Server_2016_Core

Windows Server 2016 Core

As of June 2017, if you spin up a t2.nano instance with Windows Server 2016 Core on AWS EC2, you will be able to build up a WebHub appliance.

Note:

• Remote Desktop is available

• Notepad is available.

• ZMAdmin works.

• MSIExec works. PowerShell v5 is included and works well.

• CodeSite Dispatcher works as-service. CodeSiteConsole.exe now automatically notices when CSLiveViewer could not work (i.e. on Core), and automatically directs the logging to CSL disk files.

• Assuming the appropriate firewall openings, you can use IIS Manager from a machine with a GUI to connect to your Core server, and thus use the usual GUI to maintain the web site settings on the Core server.

• When you are on Core, you can press Ctrl+Alt+Del to get a tiny menu from which you can run Task Manager. From TaskMgr you can File > Run powershell ⏎ to get the PowerShell prompt.

• You can go back and forth between PowerShell and CMD prompts fairly easily, and you can use exit ⏎ to get back to the prior shell.

• If you start with a single 30gb disk for storage on your EC2 instance, you should end up with about 18gb free that you can use for Drive C or D as you wish. (For comparison, if you launch with Windows Server 2016 with a full GUI, you will only have about 7gb free.)

PowerShell Scripts for Core

There are some extra PowerShell scripts in this project, to assist getting an AWS EC2 Core server up to the point where you can run the first WebHub Appliance script. Look for PowerShell\Sample_Build_AWS_EC2_Win2016_Core*.ps1

The easiest way to use those scripts is to open them on a machine with a GUI, copy the contents, and paste them via Ctrl+V into the PowerShell prompt on the Core machine. Press ⏎ to run.

Reminder: you should make sure your own Custom\Initialize.ps1 script is on the Core server BEFORE you run any of the WebHub appliance scripts.

Notepad c:\Temp\PowerShell\Custom\Initialize.ps1
REM Use the clipboard to transfer the appropriate Initialize.ps1 contents, 
REM and then File > Save from Notepad to disk on the Core server.

After that, a relatively easy way to see yours steps for building the appliance is as follows, at a PowerShell prompt:

Set-Location C:\Temp\PowerShell\WebHub_Appliance_PS
DIR *.bat