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Server 2012 is now RTM!!

jamesfed

By jamesfed
in Windows Server 2012

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Arthur

Arthur

Posted
Posted (edited)

MSDN and TechNet subscribers will be able to download Windows 8 and Server 2012 on 15/08/12.

 

Edit. Here's the full release timetable...

 

  • August 15: MSDN and TechNet subscribers will be the first to get access to the new software.
  • August 16: Software Assurance customers and Microsoft Partner Network members will get access to the operating system.
  • August 20: Microsoft Action Pack providers will be given Windows 8.
  • September 1: Volume license customers not using Software Assurance will be able to purchase Windows 8 licenses.
  • October 26: Retail copies of Windows 8 and PCs and tablets (including Microsoft's own Surface tablet) will go on sale.

Edited by Arthur
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Michael

Michael

Posted
Posted

Even if it was released in time, you'd be crazy to put it in a live environment! :) I would recommend you download and test first.

 

2008 R2 SP1 is stable and works extremely well.

jamesfed

jamesfed

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Even if it was released in time, you'd be crazy to put it in a live environment! :) I would recommend you download and test first.

 

2008 R2 SP1 is stable and works extremely well.

 

Been testing with the Beta/RC and it works fine :)

 

Lets remember the OS has been out and being used by people for quite some time now - the RTM is almost like the SP1 that people used to wait for.

Michael

Michael

Posted
Posted

You could say that for other OSes, but I'm afraid the wait until SP1 rule will still apply (for the networks I setup). It gives you the opportunity to properly test the OS and any new GPOs you may need to enable or disable.

 

Microsoft will probably release Windows 8 SP1 and Windows Server 2012 SP1 in the next 12-18 months, just as they did Windows 7 SP1.

FN-GM

FN-GM

Posted
Posted
Why would anyone consider Server 2012 just like I'd question their use of Windows 8?

Looking past the sh..storm of UI, what does it offer?

 

Maybe people like the UI and will want Server 2012 so they can use it with Windows 8 Clients?

 

Some nice features include

- GUI for the AD Recycle bin

- More support for virtual domain controllers

- better password policy setup

- Lots of new powershell stuff

- New Version of Hypver-V

- Can easily switch between turning the GUI on and off

synaesthesia

synaesthesia

Posted
Posted
Maybe people like the UI and will want Server 2012 so they can use it with Windows 8 Clients?

 

Wow, 50 Shades of Grey really has brought out the sado-masochists! ;)

Might have a play with it when things have settled down here - only thing that screams out to me is password policy stuff but 2008R2 seems to work ok with it. Hyper-V is still behind VMware in my eyes so that doesn't fuss me too much but as always will be keeping a close watch on progress.

AD recycle bin though? I'm intrigued.

jamesfed

jamesfed

Posted
  • Author
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I am keen to try the GUI on our 50" Touchscreen screens. Another VMWare user here, buts lots of Hyper-v people on here.

 

Hyper-V improvements are my key thing for it - we don't have or want a SAN so the new live migration tools look great.

 

Ablity to move between server core/GUI is something I am intrested in as well.

sonofsanta

sonofsanta

Posted
Posted

The dedupe in Hyper-V looks good but other than that - not with a bargepole here :/

 

Be interested to know if anyone ever hooks up a touchscreen to a server for Metro, and whether RDP supports it anyway.

SYNACK

SYNACK

Posted
Posted

Why are people still wineing about the GUI, you don't need to use it under 2012 unless you install desktop experience.

 

I'm looking foward to the Hyper-V stuff and the integration of the TMG stuff along with the new version of DirectAccess which may well have up putting it on a system at release to take advantage of as long as Windows 7 clients can still take advantage of it.

tmcd35

tmcd35

Posted
Posted
Why would anyone consider Server 2012 just like I'd question their use of Windows 8?

Looking past the sh..storm of UI, what does it offer?

 

I'm chomping at the bit when it comes to 2012. You couldn't pay me enough to install Win8 (at least not on desktops), but 2012 has some features I'm really looking forward to and think my setup would benefit from a lot. We wouldn't be interested in doing any AD or GPO updates (unless someone can give us a damn good reason to do these). Rather Our 3 Hyper-V hosts and our Win8R2 Storage Array would both be in line for the 2012 treatment, probably next Easter (at the earliest).

 

The extra speed of SMB v3, and official Hyper-V support of SMB file shares is enough to peek my interest. If I get features like automatic fail-over then that's an even bigger win. The only question I have - how do you do a live upgrade from Win2k8R2 to Win2012 on live production servers? (has me kinda nervous - many backups will be taken (and backups of backups (and even more backups (you get the idea))).

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SYNACK

SYNACK

Posted
Posted
The only question I have - how do you do a live upgrade from Win2k8R2 to Win2012 on live production servers? (has me kinda nervous - many backups will be taken (and backups of backups (and even more backups (you get the idea))).

 

This is wher VMs and backups come in for me, I spin up the VMs on another server then pull down the physical box and do a fresh reinstall then migrate (just offline migrate - file copy) the VMs back. It also helps if you have more than one server. I never do 'upgrades' of servers as it is a core box you want it to be its best so I do complete reinstalls and migrations. It's not like its a desktop or something and I don't want to spend weeks digging through to find teh cause of a slowdown or screwup only to find it was because I did not go the whole way initially.

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tmcd35

tmcd35

Posted
Posted
Moving VMs to another server while I do a complete reinstall of Windows isn't so much of a problem for the Hyper-V hosts, we have plenty of spare capacity across all three to manage this. The problem is more with the storage array. I've just introduced a NAS box on the storage lan that is using Robocopy to periodically mirror everything on the main storage box but I don't really want to do a complete rebuild/restore unless I absolutely have to.
SYNACK

SYNACK

Posted
Posted
Moving VMs to another server while I do a complete reinstall of Windows isn't so much of a problem for the Hyper-V hosts, we have plenty of spare capacity across all three to manage this. The problem is more with the storage array. I've just introduced a NAS box on the storage lan that is using Robocopy to periodically mirror everything on the main storage box but I don't really want to do a complete rebuild/restore unless I absolutely have to.

 

Depends on your setup, if your storeage is on a different partion just image the primary boot partion and then wipe the primary and install fresh, assuming the drives are mapped to the same letters and you back up the chunk of the reg that handles the share locations you should be fine. As it is still a domain joined station the permissions should be fine as the security guids are all from the domain.

 

It is more complicated if you have more roles installed on it though and could need more messing. I did this a couple of times before we moved to a SAN at which point moving the docs from one server to another was a reg frag export/import and five minutes in the command shell for the SAN.

 

If your existing storage server is 2008R2 on 64bit it probably will be upgradable but the result is never as good.

jamesbrown

jamesbrown

Posted
Posted
Why would Server 2012 need a metro interface? It's a server, you wont find it installed on a tablet!.. I don't think Windows 8 or Server 2012 will work well in enterprises.
tmcd35

tmcd35

Posted
Posted
Why would Server 2012 need a metro interface?

It doesn't

You won't

I don't think Server 2012 will work well in enterprises.

It will

 

Move along ;)

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jamesbrown

jamesbrown

Posted
Posted
I agree it has some new features that are good, like the mount ISO in Windows Explorer, but i think there needs to be a option to switch between the metro interface and a normal start menu.
FN-GM

FN-GM

Posted
Posted
Why would Server 2012 need a metro interface? It's a server, you wont find it installed on a tablet!.. I don't think Windows 8 or Server 2012 will work well in enterprises.

 

For Remote Desktop Services.

jamesfed

jamesfed

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Why would Server 2012 need a metro interface? It's a server, you wont find it installed on a tablet!.. I don't think Windows 8 or Server 2012 will work well in enterprises.

 

One of the key ideas of Server 2012 is that everything will be remotely managed and you will rarely need to 'touch' a server.

The idea is that you configure the server using the full GUI version, DSIM it down to core edition (yes you can migrate from full fat to core without a reinstall) and then remotely manage everything with RSAT.

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