When i first read about Windows Server core, let’s say at some time in 2006, I immediately thought of the days managing Novell 3.11 systems, although there were a couple of NLMs (loadable modules) that provided a kind of GUI interface, most system configuration commands were typed at the console prompt. The command i will never forget is “get reply to get nearest server off” 🙂 this to prevent clients logging on to the wrong netware server.
Because administrating Netware 3.11 systems at the command prompt or via the remote DOS console wasn’t that great, and to my knowledge Novell only introduced a Windows GUI with NetWare 4.01, most admins with some programming knowledge ended up in developing their own GUIs to make their day to day admin tasks easier, either by using VB code and use the novell objects or using tools such as WinBatch that provided so-called netware extenders, providing a large collection of simplified functions.
Back to 2008, for those that still feel more comfortable with a GUI, have a look at Guy Teverovskys‘ . blog, where he presents us with a Administration GUI for Windows Server Core.
http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/guyt/