Businesses need to begin planning their datacentre and
server upgrades as the release of a new suite of Windows server
software is just three weeks away.
Microsoft plans to release the
Windows Server 2008 operating system, software development
suite
Visual Studio 2008 and database server
SQL Server 2008 on 28 February.
Chris Ingle, from research firm IDC, said he did not expect a
massive initial uptake among users. Many users will wait for
Microsoft to issue service packs before committing to the software,
he said.
Users will need to balance the advantages of upgrading,
including the need to keep critical servers on supported versions
of Windows, against the currently limited number of certified
products for the new Microsoft server software.
Computer Weekly has found that many enterprise applications have
not yet been certified to run on Windows Server 2008.
Certification could take some time said Carl Greiner, a senior
vice-president at analyst Ovum. "Testing applications is a slow
process. First, enterprise applications will have to be certified
to run on Windows Server 2008, and then users will have to evaluate
their own IT environment."
Nevertheless, businesses will be be keen to evaluate the new
features in Windows 2008, which include
better security and virtualisation. "It will be very
interesting to see how the virtual machine technology performs, as
good performance will be critical for many people," said Ingle.
The virtualisation technology, codenamed Viridian, is designed
to go head to head with VMware's ESX server, the leading
virtualisation platform, according to Forrester Research. Although
Microsoft considers Viridian to be part of Windows Server 2008, it
only plans to supply the beta of Windows Server virtualisation with
Windows Server 2008. The finished product will follow within six
months of Windows Server 2008 shipping.
Windows Server 2008 has addressed one of the growing security
concerns for users in companies with branch offices. Within a
branch office, the
Active Directory database, which is used to control log-in and
systems that users can access, contains sensitive information about
the company's network - including passwords. However, in remote
branch offices that lack the physical security of a corporate
datacentre, a malicious user could make a copy of the sensitive
data in the Active Directory database.
The
BitLocker
Drive Encryption in Windows Server 2008 solves this problem by
ensuring that information on a server's disc drive is encrypted,
according to Forrester Research.
Arguably, the main driver to upgrade is Microsoft's plan to end
support of legacy operating systems. John Enck, research director
at Gartner, said that users with the earliest versions of Windows
server operating systems would now have no choice but to
upgrade.
"Organisations on Windows Server NT 4.0 should continue to
migrate off NT because it is no longer supported by Microsoft.
Windows Server 2008 is the logical destination."
Users running the later Windows Server 2000 have more time, Enck
said. "In this case, end of life does not occur until 2010.
Organisations with Windows Server 2000 should begin to migrate to
Windows Server 2008 as soon as possible - there is no need to move
to Windows Server 2003 to get to Windows Server 2008."
Although it would be ideal to stop using Windows Server 2000 by
the end of 2010, Enck said he did not expect many organisations to
migrate that quickly. "We suggest that organisations will
prioritise their servers and migrate the more important ones prior
to 2010."
Users running Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2003 r2 have
no immediate upgrade concerns. "They have the luxury to decide when
to migrate," he said.
New in Windows Server 2008
Built to work with Microsoft's Viridium virtualisation
technology
Bitlocker Disc Encryption can protect sensitive Active Directory
data
Server core allows server administrators to run a more secure
Windows server
Network Access Protection can set security policies to prevent
devices from accessing the company network