Microsoft has just officially released Windows Server 2012, the first among its recent wave of new OS. It shares some of the features found in the future Windows 8 client OS such as the Windows NT 6.2 kernel, the same Metro concept, and the Desktop double-personality graphical interface.
Moreover, it has the same cloud-centric theme of Windows 8 though it goes beyond cloud service connecting by serving as their building blocks. Windows Server 2012 would most likely have a smoother and intrigue-free introduction than Windows 8 is about to face. Besides Metro GUI, the biggest changes of Server 2012 involve substance instead of style which can be traced from Windows Server 2008 Release 2 three years ago. To be specific, Server 2012 is building up on two management features familiar in Server 2008 R2 and these are Server Manager and PowerShell.
While it is true that Server 2012 features several changes and overhauls over its predecessor, these new features are actually evolutionary as a whole. Its new storage system and file server features are designed in such a way that organizations would find it easy to perform high-availability and disaster recovery without incurring huge investments in other software or hardware. Server 2012 has two editions which are being released at the moment. Dubbed as ‘Standard’ and ‘Datacenter,’ they have actually replaced Server 2008’s six editions.
Server 2012 will have two other versions in the near future. Foundation edition is meant to be a completely bare-bones server that has no virtualization support and will be available for purchase through OEMs. The second version, Windows Server 2012 Essentials, is meant to replace Windows Small Business Server Essential 2011 and its availability is said to be within the year. Datacenter and Server 2012 Standard both support huge amounts of processing power, storage, and memory than the previous Server 2008 R2. It can handle up to 320 CPU cores and double its memory capacity by up to 4 terabytes. Windows Server 2012 has an estimated 300 new features and may get our undivided attention away from the anticipated Windows 8. After all, it is Microsoft’s key component in its ‘Cloud OS’ vision and strategy.