Server Manager Handles Multiple Servers

With the introduction of Windows Server 2012, Microsoft has made major changes to Server Manager, the management console of Windows Server. In addition to a new user interface, Server Manager has the ability to manage multiple servers (including server core installations) from a single console, making administrative tasks simpler and more consistent. The new interface streamlines common tasks and provides a dashboard so that administrators can see at a glance if there are issues. The previous Server Manager remains available and could continue to be important for managing servers running older OS versions.

Multiserver Management

Server Manager is a new built-in console for adding roles and features to servers, and for monitoring roles, server performance, and status, including errors and other events. It is a graphical user interface (GUI) front-end to PowerShell scripts similar to other management consoles such as those used for Exchange or Active Directory (AD) management. Server Manager runs on a server used for management and uses Windows Remote Management as the communication protocol. It therefore requires that remote management and remote PowerShell be enabled on all managed servers.