5. Hyper-V network virtualization

Can’t get enough Hyper-V?  Want to let your virtualized environment communicate with its physical counterpart?  Take a look at the gateways solutions: either private cloud or hybrid cloud

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj618319.aspx

4. Enhanced Linux integration services

Microsoft loves Linux!  It has been said and here is more proof: more distributions and supported features than ever before

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn282278.aspx#bkmk_linux

3.Shared VHDX guest clustering

Forget about shared storage!  Now you can have Virtual machines that share a VHD across multiple machines

http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=14936

2.Multi-node Hyper-V replica

Introduced with Server 2012r2 Hyper-V replica allows a vendor independent (both workload and storage) solution for machine replication over IP networks. Here is a link to learn more

http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=12147

And the number one reason to say goodbye to the old Server 2003 and Hello to the new Server 2012 r2 is…

1. Live Migration with RDMA

Use the power of Server 2012r2 to bypass the OS when transferring data.  It drops latency and increases throughput.  Here is a link to a build:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2013/12/30/faster-live-migration-with-rdma-in-windows-server-2012-r2.aspx

10. Cross-version live migration

Here is another great innovation.  Eloquently stated on one of my favorite sites (if you haven’t noticed already).  This topic is quite indepth and I cant do it justice so here is a person who can (and has):

http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=14914

9.  Storage de-duplication for VDI

Storage costs are dropping and storage methodologies are getting better all the time.   But why would you store multiple copies of files when you don’t need them? Take a look at data deduplication for VDI:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2013/07/31/deploying-data-deduplication-for-vdi-storage-in-windows-server-2012-r2.aspx

8. Storage Spaces with tiering

Here is a topic near and dear to my heart.  No link needed as you can just look through the history of my posts to learn everything about Storage Spaces.  It is a free, built-in RAID-esque platform for Server 2012r2:

http://gorling.ca/blogs/?p=37

7.  Low-cost, file based storage

For the latest in storage technology check out SMB 3: it brings together a huge slew of improvements and enhancements.  Here is a list of links to learn about this amazing technology:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/archive/2012/04/24/updated-links-on-windows-server-2012-file-server-and-smb-3-0.aspx

6.  Multi-tenant VPN gateway

More new news on the virtualization front: This time we are looking at VPN solutions. For more in-depth coverage of ways to build out a VPN gateway check out:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/networking/archive/2013/09/29/multi-tenant-site-to-site-s2s-vpn-gateway-with-windows-server-2012-r2.aspx

Check back with me tomorrow for the Top 5 🙂

July 14^th is coming soon! If you haven’t started planning for your server migration you REALLY need to!

Why July 14^th? That is the last day of extended support for Server 2003. Our beloved workhorse needs a rest and it’s time for a new breed in the stable.

Here is a link to the main migration page (and it has a nifty count down timer on it too J):

http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/server-cloud/products/windows-server-2003/default.aspx

Woudn’t it be great if there were a nice little list of reasons to migrate?

Wouldn’t it be great to know how to implement all these cool new changes and improvements?

My next 2 blog posts will do just that: stay tuned for a top 10 list with links out to some of best online articles on feature usability in Server 2012r2