Microsoft Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 is a server operating system corporation Microsoft released on February 27, 2008. Windows Server 2008 is based on the operating system, Windows Server 2003 as well as improvements implemented in Service Pack 1 (SP1) and the release of Windows Server 2003 R2.

Windows Server 2008 R2 is an operating system based on Windows Server 2008 that expands the basic capabilities of the Windows Server operating system and provides tools to help organizations improve manageability, availability, and flexibility to meet changing business requirements.

2022

Updates caused domain controller failures

The latest Windows Server KB5019966 updates released on November Patch Tuesday cause LSASS memory leaks that could cause the domain controller to freeze and restart. This became known on November 28, 2022. Read more here.

Microsoft 365 Cloud Support Shutdown Plan

On July 12, 2022, it became known that Microsoft had found a way to force users to switch to its modern versions of Windows as soon as possible. To do this, it uses Microsoft 365 - the cloud analogue of the classic Office. All this applies to users who prefer to work in operating systems Windows 7, Windows 8.1. The first was released in 2009, and Microsoft stopped supporting it in January 2020. Windows 8.1 appeared in 2013. The innovation will also affect those who work for Windows Server 2008 R2. Windows 8.1 will stop receiving updates on January 10, 2023. The release of updates for Microsoft 365 applications will stop on the same day. Read more here.

2020

BlueKeep vulnerability that allows you to gain full control over your computer

On March 27, 2020, the company Positive Technologies announced that during the monitoring of current threats (threat intelligence), the company's experts found out that Russia the number of network nodes in available via the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) in just three weeks (since the end of February 2020) increased by 9% and amounted to more than 112,000. Already, over 10% of such resources are vulnerable to the BlueKeep security bug (CVE-2019-0708), which allows the attacker to gain full control over the computer database. Windows Vulnerabilities are affected, operating systems Windows 7 Windows Server 2008 and. Windows Server 2008 R2 More. here

Russian banks were not ready to abandon Windows Server 2008

On January 15, 2020, it became known about the unwillingness of Russian banks to completely abandon Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 - operating systems that Microsoft has ceased to support. Read more here.

2019: Symantec Antivirus Incompatibility Update Block

On August 15, 2019, it became known that Microsoft blocked the installation of certificate-signed SHA-2 updates for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 on computers with Symantec security solutions (including Norton. The blocking is due to the fact that antiviruses remove updates during their installation, which is why Windows stops starting. Read more here.

2009: Features and Features of Windows Server 2008

New features have been added to Windows Server 2008, as well as many improvements to the core OCWindows Server 2003. These include networking, advanced security features, remote application access, centralized server role management, performance and reliability monitoring, cluster failover, deployment, and file system.

Features

Innovations

• Windows PowerShell is a new command-line shell that supports more than 130 tools and a built-in scripting language.
• Windows Server virtualization (WSv) is a hypervisor-based virtualization platform that runs a 64-bit version of Windows Server 2008 as a separate server role.
• Server Manager is a single interface through which an administrator can perform all the steps to install and configure and manage Windows Server 2008 server roles and components. Server Manager replaces and integrates the functions of a number of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 components, such as Server Management, Server Configuration Wizard, and Add or Remove Programs.
• Internet Information Services 7.0 is a new modular platform designed to develop and host web applications and services.
• Read-only Domain Controller (RODC) is a new type of domain controller configuration operating system in Windows Server 2008 that allows domain controllers to be deployed to locations where their physical security cannot be guaranteed. The RODC contains a read-only replica of the directory service database Active Directory for a specific domain.
• The main components of the server. During the installation of Windows Server 2008, starting with the second beta, it became possible to select only those services that are required for the role of a DHCP server, DNS server, file server or domain controller. This ensures the required minimum of basic server functions and does not install unnecessary services and applications. In the case of installing the main components of the server, a fully functional mode of the operating system performing one of the specified roles is supported; however, it does not include a graphical user interface.
• Terminal Services. Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 provides new options for connecting to remote computers and applications:
• * Terminal Services (TS) RemoteApp. TS RemoteApp-based remote applications are accessible through Terminal Services and behave as if they are running on the user's local computer. These applications can be used side by side with local applications. If a user runs multiple remote applications on the same terminal server, they share the same Terminal Services session.
  • TS Gateway allows authorized remote users to connect to terminal servers and remote desktops (remote computers) on a corporate network from any device with Internet access running Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) version 6.0. Using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) tunneled over HTTPS, TS Gateway creates encrypted connections between remote users on the Internet and remote computers running their applications, even if they are located behind the NAT router.
  • Terminal Services Web Access. Terminal Services Web Access allows users to access remote applications from a web browser window. With it, the user accesses the website to view a list of available TS RemoteApp applications. When TS RemoteApp starts on the terminal server where it is hosted, a Terminal Services session is started.
  • Terminal Services session broker. Session Broker is a new feature in the third beta of Windows Server 2008, which is a simplified alternative to Microsoft Network Load Balancing for Terminal Services. The Terminal Services session broker distributes new sessions to the least busy servers to improve performance, and users can reconnect to an existing session without even having a concept of the server on which it was created.
  • Simple Terminal Services printing. This is a new feature of Windows Server 2008 that helps users print from TS RemoteApp applications or from a desktop session to a local or network printer installed on the client computer. Printers are supported without installing drivers on the terminal server.

• Windows Deployment Services (WDS). WDS is an updated version of Windows Server 2008 Remote Installation Services (RIS) to help you quickly deploy Windows image-based operating systems. WDS allows you to install Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 over the network on computers without an operating system, and even allows a mixed environment that includes Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Server 2003.
• Network Access Protection (NAP) is a new technology that allows you to set the requirements necessary to maintain network health and deny access to the network to computers that do not meet these requirements. NAP ensures that administrator-defined policies that describe the requirements for maintaining network health within a specific organization are met. For example, the requirements may be that all operating system updates, as well as updated antivirus and antispyware software, be present on your computer. Thus, the administrator can set a common level of security for all computers connecting to the network.
• BitLocker Drive Encryption. BitLocker encrypts the contents of the hard drive. BitLocker combines two functions: encrypting the system volume and checking the integrity of components at an early stage of loading. If an attacker uses a parallel operating system or other software tools, he will not be able to hack file and system protection or view files stored on a protected disk offline.
• Failover clusters. Improvements in this area facilitate the process of configuring a server cluster while ensuring the security and availability of data and applications. Using the Failover Cluster Validator, you can test to see if a given system, storage, or network configuration is appropriate for the cluster.
• New NTFS feature. After determining that multiple disk corruption is localized in a single file or part of the metadata, Windows Server 2008 applies a new NTFS feature for automatic troubleshooting and fixes the corruption without taking the volume offline. If NTFS detects corruption, it overrides access to the corrupted file or files and creates a system worker thread that makes fixes to corrupted data structures similar to Chkdsk fixes and provides access to restored files when the thread finishes. During this operation, other files are accessed normally, which minimizes service disruptions.

Roles

In Windows Server 2008, the server can perform the following roles:

• Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) - allows you to create and manage digital certificates for users, computers and organizations; is part of the public key support infrastructure;
• Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) - Stores information about network objects and makes it available to users and network administrators. For its work, AD DS uses domain controllers to provide network users with resources anywhere on the network;
• Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) - provides a simplified, encrypted way to transfer identification information and support for single access to resources (Web single sign-on, SSO);
• Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) - provides storage for data required by a specific application class;
• Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS) - can be used to protect information from unauthorized access. This information protection technology is used by the appropriate application class. Information owners have the right to indicate how users can use the information: who can open, modify, print, forward and perform other operations on the data;
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Server - provides centralized configuration and management of temporary IP addresses and related information for client computers;
• Domain Name System (DNS) Server - translates domain and computer DNS names into IP addresses. Such a server is easier to manage if it is installed on the same server as Active Directory Domain Services;
• Fax Server - sends and receives fax messages and allows you to manage fax resources: tasks, settings, reports, as well as local and network fax devices;
• File Server - provides technologies for storage management, file replication, distributed space management, quick file search and client access to the server file system;
• Terminal Services - provides technologies that provide access to a server running Windows applications or to a full Windows environment. Users connect to the terminal server to run applications, save files, and use server network resources;
• Network Access Services - supports network traffic routing via LAN and WAN, creation and application of network access policies and access to network resources via VPN connections and dial-up;
• Print Services - manages network printers and drivers, providing appropriate services;
• Web Server - a reliable, managed, scalable infrastructure for running web applications and services;
• Windows Deployment Services (WDS) - allows you to quickly and securely deploy systems based on the Windows operating system on computers using network settings, without involving an administrator to install the system on each computer or to install Windows components from a CD or DVD;
• Windows Media Services - provides a continuous stream of digital audio and video information for customers within the network;
• Windows SharePoint Services - makes it easier to create sites where users can collaborate on documents, tasks, events, exchange contact and other information;
• Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) Services - used to provide cataloging functions for web services and other software resources. The UDDI Services site consists of a special application, the UDDI Web Application, associated with the UDDI Database.

Additional features

• Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) Server Extensions - allows the BITS server to receive files downloaded by clients. This feature is not required to allow clients to download files from a BITS server;
• Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption is a hardware-based security system that allows volume-level encryption;
• Desktop Experience - includes a number of Windows Vista features such as Windows Media Player, desktop themes, and photo management;
• Internet Storage Naming Server (iSNS) - processes requests for registration, de-registration and requests to iSCSI devices;
• Line Printer Remote (LPR) Port Monitor - allows you to display information on print devices connected to computers running under control; operating system UNIX
• Message Queuing (also called MSMQ) - allows applications to communicate with each other through heterogeneous networks and systems that can be temporarily offline. MSMQ provides guaranteed message delivery, efficient message redirection, security, and priority-based message forwarding;
• Multipath I/O - provides the use of various addressing mechanisms for storage devices;
• Removable Storage Manager - manages removable media and supporting devices;
• Remote Assistance - allows remote users to connect to a computer to solve problems on it;
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC) over HTTP Proxy - redirects RPC traffic from client applications via HTTP to the server as an alternative for clients accessing the server via a VPN connection;
• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Server - provides support for the transfer of e-mail between servers;
• Storage Manager for Storage Area Networks (SAN) - Supports VDS-compliant SANs
• Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA) - allows you to execute UNIX applications and system administration directly from the UNIX command timeline;
• Telnet Client - uses the Telnet protocol to connect to and run applications on a remote Telnet server;
• Telnet Server - allows remote users to perform batch administration and applications using the Telnet client, including clients running on UNIX systems;
• Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) Client - allows you to transfer files through the TFTP server;
• Windows Activation Service (WAS) - provides environment support for.NET processes and configuration functions;
• Failover Clustering - provides high availability of various server roles and applications that have persisted states - such as file services, SQL Server, etc. - through the use of failover clusters based on shared disks;
• Windows Foundation Components for WinFX - supports applications created using.NET Framework 3.0 components;
• Windows Internal Database - Uses SQL Server 2005 Embedded Edition (Windows) as a relational data store for Windows roles, including Windows SharePoint Services, Active Directory Rights Management Services, UDDI Services, and Windows Server Update;
• Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) - allows computers running Windows to detect other computers using NetBIOS on subnets;
• Wireless Networking - configures wireless connections and corresponding profiles of wireless networks;
• Windows Network Load Balancing (WNLB) - distributes incoming application requests among the server groups on which the application instances are located;
• Windows Server Backup - Allows you to restore the operating system, files, folders, and application data by periodically taking snapshots of the full server or selected volumes.

System Requirements and Support

Minimum system requirements for June 2009:

• 1 GHz Processor
• 8 GB of free disk space
• 512 MB of RAM

Windows Server 2008 Standard:

• Up to 4 processors supported
• Memory support: up to 4GB on x86, up to 32GB on x64
• Clustering: None
• Virtual Machine (VM) Rights: 1 VM

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise:

• Up to 8 processors supported
• Up to 64 GB supported memory on x86, up to 2 TB supported on x64
• Clustering: up to 16 nodes
• Virtual Machine (VM) Rights: Up to 4 VMs

Windows Server 2008 Datacenter:

• Up to 32 processors supported on x86, up to 64 on x64 (hot swap and add processors supported)
• Up to 64 GB supported memory on x86, up to 2 TB supported on x64
• Clustering: up to 16 nodes
• Virtual Machine (VM) Rights: Unrestricted

Windows Web Server 2008:

• Up to 4 processors supported
• Memory support: up to 4GB on x86, up to 32GB on x64
• Clustering: None
• Virtual Machine (VM) Rights: Not Supported

Windows Server 2008 Itanium IA-64:

• Up to 64 processors supported
• Up to 2 TB of supported memory
• Clustering: up to 8 nodes
• Virtual Machine (VM) Rights: Unrestricted

See also

• Microsoft Windows
• Microsoft Corporation

Links

• Server. The future is in the present.
• EXB Windows Server 2008 Overview
• Windows Server 2008 Courses
• Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 Beta 3
• Windows Server 2008 Technologies
• Windows Server 2008 Kernel Internal Device Changes
• Windows Server Longhorn - new server operating system