Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 builds on the award-winning foundation of Windows Server 2008, expanding existing technology and adding new features to enable IT professionals to increase the reliability and flexibility of their server infrastructures. New virtualization tools, Web resources, management enhancements, and exciting Windows 7 integration help save time, reduce costs, and provide a platform for a dynamic and efficiently managed data center. Powerful tools such as Internet Information Services (IIS) version 7.5, updated Server Manager and Hyper-V platforms and Windows PowerShell version 2.0 combine to give customers greater control, increased efficiency and the ability to react to front-line business needs faster than ever before.

Windows Server 2008 R2 delivers valuable new functionality and powerful improvements to the core Windows Server operating system to help organizations of all sizes increase control, availability, and flexibility for their changing business needs. New Web tools, virtualization technologies, security enhancements, and management utilities help save time, reduce costs, and provide a solid foundation for your information technology (IT) infrastructure.

Improving the Web Application Platform

Windows Server 2008 R2 includes many enhancements that make this release the most robust Windows Server Web application platform yet. It offers an updated Web server role, Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5, and greater support for .NET on Server Core. Design goals for IIS 7.5 concentrated on improvements that enable Web administrators to more easily deploy and manage Web applications that increase both reliability and scalability. Additionally, IIS 7.5 has streamlined management capabilities and provides more ways to customize your Web serving environment. The following improvements to IIS and the Windows Web platform are included in Windows Server 2008 R2:

• Reduced Effort to Administer and Support Web-Based Applications
  Reducing the effort required to administer and support Web-based applications is a key differentiator for IIS 7.5. Included with this release is support for increased automation, new remote administration scenarios, and improved content publishing for developers and authors. A short list of these features includes:
• Expanding the capabilities of IIS Manager through new management modules
• Automating common administrative tasks through the Windows PowerShell Provider for IIS
• Support for .NET on Server Core, enabling ASP.NET and remote management through IIS Manager
• Reduced Support and Troubleshooting Effort
  Windows Server 2008 R2 reduces support and troubleshooting effort in the following ways:
• Enhanced auditing of changes to IIS 7.5 and application configuration.
• Failed Request Tracing for FastCGI.
• Best Practices Analyzer (BPA).
• Improved File-Transfer Services
  Windows Server 2008 R2 includes a new version of FTP server services. These new FTP server services offer the following improvements:
• Reduced administrative effort for FTP server services.
• Extended support for new Internet standards.
• Improved integration with Web-based applications and services.
• Reduced effort for support and troubleshooting FTP-related issues.
• Ability to Extend Functionality and Features
  One of the design goals for IIS 7.5 was to make it easy for you to extend the base functionality and features in IIS 7.5 IIS Extensions allow you to build or buy software that can be integrated into IIS 7.5 in such a way that the software appears to be an integral part of IIS 7.5.
  
  Extensions can be created by Microsoft, partners, independent software vendors, and your organization. Microsoft has developed IIS Extensions since the RTM version of Windows Server 2008. These IIS Extensions are available for download from http://www.iis.net. Many of the IIS Extensions developed by Microsoft will be shipped as a part of Windows Server 2008 R2, including WebDAV, Integrated & Enhanced Administration Pack and Windows PowerShell Provider for IIS
• Improved .NET Support
  The .NET Framework (versions 2.0, 3.0, 3.5.1 and 4.0) is now available on Server Core as an installation option. By taking advantage of this feature, administrators can enable ASP.NET on Server Core, which affords them full use of PowerShell cmdlets. Additionally, .NET support means the ability to perform remote management tasks from IIS manager and host ASP.NET Web applications on Server Core as well.
• Improved Application Pool Security
  Building on the application pool isolation that was available with IIS 7.0, that increased security and reliability, every IIS 7.5 application pool now runs with a unique, less-privileged identity. This helps harden the security of applications and services running on IIS 7.5.
• IIS.NET Community Portal
  To stay current with new additions to IIS in Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2, make sure to visit the IIS.NET community portal (http://www.iis.net). The site includes news updates, in-depth instructional articles, a download center for new IIS solutions, and free advice via blogs and technical forums.

Enabling Server and Desktop Virtualization

Virtualization is a major part of today’s data centers. The operating efficiencies offered by virtualization allow organizations to dramatically reduce operational effort and power consumption. Windows Server 2008 R2 provides the following virtualization types: Client and Server virtualization provided by Hyper-V and Presentation virtualization with Remote Desktop Services.

• Hyper-V
  Windows Server 2008 R2 introduces a new version of Hyper-V. Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2 includes a number of core areas of improvement for creating dynamic virtual data centers including increased availability and performance, improved management, simplified methods for deployment and new features including live migration.
• Remote Desktop Services (formerly known as Terminal Services)
  Remote Desktop Services provides users and administrators with both the features and the flexibility necessary to build the most robust access experience in any deployment scenario. To expand the Remote Desktop Services feature set, Microsoft has been investing in the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, also known as VDI. VDI is a centralized desktop delivery architecture, which enables Windows and other desktop environments to run and be managed in virtual machines on a centralized server.

Improving Power Management and Streamlining Management

The ongoing management of servers in the data center is one of the most time-consuming tasks facing IT professionals today. Any management strategy you deploy must support the management of both your physical and virtual environments. To help with this problem, Windows Server 2008 R2 has new features to reduce the ongoing management of Windows Server 2008 R2 and to reduce the administrative effort for common day-to-day operational tasks. These include:

• Improved data center power consumption management
  With the proliferation of physical computers in data centers, power consumption is of paramount importance. In addition to the cost-saving associated with reducing power consumption, many data centers are constrained by the number of computers they can support in their data center by the actual power available to the data center. Therefore reducing your power consumption also allows you to support more physical computers while using the same amount of power, or less power, than before.
• Improved Management of File Services
  Storage is no longer a marginal expense. Nor is managing storage any longer simply about volume and availability; organizations need to manage their data more effectively as well as more efficiently. Only by gaining insight into their data can companies reduce the cost of storing, maintaining, and managing data. Only by enforcing company policies and knowing how storage is utilized can administrators efficiently use their storage and mitigate the risks of leaking data. The next frontier for administrators is to be able to manage data based on business value.
  
  The Windows File Classification Infrastructure (FCI) in Windows Server 2008 R2 provides insight into your data to help you manage your data more effectively, reduce costs, and mitigate risks.
• Improved remote administration
  Remote administration of server computers is essential to any efficient data center. It is very rare that server computers are administered locally. Windows Server 2008 R2 introduces a number of improvements in remote administration, including the following:
• Improved remote management through graphical management consoles.
  Server Manager has been updated to allow remote administration of servers. In addition, many of the management consoles have improved integration with Server Manager and, as a result, support remote management scenarios.
• Improved remote management from command-line and automated scripts.
  PowerShell version 2.0 offers a number of improvements for remote management scenarios. These improvements allow you to run scripts on one or more remote computers or to allow multiple IT professionals to simultaneously run scripts on a single computer.
• Reduced administrative effort for administrative tasks performed interactively
  Reducing administrative effort for day-to-day administrative tasks is another key design goal for Windows Server 2008 R2. Many of the management consoles used to manage Windows Server 2008 R2 have been updated or completely redesigned to help reduce your administrative effort. Some of the prominent updated and redesigned management consoles are listed in the following table with descriptions of the improvements.
• Enhanced command-line and automated management by using PowerShell version 2.0
  
• Improved remote management by using PowerShell remoting.
• Improved security for management data, including state and configuration information, by using constrained runspaces.
• Enhanced GUIs for creating and debugging PowerShell scripts and viewing PowerShell script output by using Graphical PowerShell and the Out-GridView cmdlet.
• Extended scripting functionality that supports creation of more powerful scripts with less development effort.
• Improved portability of PowerShell scripts and cmdlets between multiple computers.
• Improved identity management
  Identity management has always been one of the critical management tasks for Windows-based networks. The implications of a poorly managed identity managed system are one of the largest security concerns for any organization. Windows Server 2008 R2 includes identity management improvements in the Active Directory Domain Services and Active Directory Federated Services server roles.
• Improved compliance with established standards and best practices
  Windows Server 2008 R2 includes an integrated Best Practices Analyzer for each of the server roles. The Best Practices Analyzer creates a checklist within Server Manager for the role, which you can use to help perform all the configuration tasks.

Scalability and Reliability

Windows Server 2008 R2 is capable of unprecedented workload size, dynamic scalability, and across-the-board availability and reliability. A host of new and updated features will be available, including leveraging sophisticated CPU architectures, increased operating system componentization, and improved performance and scalability for applications and services.

• Leveraging sophisticated CPU architectures
  Server hardware has offered 64-bit processors for several years, and Windows Server 2008 R2 is 64-bit only, supporting the performance and reliability advantages of this architecture. Windows Server 2008 R2 now supports up to 256 logical processors in a single operating system instance, while Hyper-V can make use of up to 64 logical processors in the host processor pool.
  
  Hyper-V R2 also includes a new Processor Compatibility feature. Processor compatibility allows a virtual machine to move among systems with processors of differing generations from the same vendor. When a VM is started with processor compatibility mode enabled, Hyper-V normalizes the processor feature set and only exposes the guest to processor features that are available on all Hyper-V enabled processors of the same processor architecture, i.e., AMD or Intel. This allows the VM to be migrated to any hardware platform of the same processor architecture. Processor features are "hidden" by the hypervisor by intercepting a VM's CPUID instruction and clearing the returned bits corresponding to the hidden features
• Increased operating system componentization
  Microsoft introduced the concept of server roles to allow server administrators to quickly and easily configure any Windows-based server to run a specific set of tasks and remove extraneous OS code from system overhead. Windows Server 2008 R2 further extends this model with support for more roles and a broadening of current role support, like the addition of ASP.NET within IIS 7.0. Roles have been refined and feature sets redefined as customers have expressed desires for certain capabilities in popular scenarios. The Server Core installation option is an appropriate mention here with new (and much demanded) support for PowerShell scripting made possible by the addition of the .NET Framework to the list of server roles supported in the Server Core installation option.
• Improved performance and scalability for applications and services
  Another key design goal was to provide higher performance for Windows Server 2008 R2 running on the same system resources as previous versions of Windows Server. In addition, Windows Server 2008 R2 supports increased scaling capabilities that help support more intensive workloads than ever before.
• Improved Reliability
  Windows Server 2008 R2 offers a variety of features which can help improve solution reliability, particularly when paired with today’s most robust server hardware.
• Improved Storage Solutions
  The ability to quickly access information is more critical today than ever before. The foundation for this high-speed access is based on file services and network attached storage (NAS). Microsoft storage solutions are at the core of providing high-performance and highly available file services and NAS. The release version of Windows Server 2008 introduced many improvements in storage technologies. Windows Server 2008 R2 includes additional improvements that enhance the performance, availability, and manageability of storage solutions.
• Improved Protection of Intranet Resources
  The Network Policy Server (NPS) is a Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) server and proxy and Network Access Protection (NAP) health policy server. NPS evaluates system health for NAP clients, provides RADIUS authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA), and provides RADIUS proxy functionality.

Making the Experience Better Together with Windows 7

Windows Server 2008 R2 has many features that are designed specifically to work with client computers running Windows 7. Windows 7 is the next version of the Windows client operating system from Microsoft. Features that are only available when running Windows 7 client computers with server computers running Windows Server 2008 R2 include:

• Simplified remote connectivity for corporate computers by using the DirectAccess feature
  One common problem facing most organizations is remote connectivity for their mobile users. One of the most widely used solutions for connecting remote users is a virtual private network (VPN) connection. Depending on the type of VPN, users may need to install VPN client software on their mobile computer and then establish the VPN connection over the Internet. The DirectAccess feature in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 allows Windows 7 client computers to directly connect to intranet-based resources without the complexity of establishing a VPN connection. The user has the same connectivity experience both in and outside of the office. The following figure contrasts the current VPN-based solutions with the DirectAccess solution.
• Secured remote connectivity for private and public computers
  Another common problem for remote users is the ability to access intranet-based resources from computers that are not owned by the user’s organization, such as public computers or Internet kiosks. Without a mobile computer provided by their organization, most users are unable to access intranet-based resources. A combination of the Remote Workspace, Presentation Virtualization, and Remote Desktop Gateway features allows users on Windows 7 clients to remotely access their intranet-based resources without requiring any additional software to be installed on the Windows 7 client. This allows your users to remotely access their desktop as though they were working from their computer on the intranet. From the user’s perspective, the desktop on the remote Windows 7 client transforms to look like the user’s desktop on the intranet, including icons, Start menu items, and installed applications that are identical to the user’s experience on his or her own computer. When the remote user closes the remote session, the remote Windows 7 client desktop environment reverts to the previous configuration.
• Improved performance for branch offices
  Driven by challenges of reducing cost and complexity of Branch IT, organizations are seeking to centralize applications. However, as organizations centralize applications the dependency on the availability and quality of the WAN link increases. A direct result of centralization is the increased utilization of the WAN link, and the degradation of application performance. Recent studies have shown that despite the reduction of costs associated with WAN links, WAN costs are still a major component of enterprises’ operational expenses.
• Improved security for branch offices
  Windows Server 2008 introduced the read-only domain controller feature, which allows a read-only copy of Active Directory to be placed in less secure environments such as branch offices. Windows Server 2008 R2 introduces support for read-only copies of information stored in Distributed File System (DFS) replicas. Read-only DFS replicas helps protect your digital assets by allowing branch offices read-only access to information that you replicate to the offices by using DFS. Because the information is read-only, users are unable to modify the content stored in read-only DFS replicated content and thereby protects data in DFS replicas from accidental deletion at branch office locations.
• Improved virtualized desktop integration
  Windows 7 introduces the RemoteApp & Desktop (RAD) feeds feature, which helps integrate desktops and applications virtualized by using Remote Desktop Services with the Windows 7 user interface. This integration makes the user experience for running virtualized applications or desktops the same as running the applications locally.
• Higher fault tolerance for connectivity between sites
  One of the most common scenarios facing organizations today is connectivity between sites and locations. Many organizations connect their sites and locations by using VPN tunnels over public networks, such as the Internet. One problem with existing VPN solutions is that they are not resilient to connection failures or device outages. When any outage occurs, the VPN tunnel is terminated and the VPN tunnel must be reestablished, resulting in momentary connectivity outages. The Agile VPN feature in Windows Server 2008 R2 allows a VPN to have multiple network paths between points in the VPN tunnel. In the event of a failure, Agile VPN automatically uses another network path to maintain the existing VPN tunnel, with no interruption of connectivity.

Top 10 Reasons to Upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 is the newest Windows Server operating system from Microsoft. Designed to help organizations reduce operating costs and increase efficiencies, Windows Server 2008 R2 provides enhanced management control over resources across the enterprise. It is designed to provide better energy efficiency and performance by reducing power consumption and lowering overhead costs. It also helps provide improved branch office capabilities, exciting new remote access experiences, streamlined server management, and expands the Microsoft virtualization strategy for both client and server computers.

To use Windows Server 2008 R2, you need:*

* Actual requirements will vary based on your system configuration, and the applications and features you choose to install. Processor performance is dependent upon not only the clock frequency of the processor, but the number of cores and the size of the processor cache. Disk space requirements for the system partition are approximate. Additional available hard disk space may be required if you are installing over a network.

Installation and Activation

You do not need to enter a product key to evaluate any version of Windows Server 2008 R2 software, however activation is required within 10 days. Failing to activate the evaluation will cause the licensing service to shut down the machine every hour.

For further information please see the Windows Server 2008 R2 Activation page

Can my existing servers run Windows Server 2008 R2?

Download the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit to securely inventory your existing servers and generate a migration report for Windows Server 2008.