Introducing Windows Server 2012 R2 Part 1

Cloud OS

Information Technology (IT) is in the midst of a time of rapid change. More and more businesses are seeing cloud computing as a viable option for hosting their applications, services, and data. Some businesses have already implemented private clouds within their own data centers or have begun utilizing cloud services offered by hosting providers. Other businesses are in the process of evaluating the possible benefits they can reap from cloud availability, scalability, mobility, and agility. And for various reasons, some businesses are still skeptical of whether cloud computing is right for them.

But clearly Microsoft isn’t skeptical. In fact, Microsoft is fully committed to the cloud as the computing paradigm of the future. Nowhere is this more obvious than in what’s coming with this upcoming release of Windows Server. Microsoft firmly believes that cloud computing isn’t a trend but rather a golden opportunity for businesses. Why is that?

Because businesses need to become agile in order to survive in today’s competitive landscape. And to have an agile business, you need to build your applications and services on a highly available and elastic development platform. They need a uniform model for application lifecycle management with common frameworks across their physical infrastructure, virtual infrastructure, and the cloud. They need a highly scalable, secure identity solution they can use for managing their computing, networking, and storage assets both on-premises and in the cloud. They need to be able to process, store, and transfer huge amounts of data and perform analytics quickly and easily. And they need to be able to do all this in a cost-effective manner.

In other words, what they need is a cloud-optimized business. And that’s what Microsoft intends to deliver with their current product release cycle. Because for the first time in their history, Microsoft has synchronized the development cycles of three major platforms:

• Windows Server A proven, enterprise-class platform that forms the foundation for building cloud solutions.
• System Center An integrated platform that provides a common management experience across private, hosted, and public clouds.
•  Windows Azure An open and flexible cloud platform for building, deploying, and managing applications and workloads hosted on a global network of Microsoft-managed data centers. Together, these three platforms comprise Microsoft’s vision for a Cloud OS, as shown in Figure 1-1. This book only focuses on one portion of this Cloud OS, namely Windows Server 2012 R2. It’s a key portion however, because it forms the foundation for businesses to be able to run their applications in private clouds, with service providers, or in the Windows Azure public cloud.

FIGURE 1-1 Microsoft thinks about the cloud in three parts.

Journey to the Cloud OS

To better understand Microsoft’s vision for a Cloud OS, start by thinking about how IT has traditionally managed server workloads. In the early days of Windows Server, you deployed
and managed lots of physical servers on-premises. Each server had to be individually managed,
and this meant performing tasks like configuring storage for them, configuring networking, tuning performance, and so on. Lots of servers meant lots of tasks to perform, and while scripting could automate many of these tasks, such solutions were typically inflexible and difficult to maintain.
Then along came virtualization, and suddenly you saw you could save money by retiring physical servers after migrating their workloads onto virtualization hosts. But the management paradigm stayed the same, for instead of managing lots of physical servers, you were now managing lots of virtual machines. But proliferation is proliferation whether it’s in the physical or virtual realm, and managing thousands of individual virtual machines can be just as challenging as managing physical machines.

Then the concept of cloud computing arrived—with its promises of rapid elasticity, resource pooling, and on-demand self-service. Now, if a business wants to maintain control over its IT resources, it can implement a private cloud solution on-premises using Windows Server and System Center. If scalability is the issue, the business can opt for running its applications, services, or virtual machines in Windows Azure. And if reach and customization are important, the business can use the services of a cloud hosting service provider. Each of these approaches are equally valid, and it’s up to the business to decide which to choose based on their needs and constraints.
From Microsoft’s perspective, these three approaches (private cloud, service providers, and Windows Azure) are really one and comprise one consistent platform: the Cloud OS. Windows Server forms the foundation; System Center provides the management capability; and
Windows Azure delivers the solutions. In other words, cloud is not just something that happens
out there; it happens wherever and whenever you need it to optimize your business. That’s what Microsoft means by cloud.
For example, do you need Active Directory? You can deploy it on-premises using Windows Server. But Active Directory is already waiting for you in Windows Azure. And with Windows Server 2012 R2 you can even virtualize domain controllers and host them in a service provider’s cloud. The choice is yours.
Microsoft wants you to have the choice to implement the cloud computing model that best meets the needs of your business. And the Cloud OS—Windows Server, System Center, and Windows Azure—delivers that kind of choice to customers. Windows Server 2012 R2 is the foundation for all this, and that’s what this book is about.