Benefits of Server Core for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012

The following table lists the benefits of Server Core for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012.

Benefit	Description
Reduced servicing	Because Server Core for Windows Server 2012 installs only what is required for a manageable server, less servicing is required.
Reduced management	Because less is installed on a Server Core-based server, less management is required.
Reduced attack surface	Because there is less running on the server, there is less attack surface.
Less disk space required	Server Core requires about 4GB to install.
Less memory (RAM) required	Because fewer services are running on a Server Core-based server, memory that would otherwise be needed by Windows is available to Server applications.