Server 2003R2 vs Server Standard 2008

Good morning fellow EduGeekers..

Right, so it's that time of planning and looking to the future for the school's ICT Infrastructe and I'm wanting your advice on server 2003r2 vs Server 2008 Standard.

See, we have a number of 2008 licenses, but I've never made the leap as the 2003R2 are running stable enough for the school, but we're making the move to Windows 7 over the summer (ARGH .. what have I done) from XP so I'm looking to upgrade the servers, but want to know, is the move to 2008 Standard OK or should I be looking for a copy of 2008R2 for the server instead?

I know 2008 will be better with Windows 7 implementation and all that, but I don't know if R2 is a must or whether 2008 Standard will be fine.

I have a VM of 2008 install on Parallels at the moment to play with and it seems to do all the things I need, but thought I'd ask those who are already using it .. :)

I hope that all makes sense? Well, as much as I ever do anyway .. :)

If you're going to Windows 7, Sever 08 R2 is the best option. It uses the same kernel, and is optimised for Windows 7, whereas 08 R1 is mainly for Vista and below. Server 08 R2 also runs a lot more smoother and quicker than 08 R1. :)

I think also there are far more group policies which are intended for Windows 7 in Server 2008 R2.

if you can go r2 it has all the gpos for win7 2008r1 dosent its basically vista server. There is a small issue (or it may be for you) finding 32 and 64 bit drivers (and 2008r2 is ONLY x64) can be a pain and there are several printers ive found that dont work /dont work right in r2

R2 is better but you would probably be fine with 2008, the GPOs can be copied from a Windows 7 machine to the policy store so you still have the same level of configuration.

The main things that you would miss out on are faster virtualisation with Hyper-V R2 and also the use of DirectAccess. Print driver isolation is another one that is handy. I'm sure there are other things that could also be useful in R2 but unless you are planning on using one of those features directly then you are not loosing all that much. 2k8 R2 will be less hassel though as stuff like KMS1.2 and the GPOs are built right in rather than having to grab them as updates. If you are needing to get liscences anyway go with 2008 R2, if you already have paid for liscences for 2008 and are not looking at using the new features then you could go with 2008.

It's a bit of a red-herring in the first place, but GPOs is of course the most often mentioned reason for 2008 R2 and ironically it's where I'm concerned about stability e.g. I've found two request-only hotfixes for this area so far (MS CSEs)and sadly neither fix an arcane issue I was hoping they would make go away.

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he use of DirectAccess

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It should be mandatory to have to mention IPV6 in all sentences with "DirectAccess". Other bits I agree with. Other things to contemplate: 2008 and 2008 R2 (currently) have the same lifespan i.e. they die together towards the end of the decade. SP1 for R2 isn't that far away and if in the absence of deadlines this summer I would wait for it: YMMV but I've run into a few glitches that aren't TEOTWAWKIs but are nevertheless a pain, plus there's some new, useful, virtualisation bits.

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Originally Posted by PiqueABoo

It should be mandatory to have to mention IPV6 in all sentences with "DirectAccess".

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Its not really a huge consideration on that front, while it is true that using the baseline bundled DirectAccess technology is limited to talking with internal hosts that are on IP6 it is also worth thinking about what will be contacted. Resources that you want to use externally are almost certainly on a server which will be running 2003 or higher, IP6 is easily installable on 2003 and is on by default with all later versions. Linux has support for IP6 so there is no problems there. Additionally all of the resources/servers are likely to be in the same LAN segment so even if you use layer 3 IP4 routing this it not to troublesome.

You do not need IP6 on the internet side, just two consective public IPs that your DA server can access directly. One IP is for user traffic and the other for system traffic before a user has logged on to the device. The system is able to use IP6 or IP tunneling technology but will fall back to and can be defaulted to pipe all traffic over SSL on IP4.

All this means is that although there is a requirement for internal devices you want to talk directly to have IP6 it is not a huge deal as most ofthe gear will have it anyway or can have it enabled easily.

Guys, thanks for all the responses. We have 2008 Licenses, but I've always left stayed on 2003R2 as I didn't need the additional stuff, until now of course.

I think what I will do is take the information to the HT and request that we purchase licenses for the server for 2008R2 for ease of functionality with the new Operating System and plead ignorance and stupidity to not thinking about it sooner when we put the order in for licenses for Windows 7 .. lol .. :)