The Roles page in Server Manager
The Roles page of the Server Manager console contains a Roles Summary section, followed by collapsible sections added for each role that is installed on the computer.
Roles Summary section
The Roles Summary section lists roles that are installed on the computer in alphabetical order. To the left of each role is an icon that displays the current general operational status of the role.
Clicking the name of the role in the Roles Summary section opens the home page for that role.
Role-specific sections
Role-specific sections of the Roles page contain the following subsections.
| Subsection name | Description |
|---|---|
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Role Status |
The Role Status subsection shows if recent error and event messages were logged for the role or any services upon which the role depends. Clicking the links in Role Status opens the role-specific home page. |
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Role Services |
The Role Services subsection lists all available role services, provides a brief description of each, and shows which role services are installed on the server. You can use commands in the right side margin of the Role Services subsection to add or remove role services. |
Role-specific home pages
Role-specific home pages provide extensive detail about the operational status of a role, and let you to start role-specific management tasks from Server Manager.
Role-specific home pages include the following sections.
Summary section
The Summary section of a role's home page contains the following subsections.
| Section name | Description |
|---|---|
|
Events |
The Events section shows event and error messages that were logged for the role within the most recent 24 hours. You can open, view, and filter event messages in this section without opening Event Viewer separately. However, you can also use the Go to Event Viewer command in the right side margin of this section to open Event Viewer if it is necessary. |
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System Services |
The System Services section lists the system services upon which the role depends to run, and provides the status and a description of each service. Commands in the System Services section let you open the Services snap-in, stop, and restart services. |
Best Practices Analyzer | Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) can help administrators manage server roles within best practice guidelines by allowing them to scan one or more roles that are installed on Windows Server® 2008 R2 for best practice violations, and view detailed results and problem resolution information. For more information about Best Practices Analyzer, see Best Practices Analyzer. |
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Role Services |
The Role Services section lists all available role services, provides a brief description of each, and shows which role services are installed on the server. You can use commands in the right side margin of the Role Services subsection to add or remove role services. |
The Filter Events dialog box
The Filter Events command, located in the margin of the Events section, opens the Filter Events dialog box. Although the Filter Events dialog box lets you filter just as you can by using filtering tools in Event Viewer, this dialog box is unique to the role-specific home pages of Server Manager. Event Viewer filters provide more filtering options and criteria. The Filter Events dialog box in Server Manager provides a subset of Event Viewer filter functionality.
The Filter Events dialog box lets you to display selected events in the Events section of a role's home page based on the following three event properties.
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Levels Events are tagged with the following levels, depending on the severity of the action or condition that triggered the event message. When all levels are selected, events of all levels are displayed in the Events section of the role home page. By default, all levels are selected so that all levels of events show in the Events area.
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Information. Indicates that a change in an application or component has occurred, such as an operation has successfully completed, a resource was created, or a service started.
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Warning. Indicates that an issue has occurred that can affect service or result in a more serious problem if action is not taken.
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Error. Indicates that a problem has occurred, which might affect functionality that is external to the application or component that triggered the event.
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Critical. Indicates that a failure has occurred from which the application or component that triggered the event cannot automatically recover.
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Information. Indicates that a change in an application or component has occurred, such as an operation has successfully completed, a resource was created, or a service started.
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Event IDs You can filter events by ID numbers separated by commas, or a range of numbers separated by a dash. To exclude an event number in a range, enter a dash or minus character (-) in front of the number that you want to exclude.
Note The Levels property overrides other properties on the Filter Events dialog box. For example, if you want to filter events for an Error-level message that has an event ID of 620, but the Error level is not selected in the Levels area, event ID 620 will not be displayed. Similarly, if you have applied a filter in which you selected Information-level events and then specified a 12-hour time period, but no Information-level events were logged for the role in the last 12 hours, the Events list shows no events.
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Time period This property filters for events that have occurred only within the most recent specified time period. By default, the time period is set to 24 hours.
When you change any of the default settings on the Filter Events dialog box and then click OK, the Events area displays a Filtering Enabled message at the bottom of the list of events. Restoring default settings in the Filter Events dialog box (all levels selected, no event IDs specified, 24-hour time period specified) clears the Filtering Enabled message, disabling filtering.
System Services Preferences
Much like the Filter Events dialog box, the System Services Preferences dialog box in Server Manager includes a subset of the information and settings that are available in the Properties dialog box opened from the Services snap-in. Just as you can by using the Properties dialog box for specific services in the Services snap-in, you can use commands in the margin of the System Services area to start, stop, pause, and restart services associated with the operation of a role.
The Server Manager implementation of the Services Preferences dialog box allows you to monitor in the role's home page the status of services that are required by a role. Services associated with the role's operation are listed in the Preferences dialog box, and you can enable or disable monitoring for each service independently.
 | Important |
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Default system services are selected for monitoring in the Preferences dialog box for the optimal continuity of the role's operation. Modifying default monitoring settings, especially turning off monitoring for services that are monitored by default, can result in error conditions or status changes in the role's operation. |
Resources and Support section
The Resources and Support section provides guidance for managing the role and configuring the role to perform common and recommended tasks in your enterprise.
The Resources and Support section lists recommended configurations for the role. Selecting a configuration displays a description of each that includes a link to a checklist topic that guides you through the tasks that must be performed to complete the configuration.
You can find more assistance with managing and deploying additional aspects of the role by clicking the links in the margin of the Resources and Support section that connect you to the Help and the Windows Server 2008 R2 TechCenter Web site for the role.