Worries about adding Essentials Roles to 2012 STD

Question

Hello!<o:p></o:p>
This is my first real? Here so I would like to just say, with all that I have read, learned from this forum it has been a big help in the past, I’m
sure it will continue to be in the future, with that said.<o:p></o:p>
When I first started at my place of employment they had 3 small desktop servers running. All (3) were using server 2003 but not one of the OS were
activated. They were still working in a workgroup environment not a domain.  There were many more problems with the servers and network alike, but that would take too much time to mention. So to get to the point, I installed a new HP ProLiant DL320e Gen
8 server for them. Xeon® CPU E3-1270 v2 @ 3.50GHz, 16Gb 1600 Ram (4), 1Tb Sata HDD’s in Raid (0), Windows Server 2012 R@ STD. Do to the fact they had (40) WS and 50 users and growing. I installed server 2012 STD as the OS. I would have liked to go with Essentials
though. We still have one of the other servers running but at this point it still has server 2003 on it, and it used only for our Time clock software (Time Force II) do to the fact that software can't be installed on the Domain Controller. It's A nice server
though it has 16 GB, of ram and a Xeon E3-1220 v2 3.10GHZ CPU. So I have planes for it in the near future. At this point I'm thinking of making it the backup DC and E-mail exchange. <o:p></o:p>
To get to my question after giving you some back ground just in case it's needed. The main DC server is running 2012 STD and is fully active and operational
at this time. I would like to take advantage of some of the features of the essentials Role. Can I install the Essentials Role on an active STD server without affecting the server, settings and network as it is now?  I do believe with the essentials role
you can have another DC in the forest. , But not with a true Essentials server. So will going into (Add Roles and Features) and then adding the Essentials role work for me without effecting the domain and users and work files at it is now?<o:p></o:p>
Also I would like to get your opinion on the idea of using the 2nd server for a backup DC and Email exchange server. I would have to run the Time Force II software on
a Virtual Machine since that software can’t be installed on a DC. But that is fine with me I could use the VM for other things as well. ?
J<o:p></o:p>
Sorry I will make my question shorter in the future just felt I should put some background in there since it’s my first post as a newbie.<o:p></o:p>

Answer 1

Hi,
àI installed server 2012 STD as the OS. I would have liked to go with Essentials though.
Would you please let me confirm whether it’s a Windows Server 2012 or a Windows Server 2012 R2?
The Windows Server Essentials Experience role is available in Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard and Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter.
For installing Windows Server Essentials Experience role in a Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard in an Existing Active Directory Environment, please refer to following article and
check if can help you.
Deploying
Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard/Datacenter with Windows Server Essentials Experience role in an Existing Active Directory Environment
Best regards,
Justin Gu
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