools depending on your needs, and in this blog post we are going to have a look at what the right solution is for you and how you can combine them.

Windows Server Management

As a Windows Server administrator, you’ve probably used many of the native Windows Server Microsoft Management Consoles (MMC) or PowerShell to keep the infrastructure secure and available. As the foundation of many on-premises, hybrid, and cloud native applications, the Windows Server teams have continued to invest in making the management and administration of your Windows Server instances easier by offering management tools like Azure Arc, Windows Admin Center, and System Center. These tools are designed to work together, and each have capabilities to meet you where you are in your server management needs.

• Azure Arc – Azure Arc-enabled servers enables you to manage your Windows and Linux physical servers and virtual machines hosted outside of Azure, on your corporate network, or other cloud provider. This management experience is designed to be consistent with how you manage native Azure virtual machines. This allows you to manage, govern, and secure your Windows Servers with services such as Azure Policy, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Azure Monitor, Azure Update Management, and more.
• Windows Admin Center – If you are looking into deep Windows Server and cluster administration, Windows Admin Center is an excellent choice. Windows Admin Center is the modern evolution of “in-box” management tools, like Server Manager and MMC, and complements other management solutions. And allows to manage servers remotely using PowerShell remoting. Windows Admin Center (WAC) also offers to connect hybrid Azure management services to your on-premises Windows Server. However, Windows Admin Center allows you to manage your Windows Servers with no Azure or cloud dependency.
• System Center – System Center allows you to stay in control of your IT infrastructure across your environment and platforms. It allows you to simplify the deployment, configuration, management, and monitoring of your infrastructure and virtualized software-defined datacenter, while increasing agility and performance.
• Windows Server on Azure – If you are running your Windows Server on Azure, Azure natively has management tools built in to manage your Azure Virtual Machines at cloud-scale.

If you want to learn more about your different Windows Server management tools and capabilities check out the new Microsoft Docs page.

Better together Windows Server and Azure Management

Windows Server together with Microsoft Azure cloud management capabilities allows you to get even more out of your Windows Server investments. These management capabilities are great for Windows Server running on Azure, but also for Windows Server running on-premises, at the edge, or other cloud providers using Azure Arc.

If you want to learn more about what Azure services are available to manage your Windows Servers, check out Microsoft Docs.

If you have any questions or feedback please let me know in the comments below.