Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 – the perfect combo
Gareth Hall
Gareth Hall is Microsoft UK’s Windows Server Product Manager. He previously worked in the NHS team at Microsoft, and before that as an IT and Information Manager.
Question: We understand that Windows Server 2008 R2 is due to be released around the same time as the Windows 7 operating system. As we’re planning to upgrade to both products, can you now tell us what we might expect from Release 2 of the server software, and whether it will make Windows 7 a justifiable financial investment? - Rachel, Solihull
Answer: Hi Rachel. Yes, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 will be available on 22 October and both are designed to save you money, while increasing your company’s productivity.
It’s perhaps not surprising that these products are so eagerly awaited when you consider that the majority of the world’s desktops operate under Windows and at least 70% of all servers run Windows Server. That means we’re just as eager as our customers to make sure those who invest in both – and that’s likely to be most of them – get extra value.
I’d like to continue where my colleague John Curran’s article left off by explaining how Windows Server 2008 R2 – which I’ll call R2 for short - can not only help make your employees more productive, but also reduce your energy costs by working in harmony with Windows 7.
But first let me explain why we’re releasing R2. Our server products are typically released at four-year intervals, which means we’re mid-way between releases. The purpose of R2 is to add the extra functionality customers have requested over the past 18 months, so we’re introducing or updating a number of features. I’d like to draw your attention to three in particular:
1. DirectAccess
The first is DirectAccess, which will allow mobile workers to access company information, websites and programs safely behind the company’s firewall without the need for a traditional Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection. It’s one of those rare instances where investing in your IT infrastructure offers users immediate and visible improvements.
It means that when your employees are out on the road, they’ll be able to use their laptops to get at internal company resources and systems just as they would in HQ, but without having to go through lots of painful security procedures as they did in the past.
It’s not just your mobile employees who will benefit. DirectAccess will also allow your IT staff to manage every machine on the network without it being connected to a VPN. When we tell IT people that, their eyes tend to light up! That’s because they’ll now be able to save time by sending software updates and security patches directly to any laptop – even if it’s not in the office. As long as a machine is connected to the internet, DirectAccess will allow them to see and control it, regardless of its location.
2. BranchCache
The second feature I’d single out for special mention is BranchCache, which brings huge benefits to any company with outlying sites. A perfect example of Windows 7 and R2 working in harmony, it’s a technology that lets users in remote offices download files held centrally on a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine in seconds rather than the long minutes usually experienced across wide area networks (WANs).
BranchCache does this by caching (or saving) a copy of any file on the company intranet accessed locally within a branch office. This means that whenever a user in a branch requests the same file as a colleague in that branch, they will receive it almost immediately because the data is downloaded from the local cache, rather than over the WAN from head office.
BranchCache can be used in one of two ways. If you have a server in the branch running Windows Server 2008 R2, then you can use what’s called ‘Hosted Cache’ mode to store the cached files at the branch site. If your branch site has no server, you can still benefit from BranchCache. In ‘Distributed Cache’ mode, copies of downloaded files are cached directly on PCs in the branch and sent to other Windows 7 users locally as needed.
Either way, the process is seamless to your employees; and it’s secure, because BranchCache will only serve content to users with the right permissions and always checks to make sure it is delivering the latest version of a file. If you want to save money by extending the life of a creaking WAN, it’s a perfect example of Windows 7 and R2 working together to save money and effort.
3. Hyper-V
Rising energy costs and the environmental impact of running computers are two issues affecting every company these days. Recent research suggests that average server utilisation is currently as low as 10%, yet companies still have to power each one, air-condition it and pay someone to manage it.
So the third feature of R2 worth highlighting is the next version of Hyper-V, a virtualisation technology that saves you money by consolidating your physical servers - significantly reducing power consumption without unduly sacrificing performance. Moreover, by including Hyper-V in the price of Windows Server 2008, we’re making virtualisation as cheap and affordable as possible for everyone. Companies using virtualisation report savings of up to 80% on their server infrastructure expenses, and improved efficiency on average of 40%.
One of the most highly anticipated features in this new version of Hyper-V is Live Migration, which lets you move running virtual machines to the best physical computer for performance purposes. It means administrators will be able to service and maintain your systems during regular business hours without users ever even noticing. Even better, they’ll be able to reduce your power consumption by consolidating machines dynamically and powering off unused physical hosts during times of lower demand.
Try it for yourself
These are just a handful of the many features in R2 which should help make your operation more productive. Through careful integration with Windows 7, I’m confident that R2 will save you time, reduce your costs and provide you with a more efficiently managed server infrastructure.
One last thing to bear in mind is that if you take out Software Assurance when you acquire Windows Server 2008 anytime before 22 October, you’ll be entitled to R2 at no additional cost when it becomes available. It means you don’t need to delay your purchase of Windows Server 2008 as you’ll immediately get the most from your investment in the software and the many benefits that go with it.
In the meantime, why not try out the Release Candidate (RC) version of R2 to see for yourself what's on the way? I hope this helps, but if you have any further questions, I recommend you contact your Microsoft Partner who will be able to give you plenty more advice, tailored to the needs of your own business.
--Gareth.
Further reading
Subscribe
to feed
