Software For New windows 2008 R2 Server Setup

I’m setup a new Windows 2008 Server R2 at a Primary school this half-term, They have a Windows 2003 at the min but the server is total out of disk space. Since the server is the only 1 in the school it will have DHCP, DNS, AD, WDS running on it.

The question I want to ask is what extra software – tools would you put on the server. My list is below, just want to know if I’m missing anything good off, as 2 minds are always better then 1 :)

PaterCut Logger
Sophos EM
Specops Gpupdate 2.0
Logmein (Remote Access)
HP Data Protector Express (Free Version)
Sun Java
.Net 1, 2, 3.5 sp1
Sysinternals Tools
Shockwave Player
Flash Player
Adobe Reader
FireFox

I’m planning to use the WiseSoft Speadsheet for managing the user accounts, Always just a custom script before anyone got any other free choices that are better?

The only general tool I ever add to my servers that's not on that list is 7-Zip. Conversely, I would actually take some stuff off that list. Specifically, all the Adobe stuff, and Firefox.

Why? Well, different people use their servers in different ways, but my opinion is that you shouldn't ever be using your server as a pseudo-workstation, so you should never need things like browsers, Adobe Reader, Flash, or Shockwave. Their frequent need for security updates creates a risk that I wouldn't want to expose any server to, let alone a DC. I'd also only install Java if there was a specific piece of software running on the server that required it, for the same reason.

The servers I deploy are always virtualised, so in cases where the school has had no workstations that can be used as an IT support workstation, I've set up a virtual machine running XP/Vista, connected to it through Remote Desktop, and installed whatever I need on that.

7Zip for handling pesky archive files, but apart from that I would leave the server pretty much barebones for security reasons. With all the Adobe flaws coming to light, I wouldn't want those holes open on a server.

Do update IE with whatever patches though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AngryTechnician

different people use their servers in different ways, but my opinion is that you shouldn't ever be using your server as a pseudo-workstation, so you should never need things like browsers, Adobe Reader, Flash, or Shockwave.

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I too would agree with this, something I learned from my first network manager when I started working in a school enviroment.

i agree, i never ever but apps on my servers only if i need to. they can cause security issues.

The last thing you would want is your server fail to boot because adobe messed something up.