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The Microsoft Ignite event was a good opportunity to add more informations and also features at the upcoming new generation of Windows, including the next Windows Server (now officially called Windows Server 2016). Also a new Technical Preview is now available for the download (go on the TechNet page).

I’ve already talk about the main news in the previous post Some interesting new features of Windows Server Next. But with the Technical Preview 2 there are more features as described in this post: What’s new in Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 2.

Note that this list may be not complete yet… some features remain under NDA other may be removed. We have to wait the the RC of the the final product release.

Note also that there are other minor changes like the new installation mode (by default server core with the only option of MinShell) or the new hardware requirements for the Hyper-V role (now SLAT it’s mandatory).

Compute and Virtualization

  • Rolling upgrades for Hyper-V and scale-out file server clusters for faster adoption of new operating systems
  • Virtual machine hot add and remove memory (without using Dynamic Memory) and hot add and remove of virtual NIC
  • Virtual machine compute resiliency, so that virtual machines continue running even if the compute cluster fabric service fails
  • Nano Server, a deeply refactored version of Windows Server with a small footprint and remotely managed installation, optimized for the cloud and a DevOps workflow
  • Note that containers are still no present, probably in the next build

Networking

  • Converged NIC across tenant and RDMA traffic to optimize costs, enabling high performance and network fault tolerance with only 2 NICs instead of 4
  • PacketDirect on 40G to optimize performance

Storage

  • Virtual Machine Storage Path resiliency, enabling virtual machines to pause and restart gracefully in response to either transient or permanent storage path failures (similar on what vSphere 6.0 can be handle for APD or PDL).
  • Storage Spaces Direct to enable aggregation of Storage Spaces across multiple servers, pushing the cost of storage down while allowing for increased scale out. This is a solution that make the Scale-Out FileServer e real scale out model.
  • Storage quality of service (QoS) also across hosts (like VMware SIOC) for more control and predictable performance.
  • Storage Replica, giving you synchronous storage replication for affordable business continuity and disaster recovery strategies.

Security and Assurance

  • New Host Guardian Service, part of a trust and isolation boundary between the cloud infrastructure and guest OS layers
  • Just Enough Administration to reduce the risk of security breaches by allowing users to perform only specific tasks

Management

  • PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) for easier, consistent and faster deployment and updates.
  • PowerShell Package Manager  for unified package management and deployment
  • Windows Management Framework 5.0 April Preview and DSC Resource Kit  (available online simultaneously with TP2)

For more information on the new Hyper-V features there was also this Microsoft Ignite session:

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Virtualization, Cloud and Storage Architect. Tech Field delegate. VMUG IT Co-Founder and board member. VMware VMTN Moderator and vExpert 2010-24. Dell TechCenter Rockstar 2014-15. Microsoft MVP 2014-16. Veeam Vanguard 2015-23. Nutanix NTC 2014-20. Several certifications including: VCDX-DCV, VCP-DCV/DT/Cloud, VCAP-DCA/DCD/CIA/CID/DTA/DTD, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, CCA, NPP.