Windows Server 2008 Enterprise delivers an enterprise-class platform for deploying business-critical applications. Help improve availability with clustering and hot-add processor capabilities. Help improve security with consolidated identity management features. Reduce infrastructure costs by consolidating applications with virtualization licensing rights. Windows Server 2008 Enterprise provides the foundation for a highly dynamic, scalable IT infrastructure.

Solid Foundation for Your Business Workloads
	Built for the Web Windows Server 2008 gives you the ability to deliver rich web-based experiences efficiently and effectively, with improved administration and diagnostics, development and application tools and lower infrastructure costs.
	Virtualization Built In With its built-in server virtualization technology, Windows Server 2008 enables you to reduce costs, increase hardware utilization, optimize your infrastructure, and improve server availability.
	High Security 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.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is the most advanced Windows Server operating system yet, designed to power the next-generation of networks, applications, and Web services. With Windows Server 2008 you can develop, deliver, and manage rich user experiences and applications, provide a secure network infrastructure, and increase technological efficiency and value within your organization.

Windows Server 2008 builds on the success and strengths of its Windows Server predecessors while delivering valuable new functionality and powerful improvements to the base operating system. New Web tools, virtualization technologies, security enhancements, and management utilities help save time, reduce costs, and provide a solid foundation for your information technology (IT) infrastructure:

Built for the Web
Windows Server 2008 comes with Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS7), a Web server and security-enhanced, easy-to-manage platform for developing and reliably hosting Web applications and services. A major enhancement to the Windows Web platform, IIS7 includes a componentized architecture for greater flexibility and control. IIS7 also provides simplified management, powerful diagnostic and troubleshooting capabilities that save time, and comprehensive extensibility.

Internet Information Server IIS7 together with the .NET Framework 3.0 provide a comprehensive platform for building applications that connect users and data, enabling them to visualize, share, and act on information. Additionally, IIS7 plays a central role in unifying Microsoft's Web platform technologies--ASP.NET, Windows Communication Foundation Web services, and Windows SharePoint Services.

Virtual Server's Virtual Machine Monitor provides the software infrastructure to create, manage and interact with virtual machines on multiprocessor hardware.

Windows Server virtualization now provides the capability to allocate multiple CPU resources to a single virtual machine and enables virtualization of multithreaded applications.

System Center Virtual Machine Manager focuses on unique requirements of virtual machines and is designed to enable increased physical server utilization, centralized management of virtual machine infrastructure and rapid provisioning of new virtual machines.

Virtualization Built In
Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V, the next-generation hypervisor-based server virtualization technology, allows you to make the best use of your server hardware investments by consolidating multiple server roles as separate virtual machines running on a single physical machine. You can also efficiently run multiple operating systems--Windows, Linux and others--in parallel on a single server. With virtualization built into the Windows Server 2008 operating system and simple licensing policies, it's now easier than ever to take advantage of the cost savings of virtualization.

Applications can also be efficiently virtualized using Windows Server 2008 centralized application access technologies. Terminal Services Gateway and Terminal Services RemoteApp allow easy remote access to standard Windows-based programs from anywhere by running them on a terminal server instead of directly on a client computer--without the need for a complicated VPN.

Security
Windows Server 2008 is the most secure Windows Server yet. The operating system has been hardened to protect against failure and several new technologies help prevent unauthorized connections to your networks, servers, data, and user accounts. Network Access Protection (NAP) helps ensure that computers that try to connect to your network comply with your organization's security policy. Technology integration and several enhancements make Active Directory services a potent unified and integrated Identify and Access (IDA) solution. And Read-Only Domain Controller (RODC) and BitLocker Drive Encryption allow you to more securely deploy your AD database at branch office locations.

A Solid Foundation for Your Business Workloads
Windows Server 2008 provides a solid foundation for all of your server workload and application requirements while being easy to deploy and manage. The all-new Server Manager provides a unified management console that simplifies and streamlines server setup, configuration, and ongoing management. Windows PowerShell, a new command-line shell, enables administrators to automate routine system administration tasks across multiple servers. Windows Deployment Services provides a simplified, secure means of rapidly deploying the operating system via network-based installations. And Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering wizards, and full IPv6 support plus consolidated management of Network Load Balancing, make high availability easy to implement even by IT generalists.

Finally, the new Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008 allows for installation of server roles with only the necessary components and subsystems without a graphical user interface. Fewer roles and features means minimizing disk and service footprints while reducing attack surfaces. It also enables your IT staff to specialize according to the server roles they need to support.

Windows Server 2008 Product Overview
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is the next generation of the Windows Server operating system that helps information technology (IT) professionals maximize control over their infrastructure while providing unprecedented availability and management capabilities, leading to a significantly more secure, reliable, and robust server environment than ever before. Windows Server 2008 delivers new value to organizations by ensuring all users regardless of location are able to get the full complement of services from the network. Windows Server 2008 also provides deep insight into the operating system and diagnostic capabilities to allow administrators to spend more time adding business value.

Windows Server 2008 builds on the success and strengths of the award-winning Windows Server 2003 operating system and on the innovations delivered in Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003 R2. However, Windows Server 2008 is far more than a refinement of predecessor operating systems. Windows Server 2008 is designed to provide organizations with the most productive platform for powering applications, networks, and Web services from the workgroup to the datacenter with exciting, valuable new functionality and powerful improvements to the base operating system.

Improvements to the Windows Server Operating System
In addition to new functionality, Windows Server 2008 provides powerful improvements to the base operating system over Windows Server 2003. Notable improvements include those to networking, advanced security features, remote application access, centralized server role management, performance and reliability monitoring tools, failover clustering, deployment, and the file system. These improvements and many others help organizations maximize the flexibility, availability, and control of their servers.

Benefits of Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 delivers benefits in four primary areas:

Web
Windows Server 2008 gives you the ability to deliver rich web-based experiences efficiently and effectively, with improved administration and diagnostics, development and application tools, and lower infrastructure costs.

• Simplified Web server management with Internet Information Services 7.0, which is a powerful Web platform for applications and services. This modular platform provides a simplified, task-based management interface, greater cross-site control, security enhancements, and integrated health management for Web services.
• Task based interface simplifies common management Web server tasks.
• Cross-site copy allows you to easily copy Web site settings across multiple Web servers without additional configuration.
• Delegated administration of applications and sites so you can give control to different parts of the Web server to those who need it.
• Deliver flexible and comprehensive applications that connect users to each other and their data, enabling them to visualize, share, and act on information.

The Initial Configuration Tasks window opens automatically after the operating system installation process is complete, and helps the administrator finish the setup and initial configuration of a new server.

Server Manager in Windows Server 2008 provides a single source for managing a serverÕs identity and system information, displaying server status, identifying problems with server role configuration, and managing all roles installed on the server.

The Backup feature in Windows Server 2008 provides a basic backup and recovery solution for the server it is installed on.

Virtualization
With its built-in server virtualization technology, Windows Server 2008 enables you to reduce costs, increase hardware utilization, optimize your infrastructure, and improve server availability.

• Built-in virtualization to virtualize multiple operating systems--Windows, Linux and others--on a single server. With virtualization 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 virtualization.
• Centralized application access and seamless integration of remotely published applications. Improvements also add the ability to connect to remote applications across firewalls and without the use of a VPN, so you can quickly respond to the needs of your users, regardless of their location.
• New deployments options to provide the most suitable method for your environment.
• Interoperability with your existing environment.
• Robust and vibrant technical community to provide a rich experience throughout the product life cycle.

Security
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.

• Protection of your server with security innovations that reduce attack surface area of the kernel, resulting in a more robust and secure server environment.
• Protection of your network access with Network Access Protection that gives you the power to isolate computers that don't comply with security policies you set. The ability to enforce security requirements is a powerful means of protecting your network.
• Enhanced solutions for intelligent rules and policies creation to increase control and protection over networking functions, allowing you to have a policy-driven network.
• Protection of your data to ensure it can only be accessed by users with the correct security context, and to make it available when hardware failures occur.
• Protection against malicious software with User Account Control with a new authentication architecture.
• Increased control over your user settings with Expanded Group Policy.

Solid Foundation for Business Workloads
Windows Server 2008 is the most flexible and robust Windows Server operating system to date. With new technologies and features such as Server Core, PowerShell, Windows Deployment Services, and enhanced networking and clustering technologies, Windows Server 2008 provides you the most versatile and reliable Windows platform for all of your workload and application requirements.

• Increased dependability with advanced reliability enhancements to reduce loss of access, work, time, data, and control.
• Simplified management of your IT infrastructure by using new tools that provide a one-stop interface for server configuration and monitoring, as well as the ability to automate routine tasks.
• Streamlined installation and management of Windows Server 2008 by installing only the roles and features you need. The customization of the server configuration simplifies ongoing maintenance by minimizing the attack surface area and reducing the need for software updates.
• Effectively pinpointing and resolving trouble spots with powerful diagnostic tools that give you ongoing visibility into your server environment, both physical and virtual.
• Increased control over servers located in remote locations, such as the branch office. With optimized server administration and data replication, you can provide users with better service while reducing management headaches.

Windows Server 2008 Technologies
 

Web
Windows Server 2008 gives you the ability to deliver rich Web-based experiences efficiently and effectively, with improved administration and diagnostics, development and application tools, and lower infrastructure costs.

Internet Information Services 7.0: Windows Server 2008 delivers a unified platform for Web publishing that integrates Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0, ASP.NET, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. IIS 7.0 is a major enhancement to the existing Windows Web server and plays a central role in integrating Web platform technologies. IIS 7.0 helps developers and administrators alike maximize their control over network/Internet interfaces through key functionality pillars that include delegated administration, enhanced security and a reduced attack surface area, integrated application and health management for Web services, and improved administration tools.

Virtualization
With its built-in server virtualization technology, Windows Server 2008 enables you to reduce costs, increase hardware utilization, optimize your infrastructure, and improve server availability.

Terminal Services: Windows Server 2008 introduces new functionality in Terminal Services to connect to remote computers and applications. Terminal Services RemoteApp completely integrates applications running on a terminal server with users' desktops such that they behave as if they were running on an individual user's local computer; users can run programs from a remote location side-by-side with their local programs. Terminal Services Web Access permits this same flexibility of remote application access via Web browser, granting an even wider variety of ways user can access and use programs executing on a terminal server. These features in conjunction with Terminal Services Gateway allow users to access remote desktops and remote applications via HTTPS in a firewall-friendly manner.

Security
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.

Network Access Protection (NAP): A new framework that allows an IT administrator to define health requirements for the network and to restrict computers that do not meet these requirements from communicating with the network. NAP enforces administrator-defined policies that describe the health requirements for the given organization. For example, health requirements may be defined to include all updates to the operating system be installed, or having antivirus or antispyware software installed and updated. In this way, network administrators can define the baseline level of protection all computers carry when connecting to the network.

Microsoft BitLocker provides additional security for your data through full volume encryption on multiple drives, even when the system is in unauthorized hands or running a different operating system time, data, and control.

Read-Only Domain Controller (RODC): A new type of domain controller configuration in the Windows Server 2008 operating system that makes it possible for organizations to easily deploy a domain controller in locations where the physical security of a domain controller cannot be guaranteed. An RODC hosts a read-only replica of the Active Directory directory services database for a given domain. Prior to this release, users who had to authenticate with a domain controller, but were in a branch office that could not provide adequate physical security for a domain controller, had to authenticate over a wide area network (WAN). In many cases, this was not an efficient solution. By placing a read-only Active Directory database replica closer to branch users, these users can benefit from faster logon times and more efficient access to authentication resources on the network, even in environments with inadequate physical security to deploy a traditional domain controller.

Failover Clustering: Improvements are aimed to makes it easier to configure server clusters while providing protection and availability of your data and applications. By using the new Validate Tool in failover clusters, you can perform tests to determine whether your system, storage, and network configuration is suitable for a cluster. With failover clusters in Windows Server 2008, administrators can carry out setup and migration tasks, as well as management and operations tasks more easily. Improvements to the cluster infrastructure help administrators maximize availability of the services they provide to users, achieve better storage and network performance and improve security.