http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/F/7/EF7D1757-DA76-4E0C-BA86-323706982381/Windows_Server_2012_R2_Essentials_Overview_White_Paper.pdf
Microsoft Home Windows Server 2012 Essential:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/products/windows-server-2012-r2-essentials/default.aspx#fbid=IOY74KU5tFm
Home page for Remote Web Access: Simple, easy-to-use interface for getting to computers and data
Here is the Windows Server Essential Windows Client and iOS
Windows Server 2012 Essentials is good solution up to 25 users
Windows Server 2012 Essentials, users get a slick web-based, touch-friendly login to their on-premise desktop computers not available with any other Microsoft product.
has built-in hooks to Office 365, it is particularly suited to small businesses that want to integrate on-premise Active Directory with cloud-hosted Office 365-based email services.
To add a user/PC to domain you musto go as in the following screenshot and download utility:
Remote access to Shared Folders. Users can download files and folders, and upload one or more files to the shared folders on their server while away from the network. Users can also search through the Shared Folders to locate a specific file or files. Providing easy remote access to files encourages users to keep data stored on the server where only authorized users have access and the data is protected.
Remote access to computers. Connect remotely to the computers in your network and run applications as if you were sitting in front of your computer. To connect to one of your computers, on the Computers tab, simply click the Connect button next to the computer. You can only connect to a computer that is Available for connection and that is running one of the following operating systems:
• Windows 8.1 Pro, Windows 8.1 Enterprise
• Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise
• Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 7 Professional
Remotely connect to the Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials Dashboard. If the need arises, you can access the Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials Dashboard while working remotely to add new users, add new shared folders, check the health of your network, or perform other administrative tasks.
Expanded device support. Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials also provides an updated Windows Phone app and a new app for Windows 8 and 8.1 clients, allowing users to intuitively connect to, search across, and access files and folders on the server; files are also automatically cached for offline access and synchronized when a connection to the server becomes available.
Remote Domain Join. Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials turns setting up virtual private networking (VPN) into a painless wizard-driven process of just a few clicks, and simplifies the management of VPN access for users. Client computers can leverage a VPN connection to remotely
Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials has been designed to allow customers the flexibility to choose which applications and services run on-premises and which run in the cloud. In previous versions, Windows Small Business Server Standard included Exchange Server as a component product, which added expense and complexity for customers who wished to leverage cloud-based messaging and collaboration services. With Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials, customers can take advantage of the same type of integrated management experience whether they choose to run an on-premises copy of Exchange Server, subscribe to a hosted Exchange service, or subscribe to Office 365.
Messaging and collaboration with Office 365. Office 365 is an online subscription service that provides email, shared calendars, the ability to create and edit documents online, instant messaging, web conferencing, a public website for your business, and internal team sites—all accessible from virtually anywhere from nearly any device. Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials includes an integration module that can be used to easily manage your user accounts across both the local Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials and online Office 365 environments from within the Dashboard. In addition, customers with Office 2010 installed on their client computers can quickly configure it to work with Office 365. Users can then easily retrieve, edit and save Office docs in the Office 365 cloud, co-author docs in real-time with others, quickly initiate PC-to-PC calls, instant messages and web conferences with others.
Hosted Exchange. Many small businesses have taken advantage of cloud-based messaging services based on hosted Exchange offerings. Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials will provide a framework that service providers can easily build a custom add-in on top of to work with their specific hosted Exchange environment. This will allow you to manage your user accounts across both the local Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials and hosted Exchange environments from within the Dashboard.
On-premises Exchange Server. Microsoft Exchange Server is a flexible and reliable messaging platform that millions of users rely on every day to stay connected and be productive. While no longer a core product component in Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials, Exchange Server running on a separate server remains a fully supported choice for providing your small business with email services. As with Office 365, an integration module can be used to easily manage your user accounts across both the Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials and Exchange Server from within the Dashboard.
Other cloud-based applications and services. Messaging and collaboration are two of the first cloud-based services that many small businesses embrace, but a variety of other applications and services are available as well. Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials and its rich extensibility model allows you to cloud-enable your IT and take advantage of a growing number of online offerings from Microsoft and other third parties to boost your productivity.
The Dashboard is organized around tasks, with different activities presented on different tabs. Each tab in the Dashboard contains specific action items, giving you better control, while still making changes simple to understand and perform.
- The redesigned Home tab has been enhanced to quickly and easy expose a broader set of administrative actions. It provides shortcuts to tasks for setting up and managing the server environment, for connecting to various messaging services (either cloud-based or on-premises), for installing Add-ins that extend the functionality of your server, for getting a quick snapshot of the server’s status, and for locating and accessing help and support resources.
- The Users tab allows you to add and manage up to 25 user accounts. Several actions can be performed on individual user accounts, such as changing the shared folders they have access to and defining what level of remote access they have. Other tasks are used to manage all user accounts, such as defining a password policy.
- The Devices tab allows you to view the health and backup status of computers on the network, as well as configure backups for the server and client computers. You can also apply group policies to Windows 7 and Windows 8 client computers to help make them more secure.
- The Storage tab allows you to manage the server’s shared folders and physical hard drives. The Server Folders sub-tab is used to create, modify, remove, and relocate shared folders. The Hard Drives sub-tab is used to view, add, and remove hard drives, as well as to manage Storage Spaces, which allows you to aggregate the physical storage capacity of disparate hard drives, dynamically add hard drives, and to create data volumes with specified levels of resilience.
- The Applications tab allows you to discover and manage Add-ins which can be used to extend the function of Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials. The Add-ins sub-tab is used to view, manage, and remove software components developed by Microsoft and other third parties. The Microsoft Pinpoint sub-tab dynamically queries the Microsoft Pinpoint web site to display a list of highly-rated applications and other solutions that help solve specific business needs.
- The Dashboard also provides links to:
o Alerts, which opens the Alert Center to show any active error, warning, or informational messages.
o Settings, which can be used to configure the server’s date and time, the Windows Update properties, media streaming properties, and Anywhere Access settings, including the configuration of Remote Web Access properties.
o Help, which displays product information.
Easy client setup. For each computer you want to fully participate in your network, the Connector software can be installed from a web browser interface, which enables it to be run either locally or from a remote location outside of your office network. The client setup installs the Launchpad, which runs on each client PC in your network and provides a simple way to access Shared Folders, initiate a backup, connect to your Remote Web Access page, open the Dashboard, and interact with any installed Add-ins which provide client-side extensions.
[original articlehttp://www.techrepublic.com/blog/the-enterprise-cloud/windows-server-2012-essentials-easy-small-business-internet-and-cloud/]