Streamlined Windows Server 8 Offers Key Benefits

Windows Server has always been a bit different. It looks like your desktop computer, and includes dozens of features that you have no interest in using.

Thankfully, Windows Server 8, now available in beta, will enable a core that can selectively add and remove elements, much like Linux, so businesses can only run what they need.

David Cross, Partner Program Manager in Windows Server group, discussed on the Windows Server Blog Tuesday how the Windows Server 8 Server Core could be used to build more efficient cloud services. Microsoft spent one year and $10 million dollars talking to cloud solution builders to learn how best to tailor its offerings for them. Since large cloud deployments can include thousands of servers, optimizing the servers to have a small footprint and dedicated functions was one anyway you look at it-defined need.

Since Windows NT Advanced Server was released in 1993, Windows Server has been delivered as a "monolithic component" now known as "Windows Foundation", which included Windows Explorer, .NET framework, desktop shell, drivers, multimedia support, and Internet Explorer. You could at the time install server roles and optional features on top of that.

Server Core was introduced with Windows Server 2008, allowing stripped down server roles to be installed, however wasn't widely used due to the limited number of roles it supported, the lack of popular management tools, and the inability to customize the configuration.

Windows Server 8 addresses these issues, providing a core that can be expanded to provide any required services. 14 server rolls are now available, each able to be installed and removed as needed, including File and Storage Services, DNS Server, Print and Document Services, and Web Server.

The available roles

Beyond the available roles, even the GUI is optional, with the standard interface being a command line. The traditional Windows Explorer desktop with Internet Explorer can be optionally installed, as then as a Minimal Server Interface which provides GUI access to only core configuration options.

Though the move to a less monolithic installation was driven by a need to compete in the web server market, businesses of all types that use Windows Server could see the following benefits from the changes made to Windows Server 8:

Minimizing the footprint of each server installation will save disk space for businesses that run servers in virtual machines. Servers will have fewer security vulnerabilities since unneeded services aren't present. Fewer reboots will be required since only updates for enabled services will be installed. Businesses can install or remove any roles without having to "start over" by reinstalling the server. Administrators with limited roles can be given access to a server with only those roles.

Microsoft's changes are probably most driven by Linux, which has offered a minimalistic but highly configurable server platform since the early 1990s, and has become the dominant web server operating system. With many computing services moving to the cloud, Microsoft needs to improve its web server offering to compete against Linux. Based on the changes it includes, we think most businesses that are using Windows Server will want to give Windows Server 8 a try.