Window Server 2008

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.