Quoting one of e-books
What’s New in Windows Server R2 ?
* What Is R2?
* The Focus for R2
* Top Reasons to Upgrade
******
What Is R2?
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Windows Server 2008 R2, or simply “R2” for short, is the second release of Windows
Server 2008. It isn’t a completely new release, but rather adds additional features and
refinements to the existing release.
Release Cadence
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Beginning with Windows Server 2003, Microsoft moved to a server release cycle that
was designed to have a major release every three to five years (Windows Server 2003,
Windows Server 2008), with a minor release at the approximate midpoint of the major
release cycle (Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008 R2). This change allowed
Microsoft to move away from including new functionality in service packs (SPs), while
providing customers with a more stable and predictable server environment.
An R2 release is more than an SP, but less than a full major release. Windows Server
2008 R2 includes Windows Server 2008 SP2, but it also adds many new features and
functionality that were not part of Windows Server 2008.
Licensing and Packaging Changes
There are some minor licensing changes included in Windows Server 2008 R2, and one
completely new edition since the original release of Windows Server 2008. The new edition is
Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM)–only edition
that is an entry-level small-business solution limited to a maximum of 15 users, which has
several other restrictions as well.
More Info For more information on Windows Server 2008 R2 editions, includingWindowsServer 2008 R2 Foundation, and full details and edition comparisons for allWindowsServer 2008 R2 editions, see: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/R2-editions.aspx.
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,
and we cover the new features and functionality in depth in Chapter 4, “Remote Desktop Services
and VDI: Centralizing Desktop and Application Management.” However, for the licensing,
it really is just a name change—Windows Server 2008 R2 RDS CALs and Windows Server
2008 TS CALs can both be used for the full functionality of Windows Server 2008 R2 RDS.
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. We cover these new suite licenses in Chapter 4 when we talk about the new
VDI functionality that R2 makes possible.
The Focus for R2
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It would be presumptuous of us to talk about the “vision” that Microsoft had for Windows
Server 2008 R2, but we can certainly see a pattern in where the major improvements are:
Virtualization
Management
Scalability
Web
Networking and access
“Better Together” with Windows 7
We take a look at each of these areas throughout this book, but let’s start with a quick
high-level look at what has changed in each area.
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. We cover the improvements in
Hyper-V server virtualization capabilities in Chapter 3, “Hyper-V: Scaling and Migrating Virtual
Machines.”
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. We
cover VDI and RDS
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, and many of the changes to rolebased
administration in Chapter 2, “Installation and Configuration: Adding R2 to Your World.”
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.
Improvements in storage management and file server management are part of Windows
Server 2008 R2. The new Windows File Classification Infrastructure (FCI) provides insight into
your data by automating classification processes so that you can manage your data more
effectively and economically. BranchCache improves bandwidth utilization of wide area
network
(WAN) connections by enabling local caching of data on Windows Server 2008 R2
and Windows 7 computers at branch offices. Improvements in processor utilization, startup
speed, and input/output (I/O) performance make the centralization of storage on iSCSI storage
area networks (SANs) easier and more efficient. We cover the details of file system and
storage.
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. Chapters 2 and 3 cover these improvements.
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.
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. For full details on the new version of IIS, see Chapter 7, “IIS 7.5: Improving the Web
Application Platform.
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.
Clients that are connected via DirectAccess can be remotely managed by internal IT staff,
allowing you to ensure that they are kept current with critical updates. DirectAccess is covered
in Chapter 8, “DirectAccess and Network Policy Server.”
Better Together 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:
Simplified remote connectivity for remote users (DirectAccess)Secure remote connectivity, even from public computers (Remote Workplace plus RDGateway and RD Session Host) Improved branch office performance and security (BranchCache and read-only DistributedFile System Replication [DFS-R]) More efficient power management where the hardware supports it (Group Policy) Virtualized desktops (VDI) Improved removable drive security (BitLocker To Go)
Top Reasons to Upgrade
Windows Server 2008 R2 is not a free update to Windows Server 2008 unless you have Software
Assurance (SA). So should you upgrade? And why?
Well, the short answer is yes, you should upgrade. The why is what this book is all about in
many ways, but here are our top 10 reasons to upgrade:
Powerful hardware and scaling features
Windows Server 2008 R2 supports
up to 256 logical processors. R2 also supports SLAT, which enables R2 to take advantage
of the Enhanced Page Tables feature found in the latest AMD CPUs as well as the
similar Nested Page Tables feature found in Intel’s latest processors. The combination
enables R2 servers to run with much improved memory management.
Improved Hyper-V Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2
can now access up to 64
logical CPUs on host computers—twice Hyper-V’s initial number of supported CPUs.
Live migration enables a highly fault-tolerant virtualization infrastructure, and dynamic
addition and removal of disks simplifies backup scenarios and overall management of
virtualized resources.
Reduced power consumption Windows Server 2008 R2
supports Core Parking,
which dynamically turns off unused processor cores when they aren’t needed, reducing
power consumption.
Reduced desktop costs Windows Server 2008 R2
enables VDI technology, which
extends the functionality of RDS to provide full desktop virtualization or application
virtualization of key applications.
Improved server management Windows Server 2008 R2
includes a new version
of Windows PowerShell, which is now available on Server Core as well. Server Manager
can now also be used remotely.
Improved branch office performance and security
Windows Server 2008 R2
includes BranchCache and read-only DFS-R, which extends the branch office scenarios
introduced in Windows Server 2008.
Improved Web server Windows Server 2008 R2
includes IIS 7.5 as well as a new
FTP server. IIS 7.5 includes a new Windows PowerShell provider for IIS management.
Windows PowerShell v2 Windows Server 2008 R2
includes an improved and
more powerful version of Windows PowerShell that has cmdlet support for remote
management. Windows PowerShell is now available on Server Core in Windows Server
2008 R2.
Improved Remote Desktop Services
The new RDS features provide an improved
and more seamless user experience, especially when the client is running Windows 7.
Improved mobile user experience
Mobile users running Windows 7 have seamless
and continuous access to corporate resources through DirectAccess. And RD Web
Access, shown in Figure 1-1, provides users running at least Windows XP SP3 with full
access to published applications or desktops.
