Configuring NIC Teaming remotely

I discussed, in the previous article, how you could configure the NIC Teaming feature on the local Windows Server 2012 machine with a full GUI shell. I also mentioned that you could do that remotely. Today, I will show you this method.

Although I used another Windows Server 2012 R2 machine for this demonstration, you can use Windows 8.1 (or later) desktop with a RSAT feature. The RSAT add-on is a suite of all the GUI administrative tools used on the server with the GUI.

That means that you can administer every server (with or without the GUI), from that workstation. Now, you don’t have any more excuses for avoiding using the Windows Server Core version. Even if you’re not familiar with the command line or power shell (edited 12.06.2017.), this tool will make your life easier.

 

Remote operations are easy in an AD domain

My first demonstration was on the stand-alone Windows server. For the remote access demo, I will need the AD domain and member server. Generally, we still can work with stand-alone servers, but we’ll need to manually configure the access lists for a remote management protocol (WinRM).

I made a change to my demo environment. I removed both the team and second NIC from the old server. I will use it as a base VM; then I made two linked clones for a new DC01 and Server01 VM. These two VMs are now in the local domain MIDEARTH.NET.

I’ll use my new domain controller DC01 for the remote operation. This is not good practice in the production environment. Use some member server or workstation for all remote administration tasks. Furthermore, keep that computer isolated from Internet access and, if possible, the rest of the network.

All tasks should be performed from the Windows Server 2012 Server Manager. The first task is to add all your servers in the list.

Choose All Servers, right-click on it and the only option is Add Servers. Click this and follow the Wizard to add all the servers that you need.

 

Remote management of NIC Teaming

Our server already had a NIC team. We made it in the previous demo. I’ll now show you both the remote management and team deletion process. At the end of this demo, our server will again have two separate NICs and it will be ready for the next stage – the process of power shell configuration.

I will choose the server named Server01 from the list. Then I need to right-click on it to open the context menu.

Now, we should locate the option named Configure NIC Teaming. Click on it and a new menu opens. This menu is the same as the one on the local machine.

We can perform all tasks as we’re logged on locally.

I want to delete this team. So, I’ll select it from the list, right-click on it and choose the option Delete.

The system will warn me that I am about to perform a dangerous operation that will affect the target system. I need to confirm this deletion.

When I click on the button [ Delete team ], the power shell commands will be executed on the remote server. After a short time, the NIC Team will be deleted.

We can close this window. When I refresh the data in the list of the Server Manager, I can see that the server now has two IP addresses.

That was simple

That’s it. I remotely deleted the existing team and returned both NICs to their original state. Keep in mind that both NICs now will obtain their IP address using the DHCP protocol.

We’re ready for the next step – the power shell configuration. We will perform it again on the local machine, but this is another story to tell.

Stay tuned.