Microsoft Windows Web Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 builds on the award-winning foundation of Windows Server 2008, expanding existing technology and adding new features to enable IT professionals to increase the reliability and flexibility of their server infrastructures. New virtualization tools, Web resources, management enhancements, and exciting Windows 7 integration help save time, reduce costs, and provide a platform for a dynamic and efficiently managed data center. Powerful tools such as Internet Information Services (IIS) version 7.5, updated Server Manager and Hyper-V platforms and Windows PowerShell version 2.0 combine to give customers greater control, increased efficiency and the ability to react to front-line business needs faster than ever before.

What's New in Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 delivers valuable new functionality and powerful improvements to the core Windows Server operating system to help organizations of all sizes increase control, availability, and flexibility for their changing business needs. New Web tools, virtualization technologies, scalability enhancements, and management utilities help save time, reduce costs, and provide a solid foundation for your information technology (IT) infrastructure.

• Web Application Platform - Windows Server 2008 R2 includes many enhancements that make this release the most robust Windows Server Web application platform yet. It offers an updated Web server role, Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5, and greater support for .NET on Server Core.
• Virtualization - Virtualization is a major part of today's data centers. The operating efficiencies offered by virtualization allow organizations to dramatically reduce operational effort and power consumption. Windows Server 2008 R2 provides the following virtualization types: Client and Server virtualization provided by Hyper-V and Presentation virtualization with Remote Desktop Services.
• Scalability and Reliability - Windows Server 2008 R2 is capable of unprecedented workload size, dynamic scalability, and across-the-board availability and reliability. A host of new and updated features will be available, including leveraging sophisticated CPU architectures, increased operating system componentization, and improved performance and scalability for applications and services.
• Management - The ongoing management of servers in the data center is one of the most time-consuming tasks facing IT professionals today. Any management strategy you deploy must support the management of both your physical and virtual environments. To help with this problem, Windows Server 2008 R2 has new features to reduce the ongoing management of Windows Server 2008 R2 and to reduce the administrative effort for common day-to-day operational tasks.
• Better Together with Windows 7 - Windows Server 2008 R2 has many features that are designed specifically to work with client computers running Windows 7. Windows 7 is the next version of the Windows client operating system from Microsoft.

Designed to be used specifically as a single-purpose Internet-facing Web server, Windows Web Server 2008 R2 delivers on a rock solid foundation of Web infrastructure capabilities in the next-generation Windows Server 2008. Integrated with the newly re-architected IIS 7.0, ASP.NET, and the Microsoft .NET Framework, Windows Web Server 2008 R2 enables any organization to rapidly deploy Web pages, Web sites, Web applications, and Web services.

Web and Applications Platform

Windows Web Server 2008 R2 provides organizations with the ability to deliver rich Web-based experiences efficiently and effectively, with improved administration and diagnostics, advanced development and application tools, and lower infrastructure costs.

• Manage with Ease - More efficient administration tools, including delegated administration and shared configuration.
• Powerful Hosting of Applications and Services - Expanded application hosting for .NET, ASP, PHP Web applications, and XML services. Web server extensibility throughout.
• Lower Infrastructure Costs - Improved scalability and enhanced security and reliability with automatic application sandboxing.

Benefits
Windows Web Server 2008 R2 optimized specifically for Internet-facing Web-serving environments and built on industry standards allowing organizations to easily build new, or integrate into existing, server infrastructure environments. Web developers can build Web pages and services that can communicate with other platforms using standards-based interfaces like XML and SOAP. This level of cost-effective application development encourages business productivity and flexibility, and increases business solution opportunities.

• Greater technical capacity than the previous versions of Windows Server, and no limitation of Microsoft SQL Server installation.
• Highly effective platform for ASP.NET based Internet Web deployments, because it includes the newly re-architected Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0, Microsoft ASP.NET, and the Microsoft .NET Framework.
• Dedicated Web-serving functionality and server roles that support four x64 sockets and 32 gigabytes (GB) of RAM.
• Economical next-generation Web server that is competitively priced for enterprise or hosting organizations needing to rapidly deploy Web pages, Web sites, Web applications, and Web services.

Internet Information Services 7.5 - Windows Web Server 2008 R2 is a powerful Web application and services platform. With Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5, Windows Web Server 2008 R2 delivers a completely modular, extensible Web server with expanded application hosting, while retaining excellent compatibility and solving key customer challenges.

• More Control
  • Centralized Web Management - Configure and manage your Web infrastructure from one place through a wide selection of administration tools.
  • Delegated Remote Management - Delegate site configuration management and publishing to remote users.
  • Easy Application Deployment - Archive, package, migrate, and deploy complete applications and Web servers more easily.
• More Choice
  • Modular Web Server - Deploy a streamlined, modular, and extensible Web server.
  • Intelligent Media Serving - Optimize bandwidth and set content delivery options through intelligent media serving.
  • ASP.NET and PHP Support - Develop and deploy ASP.NET and PHP applications together on a flexible Web platform.
• More Reliable
  • Scalable Web Infrastructure - Implement a scalable Web infrastructure with HTTP-based load balancing and intelligent request handling and routing.
  • Dynamic Caching and Compression - Improve performance by enabling high-speed dynamic caching and compression.
  • Powerful Diagnostic Tools - Find and fix issues quickly and easily with powerful diagnostic tools.
• More Secure
  • Improved Server Protection - Maximize Web site security through reduced server footprint and automatic application isolation.
  • Secure Content Publishing - Publish Web content more securely using standards-based protocols.
  • Unauthorized Access Protection - Protect Web server and Web applications from malicious requests and unauthorized access.

Server Core
To help increase the availability of your business, Windows Web Server 2008 R2 supports a Server Core installation option, a minimal environment for running specific server roles. With Server Core, you can remove the functions and drivers that are nonessential to your workloads, leaving only the necessary subsystems required for the supported server roles. This capability provides you with a more reliable, secure server that is optimized for running the most demanding applications and services, but requires less patching and servicing.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

To use Windows Server 2008 R2, you need:*

Processor:

• Minimum: 1.4 GHz (x64 processor)
• Note: An Intel Itanium 2 processor is required for Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems

Memory:

• Minimum: 512 MB RAM
• Maximum: 8 GB (Foundation) or 32 GB (Standard) or 2 TB (Enterprise, Datacenter, and Itanium-Based Systems)

Disk Space Requirements:

• Minimum: 32 GB or greater
• Foundation: 10 GB or greater
• Note: Computers with more than 16 GB of RAM will require more disk space for paging, hibernation, and dump files

Display:

• Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher resolution monitor

* Actual requirements will vary based on your system configuration, and the applications and features you choose to install. Processor performance is dependent upon not only the clock frequency of the processor, but the number of cores and the size of the processor cache. Disk space requirements for the system partition are approximate. Additional available hard disk space may be required if you are installing over a network.

Installation and Activation
You do not need to enter a product key to evaluate any version of Windows Server 2008 R2 software, however activation is required within 10 days. Failing to activate the evaluation will cause the licensing service to shut down the machine every hour.

Product information is advisory only. Specifications and compatibility should be checked with the manufacturer before order. Images are for illustrative purposes only.