Session2: What’s new in Windows Server 2008 R2…
Windows Server R2 or in short R2 is the second release of Windows Server 2008 and the four released Windows server of Microsoft beside Windows server 2003, Windows server 2003 R2 and Windows server 2008. It isn’t a completely new release, but rather adds additional feature and refinements to the existing release of Windows Server 2008. So here we discuss the new features of Windows Server 2008 R2.
1.Licensing and Packaging Changes:-
The licensing of Windows Server 2008 R2 is very similar to that of Windows Server 2008,
and you can use Windows Server 2008 Client Access Licenses (CALs) for Windows Server 2008 R2 without having to upgrade your license. There is, however, one important difference that is introduced with Windows Server 2008 R2—there is no requirement to upgrade to Windows Server 2008 CALs when you install Windows Server 2008 R2 on a physical server that is only used with the Hyper-V role.
Another difference between Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 licensing
is caused by the name change from Terminal Services (TS) in Windows Server 2008 to Remote Desktop Services (RDS) in Windows Server 2008 R2. This is more than just a name change.
There are also new license suite options in Windows Server 2008 R2, with the introduction
of the new Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Standard and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
Premium suites.
2.Virtualization:-
Direct support for server virtualization, in the form of the Hyper-V hypervisor, was one of the
most important and highly anticipated improvements in Windows Server 2008, with the release of Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft extends Hyper-V virtualization to include support for client desktop virtualization, and adds important new capabilities for dynamic disk allocation,live migration, and improved scalability and redundancy.
Virtualization, however, isn’t limited to machine virtualization, but also includes presentation
virtualization (RDS), application virtualization (App-V), and client desktop virtualization(VDI).
Windows Server 2008 R2 adds improvements in RDS that provide a more seamless integration with Windows 7 clients, including full support for Windows Aero and multiple monitors.Application virtualization support in R2 is improved, and the addition of the Remote Desktop Virtualization Host (RD Virtualization Host) role service enables full desktop virtualization.
3.Management:-
There are substantial improvements in the way Windows Server 2008 R2 can be managed,
both graphically and from the command line. A new version of Windows PowerShell
provides enhanced remote capabilities and is now available as an installation option for
Windows Server Core. Graphical management is also improved, with Server Manager now
fully supported remotely, and many of the management consoles are better integrated into
Server Manager, enabling remote management. The improvements in Windows PowerShell
are covered throughout the book, and we cover the specifics of setting up remote Server
Manager, installing Windows PowerShell in Server Core.
Windows Server 2008 R2 includes a new Active Directory (AD) schema that enables an AD
Recycle Bin, a new set of Active Directory Windows PowerShell cmdlets, and improvements in daily AD administration.
4.Scalability:-
Windows Server 2008 R2 is the first version of Windows Server to support only 64-bit processors.Further,Windows Server 2008 R2 now supports up to 256 logical processor cores for a single operating system instance. Hyper-V virtual machines are able to address up to 64 logical cores in a single host. With the improvements in storage performance and efficiency,and reduced graphical user interface (GUI) overhead, this gives Windows Server 2008 R2 the ability to scale up to larger workloads. Additionally, the R2 version of Hyper-V also adds performance enhancements that increase virtual machine performance and reduce power consumption. Hyper-V now supports Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), which uses new features on today’s CPUs to improve virtual machine (VM) performance while reducing processing load on the Windows Hypervisor. These improvements increase your ability to consolidate workloads and servers onto fewer physical servers, reducing administration overhead,power consumption, and rack costs.
Network Load Balancing (NLB) allows Windows Server 2008 R2 to scale out across multiple
servers. Windows Server 2008 R2 includes improvements in support for applications and
services that require persistent connections and also improves the health monitoring of NLB
clusters and the applications and services running on them.
5.Web:-
Windows Server 2008 R2 includes Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5, an improved and
updated version of the IIS 7 that was included in Windows Server 2008. Windows Server 2008 R2 also includes a new Windows PowerShell provider for IIS to facilitate the automation of management tasks. This Windows PowerShell provider is available on Server Core installations of Windows Server 2008 R2 as well as full installations. IIS 7.5 also includes a new File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server that supports Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and Unicode characters.Server Core can now include the Microsoft .NET Framework, giving administrators the ability to manage IIS from Windows PowerShell or IIS Manager. As with many other areas of R2, IIS 7.5 includes a Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) to simplify troubleshooting and configuration of IIS.
6.Networking and Access:-
One of the most exciting new features in Windows Server 2008 R2 is DirectAccess, a new way to securely connect remote clients to the corporate network. The most common method has been virtual private networks (VPNs), which often require third-party client software running on the client, and can be time-consuming to configure and troubleshoot. With Windows Server 2008 R2 and DirectAccess, if the client is running Windows 7, the remote user has seamless, always-on remote access to corporate resources that does not compromise the secure aspects of remote connectivity.DirectAccess works with the Network Access Protection (NAP) of Windows Server 2008 R2 to ensure that client computers meet your system health requirements, such as having security updates and antimalware definitions installed, before allowing a DirectAccess connection.
7.SYNCS better with Windows 7:-
Many of the enhancements of Windows Server 2008 R2 are independent of the client operating system being used, but others, such as DirectAccess, only work with Windows 7 clients. Others, as is the case with the new RDS features, work better with a Windows 7 client, but are still important improvements even if you’re running Windows Vista or Windows XP. Some of the things that make Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 work better together (and the technologies that enable them) are the following:
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Simplified remote connectivity for remote users (DirectAccess)
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Secure remote connectivity, even from public computers (Remote Workplace plus RD
Gateway and RD Session Host)
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Improved branch office performance and security (BranchCache and read-only Distribute
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File System Replication [DFS-R])
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More efficient power management where the hardware supports it (Group Policy)
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Virtualized desktops (VDI)
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Improved removable drive security (BitLocker To Go)
Continue……..