RSAT: the AdminPak for Windows Server 2008
An AdminPak (a.k.a AdminPack, Admin Pack) for Windows Server 2008 has been released. Windows Server 200x administrators are familiar with the “Administration Tools” or adminpak.msi that they used to install on their management workstations for connecting remotely via MMC to servers instead of having to login them via RDP.
Windows Server 2008 did not have the adminpak built in to the RTM media. These are called the “Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT)” and were released separately on March 24. The RSAT are available as a free download at Download Center.
RSAT contains the following tools:
Role Administration Tools:
- Active Directory Certificate Services Tools
- Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
- Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
- DHCP Server Tools
- DNS Server Tools
- File Services Tools
- Network Policy and Access Services Tools
- Terminal Services Tools
- Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools
Feature Administration Tools:
- BitLocker Drive Encryption Tools
- Failover Clustering Tools
- Group Policy Management Tools
- Network Load Balancing Tools
- SMTP Server Tools
- Storage Manager for SANs Tools
- Windows System Resource Manager Tools
The following tools are fully supported for managing computers running Windows Server 2003:
- Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
- Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
- Active Directory Certification Authority Tools
- DHCP Server Tools
- DNS Server Tools
- Terminal Services Tools
- Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools
- Group Policy Management Tools
- Network Load Balancing Tools
An immediate thought: Managing computers running Windows Server 2008 Server Core is now easier. Once the server has been set up and configured to allow remote MMC connections, all you need to do is install RSAT on your workstation and connect to your Server Core machine using the RSAT tools. Your non-GUI Windows Server now has a remote GUI 
Note that you can install the RSAT tools only on a computer running Windows Vista with Service Pack 1. Read more about it on the Windows Server blog.
Update (December 2009): If you need the RSAT tools for Windows 7, read this post.
Shijaz Abdulla is a Partner Technology Advisor at Microsoft, helping their top tier partners build on their Microsoft practice. He is also a trusted advisor to medium enterprise customers in Qatar. He is a blogger, tech enthusiast, and a Microsoft evangelist.
Thanks for the information about RSAT. I would like to know how can you manage Windows 2008 server from a Windows XP machine not using Remote Desktops (only 2 connections) I work as a trainer and sometimes 10 students must access a W2k8 machine
Thank you for this post! It was one of the easiest to find and clearest I found when looking for the new adminpak.
Hi there,
I tried to install it on windows 7 but "it's not applicable to your computer" message appears.Is adminpak included in windows 7
Hi George,
I just posted a new entry specifically on the subject of Windows 7 RSAT tools:
http://www.microsoftnow.com/2009/10/rsat-tools-for-windows-7.html
Shijaz
Cannot download the server tools, instead the website redirects to WGA and terminates at an advertisement for Internet Explorer 9 instead of the RSAT download. How can this be downloaded without the IE9 interruption?
Hi alanm,
Not sure what’s the issue. I just tried the link right now and it worked. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9FF6E897-23CE-4A36-B7FC-D52065DE9960&displaylang=en)
Also note, there is a Genuine Windows validation check that happens before you are led to the download page.
Can you Sequence RSAT?