Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008 is one of Microsoft Windows server line of operating systems. Released to
manufacturing on February 4, 2008, and officially released on February 27, 2008, it is the successor
to Windows Server 2003, released nearly five years earlier. A second release, named Windows Server
2008 R2, was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009.Like Windows Vista and Windows 7, Windows
Server 2008 is based on Windows NT 6.x.
Editions:
Most editions of Windows Server 2008 are available in x86-64 and IA-32 versions. Windows Server 2008
for Itanium-based Systems supports IA-64 processors. Microsoft has optimized the IA-64 version for
high-workload scenarios like database servers and Line of Business (LOB) applications. As such it is not
optimized for use as a file server or media server. Microsoft has announced that Windows Server 2008 is
the last 32-bit Windows server operating system. Windows Server 2008 is available in the editions listed
below, similar to Windows Server 2003.
Windows Server 2008 Standard (IA-32 and x86-64)
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise (IA-32 and x86-64)
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter (IA-32 and x86-64)
Windows HPC Server 2008 (Codenamed "Socrates") (replacing Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003)
Windows Web Server 2008 (IA-32 and x86-64)
Windows Storage Server 2008 (Codenamed "Magni") (IA-32 and x86-64)
Windows Small Business Server 2008 (Codenamed "Cougar") (x86-64) for small businesses
Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (Codenamed "Centro") (x86-64) for medium-sized businesses [28]
(Discontinued) [29]
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems
Windows Server 2008 Foundation (Codenamed "Lima")
Features:
Server Core
Active Directory roles
Failover Clustering
Self-healing NTFS
Hyper-V
Windows System Resource Manager
Server Manager
Core OS improvements
Active Directory improvements
Policy related improvements
Disk management and file storage improvements
Protocol and cryptography improvements
Improvements due to client-side (Windows Vista) enhancements
Windows Deployment Services
Internet Information Services 7
Service Packs:
Service Pack 2
Because Windows Server 2008 is based on the Windows NT 6.0 Service Pack 1 kernel, the RTM release is
considered to be Service Pack 1; accordingly, the first service pack is called Service Pack 2. Announced
on October 24, 2008, this service pack contains the same changes and improvements as the Windows
Vista Service Pack 2, as well as the final release of Hyper-V 1.0, and an approximate 10% reduction in
power usage.
The first SP2 beta build was sent out in in October 2008, a public beta arrived in December 2008, and an
RC-escrow build was given to testers in January 2009. Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 share a
single service pack binary, reflecting the fact that their code bases were joined with the release of Server
2008. On May 26, 2009, Service Pack 2 was ready for release. It is now available in Windows Update.
System requirements:
Recommended for Windows Server
Minimum for Windows Server 2008
2008
1 GHz (IA-32) or 1.4 GHz (x86-64) or Intel
Processor 2 GHz or faster
Itanium 2
2 GB RAM or higher
Maximum (32-bit systems): 4 GB RAM
(Standard) or 64 GB RAM (Enterprise,
512 MB RAM (may limit performance Datacenter)
Memory
and some features) Maximum (64-bit systems): 8 GB
(Foundation) or 32 GB RAM (Standard) or 2
TB RAM (Enterprise, Datacenter and Itanium-
Based Systems)
Video
adapter and Super VGA (800 × 600) Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher resolution
monitor
Minimum (Non-Foundation 32-bit
systems): 20 GB or greater
Hard drive
Minimum (Non-Foundation 64-bit
disk free 40 GB or higher
systems): 32 GB or greater
space
Foundation: 10 GB or greater.[36]
Computers with more than 16 GB of
RAM require more disk space for paging,
hibernation, and dump files[35]
Optical drive DVD-ROM DVD-ROM
Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher- Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher-resolution
Devices
resolution monitor, keyboard and mouse monitor, keyboard and mouse
