Perhaps, inspired by Guy’s utility ‘Server Core Configurator’. There is now a menu driven utility call SCONFIG.exe in R2 version of Server Core. This allows you to do all the initial configuration tasks, such as rename the computer, join to domain, set an new IP or DNS, or enabled the RDP etc.

Previously you had to rely on netdom, netsh, and WMIC to perform these initial tasks, unless you had the Server Core Configurator (as mentioned above) installed. Note that this SCONFIG menu is very much similar to that of Hyper-V menu.

Here are a few posts that you may find helpful for the pre-R2 Server Core.

http://www.shariqsheikh.com/blog/index.php/200804/how-to-setup-ip-configuration-of-windows-server-2008-server-core/
http://www.shariqsheikh.com/blog/index.php/200804/how-to-disable-windows-firewall-in-windows-server-2008-server-core/
http://www.shariqsheikh.com/blog/index.php/200804/how-to-enable-rdp-for-windows-server-2008-server-core/
http://www.shariqsheikh.com/blog/index.php/200804/how-can-i-rename-windows-server-2008-server-core/
http://www.shariqsheikh.com/blog/index.php/200804/how-to-activate-windows-server-2008-server-core/
http://www.shariqsheikh.com/blog/index.php/200804/how-to-promote-server-core-to-be-a-rodc/
http://www.shariqsheikh.com/blog/index.php/200805/install-server-roles-and-features-on-server-core/