#Microsoft_Windows_Server

 
When we talk about servers the most common thing is to talk about a Linux server, at least when it is an Internet server, and it is normal because it is the most used operating system for servers on the Internet, however, there is another operating system that complies with The same requirements: Microsoft Windows Server.

It is an operating system that has been leading the business market in companies' data centers for decades, but that in recent years has adapted to compete on the Internet and is gaining many followers in cloud computing.

What is Windows Server?

Windows server is similar to the Microsoft Windows operating system that we have known for a lifetime, except that it is focused on the server area, it is very similar and at the same time very different from the desktop version.

Although we can easily recognize it as a Windows, in reality, the tools and services that it incorporates together with the capabilities provided by Windows Server are special for its role.

While a desktop Windows comes prepared for a wide range of office, educational, multimedia and gaming tasks, in a Windows Server none of these matters and comes prepared to provide network services to other computers, it is prepared to be fast, efficient and sure.

What is known as Windows Server is actually an extensive line of server operating systems historically oriented to the business world?

In recent times it has become popular to implement systems in the cloud not only in Microsoft's Azure platform but in other infrastructures such as Amazon AWS and Google Cloud Platform.

Origins

The Windows Server line was born at the beginning of the century with Windows 2000, a system that continued with the legacy of Windows NT that brought together both desktop and server versions under the same name.

The Windows Server ecosystem is not only the operating system but also all the tools that surround it and that help it fulfill its mission.

Within Windows Server, we can find tools to perform the same tasks as in a Unix or Linux.

While in Linux when mounting an infrastructure we must resort to many different software providers in Windows Server we can cover all services with software from Microsoft itself, this guarantees a perfect integration between all services.

In addition, Windows Server incorporates Active Directory, a centralized system that provides network directory service to complete infrastructure, centralizes information of users, groups, applications, devices, logins and allows to implement and execute security policies on the entire infrastructure.

It allows you to easily manage and maintain a network, establishing security policies at the organizational or departmental level, assigning or restricting permissions, allocating resources.

There are many directory services on the market, however, none reached the popularity of Active Directory due to its high degree of integration with the Windows family, since it allows not only installing and updating applications but also the operating system of all computers on the network, facilitating maintaining networks with even thousands of computers.

For IIS embedded web server that has native support for ASP .Net and also adds the possibility of processing dynamic pages of other languages such as PHP or Perl, although its strength is integration with .Net Frameworks, a set of programming languages, of interfaces and programming libraries, some open source.

While to mount a hosting server on Linux you must use some kind of web servers such as Apache or Nginx, a database like MySQL, an FTP server like Proftpd, an SMTP server like Postfix or Exim, services like Dovecot and a long, etc that must be configured separately because they are all different projects and suppliers.

While in Windows Server we have the same types of services integrated in a single software since in Microsoft systems Internet Information Services (IIS) is implemented, which is a set of basic services such as HTTP, FTP, SMTP, NNTP, DHCP, DNS, etc all integrated into a single package and working together.

Likewise, any other web server such as Apache or Nginx can be installed and although it is not compatible with the cPanel control panel, it is compatible with Plesk to transform it into a traditional shared hosting server.

At the database level, Microsoft offers Microsoft SQL Server that integrates seamlessly with the Windows ecosystem of Windows, although that does not mean that another database manager such as MySQL, PostgreSQL or Oracle can be used among the best known.

Microsoft Windows Server Features

It incorporates Active Directory Federation Services for user authentication through Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and also supports storage replicas with synchronous and asynchronous replication between servers using SMB for rapid disaster recovery.

The latest versions of Windows Server dispense with the usual graphical interfaces that characterize all Windows, both server and desktop, and offer a Linux-style console, offering significant memory savings, the desktop is an optional installation element.

Although traditionally Windows Server has been used in the business environment to support its internal directory service, application server or database infrastructure, it can also be used as a hosting server.

Not only with support for ASP but also as a traditional hosting server with support for PHP or Perl since the Plesk control panel can transform a Windows Server into a shared hosting server just as if it were Linux.

Hardware requirements

Over the years Windows Server has been characterized by using more hardware resources than its competitors, however, in recent years, it has become more efficient in this regard.

The hardware requirements to install Windows Server 2019 are just:

64-bit 1.4 GHz processor.

RAM memory: 512 MB without a desktop and 2 GB with desktop

32GB disk storage

These are the minimum installation requirements and to start the system, however, extra resources are then needed to install the rest of the services and applications to be used, resources that may vary according to the hardware requirements of each application.

Windows Server Versions

Windows 2000

At a technological level, Windows 2000 was the result of the merger of the line for servers known as Windows NT together with what is known as the Windows 9x family whose predecessors were Windows 95 and Windows 98 that revolutionized, especially the first, computing desktop in the mid-nineties.

The merger of both lines of development was that Windows 2000 Professional for desktop emerged along with the family of servers:

Windows 2000 Server For small businesses or for large enterprise departmental servers

Windows 2000 Advanced Server Version for larger companies with requirements for online business applications such as e-commerce solutions and dot.com.

Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Version similar to the previous one but with higher limits on licenses

Windows 2000 Advanced Server Limited Edition It is a cropped version of the Advance Server version.

Windows Server 2003

This version of Windows is quite similar to Windows XP that appeared on the market a couple of years before, it is so similar that it is considered a modification of Windows XP instead of a new system.

Many features of the desktop version (XP) have been deactivated to save memory and improve performance, and the classic Windows Server services have been incorporated to target the enterprise server market.

It was released in 2003 and its last stable version was in 2007 being replaced by Windows 2008, however, the support of the 2003 version continued until 2016

It was released in several versions according to its purpose, unlike previous versions, there was no desktop version.

Web Edition It is the special edition to mount services and Web hosting.

Standard Edition The general-purpose version, most appropriate for most small and medium-sized businesses.

Enterprise Edition It is a version for companies with higher requirements and that implements more extensive capabilities than the Standard version

Datacenter Edition Aimed at large companies with heavy processing requirements and large volumes of data

Small Business Edition It is a reduced version for companies with less than 25 pcs

Windows Server 2008

It follows the same line of Windows 2003 and adds new versions mainly focused on small and medium-sized companies in a more connected world, with improvements in application performance, energy management and security aspects of security.

In this version, the support for virtualization based on Hyper-V was included, which meant a major change in the operation of data centers, making it possible to consolidate servers more easily and transparently.

It was released in the following versions:

Windows Server 2008 Standard is the general-purpose version for most small and medium businesses.

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise For medium-sized businesses.

Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Aimed at large companies with high processing requirements.

Windows Web Server 2008 This is the web edition

Windows Small Business Server 2008 For small businesses

Windows Essential Business Server 2008 For medium-sized businesses.

Windows Server 2008 Foundation It is a version for companies with low processing requirements, a number of users and reduced hardware.

Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems It is a special version for Intel Itanium processors of IA64 architecture that was not compatible with x86 / x86-64 systems

Although they are not exactly versions of Windows as such, they are additional packages that allow you to transform a basic Windows Server into a dedicated cluster or storage server system:

Windows HPC Server 2008 was a replacement for Windows Compute Cluster Server that allows servers to form a high availability cluster

Windows Storage Server 2008 Destined as a storage server

Windows Server 2012

It continues on the path of virtualization begun in the previous version, improving support, especially for virtualization in the cloud, where it incorporates numerous improvements.

Allows you to install a version called Core that offers only an administration console drastically reducing the required resources or a full version with desktop GUI

Apart from the improvements of what has already been incorporated in previous versions in the 2012 version, it incorporates an IP address management role to improve the management and audit of IP in the infrastructure and also incorporates for the ReFS file system that presents novelties against NTFS but also some limitations against NTFS.

Available editions are:

Foundation It is the basic version limited to 15 users, limited to one CPU and without virtualization support

Essentials Edition for 2 CPUs and the user limit increases to 25

Standard Up to 64 processors, contains all the options, only limits to two virtual machines

Datacenter Up to 64 processors, it is the major version, it contains all the options, without limit of virtual instances.

Windows Server 2016

This version includes improvements in Active Directory Federation Services, Windows Defender and Remote Desktop Services among many others.

Already with support for virtualization in the cloud much more mature since after a restructuring of Microsoft the Windows Server and Azure teams began to work much more closely.

Windows Server 2016 Essentials A version for less than 25 users and with several restrictions with respect to the Standard version

Windows Server 2016 Standard For physical environments or with low virtualization requirements.

Windows Server 2016 Datacenter For environments where virtualization is vital

Windows Server 2016 MultiPoint Premium Server Only available with an academic license.

Windows Storage Server 2016: It is the version for dedicated storage.

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016: It is a dedicated version like Hypervisor.

Windows Server 2019

Apart from the improvements to all the systems of previous versions as new features, this version includes beta support for Kubernetes in addition to the Windows Subsystem for Linux to obtain a bash console in Windows that had previously been included in Windows 10.

This version also allows installing with only one console without the GUI, although for the desktop version it includes the improvements incorporated in Windows 10

Windows Server 2019 Essentials Small Business with a maximum of 25 users and 50 devices

Windows Server 2019 Standard For physical or minimally virtualized environments

Windows Server 2019 Datacenter Cloud environments and data centers with great virtualization

Windows Server advantages

The learning curve in Windows Servers is much less than in other systems, partly because it is quite similar to the versions of Desktop that we have known for decades that although the version for servers incorporates different tools and services, it does it in the same way. Making the system feel familiar.

It has the technical support and support of a larger technology company, the official documentation is very extensive and they offer training and certification programs that guarantee effective training highly valued by the companies.

It integrates very well in the cloud, in recent years Windows Server has taken a new boost in the cloud, especially with the Azure platform from Microsoft itself, but it is also available for other Cloud Hosting platforms such as Amazon AWS, among others.

Over time, it has been prepared not only to be a guest system in the cloud but to be a host system, hosting VMs and containers in a robust and secure way.

For many years all Windows are characterized by relying on its graphical interface for everything and relegated to the console completely limiting what could be done with it, however, by the hand PowerShell, this changed completely.

It is an administration console similar to the Linux bash and that provides system administrators with a powerful tool to automate tasks and interact from the console with the operating system, applications, and even IIS and SQL Server services.

It natively supports the .Net Framework and the Visual Studio development environment, although a part of .Net is opensource and available for Linux it really is on Windows where it works best.

Disadvantages of Windows Server

The main disadvantage is that it is not free, your license has a cost

It is not a system that is characterized by being safe, not so much because it is bad in that sense but because being directly related to desktop Windows it is one of the most widely used families of operating systems and therefore is a favorite target of criminals and malware

The use of resources is greater than in other operating systems, partly due to the internal architecture of the system and because traditionally I always incorporate a desktop, something that, for example, Unix / Linux systems always replaced by a much more efficient console in terms of memory.

Likewise, Windows Server took a step in that direction by offering in its latest versions the possibility of dispensing with the desktop experience, reducing memory requirements to 25%, however

In all operating systems there are system updates either for security, optimize or add functionalities however in the case of Windows the updates have caused sounded cases for errors in the update that have caused instability, loss of performance and have even reached data loss.

Conclusion

It allows to accompany the technological growth of a small company and scale the infrastructure until any need is reached, it offers a solution tailored to the needs of the size of each client.

As we have seen Windows Server in any version offers a wide range of tools to cover all the services of any infrastructure regardless of size, from a small network with few PCs to meeting the computing needs of a complete data center.