In Windows Server 2003 for you to be able to make use the Windows XP theme you have to start the services for "themes".
In Windows Server 2008 all you have to do is add the Desktop Experience Feature.
On Server Manager | Features | Add Feature | Desktop Experience | Install....
Once the installation is complete it will then ask for a server restart.
After the restart right click on your Dekstop click Personalize. On the Personalizatoin window click on Theme, the Vista Theme option should be availble.
Server Core: Renaming the Server
Login to the Server as administrator
Determine the current name the server by typing either hostname or ipconfig command.
Current Server Name: LH-5MLPDT3ICS4T
New Name: PHIWUG-SC-01
At a command prompt, type:
Netdom renamecomputer LH-5MLPDT3ICS4T /NewName:PHIWUG-SC-01
Will be prompted if your want to proceed or not.
Restart the Server.
After the log in verify the name of the server.
Requirements:
Domain Controller and a Server Core machines:
DC = Phiwug.com (PHIWUG-DC-01)
SC = PHIWUG-SC-01
Domain admin account = administrator
Login on PHIWUG-SC-01 type the Netdom command:
netdom join PHIWUG-SC-01 /domain:Phiwug.com /userd:administrator /passwordd:*
You will be prompted to enter the password for the domain user account you specified.
You will be prompted if the server has been successfully added to the domain. A restart required to complete the operation.
Restart the server by typing Shutdown /r /t 0
After the restart you'll see that log on to PHIWUG is now available.
Well this not as technical as it can get but here are some basic configuration that I’ve played around earlier today…
Setting a Static IP Address: At the command prompt type: netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces 
Review the Idx column of the output for your network adapter this will be your address name.
Setting the IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Default Gateway type:
netsh interface ipv4 set address name="<ID>" source=static address=<StaticIP> mask=<SubnetMask> gateway=<DefaultGateway> 
netsh interface ipv4 set address name="2" source=static address=192.168.1.30 mask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.1.1 and type: the IPCONFIG command to confirm the change
Same goes for the DNS setup netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver name="<ID>" address=<DNSIP>index=1
netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver name="2" address=192.168.1.1 index=1
Summary:
StaticIP is the static IP address that you are setting
SubnetMask is the subnet mask for the IP address
DefaultGateway is the default gateway
ID is the number your ldxDNSIP is the IP of your DNS server (in my case my DNS IP Address is 192.168.1.1)To add another DNS repeat the process, just increment the index= number.
Again type IPCONFIG command to confirm the change on the DNS.
Here’s a video demo on how to validate your servers for clustering. For this demo I have 2 servers PHIWUG-DC-01 and PHIWUG-SRV-02 running on Microsoft Virtual PC.
failover cluster validation part 1
failover cluster validation part 2
After the demo a generated summary of the failover cluster validation will give you information about your servers, (Failed is highlighted in Red, Warnings are highlighted in Yellow) this tool is very helpful on ensuring that you have everything checked before creating your cluster.
Introducing a server that provides minimal system functionalities with fewer patches meaning more secure reliable, and less management of the server.
No GUI, no IE, no Start Menu, no Media Player, no Office System or any applications. After you log in to the server it will only give the CMD for local command execution. One of the application that you can run with Server Core, is notepad.
to communicate with the Service Control Manager and Services use the SC command (more like the task manager)
Query and Queryex option you may use the following syntax
SYNTAX EXAMPLES
sc query - Enumerates status for active services & drivers
sc query eventlog - Displays status for the eventlog service
sc queryex eventlog - Displays extended status for the eventlog service
sc query type= driver - Enumerates only active drivers
sc query type= service - Enumerates only Win32 services
sc query state= all - Enumerates all services & drivers
sc query bufsize= 50 - Enumerates with a 50 byte buffer
sc query ri= 14 - Enumerates with resume index = 14
sc queryex group= "" - Enumerates active services not in a group
sc query type= interact - Enumerates all interactive services
sc query type= driver group= NDIS - Enumerates all NDIS drivers
Control Panel in Server Core
Changing settings for date and time use the Control timedate.cpl command
Changing settings for Keyboards and/or language use this command Control intl.cpl.
So far these are the services
Active Directory Domain Services, Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS),
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Server, DNS Server, File Services, Print Server, and Streaming Media Services
optional features are also supported:
Microsoft Failover Cluster, Network Load Balancing, Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications
Windows Backup, Multipath I/O, Removable Storage Management, Windows Bitlocker Drive Encryption,
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS), and Telnet client,
Quality of Service (QoS)
since there is no Management service and GUI tools included it can be configured and managed remotely (I still have to explore more on this)... and oh... aside from notepad, Regedit works with server core... 
source: here