Know About Windows Server 2008

Introduction

Windows Server 2008 was introduced on February 4, 2008, and was an exponential leap since it was modeled on the Windows NT 6.0 SP1 kernel, which is used in Windows Vista. A Release 2 is currently under development.


Features

Microsoft have introduced an innovative approach to installation of Windows Server 2008 by a new methodology, Server Core, which does not install a Windows Explorer Shell. (All the installation is done in a command-line session, saving time considerably over previous methods.) Also it connects via the MMC (Microsoft Managament Console.) During the installation, some applets are available such as Windows Notepad and Regional Settings.

A Server Core machine may be used for some basic roles. A Domain Controller may be built fairly quickly along with several other types of server which are not application-based. One of the other more advantageous aspects of building a Server Core rather than a fully fledged machine is that it has a reduced attack surface, meaning greater security and less vulnerability to attack, while providing an efficient service.

Windows Server 2008 comes with greater features of Active Directory and enhancements to Terminal Services. The latest Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 makes for many fewer scenarios where the extra cost of Citrix Metaframe is required. It supports remote printing and resource sharing much more elegantly compared with prior versions. It also ships with Windows Powershell a very useful command-line shell and scripting technology which is task-based. There are also some significant improvements to the server-type file system through the utilization of a "self-healing NTFS" file system, obviating the need to take a server down because the volume was marked "dirty." Whatever is thought of the S.M.A.R.T. technology, it has been featured extensively in Windows systems, and drives that are do not display S.M.A.R.T. codes, should not be considered for Windows Server 2008 nor Windows Vista, since integral parts of these Windows Operating systems use S.M.A.R.T. to check the health of hard drives.

Windows Server 2008 also features Hyper-V (hypervisor-based virtualization.) Servers are virtualized on the operating system's kernel layer. This can be seen as the multiple partitioning of a single physical server and can be very useful for running multiple applications which ought not to be in the same physical space. This is good security and also helps to keep the costs down. It is also a far greener methodology.

A couple of things have been taken out of Windows Server 2008: NNTP protocol no longer ships with IIS v 7 and NT Backup has been replaced by Windows Server Backup, along with exchange backups. A replacement for this is in place, but not on Windows Server 2008.

And, as with all new Microsoft products, there are several editions to be enjoyed: from the Standard Editions which ship in x86 and x64 to Windows Server 2008 for Itanium, there is a lot in between.