About Windows Server

Windows server editions are operating systems released by Microsoft. There have been multiple iterations of Windows Server by Microsoft including the following: Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003 and a future release which is codenamed Windows Server 8.

Windows Server 2008

There are multiple versions of Windows Server 2008 such as Windows Server 2008, Enterprise Edition, Datacenter Edition, Foundation Edition, Standard Edition, Windows Web Server 2008, Windows HPC Server and Itanium edition. Each version has key benefits and differences between the other.

Some are built for large scale enterprises while others are more oriented for midsized businesses or data centers. Some of the key features of Windows Server 2008 versus its previous counterparts are the following:

Server Core

This is a feature that Windows Server 2008 introduced in order to scale back the installation process in which a very limited/no graphical user interface is installed. Instead commands are done entirely through the command line or by connecting remotely to Microsoft Management Console (MMC). Certain programs are available such as Notepad, Task Manager, Regional Settings and Time, Date and Time Zone control panel applet.

The benefits of installing a Server Core edition of Microsoft Server 2008 are reduced maintenance of the server, a tighter more secure Windows Server 2008 (due to fewer applications running and exploitable security flaws), reduced management (fewer background programs could mean less maintenance and fewer issues) and lower resource usage due to the limited size of the installation and background processes running.

Some of the negatives to a Windows Server 2008 Server Core installation are that an installation must be clean and there is no way to upgrade from a previous installation or Windows Server install (2000, 2003). Another issue is that if a feature of Windows Server 2008 is needed a full install must be done as an upgrade installation to Windows Server 2008 cannot be done either.

Failover Clustering

Failover clustering is a High Availability group of computers that support servers and their associated applications in the event of a downtime. This means that the failover clustering provides continued service in the event of a server crash or application process gone wrong. Without failover clustering if a server were to fail the application or server would-be unavailable for the duration of the downtime.

Failover clustering is used for mission critical data for enterprises or organizations that cannot afford to have downtime associated with the servers or databases in question.

Self-Healing NTFS

In Windows Server 2008 a new feature called self-healing NTFS has been included. Previously, in older versions of Windows Server if the operating detected a corrupt sector of the NTFS file system it would mark the sector / volume dirty or damaged; in order to correct these errors the server had to be taken offline. With self-healing NTFS the server no longer has to be taken offline and can be cleaned up in the background.

Hyper-V

This is a feature in the soon to be Windows 8 Server and Windows Server 2008. Hyper-V was formerly known as Windows Server Virtualization and is now released as a free stand-alone version and meanwhile being able to be installed on Windows Server 2008. Some of the limitations of the free edition of Hyper-V are that it is limited to a command line interface. Some of the guest operating systems known to work on Hyper-V are Windows 7, Server 2008, SUSE Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Cent OS, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows XP.

There have been other reported working operating systems as well. Other benefits to Hyper-V is the added virtualization and management and deployment for IT staff. Due to Hyper-V offering scalability and dynamic on the fly changes; this allows for IT staff to monitor and change resources on the fly as the organizations needs change.

Power Saving Benefits

Tests conducted by Microsoft showed that compared to previous generations of Windows Server; Windows Server 2008 offers a decreased use of power consumption for energy efficiency.

Windows Server or Linux Server?

Many IT staff may believe one server edition is better than the other; however, it depends on the needs of the organization and its customers. Personal bias should be taken aside when deciding on a business wide decision and the opinions of multiple levels of management and staff should also be taken into consideration. Each operating system has its own pros and cons and completely depends on IT staff and the organizations values and budget.