Base ServerTemplate for Windows (v12.11 LTS)
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Description
The "Base" ServerTemplate is specifically designed for developing custom ServerTemplates that include best practices for deploying Windows servers with the RightScale management platform.
Features
- Multi-cloud Support - Launch a server into one several supported cloud infrastructures. Check the ServerTemplate's Images tab to see which MultiCloud Images (MCIs) are included by default. However, additional MCIs can be added to the ServerTemplate, if desired.
- Basic set of PowerShell scripts for setting up a custom Windows administrator password, system monitoring, and alerts.
- Examples of system-required input variables.
Technical Overview
Software Application Versions
Some versions are not available in all clouds. Check the ServerTemplate's Images tab for details.
- Windows Server 2008; Service Pack 2
- Windows Server 2008R2; Service Pack 1
Database Filesystem
For Windows servers, the root filesystem (C:\) is located on a mounted volume (if volumes are supported). In the example screenshot below, an EBS volume is used as the root filesystem for an EC2 instance. Note: The instance's AWS ID (i-904c37c9) is used in the nickname of the volume.
Windows Updates
The 'SYS Set Windows Automatic Updates Policy' and 'SYS Install All Windows Updates' scripts control whether or not Automatic Windows Updates will be applied to a running server, as well as how the updates will be applied. Some updates require the server to be rebooted in order to complete the update. In such cases, you can use the REBOOT_BEHAVIOR input to either allow is disallow an automatic reboot of the instance. By default, servers will NOT be rebooted so that you can pick a more convenient time to reboot the server in order to minimize the affect on your application and its users.
See Base ServerTemplate for Windows - Runbook for details.
Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) Article Updates
Use the 'SYS Install Microsoft update by KB number' script and KB_ARTICLE_NUMBER input to selectively pick which KB updates to apply to the server.
See Base ServerTemplate for Windows - Runbook for details.
Microsoft Key Management Server (KMS)
Use the 'SYS Activate Windows with KMS server' script with the KMS_HOST and KMS_PORT inputs to use a Microsoft Key Management Server (KMS) to activate volume licensed Microsoft products like a Windows 2008 Server.
See Base ServerTemplate for Windows - Runbook for details.
Monitoring
The 'SYS Monitoring install Windows' script is used to enable the instance for real-time monitoring by the RightScale management platform. DO NOT CHANGE the values for the SKETCHY and SERVER_UID inputs because they are used to properly connect the instance to RightScale's Monitoring system so that you can view real-time monitoring graphs (under the Monitoring tabs) in the dashboard and set up alerts for automation. If the script is executed successfully, you will see the following machine tag on the instance.
- rs_monitoring:state=active
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