Window Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 RC0

Microsoft will release Windows 2008 Server as the direct successor to Windows 2003 Server in the spring of next year. The new server OS, code named Longhorn, shares the same kernel with Windows Vista and incorporates many additions compared to its predecessor.

When using the completely revamped server-management console, configuration and administration of the new server become much simpler. The new Internet Information Server 7 also sports a new user interface. With virtualization technology integrated directly into the operating system, third-party tools or solutions are no longer necessary when using virtual machines and the like. Lastly, administrators are as up-to-date as it gets, since Windows 2008 Server includes all of the components slated for inclusion in Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista.

Tom’s Guide took a look at the first release candidate, version RC0. Generally speaking, release candidates are very close to the final product and are distributed to testers primarily in order to find bugs. New features are not to be expected in the later release candidates, though. What we see here today is most definitely what users will get in the final version. Thus, a look at RC0 should allow us to draw conclusions about the final release.

Although the Server 2008 may have the Vista kernel under its hood, that does not mean that administrators will be greeted with colorful windows using the Aero interface. Understandably, Microsoft’s focus lay on the server-related issues in implementing improvements, and so the management aspect took precedence over design.

Nonetheless, even if the primary purpose of a server OS is not to look good, Windows Server 2008 still offers the option of installing the new, colorful design. Thus, even jaded system administrators can get a little bit of that Vista feeling and see if the “Wow” really does start now.

Installation: Quick And Easy

The installation process is the first obvious clue that Windows Server 2008 is closely related to Windows Vista. Anyone who has ever installed Vista will recognize the setup routine.

As seen on Windows Vista: The setup routine for Windows Server 2008

Using Vista’s installation routine is a major benefit, especially for a server OS. Administrators can partition the system’s hard drives during setup. More importantly, they can install the necessary AHCI or RAID storage drivers from a CD/DVD or even a USB thumb drive. Thus, error-prone floppies can finally be sent to their well-earned retirement.

Create partitions with the mouse and load RAID drivers from a DVD - we can finally say goodbye to the floppy.

Join our discussion on this article!

When you install and configure a server operating system, you hope you’ll never have to do it again. It’s inordinately complex and time-consuming. Each server is a unique creation, and each configuration meticulously adapted to a particular use.Any installed drivers, applications and other software components reflect that specialized use. Even individual applications may have a unique set of patches. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to identify each unique configuration and determine how to replicate it on a new OS.

So why should you bother with Windows Server 2008? You’ll still have to replicate your server environment on each server as you replace your old OS. It should take less time, though, with Windows Server 2008. And when you’re done, you’ll have a more secure, more manageable and better performing box, both physically and virtually.

In reality, swapping out your Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 Servers for Windows Server 2008 is only going to be slightly less painful than in the past. The resulting value is real, but in many cases probably not a game-changer. You’ll have to weigh the costs in both dollars and time against the benefits to your organization.

Don’t be surprised if the cost/benefit analysis tells you to start planning for a migration today. In many cases, it will take a year or more to plan and execute, and the return on the initial investment may not come until years later-but you’ll sleep better at night. The question is easier if you’ve reached the end-of-life on Windows NT 4. If so, it’s high time to upgrade.

MICROSOFT WINDOWS Server 2008 has been leaked on the internet, three weeks ahead of the official worldwide launch date. This comes just a day after it was released to manufacturers (RTM) for their viewing, qualifying and rebadging pleasure.

Released a short while ago by the ever-so-popular warez group known as BetaInsiders were the versions Windows Server 2008 x86 RTM and Windows Server 2008 x64 RTM all in DVD/ISO format – with both English and German editions. The release can be found via the usual sources of BitTorrent, Usenet and scene servers – everywherepeople usually wander for these types of things.

Don’t let the name of the group fool you, it’s the full working NOS as demonstrated below.

The group is well-known for its delivery of the Vole’s products to the net well ahead of actual release date. So it’s no real surprise they’re the first out the gate with Windows Server 2008.

Windows Server 2008 is being marketed under “HEROES happen [here]” banner. We’re not sure what’s heroic about releasing it to the world this way, but it amused us when we called Microsoft for a statement and we were the first to let them know it happened.

With so much ROI potential and virtualization built in, Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT)’s Windows Server 2008 — just released to manufacturing and set to launch later this month — promises to change the way the channel delivers solutions. After several weeks of testing in the CMP Channel Test Center lab, it is clear that Microsoft’s forthcoming server operating system provides levels of data center functionality never before seen in a single package. Even without considering the implications of Hyper-V—the virtualization application that will officially ship several months after Server 2008—it seems that Microsoft, once again, appears poised to steamroll over more and new (watch out, VMware) competitors.

As Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., is on the brink of launching Windows Server 2008—formerly known as Longhorn—issues such as Microsoft’s potential “Netscape-ization” of virtualization king VMware is still debatable. But what is not up for argument are the sweeping new sets of functionality the company has built into the operating system. In addition, Microsoft will simply let enterprises consolidate more for less with a minimum of pain—saving precious dollars on infrastructure along the way. The new functionality includes:

• Automated storage backup, with wizard-based setup and management
• A more advanced firewall, with inbound and outbound security rules that are significantly more advanced than what is available in Windows Server 2003
• Wizard-based setup of failover clustering
• Setup that’s so streamlined it takes a fraction of the time to get Server 2008 up and running compared with what it takes Server 2003
• And, last but not least, integration with Hyper-V, Microsoft’s forthcoming virtualization technology that will revolutionize the data center for enterprises of all sizes

Make no mistake: It’s not perfect. CMP Channel Test Center found some glitches in the software during its review process, including a bug in which the operating system failed to automatically bind the virtual network switch to the LAN adapter in Server 2008. (Microsoft engineers confirmed the bug, which caused a few headaches and some lost time during the review process.)

In addition, the Test Center tried to deploy competing software—VMware’s Workstation 6—in Windows Server 2008. Even though the application installed, each time it attempted to launch a Linux operating system in a virtual machine, the entire server simply blue-screened.

Further, in conversations with industry sources, engineers in at least one Fortune 500 company have encountered their own blue screens when attempting to migrate a VMware virtual machine to a Server 2008 environment. Microsoft may yet decide to provide VMware-to-Hyper-V migration tools. If it doesn’t, its heady plans to deploy mass-market virtualization could get stuck in the mud. The industry will see what happens in the next several months.

I’ve just finished downloading Windows Server 2008 RTM from Connect. You will notice that MSDN and Technet only have the 64 bit version, while Connect lists all versions but only for the next 30 days.

It took only 29 minutes to download Windows Server 2008 32 bit. I am now going to use this to upgrade the test environment on a virtual machine. This is in preparation for the migration of our Geekzone production server from Windows Server 2008 RC1 to RTM.

We have been running Windows Server 2008 RC1 on Geekzone for almost three months now as part of an early adopters programme with Microsoft. The experience couldn’t have been better.

During this time we had only a couple of updates installed, only one restart because of this and installed a second drive to mirror the system. Modifying the drive to a dynamic partition and creating the mirror did not require a restart (as I remember it needed on Windows Server 2003) and all completed ok.

I have heard comments from Geekzone users on how they feel the site has been more responsive in the last few month - and I’ve noticed this too.

If you want to find out more about Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 check the Summer Road Trip.

As for Windows Vista SP1… I am waiting for it to be available for download, ready to install on my laptop.

Microsoft released to manufacturing its Windows Server 2008 platform Monday, meaning the software should be available for purchase on March 1.

Customers with Microsoft’s Active Software Assurance coverage or an enterprise agreement can get it a little earlier, with downloads available by the end of February, according to a Microsoft representative.

Featured in the operating system are automation of daily tasks, improved security and virtualization to improve hardware utilization and server availability, the company said.

Developed in tandem with the Windows Vista code base, Windows Server offers capabilities such as Network Access Protection and Group Policy. System-wide performance improvements include an integrated system architecture including network file-sharing, managed quality of service and reduced power consumption, Microsoft said.

Windows Server 2008 and Vista feature common tools to boost efficiencies, according to Microsoft. Also, a FastCGI module in Windows Server 2008 enables hosting of PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) systems. PHP and ASP.net applications can be hosted side by side.

The company is offering a Go Live license enabling users to deploy beta releases of Internet Information Services 7.0 into live production.

By using the Windows Server® 2008 Active Directory® Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) role, formerly known as Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM), you can provide directory services for directory-enabled applications without incurring the overhead of domains and forests and the requirements of a single schema throughout a forest.

In the following sections, learn more about the AD LDS server role, the features in it, and the software and hardware considerations for installing it.

What is the AD LDS server role?

AD LDS is a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory service that provides flexible support for directory-enabled applications, without the dependencies that are required for Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). AD LDS provides much of the same functionality as AD DS, but it does not require the deployment of domains or domain controllers. You can run multiple instances of AD LDS concurrently on a single computer, with an independently managed schema for each AD LDS instance.

AD DS provides directory services for both the Microsoft® Windows Server server operating system and for directory-enabled applications. For the server operating system, AD DS stores critical information about the network infrastructure, users and groups, network services, and so on. In this role, AD DS must adhere to a single schema throughout an entire forest.

The AD LDS server role, on the other hand, provides directory services specifically for directory-enabled applications. AD LDS does not require or rely on Active Directory domains or forests. However, in environments where AD DS exists, AD LDS can use AD DS for the authentication of Windows security principals.

When should I use the AD LDS server role?

The following sections describe common AD LDS enterprise directory solutions.

Providing an enterprise directory store

AD LDS is a full-fledged LDAP directory solution for enterprises. All directory-enabled enterprise applications can use AD LDS as their directory store.

AD LDS can store “private” directory data, which is relevant only to the application, in a local directory service—possibly on the same server as the application—without requiring any additional configuration to the server operating system directory. This data, which is relevant only to the application and which does not have to be widely replicated, is stored solely in the AD LDS directory that is associated with the application. This solution reduces replication traffic on the network between domain controllers that serve the server operating system directory. However, if necessary you can configure this data to be replicated between multiple AD LDS instances.

Enterprise applications must often store personalization data that is associated with authenticated users in AD DS. Storing this personalization data in AD DS would require AD DS schema changes. In this scenario, an application can use AD LDS to store application-specific data, such as policy and management information, while it uses the user principals in AD DS for authentication and for controlling access to objects in AD LDS. Such a solution makes it unnecessary for each AD LDS directory to have its own user database. Therefore, this solution prevents a proliferation of user IDs and passwords for end users every time a new directory-enabled application is introduced to the network.

Providing an extranet authentication store

Consider the example of a Web portal application that manages extranet access to corporate business applications and services identities that are external to the corporate AD DS). Another example might be a hosting scenario in which a provider offers domain and storage services to its customers by maintaining and updating customer-dedicated Web or data servers, with no customers having access to these servers.

These servers and portal applications that are deployed in an extranet have custom identity needs. They require an authentication store to save authorization information for the identities that they service. AD LDS is a good candidate for this authentication store because it can host user objects that are not Windows security principals but that can be authenticated with LDAP simple binds. In other words, Web clients can be serviced by portal applications that can run on any platform while they use AD LDS as a simple LDAP authentication store.

If a portal application that you deploy in an extranet must service internal AD DS-authenticated identities that are currently located outside the corporate firewall, you can still deploy AD LDS as the authentication store with the corporate account credentials of these identities provisioned on the extranet instances of AD LDS, as shown in the following illustration.

You can also deploy AD LDS as an extranet authentication store along with Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS). This configuration enables Web single-sign-on (SSO) technologies to authenticate users to multiple Web applications with a single user account. For more information, see Active Directory Federation Services Overview (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=95311).

Consolidating identity systems

You may have a scenario in which a data model restriction, such as a single LDAP partition view or a single organizational unit (OU) view, is imposed on an enterprise directory-enabled application that must access data that is associated with AD DS-authenticated users, applications, or network resources that are located in multiple forests, domains, or OUs in the enterprise. Identity information for this directory-enabled application must be consolidated from multiple Active Directory forests, domains, and OUs or from multiple identity systems and other directories, such as human resource databases, SAP databases, telephone directories, and so on.

AD LDS offers a consolidating directory solution because you can deploy it along with a metadirectory. Metadirectories, such as Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS) or Microsoft Identity Integration Feature Pack (IIFP)—which is a free, lightweight version of MIIS, can provide directory-enabled applications with a unified view of all known identity information about enterprise users, applications, and network resources by performing identity integration, directory synchronization, account provisioning and deprovisioning, and password synchronization between AD DS and AD LDS, as shown in the following illustration.

Providing a development environment for AD DS and AD LDS

Because AD LDS uses the same programming model and provides virtually the same administration experience as AD DS, it can be a good fit for developers who are staging and testing various Active Directory-integrated applications. For example, if an application under development requires a different schema from the current server operating system AD DS, the application developer can use AD LDS to provide the application with a tailored schema that works for business needs, data requirements, and workflow processes, without altering the configuration of the corporate Active Directory deployment. Developers can work with a local instance of AD LDS on a developer workstation and then move the application to AD DS at a later time.

Developers may want a simple directory that they can easily program to, without requirements for extensive setup or hardware support during the development process. AD LDS is easily installed or uninstalled on developer workstations. This allows rapid restoration to a clean state during the application prototyping and development process.

Providing a configuration store for distributed applications

You may have a distributed application that requires a configuration store with multimaster update and replication capabilities to service its multiple components, for example, a firewall application that accesses network and application ports data, a junk mail filtering application that accesses e-mail address lists, or a workflow application that accesses enterprise and policy data. You can deploy AD LDS as a lightweight configuration store for such applications, as shown in the following illustration.

In this scenario, an AD LDS instance that serves as the application’s configuration store is bundled with a distributed application. This way, application designers do not have to be concerned about the availability of a directory service before the installation of the application. Instead, they can include AD LDS as a part of their application’s installation process to ensure that the application has access to a directory service immediately upon installation. The application then configures and manages AD LDS entirely on its own or partially, depending on the application’s exposure to the AD LDS management, and it uses AD LDS to address its various data requirements.

Migrating legacy directory-enabled applications

Your organization may use an already established directory with X.500-style naming (O=<organization>,C=<country>) to serve various legacy applications, but it may also want to migrate its enterprise directory to AD DS. In this scenario, you can use AD LDS as an interim solution. You can deploy AD LDS to serve and provide support for the legacy applications that rely on X.500-style naming, while you can use AD DS in the enterprise to provide a shared security infrastructure. You can use a metadirectory, such as MIIS, to automatically synchronize the data in AD DS and AD LDS for a seamless migration experience. The following illustration describes this AD LDS deployment.

Features in the AD LDS server role

You can use the AD LDS server role to create multiple AD LDS instances on a single computer. Each instance runs as a separate service in its own execution context. The AD LDS server role includes the following features to make it easy to create, configure, and manage AD LDS instances:

In addition to these tools, you can also use many Active Directory tools to administer AD LDS instances.

The Windows Server 2008 operating system includes the additional AD LDS features in the following table.

Hardware and software considerations

Use performance counters, testing in the lab, data from existing hardware in a production environment, and pilot roll-outs to determine the capacity needs for your server.

Installing AD LDS

After you finish installing the operating system, a list of initial configuration tasks appears. To install AD LDS, in the list of tasks, click Add roles, and then click Active Directory Lightweight Directory Server.

After you add the AD LDS server role to your server, you can create an AD LDS instance. To create an AD LDS instance, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services Setup Wizard.

Managing an AD LDS instance

You can manage AD LDS instances by using the ADSI Edit MMC snap-in. To manage an AD LDS instance, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click ADSI Edit.

For more information

To learn more about AD LDS, click the AD LDS Help link in Server Manager.

This software is intended for evaluation and deployment planning purposes only. If you plan to install the software on your primary machine, it is recommended that you back up your existing data prior to installation.

To use Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate, you need*:

* Actual requirements will vary based on your system configuration and the applications and features you choose to install. Processor performance is dependent upon not only the clock frequency of the processor, but the number of cores and the size of the processor cache.  Disk space requirements for the system partition are approximate. Itanium-based and x64-based operating systems will vary from these disk size estimates. Additional available hard-disk space may be required if you are installing over a network. For more information, please see Windows Server 2008 product site.

In this review of Windows Server 2008, we take a look at the features and benefits of Microsoft’s newest and most advanced server Operating System. What is new, why should you try it out, and how can it help you?

Today I downloaded the recently released Windows Server 2008 release candidate 0 (RC0) evaluation. This is about a 4GB free evaluation. I installed it inside VMware and wanted to offer my review of the latest Windows Server OS, its features, and benefits.

Microsoft says that Windows Server 2008 is the “most advanced and secure server operating system” that they have ever released. While that is a tall order to stand up to, I do believe that Windows Server 2008 has many new features included that system administrators of small and large companies will enjoy.

Let’s start off with the new look and feel of Windows Server 2008…

Update: I am currently testing Windows Server 2008 in detail. Please, check out the complete list of my Windows Server 2008 reviews. Also read about the latest rumors concerning the release date for Windows Server 2008.

Windows Server 2008 gets more and more media coverage these days since its release date is getting closer. This post summarizes some interesting information I found today.

Windows Server Roadmap
An article at Redmondmag.com unveils the Windows Server roadmap. Most interesting is that Windows Server 2008 is scheduled for release in January 2008 and a release candidate might already be available in November or December this year. Well, Microsoft seldom sticks to its own schedules, but at least we have a concrete date now.

Windows Server 2008 is Microsoft?s last 32-bit server OS
Several news sites are discussing this issue. Bill Laing, general manager of the Windows Server division, said that after 2008 Microsoft would only produce 64 bit operating systems. This has led to speculation that Vista would be Microsoft?s last 32 desktop OS. However, this was just a jump to conclusions as clarified by the Vista blog .

New Server Core Step by Step guide
Some days ago, I posted an article on how to get started with Windows 2008 Server Core. Microsoft has just published a new Step by Step guide covering more or less the same instructions as my post. However, Microsoft?s document is much more detailed than my introduction. So, if the sore muscles in your fingers are already better, you could continue now with your exploration of Server Core. There is a word document on Microsoft?s Download Center and there should be a HTML version on Technet. I wasn?t able to find the latter, though. But the link leads to a list of other interesting documentations about Windows Server 2008.