This past April, Mitch Garvis put to paper the advantages Windows Server 2012 brings to the table beyond its virtualization prowess. While yes great lengths were put forth to ensure the Hyper-V 2012 virtualization offering was on par with other virtualization offerings in market, it would be a disservice to not make mention of the other benefits brought forth by Windows Server 2012.
Microsoft has taken great steps forward to further evolve the server offering to provide better manageability of the data that matters most to your organization. Through input provided by IT managers and administrators worldwide, Windows Server 2012 provides a new cornerstone in terms of your organizations data. Windows Server 2012 features, outside of virtualization, include:
Server Manager – A newly revamped dashboard tool allowing for multi-server management providing administrators a broader view of the health of their organizations server infrastructure.
PowerShell 3.0– With the inclusion of nearly 10 times more cmdlets than previously available, Powershell 3.0 provides a powerful scripting environment to help quicken administrative tasks.
Storage Spaces / Storage Pools – Provides the ability to build your volume from multiple disks of equal or disparate size, on similar or disparate architecture. Other added benefits include the ability to seamlessly add drives on the fly and the ability to volume protected storage through mirroring or parity.
Dynamic Access Control– In conjunction with Rights Management Server, Dynamic Access Control provides expression-based access policies to secure your organization’s pertinent information.
Data Deduplication – Built directly into the operating system, Data Deduplication, provides storage conscious organizations tools to reclaim wasted storage space.
Software iSCSI Target– Previously an exclusive feature found on Microsoft Storage Server, it empowers IT with the ability to create a software SAN device on your server with all of the functionality of most hardware SANs, but at a fraction of the cost.
This list only showcases a few of the new features provided in Microsoft’s new server offering. Download and evaluate Windows Server 2012 in your lab environment to view how your organization can benefit from the newly provided functionality.
Anthony Bartolo | Technical Evangelist (IT PRO)
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