Apr 06, 2013  As I start this blog entry, it’s been nearly 8 months since I created my last self-study guide. For those of you following this blog, I apologize for the long gap. All I can say is that the requirements of work and life, coupled with a mountain of. Mar 15, 2011  Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 helps keep your PCs and servers on the latest support level. It also provides ongoing improvements to the Windows Operating System (OS), by including previous updates delivered over Windows Update as well as continuing incremental updates to the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 platforms based on.

1. Windows Server 2008 R2 Support
2. Windows Server 2008 R2 Features
3. Download Windows Server 2008 R2
4. Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard
5. Windows Server 2008 R2 Price
6. Windows Server 2008 R2 Editions

APPLICATION READY NETWORK GUIDE

MICROSOFT WINDOWS SERVER 2008

Comprehensive Application Ready infrastructure that enhances the security, availability, and performance of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 deployments

SUMMARY

Microsoft® Windows® Server 2008 is much more than just a new release from Microsoft. From a next generation TCP/IP stack to new versions of Windows Terminal Services and Internet Information services, as well as new technologies like Windows PowerShell and Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol, Windows Server 2008 helps information technology professionals maximize control over their infrastructure while providing unprecedented availability and management capabilities. F5 has worked with Microsoft during the beta cycle and beyond to ensure a high level of interoperability and optimization with the entire Windows Server 2008 platform. F5’s Application Ready Network for Windows Server 2008 not only helps optimize end-to-end performance, availability, and scalability

for Windows Server 2008 deployments, but reduces the costs associated with deployment, management, and operation.

F5 APPLICATION READY NETWORK GUIDE: MICROSOFT WINDOWS SERVER 2008

User Experience and

Application Performance

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 gives organizations a powerful new platform that is designed to power the next-generation of networks, applications, and Web services. Windows Server 2008 includes some exciting new components such as Microsoft’s new

TCP/IP stack, Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP), and new versions of industry standard applications like Windows Terminal Services and Internet Information Services. F5 has been working closely with Microsoft to ensure that F5’s Application Ready Network for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 provides the highest level of application availability, performance, and end user satisfaction.

One of the highlights of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is a next generation TCP/IP stack that has been completely redesigned from the ground up. F5 solutions include a host of TCP/IP optimization technologies that are

compatible with Microsoft’s new stack. These optimizations, which combine session-level application awareness, persistent tunnels, selective acknowledgements, error correction, and optimized TCP windows, enable F5 devices and Microsoft Server 2008 installations to fully utilize available bandwidth. This enables F5 devices to adapt, in real time, to the latency, packet loss, and congestion characteristics

of WAN links, and accelerate virtually all application traffic. And F5 isolates, controls, and independently optimizes user and server connections, enabling both the server and end user to maximize productivity.

With the rapid expansion of the Internet and the quickly diminishing number of IPv4

addresses available, organizations are looking to ensure their network infrastructure is adequately prepared for the future. Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) support is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity. IPv6, a new suite

of standard protocols for the network layer of the Internet, is built into both Windows Server 2008, as well as F5 devices, ensuring that your network and Microsoft applications

Windows Server 2008 R2 Support

are ready for this inevitable change. With F5’s IPv6 support, organizations have a clear strategy for staging network migration as IPv6 traffic grows, without wholesale network and application upgrades. Additionally, F5 devices can perform IPv6/IPv4 translation, translating traffic for consumption by either IPv4 or IPv6 end points. This allows organizations to stage their migration gradually as demand for IPv6 increases. F5 enables you to freely intermingle IPv4 and IPv6 services on Windows Server 2008; for example, F5 can serve as an IPv4 front end to Windows Server 2008 Web Access servers that only use IPv6. With F5, organizations have a strong solution for today and well into the future.

Windows Server 2008 is extremely effective at what it was designed to do: provide a solid

foundation for server workload and application requirements. One of F5’s core strengths is the ability to enhance end-user experience while increasing application and server performance. We do this by taking on many of the duties that servers traditionally have to perform. If each server has to carry out processor-intensive tasks such as compression, caching, and SSL processing and certificate management, the amount of processing power these devices have left to perform core tasks is reduced.

By offloading these types of tasks onto F5’s centralized and high powered network devices, F5 greatly improves Windows Server 2008 server efficiency and enables organizations to reduce the amount of hardware. This applies to all the major components of Windows Server 2008, including Windows Terminal Services, Internet Information Servers, and SSTP.

F5 provides technology that guarantees the most efficient network possible. Because F5’s unique TMOS™ operating system is a full proxy, it can optimize any end point that connects through the system. As a full broker of communications, the system optimizes communication for every single end-device communicating through it. This optimization can take place up and down the entire stack

— from the transport layer to the protocol and application layer — functions outside the

control of Windows Server 2008. This takes the workload off of the Windows Server 2008 devices for increased server efficiency. By reducing unnecessary protocol communication across the network, F5 improves application response times and utilization for Windows Server 2008 deployments and other applications on the network.

Even high-powered and efficient applications and servers, like Windows Server 2008, as well as other devices on the local area network (LAN), are not much help over the wide area network (WAN). Network latency across the WAN is one of the biggest challenges facing IT departments around the world, and is a major concern for organizations deploying applications like Windows Terminal Services where users can access applications from anywhere. Simply increasing bandwidth

does nothing to solve the problem. F5 helps drastically reduce the impact of latency in a number of ways. In addition to the benefits from TMOS, F5 solves latency problems with a group of capabilities that eliminates the need for the browser to download repetitive or duplicate data, as well as ensuring the best use of bandwidth by controlling browser behavior. By reducing the extra conditional requests and excess data (re)transmitted between the

“Windows Server is one of the most popular application platforms that we see within our enterprise customer base. As such, F5 has put substantial resources into testing its application delivery portfolio with the Windows Server platform technologies through every step of the beta to maintain a high level of interoperability.”

Jim Ritchings, VP of Business

Development at F5

F5 APPLICATION READY NETWORK GUIDE: MICROSOFT WINDOWS SERVER 2008

browser and the web application, F5 mitigates the effects of WAN latency, networking errors, and packet loss.

One of the strengths of the F5’s Application Ready Network is the wide variety of materials that ease the burden of configuring and optimizing our devices, freeing valuable IT resources to work on other projects. As part of the Application Ready Network for Microsoft Windows 2008, F5 has configured, tested, and tuned our devices with the major components of Windows Server 2008 and carefully documented the procedures in our Deployment Guide. F5 also provides configuration Profiles and Policies to make configuration incredibly simple yet powerful and flexible, with some policies including prebuilt drop-downs for components like Microsoft Internet Information Services and Windows Terminal Services.

And now with our management devices, the deployment guide configuration files are available as a template, which can be easily

uploaded and pushed to F5 devices. With the power of Microsoft PowerShell, the command line shell and scripting language included with Windows Server 2008, and F5’s iControl PowerShell Cmdlets and scripts, developers have a unique way to control and manage F5 devices in one location1.

Application Security

While performance and end-user experience are vital to a successful deployment of Windows Server 2008, ensuring application security

can be even more crucial. Because of the sensitive nature of data stored in applications and databases, coupled with new compliance initiatives and government regulations on data protection, securing your applications is more important than ever before. F5 security solutions provide comprehensive protection for Windows Server 2008, ensuring your data and applications are secure.

Years ago, merely having network firewalls in front of the LAN was considered an adequate level of security. Next came intrusion protection/ detection systems, which added another level of security, albeit one that provided a negative

security model. However, IPS/IDS systems could only protect against a known list of attacks and signatures, and soon attacks became more sophisticated, with zero-day attacks that would bypass these systems as their signatures were previously unknown. Recently, hackers are shifting their focus to applications themselves

with attacks that look harmless to both network firewalls and intrusion protection/detection systems. More than 50 percent of all new vulnerabilities being identified on a weekly basis are attributed to web applications2.. Devices relying solely on a known list of signature attacks cannot defend against targeted attacks involving a malicious user seeking vulnerabilities unique to a particular application. F5 detects and mitigates patternless exploits in real time, adding accurate, complementary protection to existing firewalls and IDS devices, which do not efficiently address HTTP and HTTPS-borne threats.

In addition to analyzing and blocking known attack signatures, F5 can strip out identifying operating system and web server information (such as version strings, signatures, and fingerprinting) from message headers, conceal any HTTP error messages from users, and remove application error messages from pages sent to users while checking to ensure no server code or private HTML comments leak onto public web pages.

And attacks do not always come from the outside of the network; internal users can gain sensitive information or sabotage applications with greater ease than external users. Because F5 devices can offload SSL encryption duties, organizations can encrypt traffic for entire transactions, without affecting performance for the end user. This prevents information from being sent in clear text over the internal network, mitigating risks associated with internal users

as well as complying with state and federal regulations related to privacy.

F5 devices also protect against attacks that use cookies and other tokens that are transparently distributed for their entry point. F5 devices can be easily configured to encrypt cookies used by Windows Server 2008, preventing cookie tampering and other cookie-based attacks. This gives organizations superior security for all

stateful applications and a higher level of user identity trust.

F5 includes extremely granular endpoint security for remote users connecting to the network and to Windows Server 2008 servers and applications. Before a remote user can even

log on to the F5 devices to gain access to the network, F5 can determine if an antivirus or personal firewall is running on their PC and if it is up-to-date, or enforce a specific operating system patch level, among a host of other pre-logon checks. F5 can direct the user to a remediation page for further instructions or even turn on antivirus or firewalls for the user. F5 remote access also supports two-factor authentication from leading vendors for those organizations that require more than just a user name and password for access to the network. And F5’s remote access solution can be easily integrated with Active Directory, providing centralized authentication.

When the remote user is finished working with their remote access session, F5 includes a cache cleanup control that removes cookies, browser history, auto-complete information, browser cache, temp files, and all ActiveX controls installed during the remote access session from the client PC. This makes ensures that no information is left behind, which is critical for users connecting from public computers, such as a kiosk.

Not only does F5 provide comprehensive application security, but we produce extremely secure devices. We ensure your Windows Server 2008 deployment, and the information it contains, remains completely secure.

Unified Security Enforcement

and Access Control

Another integral piece of a complete security platform is security enforcement and access control. The number of employees requiring access to corporate resources from outside the network is growing every year. And it’s not only employees who need access to the network. With more business-to-business

1 For more information on iControl and Microsoft PowerShell integration, see http://devcentral.f5.com/Default.aspx?tabid=71

2 SANS@RISK, “The Consensus Security Vulnerability Report”

4

F5 APPLICATION READY NETWORK GUIDE: MICROSOFT WINDOWS SERVER 2008

transactions, and partners, contractors, and suppliers all clamoring for access to different internal applications, organizations are struggling with access control and enforcement issues.

F5 provides a complete approach to security enforcement and providing access control for Windows Server 2008, regardless of end user, client type, application, access network, or network resources.

In the past, remote access was provided by IPsec VPN solutions — a complicated deployment which required software installation and maintenance on every client, and was difficult to enforce and control. IPSec has shown it is unable to keep up with the growing demands of remote access required by today’s enterprise organizations. F5’s remote access solution enables you to easily grant remote access to anyone from any device, while ensuring this access is carefully controlled and restricted on a granular basis.

With F5, access to Windows Server 2008 resources can be easily controlled on an extremely granular level. For example, employees can be granted full access to internal resources, while a trusted partner group can be restricted to a specific subset of applications, and a contractor group could be locked down to a specific application or port. F5 centralizes this access control, and makes configuring and enforcing this type of control simple. F5 can even gather device information (like IP address or time of day) and determine if a resource should be offered. The F5 solution also includes control

for any access network and any device, with no need to deploy multiple access control solutions for remote users, wireless LANs, and the LAN.

F5 supports virtual administration domains, allowing a single F5 device to be managed by multiple application teams without interference. Every user can be assigned to specific administrative domains which define which objects are visible to that user. Multiple levels of access are also definable for each user, with basic read-only users who can log on to the devices to monitor status of specific objects and traffic quantities to full administrative users capable of making configuration changes to every object on the device. This increases productivity by reducing the time spent in meetings, tracking

down appropriate administrative personnel, and improves the ability of application administrations to manage applications when it’s necessary. F5 helps streamline the business process and improve the productivity and efficiency of operational personnel.

Business Continuity and

Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery and business continuity are vital to the success of an organization. Merely having a solid security platform cannot protect against unexpected events and disasters that create a wide range of obstacles, ranging from knocking out the power to wiping out entire data centers. These disruptive events not only cost organizations thousands or even millions of dollars, but can bring about legal ramifications with industry and government rules concerning data protection and disaster recovery. With

the amount of irreplaceable, business critical information stored on the network and in applications like those found in Windows Server 2008, having an effective disaster recovery plan is essential.

F5 products are uniquely positioned to help organizations mitigate disasters and other disruptive events. F5 is the only vendor

to virtualize data centers, VPN access, optimization, and traffic in an integrated fashion — ensuring the Windows Server 2008 devices and applications are always available.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Features

F5 provides the industry’s most comprehensive solution for site failover and business continuity. From performing comprehensive site application availability checks, to defining the conditions for dynamically and transparently shifting all traffic to a backup data center, failing over

an entire site, or controlling only the affected applications, F5 has the complete solution.

When one of these disruptive events does happen, even something as simple as a snow storm that prevents most employees from making it to the office, F5 provides extremely secure remote access to the network and Windows Server 2008 deployment, ensuring that even though the physical office might be unavailable, as long as a single data center

is still up, business can continue. F5 remote access devices support Microsoft Vista and access to Windows Server 2008 devices, and even provide secure application access from Windows Mobile® 5/6 PocketPC and Smartphones.

One scenario often neglected in a disaster recovery plan is when the event doesn’t happen to your organization, but to your ISP. While many organizations do have multiple links, they have to contend with complicated BGP configurations. F5 simplifies multi-homed deployments so you no longer need ISP cooperation, designated IP address blocks, ASNs, or reliance on complex BGP

configurations to protect your network from ISP failures. With F5 technology, an organization also has the choice of aggregating multiple small connections together rather than having to invest in a single high bandwidth connection. This frees businesses to expand their service

as they grow. F5 seamlessly monitors availability and performance of multiple WAN ISP connections to intelligently manage bi-directional traffic flows to a site, providing fault tolerant and optimized Internet access.

F5 devices detect errors across an entire link to provide end-to-end, reliable WAN connectivity. F5 monitors the health and availability of each connection, detecting outages to a link or ISP.

In the event of a failure, traffic is dynamically directed across other available links so users stay connected.

F5 APPLICATION READY NETWORK GUIDE: MICROSOFT WINDOWS SERVER 2008

Global F5 and Windows Server 2008 Deployment

The following example shows a global configuration, using the F5 suite of products to optimize, secure, and deliver Windows Server 2008 installations over the WAN and LAN.

Routers

WANJet 500

BIG-IP

Global Traffic Manager

Download Windows Server 2008 R2

F5 TMOS

Headquarters

F5 TMOS

Branch Office

FirePass

WANJet

Remote Users

Internet or WAN

6

F5 APPLICATION READY NETWORK GUIDE: MICROSOFT WINDOWS SERVER 2008

Deployment Guides

Deploying the BIG-IP System with Microsoft Internet Information Services 7.0

Provides detailed procedures on how to configure the BIG-IP® Local Traffic Manager™ (LTM) and WebAccelerator™ with Internet Information Services 7.0.

Deploying the BIG-IP System with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services

Provides detailed procedures on how to configure the BIG-IP LTM with the new version of Windows Terminal Services.

See the Deployment Guide index on the F5 Solution Center for more Microsoft Guides.

For more information about the partnership between F5 and Microsoft, see the Microsoft Partner Showcase on the F5 Solution Center.

F5 Product offerings

BIG-IP Product Family

The BIG-IP products deliver high availability, improved performance, application security, and access control, all in one unit. A single BIG-IP device can do the work of a dozen single-purpose products. More importantly, it can do that work in an efficient, cohesive manner that is easier to manage and adapt as business and technology needs change.

Product Modules (These modules can also be run as standalone appliances)

LTM: The BIG-IP LTM allows organizations to ensure quality of service and manageability, apply business policies and rules to content delivery, support increasing traffic volumes, deliver their applications securely, enjoy operational efficiency and cost control,

and remain flexible to future application and infrastructure changes to protect their investments.

GTM: The BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager™ (GTM) Module provides high availability, maximum performance and global management for applications running across multiple and globally dispersed data centers. Seamlessly virtualizes FirePass VPN to automatically provide always-on access control.

ASM: The Application Security Manager™ provides application layer protection from both targeted and generalized application attacks to ensure that applications are always available and performing optimally.

WA: F5 WebAccelerator™ is an advanced web application delivery solution that provides a series of intelligent technologies designed to overcome problems with browsers, web application platforms, and WAN latency issues which impact user performance.

LC: The BIG-IP Link Controller™ Module seamlessly monitors availability and performance of multiple WAN connections to intelligently manage bi-directional traffic flows to a site – providing fault tolerant, optimized Internet access.

Feature Modules: These are individual feature packs that can be added to a BIG-IP traffic management platform. The Feature Modules include the Message Security, Intelligent Compression, L7 Rate Shaping,

IPv6 Gateway, Advanced Client Authentication, SSL Acceleration, Fast Cache, and Advanced Routing Modules.

FirePass

F5’s FirePass® SSL VPN appliance provides secure access to corporate applications and data using a standard web browser. Delivering outstanding performance, scalability, ease-of-use, and end-point security, FirePass helps increase the productivity of those working from home or on the road while keeping corporate data secure.

WANJet

WANJet® is an appliance-based solution that delivers LAN-like application performance over the WAN. WANJet accelerates applications including: file transfer, e-mail, client-server applications, data replication, and others, resulting in predictable, fast performance for all WAN users.

Enterprise Manager

F5’s appliance-based Enterprise Manager ™gives you the power to centrally discover and maintain the F5 devices in your network. With Enterprise Manager, you can archive and

safeguard device configurations for contingency planning, Configure new devices from a central location without manually working on each device, easily and quickly roll-out software upgrades and security patches and much more.

F5 Acopia ARX

F5 Acopia™ award-winning intelligent file virtualization solutions decouple file access from physical file location. Our ARX® products integrate seamlessly into existing Network Attached Storage (NAS), Windows®, UNIX® and Linux environments. ARX devices provide industry-leading scalability, performance and reliability, and are specifically designed to meet the needs of enterprise storage environments.

iControl API

iControl® is F5’s SOAP API exposed on each BIG-IP LTM system. iControl enables automation between the application and the network, and gives organizations the power and flexibility

to ensure that applications and the network work together for increased reliability, security, and performance. F5’s developer community, DevCentral, has sample iControl applications and code. Visit the Microsoft page on DevCentral for Microsoft-specific forums and other useful information about F5 integration with Microsoft applications.

www.f5.com

© 2008 F5 Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. F5, F5 Networks, the F5 logo, BIG-IP, FirePass, Acopia, ARX, WANJet, WebAccelerator are trademarks or registered trademarks of F5 Networks, Inc.

Windows Server 2008 R2 is much more than just an update to Windows Server 2008: in many ways it's a brand new enterprise...

operating system. Overflowing with new features like BranchCache and DirectAccess and improved functionality for Active Directory and Terminal Services, Microsoft's latest OS has plenty to offer.

But how do you decide if Windows Server 2008 R2 is worth the upgrade -- and where do you start?

This learning guide breaks down the key components of Windows Server 2008 R2. From new features to advice on installations, you'll find articles, tips and videos on all things R2. Scroll down below to learn about key file management improvements, live migration for Hyper-V, new security tools and much more.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Getting started with Windows Server 2008 R2
- New features and improvements in Windows 2008 R2
- The Windows 7 connection
- Virtualization with Windows 2008 R2
- Changes to Active Directory in Windows 2008 R2
- Security in Windows 2008 R2

GETTING STARTED WITH WINDOWS SERVER 2008 R2

There's been a lot of buzz about Windows Server 2008 R2, and it can be hard to narrow down what's truly important. This section breaks down the basics of the operating system and provides the essential information you need to know before upgrading.

What exactly is Windows Server 2008 R2?
Confused about what this 'R2' business is really all about? Not to worry. You'll find answers to some of the most common questions surrounding Microsoft's latest OS in this FAQ.

Windows Server 2008 R2: Not your father's R2 upgrade
Unlike with Windows Server 2003 R2, this new OS includes some core kernel changes and improvements to common management tools that collectively make it a much different release.

→ Podcast: What to expect from Windows Server 2008 R2
We spoke with Microsoft's David Lowe when R2 was still in development to find out what's changed in the areas of Active Directory and failover clustering. Click play to hear the affect user feedback had on certain Windows Server 2008 R2 improvements.

Capacity planning considerations
Since Windows Server 2008 R2 is the first Microsoft server OS that is available only as 64-bit, it may require new hardware, so organizations should be prepared before migrating.

Windows Server 2003 continues to rule server kingdom
Windows Server 2008 R2 is gaining momentum but eight years after its introduction many IT shops still depend on Windows Server 2003 to run their mission-critical applications.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard

NEW FEATURES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN R2

Plenty to look forward to in R2
You might have heard about upgrades to Active Directory, Terminal Services and Hyper-V getting a lot of attention with Windows Server 2008 R2. Here you'll find out what else IT managers are excited about.

What you don't know about R2
Often times it's the little things that count. Here is a rundown of the smaller changes to R2 that may have fallen under the radar initially, but could have a major impact on your migration plans.

Windows Server 2008 R2: A greener OS
Improving the efficiency of your server's power usage is good for the environment -- and the bottom line. Learn how migrating to R2 can reduce power consumption on your machines.

Key DFS improvements in Windows Server 2008 R2
Microsoft has addressed certain scalability problems in DFS that have remained constant through the years, including issues with file replication.

→ More on file management: File Classification Infrastructure

Small changes go a long way with IIS 7.5
Minor improvements could make a big difference with the latest version of Internet Information Services. Find out what's new for IIS 7.5 with Windows Server 2008 R2.

THE WINDOWS 7 CONNECTION

Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft's latest desktop operating system, Windows 7, are very much intertwined, and several of the best features in each are only available if an enterprise runs both together. In this section, find out how the two OSes rely on and influence each other.

What Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 can do for your business
Check out the features that require both platforms to function, and learn what they can offer your environment.

→ More: Why some enterprises aren't rushing upgrades

More about the features:

• BranchCache
  Better remote office performance could make Windows 2008 R2's BranchCache feature just another reason to speed up your Windows 7 migration plans.
  • Video: The Windows Report on BranchCache for 2008 R2
• DirectAccess
  DirectAccess has the potential to change the way admins manage remote computers. But is it really secure?
• VPN Reconnect
  Connection drops are a fact of life for on-the-road workers, but VPN Reconnect simplifies the process of reestablishing a connection.

VIRTUALIZATION WITH WINDOWS 2008 R2

Microsoft took some major steps forward in the virtualization market with Windows Server 2008 R2. This section explores the changes to its hypervisors technology, Hyper-V R2, as well as Terminal Services, now renamed Remote Desktop Services.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Price

Hyper-V's new features in Windows Server 2008 R2
Live Migration may be the most talked about Hyper-V R2 feature, but it's far from the only change. See what else had been added with Windows Server 2008 R2.

→ More Hyper-V R2 features:Less hyped – but still powerful

Storage handling with Hyper-V R2
Storage improvements in Hyper-V R2, including Cluster Shared Volumes (CSVs) and the addition of dynamic storage, may increase the hypervisor's popularity.

Learning Guide: Hyper-V R2
Of course, there's plenty more to discuss involving Hyper-V for Windows Server 2008 R2. This guide has all the details.

Terminal Services grows up in R2
Terminal Services in Windows 2008 R2 comes with a brand new name and enhanced functionality such as Remote Desktop Virtualization and fair share CPU scheduling.

R2 AND ACTIVE DIRECTORY

Many IT pros were more excited about the Active Directory (AD) enhancements than any other improvements in Windows Server 2008 R2. This section explores the key changes made to AD this time around.

Active Directory in R2: Features to care about, others to ignore
From the ADAC to managed service accounts, Active Directory in Windows 2008 R2 has several new capabilities. But which ones are worth checking out?

Active Directory tops the list of hot R2 features
Are R2's AD enhancements even better than Hyper-V with live migration? Some IT pros think so. Find out which Active Directory features are causing a stir.

→ More on the Recycle Bin:Will it live up to the hype?

Group Policy makes strides in Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2008 R2 builds on many of the Group Policy improvements that were found in Microsoft's previous server OS. Get the details on PowerShell cmdlets and other new features.

Active Directory in Windows Server 2008
Active Directory also saw a lot of moving parts with Windows Server 2008 R1. Check out the major improvements made to AD in the original release.

SECURITY AND WINDOWS 2008 R2

Every Windows release is described as 'the most secure OS yet.' Find out how Windows Server 2008 R2 measure up to normal security standards and learn about new security tools in this section.

Windows Server 2008 R2 security checks
The results are in. See if initial tests find Windows Server 2008 R2 safer out-of-the-box than its predecessors.

Key security features:

Windows Server 2008 R2 Editions

• AppLocker
  While most IT security software goes to work after an infection has been identified, new technology in Windows Server 2008 R2 allows for a more proactive approach.
• BitLocker To Go
  Wait, isn't this a Windows 7 feature? Sure, but Microsoft's BitLocker To Go technology in Windows Server 2008 R2 is also a good fit for protecting branch office servers.

Other security features
Check out the other security updates that were originally included with Windows Server 2008 R1.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Getting started with Windows Server 2008 R2
- New features and improvements in Windows 2008 R2
- The Windows 7 connection
- Virtualization with Windows 2008 R2
- Changes to Active Directory in Windows 2008 R2
- Security in Windows 2008 R2