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What's new in Microsoft Windows Server 2008?

Obviously all the technology introduced in Windows Server 2003 is still there, only better. Windows Server 2008 includes additional functionality and powerful improvements to the core Windows Server operating system to help organizations of all sizes increase control, availability, and flexibility.

The core changes are new web tools, virtualization technologies, security enhancements, and management utilities help save time, reduce costs, and provide a solid foundation. The system looks and feels like Vista in high performance mode (Or As per the Classic mode in Windows XP) and all the changes to the cosmetics (Start menu, icons and the new control panel etc) are the same as Vista.

The installation is similar to Vista. It is not really an installation but rather an imaging of your installation drive. Whilst the virtualization is now of huge interest to me (As I am in the world of small businesses) the new wizards and monitoring tools are very cool and are a very similar to the capabilities of the SBS range of servers. This is by no means making the IT administrators job redundant. Just as it is in SBS, you often have the need to get under the hood to fix things. The new tools just mean you can do more and worry about the minor issues and configurations less.

Lets break the new features into the same groups as Microsoft does.

Solid Foundation

Windows Server 2008 provides a solid foundation for all of your server work and applications while being easier to deploy and manage. Windows Server 2008 has a higher reliability and new/enhanced high availability features. After installing it for myself and looking through the roles and features, I found a never ending list of tools to help keep your server running. 

  • The setup is painless, all the normal configuration during setup is now done after installation. You no longer need to hang around to push a key during setup. You no longer need to interact with the installation of the operating system. That makes life easier during multiple server installations. You can put in the disk one evening and go home. The next day you get to configure it.
  • The new "Server Manager" is an expanded Microsoft Management Console (MMC) which just like SBS server 2003, provides a one-stop interface for server configuration and monitoring with wizards to streamline common server management tasks. Looks like the Enterprise crowd get to see what we Small Business folk have liked for years.
  • Optimized server administration and data replication for better control over servers located in branch offices or other remote locations.
  • Componentized Server Core installation option allows minimal installations.
  • Windows Deployment Services (WDS) provides a new way of rapidly deploying Windows operating systems to computers by using network-based installation. (This used to be called RIS)
  • Failover clustering wizards make it easy for novices to install high-availability solutions, Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is now fully integrated (not an add-on), and cluster nodes no longer need to be on the same IP subnet, same continent or configured with Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs).
  • Network Load Balancing now supports IPv6 and includes multiple dedicated IP address support which allows multiple applications to be hosted on the same load balancing cluster. (no so important for Small to Medium Business)
  • Windows Server Backup incorporates faster backup technology and simplifies data or operating system restoration. (Goodbye Symantec Backup Exec)
  • The new Windows PowerShell feature, a new optional command-line shell and scripting language, enables administrators to automate routine system administration tasks across multiple servers. Enables you to pipe data through various applications and create analysis reports on your servers to help you manage the servers the way you like.
  • The new Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor provides diagnostic tools to give you ongoing visibility into your server environment, both physical and virtual, to pinpoint and resolve issues quickly. It is so much more than using perfmon and eventvwr to solve issues.

Security

The Windows Server 2008 operating system is hardened, integrates several identity and access technologies, and includes multiple security innovations to more easily deploy a policy-driven network. By default the server roles are turned off and the binaries for the roles is not installed. The new network protection basically puts non trusted workstations into a DMZ where they can be updated with security updates and patches (Antivirus etc) before joining your domain. Very cool stuff.

  • I am sure we have all heard of BitLocker Drive Encryption. This was introduced with Vista and is a feature add on for Server 2008. It provides enhanced protection against data theft and exposure of server hardware if lost or stolen. It can also provide more secure data deletion when your servers are eventually decommissioned. (Instead of using utilities like Drivewipe or a hammer to the platters of your SCSI drives ... although nothing beats ultimate destruction).
  • The new Security Configuration Wizard helps you configure the operating system for the server roles being deployed to reduce the attack surface area.
  • Integrated Expanded Group Policy's.
  • Read Only Domain Controller (RODC) allows a more secure method for local authentication of users in remote/branch office locations using a read-only replica of your primary AD database. Very cool for load balancing users logon's etc especially over high cost WAN links.
  • Network Access Protection (Mentioned earlier) helps ensure your network and systems aren’t compromised by unhealthy computers, isolating on a DMZ and/or remediating those computers that don't comply with the security policies you set. (Antivirus level, service pack level etc)
  • User Account Control provides protection against malicious software. (Introduced in Vista)
  • Cryptography Next Generation, Microsoft's new core cryptographic API.
  • Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) enables trust relationships to be more easily established between partners with different identity and access directories running on different networks, enabling secure single sign ons to each other's networks. This is a great feature for business to business communications. Especially for those who share supply line staff and Vendors and suppliers which have a tight relationship (Or ... even the untrusted ones)
  • Active Directory Certificate Services. This is the new PKI standard. 
  • Active Directory Rights Management Services together with RMS-enabled applications heightens security.

Web

Improved Web administration, diagnostics, development, and application tools with Internet Information Services 7.0 coupled with SharePoint. Even in Small Business this is important. With the increasing use of SharePoint and most vendor tools now plugging into web interfaces (UPS software, Antivirus and the like), Small Business can not escape.

 

 

  • Modular design and installation options allow installation of only the features needed, reducing attack surfaces and making patch management easier. You need to install IIS and SharePoint as server roles and then can bolt in ASP.NET etc. Nothing is enabled by default.
  • IIS Manager has a new task-based management interface and a new appcmd.exe command-line tool (AppCmd.exe is the single command line tool for managing IIS 7.0. It exposes all key server management functionality through a set of intuitive management. It works great with PowerShell.)
  • Cross-site deployment allows you to easily copy Web site settings across multiple Web servers without additional configuration. This is something we have needed for ages. Using the Metadatabase backup utility was never enough.
  • Enhanced application pool isolation keeps sites and applications isolated from each other for greater security and stability. This will be a huge benefit. I have experienced application pool corruption with the installation of Trend Micro IMSS and this kind of protection has been needed for some time.
  • Delegated administration of applications and sites which lets you give control to different parts of the Web server to those who need it. This is a huge befit for small business administrators whose resources are pulled in every direction. Now you can delegate parts of the internal website to specific key people.
  • Integrated Web server health management with detailed diagnostic and troubleshooting tools which allow easy visibility and tracking of requests running on the Web server.

Not so important for me in Small Business but I am sure that these features are important to someone whom understands them (Verbatim from the Microsoft website feature list)

  • Programmatic access to configuration stores through WM or Microsoft.Web.Administration, a new management API that enables editing the XML configuration files for your Web server, sites, or applications.
  • Fast CGI support to reliably run PHP apps, Perl scripts, and Ruby applications.
  • Tighter integration with ASP.NET features and one configuration store for all Web platform configuration settings across IIS 7.0 and ASP.NET.
  • A flexible extensibility model enables customization such as the addition of new modules using either native or managed code.

Virtualization

Whilst this is not something that is big in my sector of the IT industry, I am sure it will soon be. Microsoft tends to make a trend occur when they make big shifts in technology and I am sure it will be the same with virtualization. "Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V" is the next-generation hypervisor-based server virtualization technology which allows you to consolidate servers and use hardware more efficiently. Several enhancements to Terminal Services (TS) improve presentation virtualization. And simpler licensing terms makes using these technologies more straightforward. This takes Virtual PC, Virtual Server and remote desktops to new heights.

  • Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V natively allows you to virtualize server roles as separate virtual machines (VMs) running on a single physical machine.
  • Multiple operating systems–Windows, Linux, Novell, Windows XP and others –can be deployed in parallel on a single server using Hyper-V. (I have to wonder about OS/2, BEOS and many others but I guess there is no longer a large user base around to test them)
  • There are new deployment options which allow you to deploy the most suitable virtualization methods for your environment.
  • Support for the latest hardware-assisted virtualization technologies allows virtualization of very demanding workloads.
  • New storage features, such as pass-through disk access and dynamic storage addition, allow VMs more access to data, and give external programs and services more access to data stored on VMs. (Very cool)
  • Clustering of Windows Server virtualization (WSv) hosts or VMs running on WSv hosts and backup of VMs while they are running keep your virtualized servers highly available.
  • New management tools and performance counters make the virtualized environment easier to manage and monitor.
  • Terminal Services (TS) RemoteApp and TS Web Access allow programs that are accessed remotely to be opened with just one click and appear as if they are running seamlessly on the end user's local computer. (Think of application publishing)
  • TS Gateway helps provide secure remote access to Windows-based programs through firewalls (Think of the SBS 2003 RWW )
  • TS Licensing Manager adds the ability to track the issuance of TS per User Client Access Licenses (CALs). Built into Windows Server 2008, TS Licensing is a low-impact service the enables centralized administration, tracking, reporting, and efficient purchasing of TS per User CALs. This was a much required and needed service for 2003, it just never appeared.

Now you know all the cool things Windows 2008 Server brings to the party, get your hands on an evaluation version, get out there and play with it.

 

 

 

 

    

 

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                                                             This page was written and designed by Michael Jenkin 2011 ©