Does active directory install by defualt? Can 2012 act as a standalone?

[basball]

HI, I was under the impression that all version of Windows 2012 Server except "essentials" installs AD by default?
Which doesn't make any sense as it would introduce security issues when installing IIS 8.0 and prevent you from
having a standalone server. Please clarify. I'm building a new web server and was playing around with idea of
windows 2008r2, unless you think I can accomplish the same thing with windows 2012 standard.

thanks.

 

[PaulGillespie]

it does NOT install AD by default. It is a role that you have to specifically install.