When your business depends on consistent server and machine performance, you need an elegant, unified server management solution.

Fragmented tools across different devices add complexity to simple tasks like certificate management and firewall administration. As your business scales, the last thing it needs is a complex, disjointed server management system.

Windows Admin Centre is an elegant solution for managing your Windows Servers with no Azure or cloud dependency. Here’s what you need to know:

What is Windows Admin Centre?

Windows Admin Centre is a locally deployed, browser-based application for managing Windows servers. It replaces on-desktop Server Manager and Remote Server Admin Tools with a web-based front end. You can manage Windows servers, clusters, hyper-converged infrastructure and even Windows 10 PCs from one app.

For example, with Windows Admin Centre, you can manage:

  • Azure Stack HCI
  • Windows 10 PCs
  • Windows Server 2022
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2012 and R2

How Windows Admin Centre works

Windows Admin Centre consists of a gateway installed on your servers and a Microsoft web server that provides an interface you interact with.

To use Windows Admin Centre, you install the gateway on your Windows Server or domain-joined Windows 10 device. The gateway, provided as a download, manages servers by using Remote PowerShell and WMI over WinRM.

With access rights and DNS + firewalls, you can securely connect to, and manage, your Windows servers from anywhere with Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome.

Essential security features are built-in, such as secure access with multi-factor authentication, restricting gateway access, HTTPS, role-based access on managed nodes, and Local Administrator Password Solution.

Windows Admin Centre use cases

Windows Admin Centre is a unification tool that replaces the on-desktop Server Manager and the PC-hosted Remote Server Admin Tools. It modernises these familiar tools, providing a slicker and more intuitive management experience.

Another use case is streamlined hyper-converged management of Azure Stack HCI and even Windows Server hyper-converged clusters. Windows Admin Centre simplifies complex workloads and makes your job easier.

Enhanced security management is also baked in. Role-based access control lets you fine-tune which administrators have access. You can also require gateway authentication and two-factor authentication. All sessions can be recorded.

Businesses dependent on Hyper-V and Failover Clusters can use Windows Admin Centre to manage VMs. It can be used as a server installation to connect to all infrastructure and as a desktop solution for managing and testing individual servers.

The bottom line is Windows Admin Centre gives you full control over all aspects of your server infrastructure, making it the most capable tool of its kind.