The release of Windows Server 2019 ushered in numerous improvements in security, virtualization, Linux support, and data storage. Despite the introduction of a new iteration of Microsoft’s server software in 2022, the 2019 edition continues to be sought after by companies. Let’s delve into the key features that contribute to its popularity.
Security Enhancements
Microsoft has significantly expanded threat protection features in Windows Server 2019:
- The built-in Windows Defender antivirus now includes advanced protection capabilities against sophisticated threats. It can automatically block suspicious activity and alert administrators about potential cyberattacks. Windows Defender databases are regularly updated to recognize new types of malware.
- The addition of the Windows Defender ATP Exploit Guard toolkit allows users to configure protection against various types of vulnerability attacks and restrict application access to specific folders and sensitive data. For example, with folder access control, it’s possible to block potentially dangerous software from writing important files.
- Additionally, Windows Server 2019 implements additional application launch control through Windows Defender Application Control. This enables the definition of policies determining which software can run on the server. Unwanted and potentially dangerous programs are blocked before execution.
These enhancements significantly enhance the security of corporate servers against cyber threats.
Simplifying Migration with the Storage Migration Service
To streamline data migration from previous versions of Windows Server, the Storage Migration Service has been introduced. It facilitates the automatic inventory of existing file servers and data storage, as well as the transfer of all files and folders along with access permissions to the new file infrastructure.
Network resource names and previous access paths for client applications and users remain intact. This service can also be used to migrate file storage to the Azure cloud.
A significant feature is the support for data migration, even from outdated Windows Server 2003 or 2008. Therefore, upgrading to Windows Server 2019 from old versions can be seamless, without the risk of data loss or the need to reconfigure all file permissions after migration.
The migration process is transparent to users and does not disrupt their access to information, providing a significant advantage over manual data copying.
Enhanced Virtualization Capabilities
Several important innovations have been introduced in the field of virtualization and cloud infrastructure in Windows Server 2019.
Firstly, support for clustering Hyper-V clusters into cluster sets has been implemented. This configuration allows for the live migration of virtual machines between different clusters and data processing centers.
For example, to perform maintenance on hardware or software, all virtual machines can be moved from one cluster to a standby cluster and then returned, providing new capabilities for increasing fault tolerance.
What’s more, the Storage Spaces Direct technology for software-defined storage has been significantly enhanced and optimized. It supports data deduplication and compression, enabling more efficient use of disk space.
On top of that, support for persistent memory as a storage tier has been implemented to improve read/write operation performance. The nested resiliency feature has been added, creating local redundancy on each physical server, allowing for withstanding failures not only of disks but also of entire servers.
Linux Support and Containerization
Significant enhancements have also been made in Windows Server 2019 for working with Linux and container technologies:
- Integration with the popular container orchestration platform Kubernetes has been implemented. Based on Windows Server, users can flexibly deploy and scale Linux container clusters for various business applications.
- Support for Hyper-V shielded virtual machines for Linux has been added. Such VMs are encrypted and isolated at the hardware level using technologies such as Secure Boot, ensuring increased security for Linux machines.
- The performance and compatibility of the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL 2) have been improved. Linux’s containers and applications can be run inside Windows with minimal overhead. For example, the unpacking speed of archives in WSL 2 has been increased by up to 20 times compared to the first version of WSL.
Thus, on Windows Server 2019, users can flexibly combine work with both Windows and Linux applications and services.
Deduplication and Compression in ReFS
In the Resilient File System (ReFS), designed to work with application data, there are built-in deduplication and compression features.
By eliminating duplicates and reducing the actual size of files, disk space consumption is significantly optimized. This is especially relevant when working with virtual machines and large volumes of homogeneous information.
At the same time, data integrity and reliability are preserved and even enhanced due to the redundancy and checksums built into the ReFS architecture. Therefore, compression and deduplication do not compromise storage reliability, as is the case with some other file systems.
Conclusions
As we can see, significant improvements have been implemented in Windows Server 2019, which can benefit many organizations and remain relevant. Particularly noteworthy are the expanded virtualization and container orchestration capabilities based on the Kubernetes platform, as well as integrated multilayer protection against cyber threats.
It is also worth noting the simplified migration of file storage from older versions of Windows Server and increased performance due to built-in data compression and deduplication capabilities.
Given all these circumstances, it is recommended to consider migrating corporate servers and infrastructure to Windows Server 2019 to take advantage of the latest version’s benefits.