Remote Server Admin Tools Released

[Diello]

From VistaTeamBlog:

"Many of you have asked us when the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) would be available for download now that Windows Vista SP1 has been released. As of today, you can!

RSAT is an excellent set of tools for IT Pros wanting to manage their Windows Server environment right from their desktop. RSAT also includes an updated Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), which was previously removed in Windows Vista SP1.

Download: Remote Server Administration Tools (x86)
Download: Remote Server Administration Tools (x64)

RSAT is an updated version of what is called ADMINPAK.MSI and can be used by IT Pros to manage computers running Windows Server 2008. Because many of these tools also work for managing computers running Windows Server 2003, it is essentially "the next version" of ADMINPAK.MSI.

The following are a list of the tools you will find in RSAT:

Role Administration Tools:

* Active Directory Certificate Services Tools
* Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
* Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
* DHCP Server Tools
* DNS Server Tools
* File Services Tools
* Network Policy and Access Services Tools
* Terminal Services Tools
* Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools

Feature Administration Tools:

* BitLocker Drive Encryption Tools
* Failover Clustering Tools
* Group Policy Management Tools
* Network Load Balancing Tools
* SMTP Server Tools
* Storage Manager for SANs Tools
* Windows System Resource Manager Tools

And these tools also fully supported managing Windows Server 2003 servers:

* Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
* Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
* Active Directory Certification Authority Tools
* DHCP Server Tools
* DNS Server Tools
* Terminal Services Tools
* Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools
* Group Policy Management Tools
* Network Load Balancing Tools

Download RSAT today and start managing your servers!"

x86 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
x64 - Download details: Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista SP1 64-bit Edition (KB941314)

[Michael]

Thanks for the heads up Diello. This is for all you Vista SP1 users

[ricki]

Thanks am downloading it now.

Wish me luck lols.

Richard

[Abaddon]

Downloaded, installed and running ok.. at least it seems to. Will report back if I find any problems!

[wagnerk]

I already download it and using it, so far no problems - fingers cross none crop up

-Ken

[OverWorked]

I'm downloading it now. Just to save me the labour of searching through technet: can this administer Server 2003? Is it a complete replacement for adminpak.msi?

Edit:-
Sorry. Just reread what Diello said. It looks like it is.

[Michael]

can this administer Server 2003?

Yes, you administer both 2003 and 2008 Server with this. If you have Windows XP clients, you still need to use this instead.

Question is though, does the Windows Server 2003 SP2 Admin Tools (which I linked above), allow you to control 2008 Server from Windows XP?

[OverWorked]

Originally Posted by Michael

If you have Windows XP clients, you still need to use this instead.

Hang on... does that just mean that I need to use Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Administration Tools Pack for administering GPOs that control XP clients, or just that I need to use that if I'm using an XP client for my administrative machine?

Can the new Vista tool (RSAT for Vista SP1) be used to edit GPOs that control XP clients?

I read somewhere on MS that once Vista on the domain, administrators should use the GPMC included with Vista to administer GPOs from then on, and not the gpmc available for Server 2003. With the release of Vista SP1 and RSAT, I suppose that this has been superceded.

I previously used XP for my administration, but as I'm having to incoporate a couple of Vista clients, I've set up Vista running on a VM just for server and AD administration.

[Michael]

If you're using Windows XP, you install the Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Administration Tools Pack.

If you're using Windows Vista RTM, you use the built in GPMC 2.0. If you're using Vista SP1, then you install RSAT.

Thinking about this logically, the reason there are complications is because Vista introduced .ADMX templates whereas 2000/XP use .ADM templates. You cannot use 2003 Server to administer Vista GPOs, which is why you install RSAT.

I'm guessing because Server 2008 still supports XP (and maybe 2000), that it can use either .ADM or .ADMX templates natively. As to whether Vista SP1 with RSAT installed can control XP GPOs, I don't know for certain!

[OverWorked]

Thanks, Michael.

This is a real headache. I have a domain of Server 2003 + XP. I'm is the process of adding a few Vista clients. I'm not upgrading the servers to 2008.

I know about the new .ADMX templates, and that XP won't be able to read them - this is what worries me.

Before I go any further I need to know:-

I need to use the new Vista RSAT tool for creating GPOs for the new Vista clients, but what will that do to the existing GPOs I have for XP?

If I use the new Vista tools for editing / creating GPOs, will those GPOs be readable by the XP clients? If I accidentally use RSAT to edit a XP GPO, will it break it?

[Michael]

After doing some more research Microsoft really have made things complicated!!!!!! I swear Microsoft have contradicted themselves here!?

Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP1 are both capable of managing .ADMX templates. This won't affect 2000/XP/2003 because they cannot read .ADMX templates.

However Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP1 are also both capable of managing any OS which uses GPOs. So this includes Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista and 2008.

But this is where it throws me completely -

Group Policy tools will continue to recognize custom ADM files you have in your existing environment, but will ignore any ADM file that has been superseded by ADMX files: System.adm, Inetres.adm, Conf.adm, Wmplayer.adm, and Wuau.adm. Therefore, if you have edited any of the these files to modify existing or create new policy settings, the modified or new settings will not be read or displayed by the Windows Vista–based Group Policy tools.

So it appears that if I had created a custom ADM file called ABC123.ADM, Vista will not supersede it, but if it supersedes the existing .ADM files and XP cannot read .ADMX templates, this doesn't make sense.

Microsoft, you're really putting me off Vista permanently. Unsurprisingly I chose No at the bottom where it says What this information helpful?

[OverWorked]

Thanks for the help, Michael. You appear to be as confused as I am. It's as clear as mud (the info from MS I mean, not your post).

I've got a copy of the book MS Vista Resource Kit, from MS Press. Chapter 13 looks like it may have some useful info. It'll take a while to read, though. I'll let you know if it says anything interesting.

[OverWorked]

I've read the relevant part of the Resource Kit, and expermiented and it works. The RSAT can be used to create and edit GPOs for XP, it doesn't break them.

The clients don't see the ADM / ADMX files, they just get the resulting registry settings, so it doesn't matter to XP what the GPO uses. Obvious, really, I just couldn't see it earlier.

Once you have Vista on the domain, you should use the Vista running SP1 and RSAT to administer it, and ditch the Windows Server 2003 Admin Tools.

[Michael]

So in practice then, the .ADMX equivalents of System.adm, Inetres.adm, Conf.adm, Wmplayer.adm, and Wuau.adm are also used for Windows XP, (when Vista clients exist) but all the administration is done from Windows Vista SP1 or Windows Server 2008?

[OverWorked]

Yes...

The client (2000, XP or Vista) gets the registry settings set by the GPO, regardless of whether the GPO is using .adm or .admx files.

The new .admx files are a superset of the settings contained in the old adm files. ie the .admx files contain everything the .adm files do plus more.

But, to administer Vista you need SP1 with RSAT, which is backward compatible with the XP GPMC. So, if you have Vista on the domain, start administering it (all your GPOs, whether they're for Vista or earlier OSs) from Vista running RSAT, and forget about the earlier versions of GPMC.

I really recommend the Vista Resource Kit. Even though it's already a bit out of date since SP1 came out.