PREVIEW: Windows Server 8

PREVIEW: Windows Server 8

Windows Server 8:

So Far, So Good....

Windows 8 may be grabbing all the headlines in the personal computing world, but a certain kind of IT staff is paying as much—if not more—attention to Microsoft’s latest announcements in the business world: the release of Windows Server 8. This latest release of Server arguably represents the most wide-sweeping

update to the OS since Server 2000 from NT 4.0. The changes are not in the overall

interface (except for in Server Manager and AD), but under-the-hood boosts and advancements in virtualization, clustering, Active Directory management, networking and just about every other capability in Windows Server. Of course, Windows Server 8, which many speculate will be released in 2012, is still in pre-beta developer code. Whether or not it gets the thumbs up depends on its addressing two major needs. The first: revamping the OS to meet the demands for cloud computing, virtualization and the continued “consumerization of IT.” The second is to make certain that sweeping changes won’t force longtime Windows server admins to re-learn administrative tasks or have to make changes to infrastructure to roll it out. So far, Windows Server 8 appears to achieve both goals. Here’s a rundown of some of the most impressive features we’ve

seen in our early peek at Server 8:

                    New Deployment Options: Server 8 can be deployed in three modes: Full GUI (the interface, on boot up, is not discernible from Server 2008 R2), Full Server without parts of the graphical shell (namely Explorer and IE removed), and Server Core—which is a bare-bones install in which PowerShell is used for management. While you could deploy server core in 2008 R2, Server 8 allows you to do something new: move back and forth from a full graphical interface to the core without having to reinstall.

                   PowerShell: Microsoft is strongly advocating using the greatly expanded Power- Shell over the GUI for many tasks in Server 8. Using PowerShell only requires a core installation, which make the OS very lightweight and able to run efficiently on lower

spec’ed machines.

                  Server Manager’s New Look: In a UI that is a bit reminiscent of Windows Phone 7—  and definitely influenced by Windows 8 client— Server Manager has a new tile-based design. A clean and modern dashboard allows admins to perform multi-machine management. Server 8 is looking to be a well-engineered, future-facing business OS that will be able to meet the tech needs of business for quite some time. How business technology responds to it will be interesting to witness.