type of Windows Server 2016.
One of the reasons Nano Server is so small is that unlike other deployment types of
Windows Server, Nano Server has no roles of features natively included; it is a bare-
bones operating system. You have to create a custom image for Nano Server and add
the various roles and features that you want; alternatively, you can add them post
deployment. Nano Server supports only 64-bit applications, tools, and agents. As part
of making Nano Server lean, it does not support full .NET and instead supports a
subset through its support of CoreCLR (https://blogs
.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2015/02/03/coreclr-is-now-open-source/) that gives
access to most .NET Framework capabilities including PowerShell through a new Core
PowerShell. Though initially it supports only a subset of cmdlets, this will expand over
time. For the initial RTM (Release to Manufacturing) of Windows Server 2016, Nano
Server is not suitable for all roles. It is not aimed at being a general application server,
but this will change. Nano Server will be the foundation for Windows Server for the
next 20 years. Initially, Nano Server is primarily aimed at two key scenarios:
Born-in-the-cloud applications built around CoreCLR, PaaS, and ASP.NET 5
Cloud platform (Hyper-V and Scale-Out File Servers)Additional roles are supported, such as DNS and Windows Containers, and this will
continue to expand in the same manner that roles were added to Server Core after
initially having a limited set when it first launched in Windows Server 2008. Nano
Server supports features such as clustering, shielded VMs, PowerShell DSC, Windows
Defender, and the normal drivers for physical deployments and components required
when running as a Hyper-V VM. Note that Nano Server is still Windows Server—it still
has components such as performance counters and event logs—it has just been
refactored from the ground up as “just enough OS” for the new generation of
applications and services.
NANO SERVER DEPLOYMENT
If you deploy Windows Server 2016, you will notice that there is no Nano Server
option. Instead, there are two deployment options for Standard and Datacenter, as
shown in Figure 5.3—Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2016 (Desktop
Experience). In Figure 5.3, both Standard and Datacenter are shown (as no product
key was entered, which normally sets the SKU).