Microsoft readies Windows Server 2019

As it pushes Azure for the cloud and Azure Stack as an on-premise bridge, Microsoft still believes there is life in Windows Server.

Hybrid Cloud has been set as the key focus by Microsoft with the new version of its Windows Server operating systems.

Erin Chapple, director of program management, Windows Server, said on the Windows Server blog: “We know that the move to the cloud is a journey and often, a hybrid approach – one that combines on-premise and cloud environments working together – is what makes sense to our customers.”

The new edition will be available in the second half of 2019, according to Erin Chapple it will offer businesses a hybrid approach to support running applications on-premise that can make use of cloud native services such as artificial intelligence and the internet of things (IoT).

“Hybrid cloud enables a future-proof, long-term approach – which is exactly why we see it playing a central role in cloud strategies for the foreseeable future,” she said.

By using the company’s Honolulu project Microsoft plan to provide better integrated management between the public cloud and on-premise Windows servers. “With Windows Server 2019 and Project Honolulu, customers will be able to easily integrate Azure services such as Azure Backup, Azure File Sync, disaster recovery and much more,” said Chapple. “They will be able to leverage these Azure services without disrupting their applications and infrastructure.”

From a security standpoint, the new operating system will also provide Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), said Chapple. “This gives customers access to deep kernel and memory sensors, improving performance and anti-tampering, and enabling response actions on server machines,” she added.

In Windows Server 2016 supporting Linux was one of the areas Microsoft began offering support in. Erin Chapple is saying Microsoft additionally plans to address developer concerns over the size of Windows container images.

In Windows Server 2019, our goal is to reduce the server core base container image to one-third of its current size of 5GB,” she said. “This will reduce download time of the image by 72%, further optimising development time and performance.

“We are also continuing to improve the choices available when it comes to orchestrating Windows Server container deployments. Kubernetes support is currently in beta, and in Windows Server 2019 we are introducing significant improvements to compute, storage and networking components of a Kubernetes cluster.”