About Server Core
Server Core is a minimal server installation option for the Windows Server 2008 operating system. Server Core provides a low-maintenance environment capable of providing core server roles.
Server Core supports the following server roles:
- Active Directory (AD)
- Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS)
- DHCP Server
- DNS Server
- File Services
- Hyper-V
- Print Services
- Streaming Media Services
- Web Server (IIS)
Server Core is designed to provide an environment that reduces:
- Servicing requirements
- Management requirements
- Attack surface
- Disk space usage
To accomplish its core, but critical roles, the Server Core installation option only installs the binaries required by its supported roles. For example, the Explorer shell is not installed with Server Core. Instead, the Server Core user interface is the command prompt.