Tag Archives: Windows Server 2012

Tech

Microsoft takes off the gloves with Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1

Long list of updates answer criticisms and throw punches at virtualization, cloud foes

In Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1, Microsoft has released a combination of operating system updates that we find very compelling. Microsoft has joined much of the rest of the industry in annual release roll-ups with feature additions, and this time, they listened to the critics. More interesting are the one-upmanship features targeted directly at its virtualization and cloud competition. Some were stunning, despite a few strange and perhaps anecdotal basic problems that we found.

Windows 8.1 is the answer to loud and vociferous complaints regarding radical changes to the user interface found in Windows 8, and is currently a free upgrade for 8.0 users. What’s apparent in 8.1 is that Microsoft is committing strong changes to the tablet and touch user interface in its Surface devices first, in order to compete with Apple and Android. If 8.0 didn’t convince you, then 8.1 is a shot across the bows of those believing that desktops and notebooks rule IT.

Microsoft has targeted Windows 2012 R2 directly at data center and service provider use, along with baseline connectivity to Azure Cloud services and third party Azure services providers. Microsoft’s other targets are Oracle and VMware.

Microsoft offers a free add-in for Windows 2012 R2 of its Azure Pack to connect cloudlike constructs, and anchors it with various free and paid appliance services that battle competing IaaS/SaaS providers and other MSP/cloud competitors. Through gritted teeth, Microsoft is also supporting specific instances of commonly used Linux distros as manageable guests within the Hyper-V and Azure infrastructure.

By contrast to the heavy work done in 2012 R2, Windows 8.1 is a far lighter weight set of changes, and largely addresses criticisms of Windows 8.0.

Authentication and access enabling technologies are important in a BYOD universe. Many Windows users find Apple’s iTunes to be difficult to use as an authentication system under Windows, with frequent unthreaded new releases. Microsoft has responded with a unified identity method enhancement of its Windows Intune ecosystem and Active Directory-poised authentication methods.

The Good News
What we liked about Windows 2012 R2 is that it’s generally easier to use than Windows 2012 — fewer sharp edges — and 2012 R2 contains stronger networking, storage, and hypervisor skills, we found in testing. Microsoft has also made it almost fiendishly consistent and easy to join Windows 2012 R2 to Azure Clouds — and it’s practical if organizations have fast Internet pipes.

Both new Windows releases are highly targeting enterprise customers, although a Windows 2012 R2 Server Essentials Edition (traditionally limited to 25 or fewer users) is available, and not reviewed here. The Essentials Edition must live within three total VMs, which limits possible users, unless something unforeseen and magical happens in hardware.

If organizations want a control plane, Microsoft attaches System Center 2012 R2 releases of Ops Manager, Virtual Machine Manager, and Configuration Manager that are deeply intertwined into the depths of Server 2012 R2 and Hyper-V.

During briefings with Microsoft, we had to constantly disambiguate what was a Server or Azure or System Center feature as Microsoft blends them together. In doing so, Microsoft wants its value proposition to be considered as a mixture of the three, but this review focuses on only the Server, Windows 8.1, and the free connection to Azure Pack.

For its part, Windows 8.1 solves the silliness of bringing back the familiar Desktop, along with ways to access applications in ancient and hallowed ways. While the Windows Start menu is gone (available from third parties if desired), there’s a method to show apps selections onscreen easily. Windows 8.1 is also faster than 8.0 — this additional speed makes the most impact when it comes to video drivers and the Server Message Block (SMB3) communications transport protocol.

SMB3 speed isn’t proprietary to Windows as SAMBA 4.1 — the open source SMB emulator that can be used by Mac OS, Linux, BSD, and other non-Windows operating systems, is now compatible with SMB3. However, SAN and NAS devices may not support SMB3 until vendors can get caught up.

Much attention in Windows 8.1 surrounds features that will be found in tablets, like Microsoft’s own Surface Pro. Multi-touch object manipulation and attention towards touch and tethered keyboard combinations abounds. We tested 8.1 and found an enormous variety of keyboard manipulations and touch motions that produced interesting effects.
Microsoft server 2012

2012 R2 and Hyper-V
Windows 2012 R2 contains a number of storage options poised towards Hyper-V, but we found that R2 can probably be booted from a wristwatch and store data on our sneakers — if we format them NTFS. We successfully booted local hardware (you may need BIOS updates), iSCSI, and virtual network storage. Many will be booting VMs, and Microsoft has made this especially simple under Hyper-V V3.

Hyper-V V3 has received much work, and Microsoft considers it a “Generation 2” hypervisor VM-hosting platform that delivers a higher degree of para-virtualization and cuts away much hardware layer specific driver emulation, although other OS versions/distros of hosted VMs can still find connection points.

Hyper-V V3 and its Windows 2012 VMs also boot UEFI, rather than traditional memory-location-specific BIOS. This gave us a few fits, but works. There is the capacity to move virtual machines from host to host using compression, and where compatible hardware is available to support it, very fast transports — 10Gigabit Ethernet, Infiniband, and other faster-than-10G Ethernet connections. The high-speed connections are crucial to VM movements among hosts in hypervisor fabrics.

We tested Microsoft’s virtual network switching component, and found it easy to manipulate, although we disconnected several remote hosts by making inept choices. The instructions weren’t clear to us, and we were able to crater the communications of two of our test servers with ease. The drive to our network operations center is a long one.

The SDNs inside Hyper-V V3 are more easily manipulated by System Center 2012. Microsoft includes IP Address Management/IPAM in Hyper-V, and as VMware has found, is heaven-sent for those with genuine desires to form virtualization platforms where VMs can be easily transported from host to host for either performance or isolation within a defined fabric/VM farm.

 

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Microsoft, Tech

VMware cost calculator can show Microsoft is cheaper

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In certain configurations, Windows Server 2012 is cheaper than vSphere

Which is cheaper: Microsoft Windows Server 2012 or VMware vSphere 5.1? Well, that depends on who’s doing the math.

A Microsoft general manager recently wrote a blog post pointing out that a cost calculator on VMware’s website shows that if a system is configured in a certain way then Microsoft’s Windows Server is less expensive for virtualizing workloads compared to VMware’s flagship software. “VMware (finally) admits that its costs are higher than Microsoft’s,” is the title of the post.

At least one analyst is chalking this up as Microsoft “mudslinging” aimed at VMware, but also points out that it could reflect the increasing competitiveness of the virtualization market.

The cost calculator on VMware’s website must be configured a certain way for Microsoft’s Windows Systems Server to come out cheaper than VMware. The configuration includes 100 virtual machines, an iSCSI SAN, using VMware vSphere 5.1 Enterprise Plus, with low electricity and real estate expenses. Microsoft says this represents a “common data center virtualization configuration.” When doing this, VMware’s vSphere 5.1 Enterprise Plus is 19% higher than Windows Systems Center 2012 and 12% higher than VMware’s Enterprise edition. VMware’s Enterprise Plus is priced at $257,385 compared to $217,226 for the Microsoft brand. When comparing the Windows version to the standard VMware edition, however, VMware comes out to be 7% less expensive than Microsoft.

In the blog post, Microsoft GM for Servers and Tools Marketing Group Amy Barzdukas says Microsoft could be even cheaper. VMware, she says is using a 2011 study which assumes that VMware ESX hypervisor can handle 20% more applications per virtual machine compared to Microsoft’s Hyper-V virtualization tool. Barzdukas says that’s “an assumption with little credibility or real-life customer evidence” by VMware, noting that application memory has been improved in the 2012 version of the software.

Public relations representatives that work with VMware did not respond to multiple inquiries to offer a response to Microsoft’s claims. VMware’s cost calculator Web page does note that VMware’s Enterprise edition includes more than a dozen features that Windows Systems Center 2012 does not, such as VM fault tolerance, dynamic resource scheduling and distributed networking switching, for example.

ESG analyst Mark Bowker says “this is basically just some mudslinging,” by Microsoft. Despite what can sometimes be higher priced products, Bowker says he’s hard pressed to find users who are not happy with VMware’s services. “It’s an investment in licensing, and the hardware to go with it, but people use it because of the management capabilities it gives you to run the shop more efficiently,” he says.

It’s not the first time Microsoft has taken some jabs at VMware. Earlier this year the company released a series of advertisements featuring “Tad,” a fictional salesperson for “VMlimited.” As Network World’s Jon Gold pointed out in April, it was attempt by Microsoft to paint VMware as expensive and outdated, by portraying VMware as working with only VMware’s hypervisors. VMware has changed that since then.

John Treadway, VP of Cloud Technology Partners, a consultancy, says the cost per VM price can be slightly misleading. “Enterprise buyers know that there is a difference between the list price and what the actual price turns out to be.” Plus, he says, VMware is trying to play a price game. “That’s not their value proposition,” he says. “Cheapest isn’t always necessarily the best.”

MORE MUDSLINGING: VMware and Microsoft are missing the boat on private PaaS, consultant says

Treadway says there are plenty of ways to set up a virtualized infrastructure that would be cheaper than both VMware and Microsoft. Commodity hardware could be used on top of an open source hypervisor to create a system that he guesses could be 20% cheaper than Microsoft’s price. The tradeoff is it would take more configuration and management, but it would be cheaper.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for Windows Server 2012 in the enterprise though, Bowker says. More and more, enterprises are turning into multi-hypervisor environments, with Microsoft’s Hyper-V gaining traction in adoption. “There’s a comfort factor there with Microsoft,” he says.

And overall, Bowker says that competition is a good thing to keep these vendors on their toes and ensure that customers reap the benefits of a diversified marketplace.

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Microsoft

Quick Windows Server 2012 tips

With the launch of Microsoft’s Windows Server 2012, enterprises should look for better management and an option that can squeeze more performance out of every physical server, according to an IT certification expert.

Server 2012, which became generally available this week, enables automation for certain server tasks that can cut the time it takes to configure servers by automating the process and save money by freeing up time for the most skilled admins to do other work,

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The higher skilled workers can now create automations via Power Shell, Jones says, leaving them with more time free to accomplish strategic tasks. At the same time, automating processes makes it possible for lower level admins to oversee automated tasks. That gets the tasks done faster and also reduces errors that can be introduced when these chores are done manually.

“It makes them more productive and less dangerous,” he says.

Some of this management could entail clicking a single button on 50 different servers, Jones says, something that can be done centrally in much less time.

Also in Server 2012, admins can knock off the graphical user interface from server software, turning devices into simple servers, Jones says. Tools for setting up Active Directory or DHCP servers, for example, would reside on a client, not the server itself.

Lopping the GUI off the server reduces the load on the server CPU, he says, which in some cases can be a significant reduction, citing an extreme case with an actual customer in which the business was able to squeeze 40% more virtual servers on a single host. “It’s a lot of overhead. I think that’s what most folks don’t realize,” he says.

Removing the GUI requires a single uninstall command and reboot. Jones recommends doing this on a virtual machine and testing whether the server works well with the client-side interface. He says the preferred platform for System Center and SQL Server is a GUI-less server.

Server 2012 also has support for blending in resources from traditional data centers, private clouds and public clouds, but these are options. If they aren’t useful to a particular business, they don’t have to be used, he says.

“All businesses will do it eventually,” for at least some servers, Jones predicts, “unless there is a major, major reason to hold all resources in-house.”

Microsoft, Tech, Windows XP

Windows 8 Update: Operating system is cooked, sent to manufacturers

Also, Microsoft knows Surface is ticking off the OEMs, Windows Store is open to third-party apps

Businesses seriously considering Windows 8 can get a copy of the final version starting Aug. 15 so long as they have a subscription to TechNet, Microsoft’s resource for technical information.

This means they can test and evaluate the product in order to make decisions about when and if to migrate to the new platform, which officially launches Oct. 26.

 

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Businesses without a TechNet subscription can get the final Windows 8 version Aug. 16 if they have a current Microsoft Software Assurance contract. The software will be accessible via the Microsoft Volume License Service Center. On the same day, the software will become available to Microsoft Partner Network members.

On Aug. 20, Windows 8 access is given to Microsoft Action Pack Providers who build services and products around Microsoft products. On Sept. 1, volume license customers that don’t have Software Assurance contracts can get Windows 8 via Microsoft Volume License Resellers.

Beyond all these upcoming deadlines, Microsoft this week officially released the final Windows 8 build to manufacturers, meaning they can start installing it on Windows 8 hardware, prepping for the official launch when devices with the operating system loaded go on sale.

This is just the start of a potentially busy time for Microsoft customers. Also released to manufacturer this week were Windows Server 2012 and Internet Explorer 10, both of which are also of interest to Microsoft shops. Server 2012 launches Sept. 4 and anchors what Microsoft describes as a cloud operating system. This is a tight integration between Server 2012 and Microsoft’s Azure cloud services, making it simpler to set up flexible data centers using traditional corporate infrastructure, private clouds and public clouds.

In a filing with the Security and Exchange Commission Microsoft stated the obvious — that selling its own Surface laptop/tablets will make its OEMs very unhappy.

“Our PC hardware products face competition from computer and other hardware manufacturers, many of which are also current or potential partners,” the Form 10-K says. “In addition, our Surface devices will compete with products made by our OEM partners, which may affect their commitment to our platform.”

That sounds like Microsoft expects the OEMs to be less than enthusiastic about slapping Microsoft operating systems on the hardware they make — not a good frame of mind for them to have if you’re launching a new operating system that depends in large part on OEMs licensing a lot of the software.
Windows Store opens for apps

Along with the release of the final version of Windows 8, the Windows Store is now accepting Metro-style applications from developers. There is a vetting process by Microsoft to approve any app that is accepted for sale in the store with the idea that if properly written, Metro apps will work well on Windows 8 machines, won’t slow them down and will be less likely to contain malware.

Note: In order to submit to the store, developers must have the release to manufacturer version of Windows 8.
iPad may be the default holiday gift

The excitement over Windows 8 on tablets may do more to confuse customers than it will do to actually sell the devices, according to an IDC report on the sale of iPads in Q2 of this year.

iPads crushed the competition, scoring 68.2% of all tablet shipments, the research firm says. With the iPad, Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet already available, and then Windows 8 and Windows RT devices going on sale in October, consumers may become confused.

“If anything, there’s a real risk that people will have too many options from which to choose this holiday season,” says Bob O’Donnell, IDC’s program vice president for clients and displays. “Consumers baffled by the differences between Amazon and Google versions of Android, or Windows 8 and Windows RT, may well default to market leader Apple. Or they may simply choose to remain on the sideline for another cycle.”

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Microsoft, Tech

Microsoft names Windows Server 2012, commits to launch this year

Drops ‘Windows Server 8’ placeholder, offers System Center 2012 management suite

Computerworld – Microsoft today gave its newest server software a name — Windows Server 2012 — and said it would release the operating system this year.

During the opening keynote at the Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) 2012 in Las Vegas, which runs through Friday, company officials slapped the name on the new software — which previously had been dubbed Windows Server 8 — and announced it would ship before the end of the year.

Neither was a surprise, as Microsoft traditionally tags its server-side software with a date designation — unlike its client software — and experts expected that the operating system would launch alongside Windows 8 for Intel-based desktops and laptops.

While Microsoft has not laid out a release schedule for the next iteration of Windows, most anticipate it will mimic that of Windows 7, which launched in October 2009, in time to make the holiday sales season.
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Windows Server 2008 R2, the server edition that corresponded to Windows 7, went on sale at the same time as Windows 7, although the company began rolling it out to volume license customers in August 2009.

At MMS today, Brad Anderson, the Microsoft executive who heads the company’s management and security division, said that Windows Server 2012 would reach customers this year.

Windows Server 2012 is available now in beta — it has been since March 1, the day after Microsoft released Windows 8 Consumer Preview — but the company did not detail additional dates today, such as targets for “release candidate,” or RC, or “release to manufacturing” (RTM), when the software is finished and ready to hand off for duplication and distribution to system makers.

If Microsoft follows the schedule it used for Windows Server 2008 R2, it will call RTM for Windows Server 2012 in late July.

Also today, Microsoft launched System Center 2012, a suite of client and server management tools. That software can be downloaded from Microsoft’s website.

Microsoft is pitching System Center 2012 as key to enterprises building private clouds composed of physical and virtual servers.

Yesterday, Microsoft made it official for other names as well when it said “Windows 8” was the title of the OS for Intel-based client PCs and “Windows RT” was replacing the earlier “Windows on ARM,” or WOA, label for the tablet-centric edition the company hopes can compete with Android and iOS.

Windows 8 will be sold — and pre-loaded on new Intel PCs — in only two editions, Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro, while a third version, Windows 8 Enterprise, will be offered to volume customers that subscribe to the Software Assurance upgrade program.

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