Windows Server 2019: Important new features and im­prove­ments

Microsoft has released a new version of its server operating system. Through­out the course of the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC), an update has been released after two years, in­tro­duc­ing important new features. Microsoft has not rein­vent­ed the wheel, instead it has focused on the further de­vel­op­ment of existing functions. After a somewhat un­suc­cess­ful market launch (due to a bug delivery stop that had to be imposed), Windows Server 2019 is now fully op­er­a­tional. What new features does the system have to offer?

Microsoft built the new server around a few key changes. These include more options to work in a hybrid cloud, better support for Linux, more security through shielded virtual machines, in­no­va­tions in the storage subsystem and the es­tab­lish­ment of the Windows Admin Center. Some minor and major changes revolve around these important items.

Not entirely new, but an important part of Windows Server 2019: Windows Admin Center, a graphical console for managing the server. The software can be con­trolled through the browser, can be used remotely and allows admins to control connected hardware. By con­nect­ing to Azure, the software also provides a good starting point for or­ga­niz­ing a hybrid cloud solution. However, the Windows Admin Center is not a complete re­place­ment for the Remote Server Ad­min­is­tra­tion Tool (RSAT) and this must still be used in parallel.

Server admins can find another control tool in the System Insights. This software is an in­tel­li­gent tool that analyzes resource re­quire­ments and issues warning messages in advance if ca­pac­i­ties become tight - machine learning makes this possible. Using scripts, ad­min­is­tra­tors can also be proac­tive­ly intervene in the con­fig­u­ra­tion of server resources.

With Windows Server 2019, Microsoft is taking another step towards cloud tech­nol­o­gy. There is a close con­nec­tion to Azure, which is not only limited to the interface within the Admin Center. The Azure Network Adapter also connects the cloud computing platform to the local server. The service quickly es­tab­lish­es a VPN con­nec­tion between both systems and with little con­fig­u­ra­tion effort. It also includes features like Azure Backup, Azure Update Man­age­ment and Azure Site Recovery. Other tools that work through the cloud are directly aimed at security.

Windows Server 2019 makes it easier to integrate Linux. It is possible to run Linux con­tain­ers and Windows container on the same host. In addition, Linux dis­tri­b­u­tions for the subsystem for Linux can now be easily down­loaded from the Microsoft Store. This means that ap­pli­ca­tions that are actually intended for Linux can also run on the server. This also includes the Bash, the free shell of Linux.

Ku­ber­netes plays a more important role than before on Windows. Support for the or­ches­tra­tion system has been expanded. The Windows Server Container, Hyper-V Container, Docker Container and Linux Container can now be used together. Ku­ber­netes takes over ad­min­is­trat­ing the different types and Microsoft has also improved in­di­vid­ual images for con­tain­ers, also new is the container image “windows”, which has a greater range of functions than the familiar images “win­dowsserver­core” and “nanoserv­er”.

Windows Server 2019 addresses security in several ways. First, the new server operating system accesses services from the cloud: Windows Defender Advanced Threat Pro­tec­tion monitors the server for malware and stops processes that are clas­si­fied as dangerous. Microsoft also wants to use the cloud service to combat zero-day attacks and root kits. The link between Azure and Windows Server 2019 also gives admins the op­por­tu­ni­ty to use the functions of Azure AD for their security concepts.

Microsoft uses shielded VMs as ad­di­tion­al pro­tec­tion functions. Sensitive tasks can be performed in a secure virtual machine. This now also applies to Linux servers, which can be protected in this way. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, en­cryp­tion options have been expanded, with the 2019 version, data transfer between virtual machines can now also be encrypted.

The new server version includes several changes in the storage area. With the Storage Migration Service, Microsoft sim­pli­fies the move to the new version of the operating system, but also migration to the cloud, should this be desired. In addition, Microsoft has improved Storage Space Direct. You can expect higher speed and more stability from the server. Scal­a­bil­i­ty has also improved sig­nif­i­cant­ly: 4 petabytes per cluster are possible.

The storage segment is rounded off by Storage Replica. The backup service is now also available for standard version users – albeit in a slimmed-down version. Only one repli­ca­tion may be created with a maximum size of 2 terabytes.

What has changed? The overview table shows what is different from Windows Server 2016. It also contains functions that were dropped during the version change. These are either no longer needed or have been replaced by other functions.