Windows Server Comparison of editions and features – 4sysops – Item Preview

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Reinforced virtual machines on Google Cloud. Support a stateful workload with a MIG. Solutions for content production and distribution operations.
 
 

 

Try Windows Server R2 on Microsoft Evaluation Center.Ultimate Guide to Windows Server Including Versions & Dev History

 

This means that one can later upgrade their Server edition by changing the licensing key. In this post, we are going to discuss all the different Windows Server editions Microsoft offers of the different Server versions.

Before we dive into the details of the various editions, let us briefly differentiate between the Server version and the editions. These are the different editions a Windows Server can be offered in. However, some or all of these editions can be offered in the various Server versions which are denoted by the suffixed year they were released e. That said, a complete Server name would be something like this, consisting of both the version as well as its edition:.

You can check your Server details by typing in winver in the Run Command box. Server editions can be classified as retail or volume licenses. As the name suggests, a retail license can only be used on a single PC, while a volume license is designed for organizations that require running a server on more than one instance. Moreover, you can also use a free-of-cost license categorized as an evaluation license. However, these are only valid for a limited time, after which the Server installation will no longer be functional.

Note: There was no concept of the different Server editions before Server This means it is offered in 3 different editions: Plain, Advanced, and Datacenter. The table below highlights the major differences and similarities between the Standard and the Datacenter editions of Windows Server:.

The Standard edition of the Server is based on Client Access License CAL requirements, which is a commercial software license that allows multiple client computers to use server software services.

The Standard edition includes all of the features in the Essentials edition and more. In case of more Virtual Machines VMs , you will need to purchase more licenses. It also allows you to integrate with the Azure cloud and manage accordingly, creating a centralized managed environment. Automatic cloud resource optimization and increased security.

End-to-end migration program to simplify your path to the cloud. Ensure your business continuity needs are met. Change the way teams work with solutions designed for humans and built for impact. Collaboration and productivity tools for enterprises. Secure video meetings and modern collaboration for teams. Unified platform for IT admins to manage user devices and apps. Enterprise search for employees to quickly find company information.

Detect, investigate, and respond to online threats to help protect your business. Solution for analyzing petabytes of security telemetry. Threat and fraud protection for your web applications and APIs. Solutions for each phase of the security and resilience life cycle. Solution to modernize your governance, risk, and compliance function with automation. Solution for improving end-to-end software supply chain security. Data warehouse to jumpstart your migration and unlock insights.

Services for building and modernizing your data lake. Run and write Spark where you need it, serverless and integrated. Insights from ingesting, processing, and analyzing event streams. Solutions for modernizing your BI stack and creating rich data experiences.

Put your data to work with Data Science on Google Cloud. Solutions for collecting, analyzing, and activating customer data. Solutions for building a more prosperous and sustainable business. Data from Google, public, and commercial providers to enrich your analytics and AI initiatives.

Accelerate startup and SMB growth with tailored solutions and programs. Get financial, business, and technical support to take your startup to the next level. Explore solutions for web hosting, app development, AI, and analytics. Build better SaaS products, scale efficiently, and grow your business.

Command-line tools and libraries for Google Cloud. Managed environment for running containerized apps. Data warehouse for business agility and insights. Content delivery network for delivering web and video. Streaming analytics for stream and batch processing.

Monitoring, logging, and application performance suite. Fully managed environment for running containerized apps. Platform for modernizing existing apps and building new ones. Unified platform for training, running, and managing ML models. Single interface for the entire Data Science workflow. Options for training deep learning and ML models cost-effectively. Custom machine learning model development, with minimal effort.

Sentiment analysis and classification of unstructured text. Speech recognition and transcription across languages. Language detection, translation, and glossary support. Video classification and recognition using machine learning. Custom and pre-trained models to detect emotion, text, and more. Lifelike conversational AI with state-of-the-art virtual agents. API Management. Manage the full life cycle of APIs anywhere with visibility and control. API-first integration to connect existing data and applications.

Solution to bridge existing care systems and apps on Google Cloud. No-code development platform to build and extend applications. Develop, deploy, secure, and manage APIs with a fully managed gateway. Serverless application platform for apps and back ends.

Server and virtual machine migration to Compute Engine. Compute instances for batch jobs and fault-tolerant workloads. Reinforced virtual machines on Google Cloud. Dedicated hardware for compliance, licensing, and management.

Infrastructure to run specialized workloads on Google Cloud. Usage recommendations for Google Cloud products and services. Fully managed, native VMware Cloud Foundation software stack.

Registry for storing, managing, and securing Docker images. Container environment security for each stage of the life cycle. Solution for running build steps in a Docker container. Containers with data science frameworks, libraries, and tools. Containerized apps with prebuilt deployment and unified billing. Package manager for build artifacts and dependencies. Components to create Kubernetes-native cloud-based software.

IDE support to write, run, and debug Kubernetes applications. Platform for BI, data applications, and embedded analytics. Messaging service for event ingestion and delivery. Service for running Apache Spark and Apache Hadoop clusters. Data integration for building and managing data pipelines. Workflow orchestration service built on Apache Airflow. Service to prepare data for analysis and machine learning. Intelligent data fabric for unifying data management across silos.

Metadata service for discovering, understanding, and managing data. Service for securely and efficiently exchanging data analytics assets. Fully managed, PostgreSQL-compatible database for demanding enterprise workloads.

Cloud-native wide-column database for large scale, low-latency workloads. Cloud-native document database for building rich mobile, web, and IoT apps. In-memory database for managed Redis and Memcached. Cloud-native relational database with unlimited scale and Serverless, minimal downtime migrations to the cloud.

Infrastructure to run specialized Oracle workloads on Google Cloud. NoSQL database for storing and syncing data in real time. Serverless change data capture and replication service. Universal package manager for build artifacts and dependencies. Continuous integration and continuous delivery platform. Service for creating and managing Google Cloud resources. Command line tools and libraries for Google Cloud. Cron job scheduler for task automation and management.

Private Git repository to store, manage, and track code. Task management service for asynchronous task execution. Fully managed continuous delivery to Google Kubernetes Engine. Windows Foundation edition supports up to 15 users. In addition, Foundation edition owners cannot upgrade to other editions. The Essential edition of server is available to OEMs with the purchase of new hardware and also at retail stores.

The user limit of this server edition is 25 and device limit is This means that a maximum of 25 users amongst 50 computers can access the Windows Server Essentials edition. For example, you have 20 users rotating randomly amongst 25 computers accessing the Server Essentials edition, without any problem.

A common question at this point is what if the organization expands and increases its users and computers? In these cases Microsoft provides an upgrade path allowing organizations to upgrade to the Windows Server Standard or Datacenter edition license and perform an in-place license transition. Once the transition is complete, the user limitation, and other features are unlocked without requiring migration or reinstallation of the server.

Companies upgrading to a higher edition of Windows Server should keep in mind that it will be necessary to purchase the required amount of CALs or DALs according to their users or devices. Administrators will be happy to know that it is also possible to downgrade the Standard edition of Server to the Essentials edition. For example, it is possible to run Essential edition of Server as virtual machine utilizing one of two available virtual instances in Standard edition as shown in the figure below.

This eliminates the needs to purchase Essential edition of Server The administrative templates for Windows 11 are not backward compatible; hence, Windows 10 cannot be fully managed with them Thanks, I would only be interested in the Essentials and was looking to see if the 64 GB limit has been raised. Your email address will not be published. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting. Receive new post notifications. Please ask IT administration questions in the forums.

Any other messages are welcome. Receive news updates via email from this site. Toggle navigation. Windows Server will be available in two main editions: Standard and Datacenter. In addition, Microsoft will introduce a new edition for Azure. Author Recent Posts. Wolfgang Sommergut. Wolfgang Sommergut has over 20 years of experience in IT journalism. He has also worked as a system administrator and as a tech consultant.

Today he runs the German publication WindowsPro. Each new version of Windows Server does not necessarily render previous versions obsolete. These products are supported for 10 years. That support period is covered by five years of support that is included in the purchase price and the remaining five years requires a support contract extension.

The replacement of the Windows Server operating system is not automatic and requires the new version to be purchased separately. This is with the exception of the R2 versions, which are allowed as a free upgrade to customers of the original version of that release. So, Windows Server R2 was available for free to those customers who had already purchased Windows Server Microsoft created a second purchasing model for Windows Server in The products available through this channel are not the same as the Windows Server versions that are marketed through the Long-Term Service Channel.

The shorter release times for this group of products means that the common elements offered in the two channels will eventually diverge. SAC products are aimed at software development companies that need newer innovations faster than enterprises that want stable servers to support their regular operations.

As the name explains, SAC server versions are released every six months and include support contracts that last only 18 months. The version numbers of these Windows Server releases come from the year and month of their release. So, to date there has been:. Cloud hosting means that you can get Windows Server on remote infrastructure, not just on your on-premises machines.

Microsoft offers its Azure cloud servers on a subscription basis. Other providers employ Windows Server, enabling you to choose between service plans offered by a range of companies if you want to use Windows Server without having to buy it and run it on your own hardware.

For example, Google Cloud includes a Windows Server option. Whether you choose to migrate all of your server activity to the Cloud or create a hybrid network, the latest versions of Windows Server will enable you to deliver services to your staff and customers seamlessly. Although Windows Server includes many monitoring functions, you will need to add on specialized monitoring software to fully manage the system.

Both the Cloud and on-premises server versions of the system rely on hardware elements that can go wrong and you have to keep constant tabs on the connections to your server, whether they are on your own LAN or across the internet. The number of different components that keep a server running successfully can be difficult to track manually. SolarWinds Microsoft Management Tools will cover the operations of Windows Server and its elements, alerting you when statuses become concerning.

This automated assistance leaves you free to focus on more complicated projects , such as budget management and user support. Keeping on top of your entire network will require the SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor as well. SolarWinds developed its stable of infrastructure management tools on a common platform, called Orion.

Thanks to this, the two modules slot together. This enables you to take advantage of multi-module utilities, such as PerfStack. This assistant displays the support services and hardware as well as Windows Server and helps you to identify quickly exactly which element in the stack is running poorly when Windows Server seems to be performing badly. Not everyone is keen on having the very latest version of software because cutting-edge applications can often be unstable.

Those who want the very latest server software from Microsoft would be better off opting for the Semi-Annual Channel or choosing an entirely Cloud-based solution that includes a commitment to keeping up with the latest version of the operating system. Which version of Windows Server do you currently use? Have you been tempted to try the SAC format of purchase?

Do you prefer to keep your servers in-house, or have you already migrated to the Cloud?