Networking Overview

Applies To: Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012

This collection contains detailed information about networking products and features for the IT professional to design, deploy, and maintain Windows Server.

Networking resources for operating systems earlier than Windows Server 2012 are available at the following locations. Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Networking Windows Server 2003 Network Services

Networking in Windows Server Technical Preview

Following are the networking technologies and documentation for Windows ServerВ® 2016 Technical Preview.

Learn about managing virtual and physical network infrastructure with Network Controller.

Networking in Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2

Following are the networking technologies and documentation for Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2.

Discover new networking technologies and new features for existing technologies in Windows Server 2012 R2.

Discover new networking technologies and new features for existing technologies in Windows Server 2012.

Learn how to deploy a Windows Server network with the Core Network Guide and Companion Guides for Windows Server 2012.

Windows ServerВ® 2012 and WindowsВ® 8 provide features that you can use to deploy IEEE 802.1X authenticated wired service for Ethernet network clients. In combination with the 802.1X-capable Ethernet switches and other Windows ServerВ® 2012 services that you deploy on your network, you can control who can access your network.

Windows ServerВ® 2012 and WindowsВ® 8 provides features that you can use to deploy IEEE 802.1X authenticated wireless service for IEEE 802.11 wireless network clients. In combination with the 802.1X-capable wireless access points and other Windows ServerВ® 2012 services that you deploy on your network, you can control who can access your wireless network.

BranchCache is a wide area network (WAN) bandwidth optimization technology that is included in some editions of the Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 operating systems. To optimize WAN bandwidth when users access content on remote servers, BranchCache copies content from your main office or hosted cloud content servers and caches the content at branch office locations, allowing client computers at branch offices to access the content locally rather than over the WAN.

Data Center Bridging is a suite of technologies that aim to enable converged network fabrics – where storage, data networking, cluster inter-process communication (IPC), and management traffic all share the same Ethernet network infrastructure. DCB can provide cost savings and simplified management for enterprise and hoster data centers.

DirectAccess is now a role service of the Remote Access server role.

DNS is a hierarchical, distributed database that contains mappings of domain names to various types of data, such as IP addresses. DNS enables you to use friendly names, such as www.microsoft.com, to easily locate computers and other resources on a TCP/IP-based network. The DNS service in Windows ServerВ® 2012 adds enhanced support for DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC), including online signing and automated key management.

DHCP is a client-server technology that enables DHCP servers to assign, or lease, IP addresses to computers and other devices that are enabled as DHCP clients. When you deploy DHCP servers on your network, you can automatically provide client computers and other IPv4- and IPv6-based network devices with valid IP addresses and the additional configuration parameters these clients and devices need. The DHCP Server service in Windows ServerВ® 2012 includes support for policy based assignment and DHCP failover.

Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) extends Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) by allowing arbitrary authentication methods that use credential and information exchanges of arbitrary lengths. EAP was developed in response to demand for authentication methods that use security devices, such as smart cards, token cards, and crypto calculators. EAP provides an industry-standard architecture for supporting additional authentication methods within PPP.

High-speed networking features include TCP Chimney Offload, Virtual Machine Chimney, Virtual Machine Queue, receive-side scaling (RSS), and Network Direct Memory Access (NetDMA). These features can improve network and operating system performance.

Hyper-V Network Virtualization provides the concept of a Virtual Network that is independent of the underlying physical network. With this concept of Virtual Networks, which are composed of one or more Virtual Subnets, the exact physical location of an IP subnet is decoupled from the virtual network topology. As a result, customers can easily move their subnets to the cloud while preserving their existing IP addresses and topology in the cloud so that existing services continue to work unaware of the physical location of the subnets. That is, Hyper-V Network Virtualization enables a seamless hybrid cloud.

The Virtual Switch is part of the Hyper-V infrastructure in Windows Server® 2012 that enables virtual machines to connect to each other and to the host computer’s physical network. In Windows Server® 2012, the switch provides services that can be enhanced and extended by adding plug-ins that supply additional functionality.

IPAM is a built-in framework in Windows ServerВ® 2012 for discovering, monitoring, auditing, and managing the IP address space used on a corporate network. IPAM enables easier administration and monitoring of DHCP and DNS.

IPv6 is the replacement for IPv4, the Internet layer protocol of the TCP/IP protocol stack in prevalent use around the world today. IPv6 is fully supported in both Windows ServerВ® 2012 and WindowsВ® 8. IPv6 solves many of the problems and shortcomings of IPv4, providing an Internet layer protocol that can scale to the future needs of devices that will connect to the Internet. IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses to enable 3.4 Г— 1038 possible addresses, more than enough to handle today’s needs and those of the foreseeable future.

Discover this group of technologies that are designed for or which were improved in Windows Server 2012 to address low latency computing scenarios.

Network Load Balancing in Windows Server 2012 distributes traffic across several servers by using the TCP/IP networking protocol. It enhances the availability and scalability of Internet server applications.

The Network Policy and Access Services server role in Windows Server 2012 provides the Network Policy Server (NPS), Health Registration Authority (HRA), and Host Credential Authorization Protocol (HCAP) role services. You can use this server role to deploy and configure Network Access Protection (NAP) and Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) servers and proxies. RADIUS servers perform network access authorization and authentication for network connections through the network access servers that you deploy, such as 802.1X-capable wireless access points, 802.1X-capable Ethernet switches, and virtual private network (VPN) servers.

Netsh is a command-line scripting utility that allows you to display or modify the network configuration of a computer. You can use Netsh commands to configure the local computer and remote computers. Netsh also provides a scripting feature that allows you to run a group of commands in batch mode against a specified computer. With netsh, you can save a configuration script in a text file for archival purposes or to help you configure other computers.

This topic provides information about choosing the right network adapter for your server workload, network related performance counters, and performance tuning network adapters and related networking technologies, such as Receive Side Scaling (RSS), Receive Side Coalescing (RSC), and others.

Network Interface Card (NIC) Teaming, also called load balancing and failover (LBFO), allows multiple network adapters on a computer that is running Windows ServerВ® 2012 to be placed into a team to help prevent connectivity loss in the event of a network component failure and to enable bandwidth aggregation to help improve network performance.

Policy-based QoS in Windows ServerВ® 2012 and WindowsВ® 8 enables you to define the priority of traffic, negotiate finer service levels with bandwidth providers, and control bandwidth costs.

Remote Access in Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server® 2012 enables you to support remote network users by providing them with connectivity to your organization’s private network from anywhere. The role services for Remote Access are DirectAccess, Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS), and Web Application Proxy.

Learn about Software Defined Networking Technologies for your cloud deployment using Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows ServerВ® 2016 Technical Preview.

TAPI integrates telecommunications with the computer. TAPI supports both traditional and IP telephony to provide voice, data, and video communication.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is an industry standard suite of protocols that is designed for large networks consisting of network segments that are connected by routers. TCP/IP is the core protocol suite that is used on the Internet. In Windows Server 2012, TCP/IP – including both Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and IPv6 – is unchanged from TCP/IP in Windows Server 2008 R2. For more information, see TCP/IP in the Windows Server 2008 R2 Technical Library.

New in Windows Server 2012 R2, virtual Receive-side Scaling (vRSS) enables network adapters to distribute network processing load across multiple virtual processors in multi-core virtual machines (VMs).

Windows Firewall with Advanced Security is an advanced interface for IT professionals to use to configure both Windows Firewall and Internet Protocol security (IPsec) settings for the computers that are running Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 on their networks. Windows Firewall with Advanced Security in Windows Server 2012 adds support for IKEv2, Windows Store apps, and Windows PowerShell.

WINS provides a distributed database that maps network basic input/output system (NetBIOS) names to IP addresses and was designed to solve the problems arising from NetBIOS name resolution in routed environments.

Use this list of links to connect to command references for Windows PowerShell cmdlets for networking technologies.

The Windows PowerShell Networking Guide is available in Word format for download from the Microsoft Download Center. This guide explains how to use Windows PowerShell to manage some networking scenarios.

This WSiX Network Connection blog post shows you how to use Windows PowerShell to configure networking and Active Directory to get your new network and domain up and running.

Windows Server Gateway is new in Windows Server 2012 R2 and is not included in Windows Server 2012. Windows Server Gateway is a virtual machine (VM)-based virtual software router that allows Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) and Enterprises to enable datacenter and cloud network traffic routing between virtual and physical networks, including the Internet.

Core network guidance for Windows Server

Applies to: Windows Server, Windows Server 2016

This topic provides an overview of the Core network guidance for Windows ServerВ® 2016, and contains the following sections.

Introduction to the Windows Server Core Network

A core network is a collection of network hardware, devices, and software that provides the fundamental services for your organization’s information technology (IT) needs.

A Windows Server core network provides you with many benefits, including the following.

Core protocols for network connectivity between computers and other Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) compatible devices. TCP/IP is a suite of standard protocols for connecting computers and building networks. TCP/IP is network protocol software provided with MicrosoftВ® WindowsВ® operating systems that implements and supports the TCP/IP protocol suite.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server automatic IP addressing. Manual configuration of IP addresses on all computers on your network is time-consuming and less flexible than dynamically providing computers and other devices with IP address leases from a DHCP server.

Domain Name System (DNS) name resolution service. DNS allows users, computers, applications, and services to find the IP addresses of computers and devices on the network by using the Fully Qualified Domain Name of the computer or device.

A forest, which is one or more Active Directory domains that share the same class and attribute definitions (schema), site and replication information (configuration), and forest-wide search capabilities (global catalog).

A forest root domain, which is the first domain created in a new forest. The Enterprise Admins and Schema Admins groups, which are forest-wide administrative groups, are located in the forest root domain. In addition, a forest root domain, as with other domains, is a collection of computer, user, and group objects that are defined by the administrator in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). These objects share a common directory database and security policies. They can also share security relationships with other domains if you add domains as your organization grows. The directory service also stores directory data and allows authorized computers, applications, and users to access the data.

A user and computer account database. The directory service provides a centralized user accounts database that allows you to create user and computer accounts for people and computers that are authorized to connect to your network and access network resources, such as applications, databases, shared files and folders, and printers.

A core network also allows you to scale your network as your organization grows and IT requirements change. For example, with a core network you can add domains, IP subnets, remote access services, wireless services, and other features and server roles provided by Windows Server 2016.

Core Network Guide for Windows Server

The Windows Server 2016 Core Network Guide provides instructions on how to plan and deploy the core components required for a fully functioning network and a new Active DirectoryВ® domain in a new forest. Using this guide, you can deploy computers configured with the following Windows server components:

The Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) server role

The Domain Name System (DNS) server role

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server role

The Network Policy Server (NPS) role service of the Network Policy and Access Services server role

The Web Server (IIS) server role

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/IP) connections on individual servers

This guide is available at the following location.

• The Core Network Guide in the Windows Server 2016 Technical Library.

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