After the Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 2 now it’s the turn of a new build: Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 3 and also System Center 2016 Technical Preview 3 (confirming that there is a common and unified product strategy).

There are some interesting news in Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 Technical Preview 3:

• Windows Server Containers: containers are isolated, resource-controlled, and portable operating environment. There were a lot of announces and rumors on this technology and now it’s possible try it (note that there is a WIM file for it).
  For some additional information on containers, see Containers: Docker, Windows and Trends.
• Nano Server: introduced in TP2, you can install Nano Server on a physical host, or in a virtual machine. The new Emergency Management Console enables users to view and fix networking configuration directly from the Nano Server console. In addition, you will find a PowerShell script for creating an Azure VM running Nano Server. From an application perspective, you can now run an ASP.Net v5 application using CoreCLR.
• Software-defined Networking: the majority of what you’ll find for networking is new in TP3. There is a scalable network controller for programming policies, an L4 load balancer for high availability and performance, enhanced gateways for hybrid connectivity, and an underlying network fabric that converges RDMA traffic together with tenant traffic. In this milestone, you’ll experience a first preview of how the core set of networking capabilities and SDN architecture.

Also there are a lot of specific news related to different Windows roles or features:

• What’s New in Failover Clustering in Windows Server Technical Preview
• What’s new in Hyper-V in Technical Preview
• Windows Server Antimalware Overview for Windows Server Technical Preview
• What’s New in Networking in Windows Server Technical Preview.
• What’s New in File and Storage Services in Windows Server Technical Preview
• What’s New in Web Application Proxy in Windows Server Technical Preview
• What’s New in the Windows Console in Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview
• What’s New in Windows PowerShell 5.0

For Hyper-V (but also for other cluster based services) there some really interesting news:

• Workgroup and Multi-domain clusters in Windows Server 2016: finally there is the ability to create a Failover Cluster without Active Directory dependencies (but also in different other interesting configuration).
• Site-aware Failover Clusters in Windows Server 2016: site- aware failover clusters enable group nodes in stretched clusters based on their physical location (site). Combined with the cloud withness option is something really interesting.

Of course, this TP3 (and also the previous) is just a pre-released software, features and functionality may differ in the final release.

Andrea Mauro

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.