As you'd expect, Windows Server Technical Preview largely builds on virtualization, storage, networking, and management capabilities introduced with Windows Server 2012. But it also holds a few nice surprises. Here is a quick tour of the highlights -- for now. We're sure to see much more in the coming months.
Start menu and the UI
Debate over the switch from the Windows 7 Start menu to the Start screen in Windows 8 has been nonstop since day one, but if the Start screen proved to be a bad fit for laptops and workstations, it makes even less sense for servers. Fortunately the new Start menu isn’t limited to the Windows 10 client, but is also present in the Windows Server Technical Preview. While server users won’t benefit much from Windows 8-style live tiles, the new Start menu (accessed by clicking the Windows button) is unobtrusive and familiar.
The other big changes in the UI are focused on multitasking. First is support for virtual desktops (not to be confused with remote desktops), which can be used to group like applications into separate desktop instances. The ability to snap windows to the edges of the screen is also enhanced in the technical preview. Instead of simply splitting the screen in half like in Windows 7 and Windows 8, you can split the screen into quarters. This feature is clearly more beneficial to desktop users (hopefully most of your server management isn’t done from the console), but anything that makes an admin’s workflow smoother and more efficient is welcome.
The command line and PowerShell
Thanks to PowerShell, more and more admins are driving their Windows servers from the command line. Microsoft is improving the experience there too. In current versions of Windows, selecting text or doing a simple copy and paste into the Windows command line is not only a pain, but can introduce line breaks, tabs, and inconsistent or unexpected characters. These inconsistencies are gone in the Windows Server Technical Preview. Now when you paste incompatible special characters such as slanted quotes into the command line, they are automatically cleaned up and converted into their command-line-safe equivalents.
Microsoft is aware that PowerShell is a major selling point of the Windows Server platform right now and is taking measures to ensure the whole experience is optimized and pain free. The Windows Server Technical Preview includes PowerShell 5, which is a significant release offering critical new features, as well as updates to features that have been around for a while. The biggest new feature in PowerShell 5 is OneGet, which brings package management capabilities to Windows.
Another major new area of improvement is the ability to manage network switches from within PowerShell, a nod to Microsoft’s efforts to leverage automation throughout the data center. Other PowerShell enhancements include updates to Desired State Configuration and the ability to natively manage zip archive files.
Like the old Windows 7 Start menu, the new Start menu in Windows Server Technical Preview offers fast access to all apps and files.
Windows Defender
Windows Defender, Microsoft’s free antimalware solution, was originally licensed only for home use, then integrated into the OS with Windows 8. The Windows Server Technical Preview includes Windows Defender natively, though the UI element is optional. Many corporate customers will likely prefer an enterprise antimalware solution, but there are clear benefits to having Windows Defender enabled natively. Having antimalware protection from the get-go is a big deal, and the ability to manage it through PowerShell is another notable win for system administrators.
In Windows 10 and Windows Server Technical Preview, you can enable Command Prompt property settings that make life much easier on the command line.
Hyper-V
Without a doubt, one of Microsoft’s most rapidly evolving platforms, Hyper-V continues to receive major attention in the Windows Server Technical Preview. The first new feature is the ability to perform a rolling upgrade to a Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V cluster, upgrading cluster nodes to the Windows Server Technical Preview one by one. Once all nodes have been updated, the functional level of the entire cluster can then be upgraded to support a number of new Hyper-V features.
For starters, virtual machines running on Windows Server Technical Preview use a new configuration file format. The new format promises to be both more efficient (when reading and writing the data) and safer, preventing data corruption due to storage failure. Checkpoints for point-in-time snapshots are now supported in production workloads, due to the use of backup technology within the guest OS. Windows-based virtual machines will use the Volume Snapshot Service, while Linux VMs flush their file system buffers during checkpoint creation.
Hyper-V Manager receives some love in the Windows Server Technical Preview, gaining the use of WS-MAN, and the ability to access a different set of credentials to connect to a remote host. Additionally, virtual network adapters and memory are now treated as hot-swap capable, so it's easier to perform critical VM changes on the fly. Finally, virtual machines hosted in the Windows Server Technical Preview now support Connected Standby.
Storage enhancements
Windows Server 2012 introduced Storage Spaces, a method of pooling physical storage devices (hard drives or SSDs) into logical volumes in order to boost performance and reliability. Windows Server 2012 R2 added automated tiering, with pools of SSDs being used for the most frequently accessed data and spinning hard drives for less frequently used data.
Two major features added in the Windows Server Technical Preview are aimed at common use cases for Windows Server-based storage. The first, Storage QoS (Quality of Service), leverages PowerShell and WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) to build policies managing prioritization and performance of virtual hard disks. The second, Storage Replica, brings block-level replication to Windows Server. Storage Replica provides high availability and can even be used to build multisite, fail-over clusters. Between Storage QoS and Storage Replica, the Windows Server Technical Preview shows Microsoft is serious about making Windows Server a viable option for all of your storage needs.
Virtual networking
Windows Server 2012 introduced several new capabilities for building complex virtual networks and allowing clients to connect to their own isolated virtual network through the use of multitenant site-to-site VPN. This was pitched as a way for service providers to build their own cloud service on the Windows Server platform, but the configuration was complex and primarily handled within PowerShell. The Windows Server Technical Preview brings this functionality into a new server role called the Network Controller. The Network Controller role provides the ability to automate the configuration of networks both physical and virtual, as well as handle numerous other aspects of your networking environment.
Start menu and the UI
Debate over the switch from the Windows 7 Start menu to the Start screen in Windows 8 has been nonstop since day one, but if the Start screen proved to be a bad fit for laptops and workstations, it makes even less sense for servers. Fortunately the new Start menu isn’t limited to the Windows 10 client, but is also present in the Windows Server Technical Preview. While server users won’t benefit much from Windows 8-style live tiles, the new Start menu (accessed by clicking the Windows button) is unobtrusive and familiar.
The other big changes in the UI are focused on multitasking. First is support for virtual desktops (not to be confused with remote desktops), which can be used to group like applications into separate desktop instances. The ability to snap windows to the edges of the screen is also enhanced in the technical preview. Instead of simply splitting the screen in half like in Windows 7 and Windows 8, you can split the screen into quarters. This feature is clearly more beneficial to desktop users (hopefully most of your server management isn’t done from the console), but anything that makes an admin’s workflow smoother and more efficient is welcome.
The command line and PowerShell
Thanks to PowerShell, more and more admins are driving their Windows servers from the command line. Microsoft is improving the experience there too. In current versions of Windows, selecting text or doing a simple copy and paste into the Windows command line is not only a pain, but can introduce line breaks, tabs, and inconsistent or unexpected characters. These inconsistencies are gone in the Windows Server Technical Preview. Now when you paste incompatible special characters such as slanted quotes into the command line, they are automatically cleaned up and converted into their command-line-safe equivalents.
Microsoft is aware that PowerShell is a major selling point of the Windows Server platform right now and is taking measures to ensure the whole experience is optimized and pain free. The Windows Server Technical Preview includes PowerShell 5, which is a significant release offering critical new features, as well as updates to features that have been around for a while. The biggest new feature in PowerShell 5 is OneGet, which brings package management capabilities to Windows.
Another major new area of improvement is the ability to manage network switches from within PowerShell, a nod to Microsoft’s efforts to leverage automation throughout the data center. Other PowerShell enhancements include updates to Desired State Configuration and the ability to natively manage zip archive files.
Like the old Windows 7 Start menu, the new Start menu in Windows Server Technical Preview offers fast access to all apps and files.
Windows Defender
Windows Defender, Microsoft’s free antimalware solution, was originally licensed only for home use, then integrated into the OS with Windows 8. The Windows Server Technical Preview includes Windows Defender natively, though the UI element is optional. Many corporate customers will likely prefer an enterprise antimalware solution, but there are clear benefits to having Windows Defender enabled natively. Having antimalware protection from the get-go is a big deal, and the ability to manage it through PowerShell is another notable win for system administrators.
In Windows 10 and Windows Server Technical Preview, you can enable Command Prompt property settings that make life much easier on the command line.
Hyper-V
Without a doubt, one of Microsoft’s most rapidly evolving platforms, Hyper-V continues to receive major attention in the Windows Server Technical Preview. The first new feature is the ability to perform a rolling upgrade to a Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V cluster, upgrading cluster nodes to the Windows Server Technical Preview one by one. Once all nodes have been updated, the functional level of the entire cluster can then be upgraded to support a number of new Hyper-V features.
For starters, virtual machines running on Windows Server Technical Preview use a new configuration file format. The new format promises to be both more efficient (when reading and writing the data) and safer, preventing data corruption due to storage failure. Checkpoints for point-in-time snapshots are now supported in production workloads, due to the use of backup technology within the guest OS. Windows-based virtual machines will use the Volume Snapshot Service, while Linux VMs flush their file system buffers during checkpoint creation.
Hyper-V Manager receives some love in the Windows Server Technical Preview, gaining the use of WS-MAN, and the ability to access a different set of credentials to connect to a remote host. Additionally, virtual network adapters and memory are now treated as hot-swap capable, so it's easier to perform critical VM changes on the fly. Finally, virtual machines hosted in the Windows Server Technical Preview now support Connected Standby.
Storage enhancements
Windows Server 2012 introduced Storage Spaces, a method of pooling physical storage devices (hard drives or SSDs) into logical volumes in order to boost performance and reliability. Windows Server 2012 R2 added automated tiering, with pools of SSDs being used for the most frequently accessed data and spinning hard drives for less frequently used data.
Two major features added in the Windows Server Technical Preview are aimed at common use cases for Windows Server-based storage. The first, Storage QoS (Quality of Service), leverages PowerShell and WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) to build policies managing prioritization and performance of virtual hard disks. The second, Storage Replica, brings block-level replication to Windows Server. Storage Replica provides high availability and can even be used to build multisite, fail-over clusters. Between Storage QoS and Storage Replica, the Windows Server Technical Preview shows Microsoft is serious about making Windows Server a viable option for all of your storage needs.
Virtual networking
Windows Server 2012 introduced several new capabilities for building complex virtual networks and allowing clients to connect to their own isolated virtual network through the use of multitenant site-to-site VPN. This was pitched as a way for service providers to build their own cloud service on the Windows Server platform, but the configuration was complex and primarily handled within PowerShell. The Windows Server Technical Preview brings this functionality into a new server role called the Network Controller. The Network Controller role provides the ability to automate the configuration of networks both physical and virtual, as well as handle numerous other aspects of your networking environment.
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