Features of Windows Server 8

1.       Installation Requirement:

 It requires a minimum of:

·         1.4 GHz 64 bit processor,

·         512 MB RAM

·         32 GB of free disk space.

2.       Metro-Style:

This next new feature is the Metro desktop interface. It is a tiled interface of the client—each tile allows administrators to quickly access commonly used server management tools:

·         Server Manager,

·         Windows PowerShell,

·         Task Manager

·         Control Panel.

·         Windows Explorer,

·         Computer,

·         Desktop (which brings the desktop back to the Sever 2008 interface),

·         Internet Explorer (it's IE 10 in Server 8, just as in Windows 8).

3.       Server Manager

Server Manager was a highlighted feature in the Windows Server 8. Server Manager can be launched right from the Metro-style desktop.

It is the central location for server management, and it features a wizard that will assist in adding server roles, managing remote servers, and creating server groups.

The wizard offers two installation options:

·         Roles-based,

·         Feature-based installation (which lets you configure the server by adding roles, role services, and features),

·         Scenario-based installation (which is for Remote Desktop Services and lets users select servers as components in multi-server workloads).

  

4.       Resilient File System

 Resilient File System (ReFS) is a new local file system in Windows Server 8.

 ReFS are having advantages over NTFS:

·         Extremely scalable volume size,

·         Maximum file length beyond the traditional 255 characters.

·         Maximizing data availability and integrity.

·         Verifying and auto-correcting data to limit data corruption

·         Isolating corrupt data

·         Automatically repairing data corruption

This new file system keeps data intact includes keeping metadata integrity with checksums, keeping user data integrity with integrity streams, verifying and auto-correcting data to limit data corruption, isolating corrupt data, and keeping an entire volume intact, online, and accessible.

ReFS is to be used in conjunction with Server 8's Storage Spaces feature for automatically repairing data corruption.

5.       Metro-Style Remote Desktop

Touch-capable Metro-style Remote Desktop client is available in Server 8 to access remote resources from Windows 8 client machines.

6.       Remote Desktop Services and VoIP Integration

VoIP applications is integrated with RemoteFX, a feature in Server 2008 (and now in Server 8 )which enhances the remote desktop experience especially with regard to video and 3D graphics.

7.       Hyper-V Increased Memory and Virtual Hard Drive Capacity

Windows Server 8 Hyper-V supports double the amount of RAM for virtual machines than was previously available—1TB. Virtual hard disks now support up to 64TB.

8.       Cluster Aware Updating Self-Updating Mode

Clustering is used to provide high availability of data and applications using multi servers, or to provide increased processing power. Windows Server 8's introduced Cluster Aware Updating (CAU)—a feature in which all nodes in a cluster are updates automatically with no downtime of machines in the cluster. Windows Server 8 includes CAU Self-Updating Mode which lets administrators to configure the CAU feature as a workload process on failover cluster with a customizable update schedule set by the administrator.

9.       SMB Encryption

 SMB encryption is used to protect sensitive data from eavesdropping. For instance, a client machine accesses data from a server via the SMB protocol (used in Windows environments for clients to communicate with servers). Typically, this data in transmitted is visible in clear text, and therefore accessible to those with permissions to the network.

Administrators can encrypt this data as it is sent back and forth between clients and servers.

To enable this feature:

Go to Properties > Right-Click on a share within File and Storage Services> Check the "Encrypt data access" field.

10.   Microsoft Online Backup Service

Microsoft Online Backup Service is encrypted cloud backup for Windows Server 8. To access the service, users must request a Microsoft Online Backup Service account (which is currently given by invitation only) through: http://connect.microsoft.com/onlinebackup

An avail this user have to install a Backup Agent on server which need to be backed up. This Backup Agent Software will be  available at http://connect.microsoft.com/onlinebackup .

Other prerequisites are:

·         Windows PowerShell,

·         Windows Identity Framework,

·         Windows Live ID client authentication.

·         Local storage should be 10-15 GB free space for caching.