Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing (RTM) on July 22, 2009 and launched on October 22, 2009. According to the Windows Server Team blog, the retail availability was September 14, 2009. It is built on Windows NT 6.1, the same kernel used with the client-oriented Windows 7. It is the first 64-bit-only operating system released from Microsoft. Version enhancements include new functionality for Active Directory, new virtualization and management features, version 7.5 of Microsoft IIS Web Server and support for up to 256 logical processors.

There are seven editions: Foundation, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, HPC Server, Itanium and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 (Essentials Edition).

History
Microsoft introduced Windows Server 2008 R2 at the 2008 Professional Developers Conference as the server variant of Windows 7.

On January 7, 2009, a beta release of Windows Server 2008 R2 was made available to subscribers of Microsoft's TechNet and MSDN programs, as well as those participating in the Microsoft Connect program for Windows 7. Two days later, the beta was released to the public via the Microsoft Download Center.

On April 30, 2009, the release candidate was made available to subscribers of Microsoft's TechNet and MSDN. On May 5, 2009, the release candidate was made available to the general public via the Microsoft download center.

According to Windows Server Division WebLog, the following are the dates of the year 2009 when Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 has been made available to various distribution channels:
 * OEMs received Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM in English and all Language Packs on July 29. The remaining languages were available around August 11.
 * ISV (Independent software vendor) and IHV (Independent hardware vendor) partners have been able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM from MSDN starting on August 14.
 * IT Professionals with TechNet Subscriptions were able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM and obtain product keys for in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish beginning August 14 and all remaining languages beginning August 21.
 * Developers with MSDN Subscriptions have been able to download and obtain product keys for Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish starting August 14 and all remaining languages starting August 21.
 * Microsoft Partner Program Gold/Certified Members were able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM through the Microsoft Partner Program (MPP) Portal on August 19.
 * Volume License (VL) customers with an existing Software Assurance (SA) license were able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM on August 19 via the Volume License Service Center (VLSC).
 * Volume License customers without a Software Assurance (SA) license were able to purchase Windows Server 2008 R2 through Volume Licensing by September 1.

Additionally, qualifying students have been able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM Standard Edition in 15 languages from DreamSpark.

Microsoft has announced that Server 2008 R2 will be the last version of Windows supporting the Itanium architecture.

New features
A reviewer guide published by the company describes several areas of improvement in version R2. These include new virtualization capabilities (Live Migration, Cluster Shared Volumes using Failover Clustering and Hyper-V), reduced power consumption, a new set of management tools and new Active Directory capabilities such as a "recycle bin" for deleted AD objects. IIS 7.5 has been added to this release which also includes updated FTP server services. Security enhancements include the addition of DNSSEC support for DNS Server Service (note: even though DNSSEC as such is supported, only one signature algorithm is available (#5 / RSA/SHA-1). Since many zones use a different algorithm - including the root zone - this means that in reality Windows still can't serve as a recursive resolver) and encrypted clientless authenticated VPN services through DirectAccess for clients using Windows 7. The DHCP server supports a large number of enhancements such as MAC address-based control filtering, converting active leases into reservations or Link Layer based filters, IPv4 address exhaustion at scope level, DHCP Name protection for non-Windows machines to prevent name squatting, better performance through aggressive lease database caching, DHCP activity logging, auto-population of certain network interface fields, a wizard for split-scope configuration, DHCP Server role migration using WSMT, support for DHCPv6 Option 15 (User Class) and Option 32 (Information Refresh Time). The DHCP server runs in the context of the Network Service account which has fewer privileges to reduce potential damage if compromised.

Windows Server 2008 R2 supports up to 64 physical processors or up to 256 logical processors per system. (Note:Only the Datacenter and Itanium editions can take advantage of the capability of 64 physical processors. Enterprise, the next-highest edition after those two, can only use 8.) When deployed in a file server role, new File Classification Infrastructure services allow files to be stored on designated servers in the enterprise based on business naming conventions, relevance to business processes and overall corporate policies.

Server Core includes a subset of the .NET Framework, so that some applications (including ASP.NET web sites and Windows PowerShell 2.0) can be used.

Performance improvement was a major area of focus for this release; Microsoft has stated that work was done to decrease boot time, improve the efficiency of I/O operations while using less processing power, and generally improve the speed of storage devices, especially iSCSI.

Active Directory has several new features when raising the forest and domain functional levels to Windows Server 2008 R2. When raising the domain function level, two added features are Authentication Mechanism Assurance and Automatic SPN Management. When raising the forest functional level, the Active Directory recycle bin feature is available and can be enabled using the Active Directory Module for Powershell.

Service Pack 1
On February 9, 2011, Microsoft officially released the final release (RTM) of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) to OEM partners. Apart from bug fixes, it introduces two new major functions, RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory. RemoteFX enables the use of graphics hardware in order to include support for 3D graphics in a Hyper-V based VM. Dynamic Memory makes it possible for a VM to only allocate as much physical RAM as is needed temporarily for its execution. On February 16 Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 became available for MSDN and TechNet Subscribers as well as Volume License customers. As of February 22, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 is generally available for download via the Microsoft Download Center and available on Windows Update. It has a version number of "6.1.7601.17514.101119-1850".

System requirements
System requirements for Windows Server 2008 R2 are as follows:


 * Processor
 * 1.4 GHz x86-64 or Itanium 2 processor


 * Memory
 * Minimum: 512 MB RAM (may limit performance and some features)
 * Recommended: 2 GB RAM
 * Maximum: 8 GB RAM (Foundation), 32 GB RAM (Standard), or 2 TB RAM (Enterprise, Datacenter and Itanium-Based Systems)


 * Display
 * Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher


 * Disk Space Requirements
 * Minimum (editions higher than Foundation): 32 GB or more
 * Minimum (Foundation edition) 10 GB or more.
 * Computers with more than 16 GB of RAM require more disk space for paging and dump files.


 * Other
 * DVD drive, keyboard and mouse, Internet access (Optional, but required for updates and online activation)