Windows Server 2008 is the name of the next server operating system from Microsoft. It is the successor to Windows Server 2003. Windows Server 2008 is the server operating system containing many of the new client features from Windows Vista. This is a similar relationship to that between Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.
It was known as codename Windows Server "Longhorn" until May 16, 2007, when Bill Gates announced its official title during his keynote address at WinHEC.[1]
Beta 1 was released on July 27, 2005. Beta 2 was announced and released on May 23, 2006 at WinHEC 2006, Beta 3 was released publicly on April 25, 2007[2] and Release Candidate 0 was released to the general public on September 24, 2007[3]. Windows Server 2008 will be released to manufacturing in the first quarter of 2008 with the official launch taking place on February 27, 2008.[4]
Features
See also: Features new to Windows Vista
Windows Server 2008 is built from the same code base as Windows Vista; therefore, it shares much of the same architecture and functionality. As the code base is common, it automatically benefits from most of the technical, security, management and administrative features new to Windows Vista such as new improved rewritten networking stack (native IPv6, native wireless, speed and security improvements); improved image-based installation, deployment and recovery; improved diagnostics, monitoring, event logging and reporting tools; better security features such as Bitlocker, ASLR, improved Windows Firewall with secure default configuration; .NET Framework 3.0 technologies, specifically Windows Communication Foundation, Microsoft Message Queuing and Windows Workflow Foundation; and the core kernel, memory and file system improvements. On the hardware side, processors and memory devices are modelled as Plug and Play devices, to allow hot-plugging of these devices. This allows the system resources to be partitioned dynamically using Dynamic Hardware Partitioning; each partition having its own memory, processor and I/O host bridge devices independent of other partitions.[5]
Server Core
Perhaps the most notable new feature of Windows Server 2008 is a new variation of installation called Server Core. Server Core is a significantly scaled-back installation where no Windows Explorer shell is installed, and all configuration and maintenance is done entirely through command line interface windows, or by connecting to the machine remotely using Microsoft Management Console. Server Core also does not include the .NET Framework, Internet Explorer or many other features not related to core server features. A Server Core machine can be configured for several basic roles: Domain controller/Active Directory Domain Services, ADLDS (ADAM), DNS Server, DHCP Server, file server, print server, Windows Media Server, Terminal Services Easy Print, TS Remote Programs, and TS Gateway, IIS 7 web server and Windows Server Virtualization virtual server. This last role is projected to be available at most 180 days after release of Windows Server 2008.
Active Directory roles
Active Directory is expanded with identity, certificate and rights management services. Active Directory until Windows Server 2003 allowed network administrators to centrally manage connected computers, to set policies for groups of users, and to centrally deploy new applications to multiple computers. This role of Active Directory is being renamed as Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS).[6] A number of other additional services are being introduced, including Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS), Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (ADLDS), (formerly Active Directory Application Mode, or ADAM), Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS), and Active Directory Rights Management Services (ADRMS). Identity and certificate services allow administrators to manage user accounts and the digital certificates that allow them to access certain services and systems. Federation management services enable enterprises to share credentials with trusted partners and customers, allowing a consultant to use his company user name and password to log in on a client's network. Identity Integration Feature Pack is included as Active Directory Metadirectory Services. Each of these services represents a server role.
Terminal Services
Windows Server 2008 features major upgrades to Terminal Services. Terminal Services now supports Remote Desktop Protocol 6.0. The most notable improvement is the ability to share a single application over a Remote Desktop connection, instead of the entire desktop. This feature is called Terminal Services Remote Programs. Other features new to Terminal Services include Terminal Services Gateway and Terminal Services Web Access (full web interface). With Terminal Services Gateway, authorized computers are able to connect securely to a Terminal Server or Remote Desktop from the Internet using RDP via HTTPS without implementing a VPN session first. Additional ports do not need to be opened in the firewall, RDP is tunneled through HTTPS. Terminal Services Web Access enables administrators to provide access to the Terminal Services Sessions via a Web interface. TS Web Access comes with an adjustable Webpart for IIS and Sharepoint, which advertises the possible applications and connections to the user. Using TS Gateway and TS Remote Programs, the whole communication is via HTTP(S) and the remote applications appear transparent to the user as if they are running locally. Multiple applications run in the same session to ensure that there is no need for additional licenses per user. Terminal Services Easy Print does not require administrators to install any printer drivers on the server, but guarantees successful client printer redirection and availability of all printer UI and properties for use in remote sessions. Terminal Services sessions are created in parallel, instead of a serial operation - the new session model can initiate at least four sessions in parallel, or more if a server has more than four processors.
Windows PowerShell
Windows Server 2008 is the first Windows operating system that will ship with Windows PowerShell, Microsoft's new extensible command line shell and task-based scripting technology.[7] PowerShell is based on object-oriented programming and version 2.0 of the Microsoft .NET Framework and includes more than 120 system administration utilities, consistent syntax and naming conventions, and built-in capabilities to work with common management data such as the Windows Registry, certificate store, or Windows Management Instrumentation. PowerShell's scripting language was specifically designed for IT administration, and can be used in place of cmd.exe and Windows Script Host.
Self-healing NTFS
In previous Windows versions, if the operating system detected corruption in the file system of an NTFS volume, it marked the volume "dirty"; to correct errors on the volume, it had to be taken offline. With self-healing NTFS, an NTFS worker thread is spawned in the background which performs a localized fix-up of damaged data structures, with only the corrupted files/folders remaining unavailable without locking out the entire volume and needing the server to be taken down.[8]
Windows Server Virtualization
Windows Server Virtualization an implementation of operating system-level virtualization, forming a core part of Microsoft's virtualization strategy. This hypervisor virtualizes servers on an operating system's kernel layer. It can be thought of as partitioning a single physical server into multiple small computational partitions. Windows Server Virtualization will include the ability to act as a Xen virtualization hypervisor host allowing Xen-enabled guest operating systems to run virtualized. This will not be a part of Windows Server 2008 initially, and will ship within 180 days after it.[9] It will be available only on x64 versions of Windows Server 2008.
Other features
Other new or enhanced features include:
• A new "Read-Only Domain Controller" operation mode in Active Directory, intended for use in branch office scenarios where a domain controller may reside in a low physical security environment. The RODC holds a non-writeable copy of Active Directory, and redirects all write attempts to a Full Domain Controller. It replicates all accounts except sensitive ones. In RODC mode, credentials are not cached by default. Moreover, only the Domain Controller running the PDC-Emulator needs to run Windows Server 2008. Also, local administrators can log on to the machine to perform maintenance tasks without requiring administrative rights on the domain.
• Restartable Active Directory allows ADDS to be stopped and restarted from the Management Console or the command-line without rebooting the domain controller. This reduces downtime for offline operations and reduces overall DC servicing requirements with Server Core. ADDS is implemented as a Domain Controller Service in Windows Server 2008.
• All of the Group Policy improvements from Windows Vista. Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is built-in.
• Policy-based networking with Network Access Protection, improved branch management and enhanced end user collaboration. Policies can be created to ensure greater Quality of Service for certain applications or services that require prioritization of network bandwidth between client and server.
• Internet Information Services 7 - Increased security, xcopy-deployment, improved diagnostic tools, delegated administration.
• New cryptography (CNG) API which supports elliptic curve cryptography and improved certificate management.
• Improved hot patching, a feature that allows non-kernel patches to occur without the need for a reboot.
• Granular password settings within a single domain - ability to implement different password policies for administrative accounts on a "group" and "user" basis, instead of a single set of password settings to the whole domain.
• Fully multi-componentized operating system.
• Server Message Block 2.0 protocol in the new TCP/IP stack provides a number of communication enhancements, including greater performance when connecting to file shares over high-latency links and better security through the use of mutual authentication and message signing.
• Windows Deployment Services replacing Automated Deployment Services and Remote Installation Services. Windows Deployment Services (WDS) support an enhanced multicast feature when deploying operating system images. [10]
• Roles-based management tool called Server Manager,[11] a combination of Manage Your Server and Security Configuration Wizard from Windows Server 2003. Server Manager is an improvement of the Configure my server dialog that launches by default on Windows Server 2003 machines. However, rather than serve only as a starting point to configuring new roles, Server Manager gathers together all of the operations users would want to conduct on the server, such as, getting a remote deployment method set up, adding more server roles etc and provides a consolidated, portal-like view about the status of each role.
• Support for being booted from Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)-compliant firmware on x86-64 systems.
• Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
• Several improvements to failover clusters (High-availability clusters).[12]
• DFS enhancements - On Demand Replication (Ghosting), SYSVOL on DFS2, Read-only Folder Replication Member. There is also support for domain-based DFS namespaces that exceed the previous size recommendation of 5,000 folders with targets in a namespace. [13]
• Disk management improvements:
o The ability to resize hard disk partitions without stopping the server, even the system partition.
o Shadow Copy based block-level backup which supports optical media, network shares and Windows Recovery Environment.
• Support for 128- and 256-bit AES encryption for the Kerberos authentication protocol.
• Internet Storage Naming Server (iSNS) enables central registration, deregistration and queries for iSCSI hard drives.
• Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol, a new Microsoft proprietary VPN protocol.
• AuthIP, a Microsoft proprietary extension of the IKE cryptographic protocol used in IPsec VPN networks.
• An optional "Desktop Experience" component provides the same Windows Aero user interface as Windows Vista, both for local users, as well as remote users connecting through Remote Desktop.
• Improvements due to client-side (Windows Vista) enhancements:
o Searching Windows Server 2008 servers from Windows Vista clients takes advantage of enhanced indexing and caching technologies on both to provide performance gains.
o In a networked environment with a print server running Windows Vista, clients can render print jobs locally before sending them to print servers to reduce the load on the server and increase its availability.
o Offline files are cached locally so that they are available even if the server is not, with copies seamlessly updating when the client and server are reconnected.
• Windows System Resource Manager is being integrated into Windows Server 2008. It can be used to control how much resource a process or a user can use.
o Process Matching Criteria, which is defined by the name, type or owner of the process, enforces restrictions on the resource usage by a process that matches the criteria. CPU time, bandwidth that it can use, number of processors it can be run on, and memory allocated to a process can be restricted. Restrictions can be set to be imposed only on certain dates as well.
Supported platforms
It has been confirmed that this version of Windows Server supports x64 (64-bit), as well as x86 (32-bit), processors. IA-64 will be supported in the Datacenter Edition of Windows Server 2008. The IA-64 version will be optimized for high workload scenarios like database servers and Line of Business (LOB) applications. As such it will not be optimized for use as a file server or media server. Microsoft has announced that Windows Server 2008 will be the last 32-bit Windows server operating system.[14]
Editions
Windows Server 2008 will be available in the 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x86-64) editions listed below.[15] The editions are the same as those in Windows Server 2003.
• Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition
• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition
• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition
• Windows Web Server 2008
• Windows Storage Server 2008
• Windows Small Business Server 2008 (Codenamed Cougar) (x64 only)
• Windows Server Codenamed "Centro" (for mid-markets) (x64 only)
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems (IA-64) will also be available. Server Core is available in x86 and x64 Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter editions. It is not available in Web edition or in the Itanium edition. It is important to note that Server Core is simply a server role in some of the editions, it is not a separate edition by itself. As of beta 3, each edition has a separate evaluation DVD.
