Windows Server 2016

Windows Server 2016 is the newest server release from Microsoft. It comes with many new features that will revolutionize and change the way we think about computing in the server room. For some, especially those acquainted with the open source community many features added to Windows 2016 won’t be a new concept, like containers which are much like Docker, and Nano server which is very similar to Ubuntu snappy. Windows Server 2016 will simplify many of these technologies though. Here are some of the top features you will find in Windows Server 2016.

Top Windows Server 2016 Features

Nano Server Nano Server is a remotely administered server operating system optimized for private clouds and datacenters. It is similar to Windows Server in Server Core mode, but significantly smaller, has no local logon capability, and only supports 64-bit applications, tools, and agents. It takes up far less disk space, sets up significantly faster, and requires far fewer updates and restarts than Windows Server. When it does restart, it restarts much faster.

Containers If you are familiar with Docker, then Windows containers work the same way as Docker. But what is a container you might ask? A container a partition isolation where an application can run without affecting the rest of the system and without the system affecting the application. Containers are managed by the kernel in the operating system, so you can run multiple containers on the same operating system. That’s the reason why containers are so popular, and are the next step in the virtualization evolution.

Rolling upgrades for Hyper-V and Storage clusters this feature is a relief for many admins. The new rolling upgrades feature allows you to add a new Windows Server 2016 node to a Hyper-V cluster with nodes that are running Windows Server 2012 R2. The cluster will continue to run at the Windows Server 2012 R2 functional level until all of the cluster nodes have been upgraded to Windows Server 2016. When the cluster has mixed level nodes the management must be done from Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10. New VMs on a mixed cluster will be compatible with the Windows Server 2012 R2 feature set.

Add RAM and Network adapters to running VMs without shutting down. In Windows Server 2016 you will be able to add/remove network adapters in running VMs. No need to shut them down. The same thing for RAM.

Nested Virtualization With this new feature you will be able to run Hyper-V within in a VM. This is good for testing environments.

Secure Boot support for Linux in Windows Server 2016 you will be able to run Linux distributions using the Gen2 option.

Docker Support if you are running Docker containers in your network, then you will be able to manage those containers from Windows Server 2016. You will be able to manage Docker containers, and Hyper-V containers within the same panel.

These are just some of the top new features in Windows Server 2016. There are many other new improvements to other server roles like DNS, Hyper-V, AD, etc. In this section you will find many tutorials related to Windows Server 2016, and all its components.

How to setup Active Directory (AD) In Windows Server 2016

Windows Server 2016 is the newest server operating system released by Microsoft in October 12th, 2016. In this tutorial I will go through step by step on how to install the Active Directory ( AD ) role on Windows Server 2016. If you are setting up the server for production is recommended to set a static IP address on the…

Active Directory Tutorial

Active Directory has changed a lot since it’s birth in 1999. The first time I used Active Directory was around 2004 on a Windows 2003 server. We had an Exchange 2003 server, and I remember using active directory to create e-mail accounts. Back then, AD was basically just the “Active Directory Users, and Computers” snap-in, and a few other components.…

Set Windows Server 2016 with a static IP address

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GPO for Google Chrome

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Create a new local user account in Windows Server 2016

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How to set up DFS Namespaces in Windows Server 2016

In this guide we will setup and configure DFS ( Distributed File System ) Namespaces in Windows Server 2016. DFS allows you to setup shared folders hosted on different servers into one or more logically structured namespaces. Each namespace appears to users as a single shared folder with a series of subfolders. This setup increases availability and automatically connects users…

Windows Server 2016 Installation

Windows Server 2016 hasn’t been released to the public for production yet. A technical preview version was released in November last year. if you want to learn what’s new and how to download the Window server 2016 technical preview ISO image, please look at this post What’s new in Windows Server 2016 In this tutorial I will go through the…

Validation Results Error: Hyper-V cannot be installed. The processor does not have required virtualization capabilities

If you are installing the Hyper-V role feature on a virtualized ( Nested Virtualization )Windows 2016 server, and you get the following error: The validation process found problems on the server which you want to install features. The selected features are not compatible with the current configuration of your selected server. Click OK to select different features Then do this.…

Production Checkpoints in Windows Server 2016

There are many exciting new features in Windows 2016 but one particular feature I want to write about today is Production Checkpoints . I believe Checkpoints or snapshots as they were originally called were introduced in Windows Server 2008 and they are very convenient if you are working in a nonproduction environment or with none transactional servers like SQL or…

What’s new in Windows Server 2016?

Windows Server 2016 is the next upcoming server operating system from Microsoft. A technical preview was released in November 2015, and the final version is expected to be released sometime around the 3rd quarter of 2016. if the final version hasn’t been released at the time you are reading this article, you can download the technical preview version from Microsoft…