Under the skin of Windows Server 2008 - Part 1

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Over the next few months, Microsoft will be finalising the code in Windows Server 2008, previously known as Longhorn Server. Getting it right it is critical for Microsoft as this much heralded, much delayed upgrade to Windows Server 2003 is going to be its enterprise computing platform for at least the next four years.

Windows Server 2008 contains many features that were previously shipped as add-ons in the previous server release or which were cut due to problems with time or the underlying code. Features such as virtualisation and Network Access Protection (NAP) are examples of these.

Microsoft has also broken with its GUI love affair and chosen to ship a command line only version of the operating system known as Server Core. There is a whole new scripting engine (Powershell) and the ability to support a much wider range of Unix like commands. Both of these will appeal to the enterprise customer and the security conscious as it reduces the size and attack surface of the operating system.

All of the changes and updates to Windows Server 2008 are grouped under three broad headings or pillars by Microsoft - more control, greater flexibility and increased protection. Every version of Windows Server 2008 from the Data Centre Edition to Server Core has specific technology related to these pillars.

Under each of these pillars are key scenarios that Microsoft is targeting. These are:

More ControlServer Management

An additional scenario - Branch Office - sits underneath all three pillars.

The full list of new and improved features is extensive and many are likely to be irrelevant to most organisations. The key is trying to identify those features that are likely to have an immediate impact on your data centre. Among the big issues in the datacentre are management, resource utilisation and automation.

New install, new look

From the moment you begin to install Windows Server 2008 you will notice changes. While Windows Server 2003 introduced better wizards for configuring server roles it still left a lot of things hostage to the knowledge of the installer. While not necessarily a bad thing, it does mean that in a world where the installation, creation and deployment of servers are increasingly time critical, that knowledge is not always available.

With Windows Server 2008, a lot more attention has been paid to what is required to install and configure a server for a specific role. The emphasis here is on best practice or at least what Microsoft has determined is best practice.

Consistency and arguably minimalism has been a major push inside the tools. Rather than have a lot of Microsoft Management Console (MMC) plug-ins that used their own layout, Microsoft has sought to standardise the components. It has also looked to reduce the number of plug-ins in order to make it easier to find the tools you need.

Long overdue is work on explaining dependencies between components. One of the big issues with any operating system is how to reduce what is installed to what is actually needed. By default, a lot of stuff is installed with any operating system that is not required. Removing bits, especially those that increase the security risk, is not simple.

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