With Windows Server 2008 R2 reaching eliminate extended support in January 2020, it’s opportunity to start planning your upgrades. Windows Server 2019 is definitely available in aforementioned half of this halloween, along with System Center 2019, and Microsoft is exactly starting to discuss the new features it can be bring.
Recognized features are usually in the faster moving “Semi Annual Channel” sort of Windows Server 2016. Those include the Windows Subsystem for Linux that enables you to run the exact Linux scripts and utilities on a Windows server, more compact images for Server Core, improved support for Kubernetes container orchestration, and Hyper-V isolation for Linux containers. Other people logical progressions from key Server 2016 features, in particular support for Shielded VMs with limited admin access for Linux VMs.
But Windows Server 2019 also adds new ways of hyper-converged infrastructure and cluster management that are well with current data center trends.
“HCI would have continual enhancements on scale (a component called Cluster Sets that allows build a cluster of clusters, ultimately causing large hyper-converged clusters), increased resiliency to hardware failure, diagnosability, health monitoring, performance (within and across hyper-converged nodes), management, persistent memory support, ,” a Microsoft spokesperson told us.
Cluster sets group together multiple failover clusters, whether they’re compute, storage, or hyper-converged clusters. With cluster sets, resources like VMs are not part of their individual cluster but are a member of a cluster of clusters. Is the right you can scale up to and including much larger the amount of nodes and still have partners . a single cluster (like live VM migration including a single storage namespace) with no fragility of merely one, giant cluster. That makes the fabric more reliable scalable.
Being able to encrypt network segments to reduce the network layer between servers will often appeal to operators of larger data centers, a Microsoft spokesperson suggested. “SDN Encryption aids you encrypt subnet traffic, which can be very useful in multi-tenant environments with multiple virtual networks,” they explained, noting so it doesn’t require special network hardware.
While cluster sets will appeal to the largest enterprise data centers, Windows Server 2019’s new remote server management application, codenamed Project Honolulu, offer the benefits of HCI to much smaller setups. As Siddhartha Roy out from the Windows Server team told Data Center Knowledge property when first announcing the modern management tool, software-defined data centers have needed significant investments in hardware and software before.
“We are cognizant that because of these smaller footprints, for any two-to-four-node segment, political figures a separate lightweight do-it-yourself software-defined data center user experience,” Roy said. “We read the need for i’ll get to a self-managed solution aimed towards someone who a lot of an IT generalist.”
Hybrid Cloud
Project Honolulu boasts a web-based interface but doesn’t must have a connection to Azure basic class of insects web-based management tools for the GUI-less Server Core and Nano Server have completed if you wanted to do use not really PowerShell. It’s designed for buying a single cluster, manages Windows and Windows Server instances running on physical or virtual machines on any hypervisor or cloud, so they cover everything from certificates to Windows Update. But it’s especially perfect for provisioning and managing hyperconverged clusters, due to the real-time CPU, memory, new usage, and storage IOPS along the cluster the sensation you get individual VMs and volumes.
Being able to authenticate directly against Azure Active directory from Windows Server 2019 (how can Windows 10 already can) unlocks hybrid cloud scenarios, like using Azure Site Recovery, Backup, and File Sync directly with individual servers using Project Honolulu. (To this point, this looks like Azure services only rather than just supporting multiple clouds, but Microsoft tells us you’ll be able to integrate with Update Management for Operations Management Suite, which can also monitor systems running on several clouds.)
Windows Server 2019 comes with the client for those Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection cloud service, so you’re able to monitor servers for any kind of behavior that indicates a hacker has broken in, plus Exploit Guard controls for locking down devices against lateral movement, ransomware, data exfiltration, and vulnerability exploits.
Combine this Azure integration using the HCI support, and it’s clear that Azure Stack isn’t your best option Microsoft is pitching for hybrid cloud and edge computing.
Windows Server and Storage Spaces Direct software-defined storage (especially on pre-certified Windows Server Software Defined hardware configurations that save months of integration testing) as well potential for hybrid cloud is a big part of why Gartner is now including software options in its bristling hyper-converged infrastructure Magic Quadrant.
Infrastructure Planning
WSL and shielded Linux VMs may allow some organizations to consolidate infrastructure because you’ll not necessarily need duplicate systems for managing Windows Server and Linux workloads (“The hardware requirements for Shielded VMs in Windows Server 2019 remain unchanged” from supporting Windows shielded VMs in Windows Server 2016, the Microsoft spokesperson told us). There’s been speculation about possible changes to Remote Desktop Services; the Remote Desktop Session Host isn’t within your first preview build and appearance to be moving for the Windows client. Which may simplify VDI infrastructure, assuming the session host doesn’t reappear in later builds.
If you’ve been hesitating for an R2 sort of Windows Server 2016, bear in mind that server releases don’t work of that ranking anymore. Instead, there’s a good solid Long Term Servicing Channel release every several years (which gets five years of mainstream support, many years of extended support and – in the event you pay for it – six many Premium Assurance). During those two to three years, Microsoft should be testing and debugging key the latest features in the Semi-Annual Channel releases that may out every six months. Those get Eighteen months of production support, require Software Assurance, are focused on faster-moving workloads like software-defined networking and containers, and don’t contain a desktop GUI interface in the first place.
If you want to get advanced familiarity with new Windows Server features rrnside your data center method that they suitable workloads, SAC is an efficient option. If you have had more traditional workloads and do your Windows Server upgrades on longer timescales, Windows Server 2019 is a next release to set up evaluating.