Despite all the options out there, Windows servers remain extremely popular for a number of very valid reasons. However, these servers don’t manage themselves. If you follow the below tips, though, managing Windows servers don’t have to be as much of a challenge and many issues you used to face will actually disappear.
Apply a Change Control Process
Like most businesses, your IT department probably has a lot of freedom with what they access and why. This is generally a good idea, but it can also cause serious problems. Having access to vital servers means that a staff member could make a change that affects your line-of-business applications or domain controllers. Now you’re in serious trouble.
Introducing a change control process will definitely slow some of your people down, but it’s worth it when you consider the risks. Ensure that before a change is made, it’s approved by a supervisor. Carry out a risk assessment and then create a plan for implementing the change based on what you find. In a lab or some other preproduction environment, test this plan.
Using Group Policy
Group Policy is extremely powerful and carries with it the potential to implement changes across all your servers at the same time. It’s understandable, then, that many administrators tend to shy away from it. So, many server configurations are handled through security templates or managed manually.
As a part of Active Directory, Group Policy can be used for creating Group Policy Objects (GPOs). These, in turn, are used to define security and configuration settings for servers. For this reason, make sure that only qualified IT team members to have the power to modify GPOs.
Learn PowerShell
With so much software out there these days, it can feel like you already have enough on your plate. Still, PowerShell lives up to the hype and is definitely worth learning, especially if you have repetitive tasks you’d like to automate.
Windows 2008 Rs even introduced a PowerShell module that makes managing Active Directory natively easier for System Administrators.
While it’s true that Windows servers may be some of the most user-friendly to manage, the above tips can go a long way toward making them even easier to use. Of course, at ServerPronto, we know plenty of ways to help in this regard as well.
ServerPronto offers the best affordable and secure hosting service in all dedicated server packages.
Source:
5 Tips for Managing Windows Servers More Efficiently
Photo cred: Flickr /Â kevin.costain
Comments are closed.