Let's say you're the kind of IT man or woman whose days, evenings,
and weekends are consumed by working approximately from position to point, making an attempt to keep
your company's or clients' computer systems operating. Odds are extremely excellent you might be still using XP on
the desktop and Server 2003 in the closet, because you happen to be used to it, you're
snug with it, your users appreciate it, and nobody's having to pay you for being
disruptive. Plus, you are chaotic! So as you hear the title "Windows Server 2008
R2," what is your to begin with believed? You are very likely to think that it is small a great deal more
than a warmed-over service pack for Windows Server 2008, which is the server
model of your much-maligned Windows Vista. That by yourself is adequate of the condemnation to
continue to keep loads of men and women away,
Windows 7 Product Key, even previously we get to the finding out curve.
But as soon as you begin to consider a nearer appear, you understand that
an item a good deal even larger is going on right here than the identify suggests. This "R2"
moniker has gained favor in Redmond within the last couple of many years as a means of saying, "It's
the same software, sincere! We have nailed on some bits on the aspect." It really is supposed
to appeal to IT departments which can be allergic to disruptive changes. It's possible
it is really intended to appeal to your internal Star Wars fan and make you think
it truly is an adorable sidekick that might fix problematic issues that has a effortless device. Windows Server 2003 R2 definitely fit that description—the kernel, core
operating system and feature set of Server 2003 were 100 percent retained for 2003 R2,
and some useful tools were added on. Server 2008 R2, on the other hand, is a a good deal
different story. It has a revised kernel, it has a new user interface, and it
isn't a drop-in upgrade for that entry-level server you bought six decades ago. But it presents some new and genuinely interesting ways of solving a lot of
the day-to-day issues, big and small, that the busy IT person deals with.
We will consider a closer look and feel at two of those new features, Remote Desktop Services and DirectAccess, from the coming weeks. But for now, let's start with the basics.
The Boring Stuff
Let's get the (frankly boring) marketing & accounting details
out from the way initially. The core editions of Server 2008 R2 are Foundation,
Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter. The relative newcomer right here would be the
"Foundation" edition. It truly is functionally precisely the same as Standard Edition and
contains almost all from the same features, but at about one third the price—about $270 USD. It is limited to 15 network accounts, 8GB of memory and 1
physical CPU, does not support Server Core, and can only be obtained as part of
a server purchase from OEMs like Dell, HP, and others. Other editions offered
by Microsoft include a Web edition (branded as "Windows Web Server 2008 R2") for
dedicated large-scale Web hosting environments, an edition for Intel's Itanium 2
processors that is roughly analogous on the Datacenter edition (but does not
support Server Core), and an edition for large-scale distributed computing
called HPC Server. The Small Business Server and Essential Business Server editions of Server 2008 R2 are due out later in 2010.
A number of quick points about licensing. Companies that have
already purchased Client Access Licenses or Terminal Services CALs for Windows
Server 2008 can continue to use those CALs with Server 2008 R2. Client
machines that connect to a Windows Server Foundation machine don't require CALs
at all. A license for Server 2008 R2 Enterprise qualifies it for being run in up
to four separate virtual machines on a single server (regardless of whether
you're making use of Microsoft's Hyper-V, VMWare, or some other virtualization
software programs), and a license for Server 2008 R2 Datacenter can be employed to run an
unlimited number of instances on a single server, though it is licensed on a
per-CPU basis.
In terms of hardware requirements, 2008 R2 generally has
lower "real-world" requirements than Server 2008, but higher requirements than Server
2003. The main issue that most administrators are heading to need to pay
attention would be the new 64-bit CPU requirement. There are a number of scalability
and optimization benefits that come from this, and it has some positive
implications for security, but it comes at a cost. Most pre-2006 hardware
cannot run it at all, and any program that needs to operate in kernel mode
(e.g. drivers and anti-virus software) needs to be 64-bit as well. 2008 R2 can
nonetheless run user-mode applications designed for 32-bit versions of Windows by
utilizing a feature called "Windows on Windows 64-bit" (WOW64 for short). WOW64 makes it possible for those applications to run as 32-bit, by
intercepting any system function calls, file system access, registry access,
print jobs, and interactions with the kernel, translating them to a 64-bit
equivalent. It can be all done in a way that's almost completely transparent on the
application. This technology isn't new, but it truly is becoming pretty widely utilized
as a lot more men and women use 64-bit versions of Windows.
One feature of WOW64 that's new to 2008 R2 in a Server Core
install is that it can be removed altogether. Microsoft had originally intended to
make WOW64 an installable option,
Buy Windows 7, and did all the refactoring work to untangle
it from the rest of Windows, but had to back off after a rash of negative
feedback from beta testers. It turns out that many software package packages, even
64-bit ones, use 32-bit installer code—even if all that 32-bit code does is
say, "Hey, you need a 64-bit version of Windows!" If you want to remove WOW64
from a Server Core install, it is easy: type "ocsetup ServerCore-WOW64
/uninstall" at a command prompt. Reinstalling it is just as straightforward:
"ocsetup ServerCore-WOW64."
The Pretty Stuff
As you already know from our
extensive review of
Windows 7, the user interface has received a pretty
significant update. 2008 R2 includes this new interface as well, including the
new taskbar,
Office Home And Business 2010, the litany of new keyboard & mouse shortcuts, the new Explorer
with the vastly improved left-hand navigation pane, and the various toys and
tidbits such as the Ribbon-based Paint and WordPad. Unlike its desktop counterpart,
none in the advanced graphics or multimedia features are installed by default. Installing the "Desktop Experience" optional component adds Windows Aero
graphics and effects, Windows Media Player, a bevy of desktop backgrounds,
Windows Defender, Sound Recorder,
Office Home And Student 2010, and other desktop tools to a Server 2008 R2
installation, making it seem and feel a great deal more like
Windows 7.
By and large, most folks won't do this on their Server 2008
R2 installs. But there are two groups of individuals who will want to:
enthusiasts that plan to run Server 2008 R2 as their desktop operating system,
and administrators of Remote Desktop Session Host server. While the initially
scenario is obvious adequate, the second will come as a massive surprise: yes,
you can use Windows Media Player to play audio and video at full speed about a
Remote Desktop connection. Yes, you can record audio above a Remote Desktop
connection. And, perhaps most surprising of all, yes, you can have a fully
Aero-enabled desktop, with translucent effects, animations, full-fidelity audio
and all,
Buy Office 2007, in excess of a Remote Desktop connection.
No, I'm really not making this up:
Windows Media Player (and, in theory, DirectShow or Media Foundation-based multimedia application) is able to recognize when it
is being run in a Remote Desktop session, and will stream the contents for the
file being played through the Remote Desktop connection. Your local desktop
decodes the file and displays it on your own screen. It truly is substantially a similar with
the Windows Aero graphics and effects; the remote machine instructs the local
machine to draw the windows and do all the Aero effects. Bitmap acceleration is also supported; this allows any application running
on the server that uses DirectX (including Flash and Silverlight) to run on the server, utilizing a GPU if available, or the CPU if necessary, to render the graphics, then capture the output and send it for the client. While this
sounds great in theory, in practice it is not really all that scalable.
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One and the
Linear Mode
