What Is Windows Admin Center?
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TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................5 What is Windows Admin Center?.....................................................................................5 Why Would I Use Windows Admin Center? ....................................................................6 How Does Windows Admin Center Compare to Traditional MMC Tools?..................6 Pros of WAC over MMC ...................................................................................................6 Cons of WAC against MMC ..............................................................................................7 Windows Admin Center System Requirements and Limitations ...................................8 System Requirements to Run the Windows Admin Center Front-End ...............................8 System Requirements to Access Windows Admin Center’s Interface ................................9 System Requirements for Windows Admin Center Target Systems...................................9 Windows Admin Center Deployment Choices.............................................................11 Windows Admin Center Desktop Mode .........................................................................12 Windows Admin Center Gateway Mode.........................................................................13 Windows Admin Center in High Availability Mode......................................................15 INSTALLING WINDOWS ADMIN CENTER .....................................................................16 Guided Installation on Windows 10 (Desktop Mode) .................................................16 Guided Installation on Windows Server (Gateway Mode) .........................................20 Command-line Installation on Windows Server (Gateway Mode)............................24 Scripted Installation in High Availability Mode ...........................................................25 Using PKI Certificates with Windows Admin Center .......................................................26 Certificate Requirements for Windows Admin Center ....................................................26 Extracting a Certificate Thumbprint to Use with Windows Admin Center........................29 Third-Party Tools for Selecting the Windows Admin Center Certificate...........................30 Upgrading Windows Admin Center...............................................................................32 Backup SolutionsTrusted 2 by 40,000+ Businesses FIRST STEPS WITH WINDOWS ADMIN CENTER...........................................................33 Starting WAC in Desktop Mode ......................................................................................33 Accessing WAC in Gateway Mode ..................................................................................34 Windows Admin Center’s First Run Experience...........................................................34 Major Elements of the Windows Admin Center Interface ..........................................36 Connection Type..........................................................................................................36 PowerShell Display ......................................................................................................37 Notifications................................................................................................................37 Settings.......................................................................................................................39 About and Help............................................................................................................44 Main System List..........................................................................................................45 System Overview .............................................................................................................47 SECURITY IN WINDOWS ADMIN CENTER.....................................................................48 Securing Windows Admin Center..................................................................................48 The TrustedHost List and Windows Admin Center .....................................................49 PKI Certificates in Windows Admin Center ..................................................................50 Credentials in Windows Admin Center.........................................................................51 Configuring Kerberos Delegation for Windows Admin Center..................................52 Controlling Access to Windows Admin Center ............................................................52 WINDOWS ADMIN CENTER EXTENSIONS ....................................................................54 Available Extensions........................................................................................................54 Installed Extensions.........................................................................................................56 Extension Feeds ...............................................................................................................56 Develop Your Own Extensions for Windows Admin Center .......................................56 ADDING SYSTEMS TO WINDOWS ADMIN CENTER.......................................................58 Import a List .....................................................................................................................60 Search Active Directory (1903+).....................................................................................63 Backup SolutionsTrusted 3 by 40,000+ Businesses USING WINDOWS ADMIN CENTER...............................................................................64 Overview ...........................................................................................................................65 Extensions List..................................................................................................................66 Tips on Using Windows Admin Center..........................................................................67 APPENDIX 1: REFERENCES AND LINKS.......................................................................69 APPENDIX 2: .NET FRAMEWORK PREREQUISITE .......................................................71 Enabling the .Net Framework on Windows 10 ............................................................71 Enabling the .Net Framework on Windows Server 2012+..........................................71 Acquiring the .Net Framework for Windows Server 2008 R2.....................................72 APPENDIX 3: WINDOWS MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK PREREQUISITE .....................73 APPENDIX 4: FILE SERVER PREREQUISITE.................................................................74 APPENDIX 5: HYPER-V POWERSHELL MODULE PREREQUISITE ................................76 APPENDIX 6: ENABLING REMOTE MANAGEMENT.......................................................77 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ...................................................................................................80 ALTARO VM BACKUP.....................................................................................................81 ALTARO VM BACKUP FOR MSPs ...................................................................................82 ALTARO OFFICE 365 BACKUP FOR MSPs .....................................................................83 ABOUT ALTARO ............................................................................................................84 Backup SolutionsTrusted 4 by 40,000+ Businesses INTRODUCTION Each version of Windows and Windows Server showcases new technologies. The advent of PowerShell marked a substantial step forward in managing those features. However, the built-in graphical Windows management tools have largely stagnated - the same basic Microsoft Management Console (MMC) interfaces had remained since Windows Server 2000. Microsoft tried out multiple overhauls over the years to the built-in Server Manager console but gained little traction. Until Windows Admin Center. WHAT IS WINDOWS ADMIN CENTER? Windows Admin Center (WAC) represents a modern turn in Windows and Windows Server system management. From its home page, you establish a list of the networked Windows and Windows Server computers to manage. From there, you can connect to an individual system to control components such as hardware drivers. You can also use it to manage Windows roles, such as Hyper-V. On the front-end, Windows Admin Center is presented through a sleek HTML 5 web interface. On the back-end, it leverages PowerShell extensively to control the systems within your network. The entire package runs on a single system, so you don’t need a complicated infrastructure to support it. In fact, you can run it locally on your Windows 10 workstation if you want. If you require more resiliency, you can run Windows Admin Center as a role on a Microsoft Failover Cluster. Backup SolutionsTrusted 5 by 40,000+ Businesses WHY WOULD I USE WINDOWS ADMIN CENTER? In the modern era of Windows management, we have shifted to a greater reliance on industrial-strength tools like PowerShell and Desired State Configuration. However, we still have servers that require individualized attention and infrequently utilized resources. WAC gives you a one-stop hub for dropping in on any system at any time and work with almost any of its facets. HOW DOES WINDOWS ADMIN CENTER COMPARE TO TRADITIONAL MMC TOOLS? Eventually, Windows