Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 Free with Windows Server 2008 license; new R2 license pricing not yet announced.

PROS : Huge enhancements in Hyper-V. New document management abilities in file services. Supports live migration of virtual servers.

CONS : Making Clustering, Hyper-V, and DirectAccess could require advanced IT expertise.

A Significant Server OS Release Typically, R2 server announcements represent the midpoint between major releases and thus are not very exciting. But this time, Microsoft has revealed several new features and big improvements in its release, including vastly improved Hyper-V support, an integrated documentmanagement system, the beginning of the end of the hated VPN, and much more granular backup support. These new features signal an aggressive move by Microsoft to entice companies of all sizes, and especially SMBs, to make the switch to Server 2008. In R2, Microsoft has ramped up its Hyper-V virtualization to perform live migration so you can move virtual servers that are running in Hyper-V among multiple physical servers without dropping network connections or requiring any downtime. R2 now supports up to 256 logical processor cores and has enhanced its access to non-uniform memory access (NUMA) hardware, making it about 30 percent faster than the original release of Server 2008. There is also File Classification Infrastructure (FCI) document management technology, which can change the location of files or even delete them based on a classification that you define. R2 has replaced its VPN with DirectAccess (but only in a Windows 7 environment). And the backup feature has been enhanced to include individual files and folders, instead of only entire volumes (though there’s still room for improvement here). All this adds up to an R2 release that’s far from dull. In fact, it’s an Editors’ Choice.—Mario Morejon

Source of Information : PC Magazine July 2009

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