Summary
This hour covered the latest version of Microsoft's network operating system: Windows Server 2008. Windows Server 2008 provides the services and featured offered in the previous Windows Server 2003 networking platform and also provides a number of improvements and new features.
Windows Server 2008 was developed in the same development cycle as Windows Vista and so shares some new features first seen at the release of Vista, such as the new desktop and Control Panel look. Windows Server 2008 now includes a new more robust backup utility called Windows Server Backup. Windows Server 2008 also includes the Windows PowerShell, first introduced with Windows Vista.
Windows Server 2008 provides new administrative tools such as the Server Manager, which supplies access to most of the role management snap-ins used to manage server roles and services. Windows Server 2008 also provides greater security possibilities than its predecessors, including a new Windows Firewall, IPSec, the BitLocker drive encryption, and the new Network Access Protection Service.
New server deployment possibilities such as read-only domain controllers and the Windows core installation provide you with flexibility for client access to the Active Directory Domain Services and services such as DHCP and DNS. The Hyper-V virtualization technology enables you to run multiple server deployments on a single computer.
The Windows Server 2008 provides a family of network server products, including the Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, and Web Editions. The Standard Edition is considered the entry-level version of this powerful server platform and can be purchased with or without the new Hyper-V virtualization platform.