Microsoft Announces Nano Server for Modern Apps and Cloud

For more info visit : http://blogs.technet.com/b/server-cloud/archive/2015/04/08/microsoft-announces-new-container-technologies-for-the-next-generation-cloud.aspx

Today Microsoft announced new container technologies as well as Nano Server, a purpose-built operating system designed to run born-in-the-cloud applications and containers. As customers adopt modern applications and next-generation cloud technologies, they need an OS that delivers speed, agility and lower resource consumption.

Nano Server is a deeply refactored version of Windows Server with a small footprint and remotely managed installation, optimized for the cloud and a DevOps workflow.  It is designed for fewer patch and update events, faster restarts, better resource utilization and tighter security. Informed directly by our learnings from building and managing some of the world’s largest hyperscale cloud environments, and available in the next version of Windows Server, Nano Server focuses on two scenarios:

1. Born-in-the-cloud applications – support for multiple programming languages and runtimes. (e.g. C#, Java, Node.js, Python, etc.) running in containers, virtual machines, or on physical servers.
2. Microsoft Cloud Platform infrastructure – support for compute clusters running Hyper-V and storage clusters running Scale-out File Server.

Nano Server will allow customers to install just the components they require and nothing more. The initial results are promising.  Based on the current builds, compared to Server, Nano Server has:

• 93 percent lower VHD size
• 92 percent fewer critical bulletins
• 80 percent fewer reboots

To achieve these benefits, we removed the GUI stack, 32 bit support (WOW64), MSI and a number of default Server Core components. There is no local logon or Remote Desktop support. All management is performed remotely via WMI and PowerShell. We are also adding Windows Server Roles and Features using Features on Demand and DISM. We are improving remote manageability via PowerShell with Desired State Configuration as well as remote file transfer, remote script authoring and remote debugging.  We are working on a set of new Web-based management tools to replace local inbox management tools.

Because Nano Server is a refactored version of Windows Server it will be API-compatible with other versions of Windows Server within the subset of components it includes. Visual Studio is fully supported with Nano Server, including remote debugging functionality and notifications when APIs reference unsupported Nano Server components.

We are working with Microsoft Visual Studio and System Center as well as partners like Chef to ensure that Nano Server works seamlessly in a DevOps continuous deployment and management workflow. In fact, we are thrilled to see that partners like Chef are already excited about Nano Server.  According to James Casey, VP of Engineering, Chef, "The collaboration between Chef and Microsoft engineering brings best-in-class automation for the container-optimized Nano Server. The Nano Server, provisioned and managed with Chef, provides a perfect platform for high velocity IT and a DevOps workflow."

We will have much more to share on the future of our datacenter offerings in the coming weeks. To hear more about Nano Server, come to our sessions at BUILD and Ignite or watch them on Channel 9 after the show.

Windows Server 2012 TOP 10 Feature

At this past Windows Server Workshop in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft presented its upcoming version of Windows Server, currently referred to as Windows Server 2012(formerly code-named Windows Server 8), although it's sure to have a new name when the final release comes. But the name is the least of the changes you'll see with the new release. Window Server 8 is without a doubt one of the biggest server releases Microsoft has ever produced, and the list of enhancements is way too long for one column. Nonetheless, here are my top 10 standout features from Windows Server 8.

1. Multiserver support in Server Manager—Windows Server 8 features a completely redesigned Server Manager. It's no longer oriented toward single-server management as it is in Windows Server 2008 R2. Because it embraces the cloud concept, the new Server Manager can manage multiple servers, and it provides an all-new dashboard that lets you drill down into local and remote servers.

2. Server Core is the default—Windows Server 8 uses the minimalist Server Core as the default server environment, marking a huge change away from dependence on the GUI for management. One super feature of this change is that the GUI is now considered a feature. Therefore, you can perform your initial server configuration through the GUI, then remove it when you're ready to move into production. Unlike Server 2008 R2, there's no need to reinstall the OS to get rid of the GUI.

3. Ubiquitous PowerShell management—Going hand-in-hand with the move away from the GUI is the move to PowerShell as the primary management tool. Server 2008 R2 started this trend and provided more than 200 cmdlets for server management. Windows Server 8 expands the available cmdlets to more than 2,300, providing cmdlets for managing all Windows Server applications. For instance, Server 2008 R2 doesn't have built-in cmdlets for Hyper-V, but Windows Server 8 provides a full set of PowerShell cmdlets for managing Hyper-V 3.0.

4. Built-in NIC teaming—Another overdue feature is the capability to provide NIC teaming natively in the OS. VMware's ESX Server has provided NIC teaming for some time. Prior to Windows Server 8, you could get NIC teaming for Windows only via specialized NICs from Broadcom and Intel. The new built-in Windows Server 8 NIC teaming works across heterogeneous vendor NICs and can provide support for load balancing as well as failover over NICs from different vendors.

5. SMB 2.2—The Windows Server Message Block (SMB) file sharing protocol has also been significantly enhanced in Windows Server 8. SMB 2.2 adds file server resiliency with no special configuration. In addition, server applications such as Microsoft SQL Server can now have their databases stored on SMB 2.2 shares, which gives them the benefits of SMB 2.2 with no configuration changes to the SQL Server databases.

6. Data deduplication—Windows Server 8 provides built-in data deduplication, a feature typically found in high-end SANs. Windows Server 8's data deduplication runs in the background, and it can automatically detect duplicate data, save the duplicated data in a separate system store, and replace the data in the original files with pointers to the system store.

7. Expanded cluster scalability—Windows Failover Clustering has also taken a big jump in scalability. VMware's vSphere supported clusters consisting of up to 32 hosts. Previous versions of Windows Server were limited to 16 nodes. Windows Server 8 clusters can support up to 63 nodes and up to 4,000 virtual machines (VMs) per cluster, effectively leap-frogging VMware's VM cluster support.

8. Multiple concurrent Live Migrations—Live Migration was introduced with Hyper-V 2.0, which was part of the Server 2008 R2 release. Although it filled an important gap, it lagged behind VMware's VMotion because Hyper-V 2.0 could perform only one Live Migration at a time; VMware's ESX Server could perform multiple concurrent VMotions. Hyper-V 3.0 brings that same ability to Windows Server 8 and the next release of Hyper-V Server as well.

9. Storage Live Migration—The addition of Storage Live Migration to Hyper-V 3.0 really closes the feature gap with VMware. Like VMware's Storage VMotion, Hyper-V 3.0's Storage Live Migration lets you move a VM's virtual disk, configuration, and snapshot files to a new storage location with no interruption of end-user connectivity to the VM.

10. Live Migration without shared storage—Unexpectedly, Microsoft really carved out a clear advantage in the small-to-midsized business virtualization market by introducing the ability to perform Live Migration and Storage Live Migration without requiring shared storage on the back end. The ability to perform Live Migration without a SAN back end helps bring the advantages of virtualization and high availability to smaller businesses that can't afford the cost or complexities of a SAN.