InfoWorld just did a nice little article on the top 10 features in Windows Server 8. Problem they had was that there were so many improvements it was hard to pick just 10.
Windows 8 Server Manager
Here’s the summary for all you nerds out there:
10: Server Manager- Improved GUI and multiserver management. Views are search driven, so they can be saved and GUI can be customized. Plus, manage everything from context menus, all built on Powershell and and WMI.
9: Server Deployment- They added “Scenario based deployment.” Install on local machine, remote machine, VM, or VHD with deployment to multiple machines automated through Powershell cmdlets and WMI. Plus, move from Server Core to full server by installing a few components. You can even install the full Server without the GUI.
8: IP address management- Finally, no 3rd party tools needed anymore. Server 8 introduces a full-featured IP address manager that combines network discovery, static and dynamic address allocation, DNS and DHCP monitoring, and network auditing capabilities all in one place. It logs actual usage and keeps an audit trail of changes. Boy, this feature has been LONG overdue!
7: Dynamic Access Control- This isn’t a replacement for standard ACL’s, this is a layer added on top of ACL’s. What it allows you to do is define access to files based on broad categories tagged in the files themselves. So, users can tag files, Office can tag files, and Server 8 can tag files. Then, regardless of where those files are, you can grant or deny access to those files based on the file itself, and not on the directory structure.
To implement, you create claims definitions and file property definitions in Active Directory, and you can use any AD attribute. The claim travels with the users token. Get that Access denied error? No problem. Users are given a remediation link so they can contact the Help Desk or Sysadmin if they think they need access.
6: Large Hyper-V Clusters- This is Microsoft’s stab at VMWare. Hyper-V will support 63 hosts and 4,000 VMs per cluster. They’ve also added tools like cluster-aware patching, storage resource pools, thin provisioning, storage offload for data transfers, BitLocker encryption for cluster volumes, data deduplication, and live storage migration. They’ve also added Fibre Channel support to Hyper-V guests.
5: Flexible Live Migration- You can migrate a VM and a VHD to a new server while running. All that’s needed is your standard Ethernet connection and both machines to belong to the same domain. No cap on migrations either, just limited by your hardware.
4: Virtual Networking – Microsoft has matched VMWare’s vSwitch feature for feature. Port ACLs, private VLANs, per-vNIC bandwidth reservations, QoS, metering, OpenFlow support, VN-Tag support, network introspection – and all without extra hardware.
3: Hyper-V Replica- The clunky process of setting up Hyper-V replication has been replaced by a wizard. Your replica will be no more than 5 minutes behind your live machine, and failover and failback are supported.
2: SMB for server apps- So, you want to share your VHD’s and SQL databases on a commodity file server? It’s now supported. You can run your VHD off a SMB2 file share, no specialized storage requirements needed. This is a big boost for small businesses. You can create SMB2 clusters as well for inexpensive failover.
1: Simplified Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. Tired of the pain of Citrix? Server 8 simplifies VDI tremendously. Remote connections are much lighter weight than R2 (10% of R2’s in Microsoft’s demos.) Admins have it easier for Terminal Server (Remote Desktop). They have a single admin tool for full deployment, as well as a single unified way to deploy RDSH sessions, pooled (stateless) virtual desktops, and personalized (stateful) virtual desktops. There are also new virtual hard disks, VHDX files, that store user personalizations, and Microsoft is promising better performance than previous roaming profiles. I hope so, as user profiles are an issue in my environment.
Well, there ya have it. Looking forward to more development in this area.
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