Canadian Colleges Update – Dec 2009 Session 9 Windows Server 2008 R2 Futures and Directions

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Dec 092009

Session 9 Kevin Lan, Senior Program Manager, Windows Server Division

Windows Server Release History – every 2 to 3 years for a new release

Technology Investment Areas

virtualization – Hyper-V with Live Migration
management – PowerShell scripting
web – ASP .Net and WebDAV, IIS 7.5 component install
scalability and reliability – 256 core support, componentization, boot from SAN or VHD, support solid-state devices, file classification infrastructure
better together with Windows 7 – DirectAccess, BranchCache

Scalability

designed for groups of 64 processors
SQLServer can take advantage of 256 logical processors

R2 Power Management

reduce power consumption by only powering cores that are working – Core Parking
Power AQ program – 10% savings in power from CPU utilization all managed from Group Policies
V4.0 ACPI spec supports this to allow power metering

Server Core Changes

64 bit delivery only
minimal installation option for window server (no GUI shell, command line interface), excellent for Read Only Domain Controllers and for Hyper-V virtualization
types of servers: Web, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter
reduces patch burden due to fewer components by approx 40%
additions of .NET Framework subsets, subsets for ASP.NET support for IIS, PowerShell, WoW64 installed by default for 32 bit drivers
this is a huge plus to reduce your surface area for malicious attacks – +security
see Virtualization session notes for more on Server R2

Hyper-V 2.0

logical processor support
hot add/remove storage
second level translation (SLAT)
Boot from VHD
Live Migration improvements requires System Center Virtual Machine Manager

Interoperability – Citrix, VMware, RedHat, Novell guest OS

Extensive Unified Management – using System Center suite

Remote Desktop Services – virtual desktop using a service broker, RemoteApp, roaming profiles, folder redirection

Streamline Management – using PowerShell, run Server Manager from Windows 7 (best practice analyzer embedded), easier migration of roles and core server settings when migrating to Windows Server 2008 R2

Active Directory Domain Services – added recycle bin for AD (Windows 2008 R2 Forest Functional Mode) to recover deleted objects, PowerShell integration, improved process for offline domain join, managed service accounts, authentication assurance for AD federated services

Key changes to IIS 7.5 in R2 – componentize IIS, config tracing and logging to see what happenned, secure ftp, remote manage IIS

File Services – file classification infrastructure, SMB2

File Classification Infrastructure – increasing cost and risk, new functionality integrates with SharePoint, there is a published API to allow for extensibility, also can be used for tiering of storage

SMB 2 Performance Enhancements – WAN file copy (xcopy and shell copy) big file transfer improvements based on file size, 16x better than RoboCopy

Better Together with Windows 7

DirectAccess can eliminate VPN for remote connectivity
needs IPv6 – need to do more for IPv4 apps
allows for Network Access Protection – included as part of Windows Server 2008 R2 – this can significantly enhance our end device protection **
BranchCache – allows remote branches to look locally first and then get data from HQ if not found

Windows Server – tomorrow

emerging – cloud based storage, solid state drives, pervasive wireless, SAAS, many mobiles devices
nascent – fungible servers (they show up when needed), mix on and off premise infrastructure, reduced network latency
speculative – very small and very large servers, everything is a server, everything is virtualized, Cloud OS, Global ID, utility computing, green
Broad areas: dynamic datacentre, enterprise-wide compliance, green computing, mobile planet, cloud computing

Lots to look forward to …