Windows Server 2008 R2 Packed with New Features

November 2, 2009

Microsoft's Windows Server 2008 R2 may sound like it is simply an updated release of Windows Server 2008, but in reality it goes far beyond that: it includes many new features and technical innovations that were not available in the previous release. While many of these will be welcomed by IT departments because they make server management easier and more efficient, the new features also offer some very significant business benefits.

Live Migration for Service without Interruption
Arguably the biggest changes are in Hyper-V. The Microsoft virtualization technology introduced in Windows Server 2008 has undergone major development, and the new version of Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2 includes a keenly anticipated feature called Live Migration. This enables a virtual machine to be moved from one physical host server to another while it is running, without any interruption of service. That means that employees and customers can continue to access services or carry out transactions using applications running in Hyper-V virtual machines even when the hardware they are running in fails with little or no warning.

Live Migration—along with enhancements in network load balancing and failover clustering also introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2—enables IT departments to offer mission-critical applications that are vital to an organization's operations with a guarantee of high availability at a very high ROI compared to many other high availability solutions.

Other benefits of the new version of Hyper-V include:

• Improved management for virtualized data centers
• Higher performance and more comprehensive hardware support for Hyper-V virtual machines
• Improved virtual networking performance
• A simplified method for physical and virtual computer deployments by using .vhd files, and the ability to boot from .vhd files.

Lower Hardware and Energy Costs
The enhanced virtualization technology in Windows Server 2008 R2 makes it easier than ever for organizations to reduce server sprawl by consolidating their workloads onto fewer physical servers running multiple virtual machines. Many servers are typically run at about 10 percent utilization, but with virtualization using Hyper-V server utilization rates can often be increased to between 70 percent and 80 percent. This improved utilization of CPU cycles, storage resources, and network capacity can lead to important efficiency gains, lower hardware costs, and significant savings on power and cooling bills.

Power consumption—and thus costs—can be reduced further, thanks to Windows Server 2008 R2's new power consumption management features. These include Core Parking—which consolidates processing onto the fewest possible number of processor cores, while effectively shutting down any surplus ones until they are needed, and the ability to adjust the ACPI "P-states" of processors to ensure they consume no more power than is necessary.

More Efficient Server Administration
There are several important new features in Windows Server 2008 R2 that can help cut administration costs by enabling IT staff to work more efficiently, including some powerful new remote administration features. For example, Windows Server 2008 R2's Server Manager now allows the remote administration of other servers using graphical management consoles, and the new PowerShell version 2.0 now makes it possible for administrators to run scripts on remote servers. Remote server administration can lead to significant time and cost savings, especially when the servers are located in branch offices.

Scalable Platform
Windows Server 2008 R2 also introduces a new feature called BranchCache. This reduces wide area network (WAN) bandwidth costs for branch offices, and makes employees at those branch offices more productive by making the network applications they use much faster and more responsive. It does this by storing data that would normally have to travel across the WAN locally in hidden caches on machines in the branch office—either on Windows 7 desktop computers in smaller offices, or on a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine in larger ones.

This makes Windows Server 2008 R2 an ideal platform for growth for organizations expanding into new markets and establishing their presence with local offices in other parts of the country—or even internationally. In addition Windows Server 2008 R2 now supports up to 256 cores—compared to 64 cores in the previous version—enabling it to scale to meet the needs of the smallest start-ups right up to the very largest multi-national organisations.

Integration and Interoperability
Windows Server 2008 R2 has been developed in tandem with Microsoft's Windows 7 desktop operating system—in fact the two share the same kernel—and organizations of all sizes can benefit from a number of new features that are only possible thanks to the high level of integration between them. As well as the BranchCache feature discussed above, the benefits this integration make possible include:

• Simplified remote connectivity using DirectAccess. Employees using Windows 7 can connect securely to the corporate network without the need for a complicated VPN connection.
• Improved security for branch offices. Windows Server 2008 R2 introduces support for read-only copies of information stored in Distributed File System (DFS) replicas, so it can't be deleted or modified maliciously.
• More efficient power management. Windows Server 2008 R2 includes a number of Group Policy settings that allow the power consumption of computers running Windows 7 to be managed centrally.

But it's not just Windows 7 that Windows Server 2008 R2 has been designed to work well with: the operating system has been specifically developed as a platform for interoperability with third-party solutions for supply chain optimisation, enterprise resource planning (ERP), data warehousing, and other mission-critical applications, and with Microsoft's own family of server products—including SQL Server and Exchange Server.

Windows Server 2008 also includes UNIX interoperability components enabling companies to reduce costs by integrating UNIX and Microsoft Windows systems to deliver a complete solution. This can be particularly beneficial to companies that acquire legacy UNIX systems after merging with or buying other businesses.

This article is by no means a comprehensive list of all the new features of Windows Server 2008 R2 and the business benefits they provide—there are many more features that bring business benefits in many other areas. But from the features that have been mentioned it should be clear that the latest version of Microsoft's server operating system is its most powerful yet—with a huge amount to offer to businesses of every shape and size.