by Glenn Weadock

Server 2008 Release 2

Analysis

Dec 27, 20082 mins

As was the case with Server 2003 R2, which included a surprisingly large number of interesting updates and features, Server 2008 R2 promises to be equally worthy of our attention. Microsoft bundles the improvements into web apps, virtualization, power management, scalability, and synergy with Windows 7. However, the first thing that must be said is that this operating system is 64-bit ONLY. (Yes, we all saw the handwriting on the wall when Hyper-V was released only for 64-bit Server 2008, but now it’s official: On the server side at least, it’s a 64-bit world for Microsoft.)

So, a quick initial reaction from your Faithful Blogger. As a fan of Server Core, I’m especially glad (as I expect many of you will be as well) to see support now for .Net framework and PowerShell on that platform. The scalability improvements are noteworthy: the operating system can use 256 logical processor cores, and Hyper-V supports 32 cores per VM. Some attention has been paid to network plumbing, with improvements in the robustness of DHCP and the security of DNS. Of course, we have to have the traditional adventures in renaming things. For example, Terminal Services is now Remote Desktop Services.

I must admit to some confusion about the “synergy with Windows 7” features that Microsoft describes on their R2 web page, because several of these features are available today with Vista clients and plain old Server 2008. I’ll have to dig a bit more deeply to see whether Microsoft is overstating the case when they say that S2008 R2 has many features that only work best with Windows 7.

This space will examine various elements of R2 in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.