Windows Server 2012 Prelimary configuration steps

Once a Windows Server is installed, there some basic changes that need to be done before configuring it for ulitmate duty. These are:

1. Configure a static IP address. Servers don’t usually receive their IP address dynamically like other workstations like Window XP, Vista, 7, or 8.
2. Configure the time zone. Necessary for time sensitive tasks. Configure the time zone first, then correct the date and time if necessary.
3. Enable remote desktop. In all likelyhood once you configure the server, you will not touch it physically anymore. With Remote Desktop Enabled, and the IP address of the server you can remotly connect and do whatever you need from your Windows workstation Remote Desktop Connection client.
4. Finally the last thing to do is change to computer name to something more intuitive than WIN-XXXXXXX. Once this is done you can connect to it in the Windows explorer or Remote Desktop client with the simple computer name such as DC1, or SQL1