Introducing Windows Server 2008, code name: Longhorn

In the first of a new series of monthly columns, Gareth Hall introduces the NHS to the joys of Longhorn – or Microsoft Windows Server 2008 as it is now known.

One of the joys of working at Microsoft is getting the internal codenames for products out my head and replacing them with the proper names when they are announced. Remembering to call the Windows Server that was codenamed “Longhorn” by its proper name of Windows Server 2008 is just the latest example.

But as somebody once said, a rose by any other name will smell just as sweet. And in this column I want to give you an overview of some of the improvements that Windows Server 2008 has to offer. In coming months, I’ll also talk about how customers are already benefiting from its use.

We are grouping the functional improvements in Windows Server 2008 into four areas:

• A solid foundation for your business
• Security
• Built for the Web
• Virtualisation

A solid foundation for your business

Windows Server 2003 is running a huge number of servers in the NHS. We wanted to take the great platform that it offers and improve it in the areas that customers have given us feedback about. "There have been significant investments in the manageability of Windows Server 2008"

One of those areas was making the server easier to manage, and there have been significant investments in the manageability of Windows Server 2008:

• Server Manager accelerates server setup and configuration, and simplifies the ongoing management of server roles via a unified management console.
• Windows PowerShell is a new command-line shell with more than 130 tools and an integrated scripting language that enables an administrator to automate routine system administration tasks, especially across multiple servers.
• Server Core is a new installation option for selected roles that includes only the necessary components and subsystems without a graphical user interface, to provide a highly available server that requires fewer updates and less servicing.

Security

In the NHS, the security of IT infrastructure is obviously paramount. I always group the security improvements in 2008 into two areas – internal server security and improvements that you can run to enhance security across your trust.

Windows Server 2008 is the most secure Windows Server ever. Its hardened operating system and security innovations, including Network Access Protection, Federated Rights Management and Read-Only Domain Controller, provide unprecedented levels of protection for your network, your data, and your business.
Windows Server 2008 also helps protect against failure and intrusion for servers, networks, data, and user accounts.

Network Access Protection gives you the power to isolate computers that don't comply with your organisation's security policies and provides network restriction, remediation and ongoing compliance checking.

Think of this as a health policy overlay that you can implement across your trust to set a minimum set of requirements for a desktop / laptop to be able to join your network. It is great for those trusts that have users that move between sites and create challenges in ensuring that minimum standards are met for their clients.

The other area worth highlighting is Read-Only Domain Controller, particularly for trusts with clinics - or primary care trusts with GP practices - off the main site. RODC allows you to deploy Active Directory Domain Services while restricting replication of the full Active Directory database, to better protect against server theft or compromise. "Windows Server 2008 is the most secure Windows Server ever."

In effect, you can configure the domain controller in a remote site to only store the user credentials of the users at that site, mitigating the risk if the server is ever stolen or compromised.

Built for the Web

It has never ceased to amaze me how many web servers NHS trusts run in their infrastructures. We have put a lot of effort into making Windows Server 2008 the best web platform, both in terms of its functionality in running applications and making it easier to manage.

IIS 7 is a modular platform that provides a simplified, task-based management interface, greater cross-site control, security enhancements, and integrated health management for Web Services. "You can virtualise multiple operating systems - Windows, Linux and others - on a single server."

Virtualisation

The big buzzword in the industry at the moment is virtualisation. There are a huge number of customers that have downloaded the free Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 and are using it in production, test and development.

With Windows Server 2008, we will be offering hypervisor based server virtualisation in the platform, making it easy to manage and deploy. You can virtualise multiple operating systems - Windows, Linux and others - on a single server.

With virtualisation built into the operating system and with simpler, more flexible licensing policies, it's now easier than ever to take advantage of all the benefits and cost savings of virtualisation.

The other area of virtualisation that trusts use is presentation virtualisation. Terminal Services Gateway and Terminal Services RemoteApp are designed for easy remote access and application integration with the local desktop, enabling secure and seamless application deployment without the need for a virtual private network.

Keep reading...

As I said, over the coming months, I will drill down into specific areas in more detail and let you into some early views of benefits that customers are already seeing from Windows Server 2008.

About the author: Gareth Hall is Windows Server Product Manager for the UK, and is responsible for launching Windows Server 2008 in the UK next year. He previously worked in the UK healthcare team at Microsoft, and before that as an IT and Information Manager in the NHS.