Great article on Windows Server 2016 includes automatic exclusions, based on server role. You can also add custom exclusions but be aware there are some caveats such as folder exclusions are recursive whether you like it or not. Also, these exclusions are there by default (you can disable them with PowerShell) but they AREN’T exposed in the GUI…. so you wouldnt know that hey are there !

While I have links on my links page to the exclusions, this is a nice article as it shows you what Microsoft now apply by default ni case you want the same exclusions for your vendor of choice.

Configure Windows Defender Antivirus exclusions on Windows Server 2016 | Microsoft Docs