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Microsoft released its latest server product in late October, Windows Server 2008 R2. It is an upgrade of Server 2008 and will ship in 6 versions. As a small business owner, you only need to know about 3 of these versions: Foundation, Standard and maybe Enterprise.
R2 versions are available in 64-bit versions only. If you are running an older 32-bit server, even with relatively new hardware that meets system requirements, you will have to upgrade to 64-bit technology. That could be pricey.
Some highlights of R2 are its improved virtualization features. They have increased the number logical processors from 16 to 64 for better performance and added the Live Migration feature, which allows a virtual image to be moved from one type of CPU to another, as long as the processors stay within the same manufacturer. For example, an image that was running on a Pentium 4 CPU could be moved to a system running Core 2 Duo or an AMD Opteron image could run on an Athlon system.
R2 comes with Powershell 2.0, a powerful scripting tool that allows administrators to manage group policy and network maintenance more efficiently. The previous 1.0 version of powershell was excellent, but 2.0 adds 240 script templates (cmdlets) and a GUI interface which makes the job of managing a Windows network that much easier.
Another new feature is Direct Access. The best way I can describe this is that it’s a cross between Remote Desktop and a VPN. This feature allows remote workers to have access to company data without having to log on to the company network through a VPN or have to worry about limitations from using a remote desktop connection. It also allows network administrators to manage remote workstations easier. This will increase overall network security. This feature is designed for use in Windows 7.
Other features worth mentioning are as follows:
- Power management features that will use 20% less energy to run the server
- IIS 7.5 – Microsoft’s latest Internet server technology
- Branch Cache – Saves bandwidth between sites. Important if you are being billed by the byte.
- File Classification Infrastructure – Really helpful in organizations that need to classify a lot of documents from a lot of document types.
Upgrading from Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 R2 was pretty straightforward, without any problems or drama. We did have some issues with upgrading from Windows Server 2003 as there were some applications that would not work on the 2008 R2 platform. Microsoft has issued a Software Compatibility Toolkit which did give us a heads up that the application would not function properly. This may be a common occurrence for 2003 migrations. If you are using 2003 and want to upgrade, I recommend contacting the application developer directly to learn about any known issues beforehand.
Conclusion - Is it worth upgrading? For most small business, the answer is no. But if your hardware cycle is where you need to start replacing workstations with Windows 7 machines, you may want to upgrade your server to take advantage of the Direct Access features. If you are using more virtualization these days, you may want to upgrade as well as replace the server hardware. |
Scareware was 2009's top security concern, according to a Symantec security report. Another security headliner this year was the Conficker worm, which allowed its creators to remotely install software on computers globally. Though detected in November 2008, the worm started infecting computers in March and April 2009. In addition, events such as the death of Michael Jackson, as well as the inauguration of America's first black president Barack Obama, saw significant spikes in search queries. Cybercriminals latched on the respective opportunities to release their spam and malware onto the Web to trick unsuspecting users. Symantec also reported more than 40 trillion spam messages in the past 12 months, with some of the popular subjects including festive occasions, cheap car discounts and fake Twitter and Facebook invitations.