The Upsides to Upgrading Windows Server

Windows Server 2003 was a breakthrough platform. With its reliable and stable environment it’s no wonder why it’s still popular today. Unfortunately, with end of service imminent, it will no longer be viable for enterprise computing. Security, compliance, and maintenance costs will expand rapidly while new security risks pop up all over the horizon.

Here’s a rundown of some of the incredible differences in performance and capabilities you’ll see when you step into the present with Windows Server 2012.

Implement Powerful Identity and Access Management Control

While Windows Server 2003 supports Active Directory Services, Windows Server R2 also supports additional important identity and access management (I&AM) capabilities.

• Dynamic Access Control allows you to apply data governance across your file servers to control who can access information. It also allows you to audit who has accessed information.
• Windows Server R2 provides greater I&AM flexibility by supporting virtualization of Active Directory Services. Windows Server 2003 offers no real support for virtualization.

Server-Based Virtualization

Windows Server R2 supports virtual desktop infrastructure so you can reduce desktop computing capital and operational costs.

• Hyper-V clustering optimizes the use of virtualized storage resources.
• Hyper-V Replica supports replicating Hyper-V virtual machines to a secondary site to streamline virtualization redundancy and disaster recovery.
• Support for shared-nothing live migration of virtual machines—including their storage, memory, and device state between Hyper-V hosts without any downtime.

Streamlined Storage

Windows 2003 was not architected for storage support. With Windows Server R2 you can implement live storage migration and enforce storage QoS parameters.

• Storage spaces with tiering allow you to optimize storage cost and performance by utilizing solid state and hard drive storage within the same storage pool.
• The shared virtual hard disk file capabilities allow you to share a VHDX file as a failover cluster so you can protect the application services running inside your virtual machines.

Web and Applications Server Capabilities

Needless to say, in 2003 Windows Server was not designed as a Web and application platform. But when you upgrade, you open up a whole new field of possibilities.

• Windows Server R2 supports multi-tenant, high-density websites and supports dynamic IP restrictions.
• You’ll also gain greater networking controls, including superior IP address management capabilities and Hyper-V Network Virtualization that enable end-to-end network virtualization.

These are just a few of the most obvious upsides to upgrading. For more information, view this feature comparison by server release, or to learn more about Windows Server R2, visit this page.

With the end of support date for Windows Server 2003 fast approaching, there’s never been a better time to plan your data center transformation. Our experts have designed this helpful tool to get you started on the right upgrade path for your unique environment, applications, and workloads.