Server 2008 R2 set to launch With Windows 7

Microsoft hinted that Windows Server 2008 R2 will be ready to launch alongside Windows 7 later end of this year.

It is already decided that windows server 2008 R2 will released alongside Windows 7 but date is not decided yet. The synchronization of the Server 2008 launch now looks almost certain to be one of those.

Launching the two products simultaneously makes sense, not least because several of the business features in Windows 7 are dependent on a Server 2008 R2 infrastructure.

New additions such as Direct Access (a no-fuss alternative to VPN access to company networks) and Branch Cache (a feature that stores copies of files on local PCs and servers, reducing the amount of time it takes satellite offices to download files) are both only available to companies running Server 2008 R2.

Source: pcpro.co.uk

Windows 7 Includes Both Windows Installer 5.0 and Windows Installer 4.5

Concomitantly with the advent of the next iteration of Windows, the Windows Installer evolved to version 5.0. Available for both the Windows 7 client and for Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Installer 5.0 can already be test driven courtesy of the Beta builds of the Windows client and server operating systems released to the general public in early January 2009. But at the same time, Windows 7 is not limited to MSI 5.0 alone, as the platform also includes functionality specific of the previous version of MSI, namely 4.5.

“Windows Installer version 5.0 is included in Windows 7 Beta. The MSDN documentation section "What's new in Windows Installer 5.0" has been updated accordingly and available for online viewing. In addition, all functionality provided with the MSI 4.5 redistributable release is included on Windows 7,” revealed Zainab Hakim, test engineer for the Windows Installer (MSI) team.

The Windows Installer 4.5 redistributable is currently available for Windows Vista RTM and Service Pack 1, Windows XP SP3 and earlier, Windows Server 2008 RTM/SP1, and Windows Server 2003 SP1 and SP2. However, Windows 7 users and developers will also be able to take advantage of features such as Multi-package Transactions, Embedded UI Handlers, Shared Components Robustness, Patch Supersedence Robustness and Uninstall Custom Actions. Still, for a more compete experience, Windows Installer 5.0 is the answer, as it brings to the table a number of features that are not present in MSI 4.5.

“The Windows Installer functions, tables, and properties listed on this page are not supported by Windows Installer 4.5 and earlier versions. The absence of a feature from this list does not guarantee that the feature is supported,” Microsoft informed. “Windows Installer 4.5 does not support some features that enable a single installation package to be installed in either the per-machine or per-user installation context; some services configuration options that can enable a package to customize the services on a computer; some features that enable the Windows Installer to secure new accounts, Windows Services, files, folders, and registry keys; [and] some features that enable the installation to enumerate all components installed on the computer and obtain the key path for the component.”

At the same time Windows Installer 4.5 does not play nice with a range of items present in Windows Installer 5.0 including a few standard actions, installer functions, column data types, properties, database tables, ControlEvents, Controls, Internal Consistency Evaluators – ICEs; and Automation Interface properties.

Microsoft Windows Installer 4.5 is available for download here.

Windows 7 Beta is available for download here.

Architecting Memory for Systems on Windows Server 2008

The initial provisioning of RAM on systems is quite important, and with Windows Server 2008, it becomes even more critical now that 64-bit servers are common equipment. This tip breaks down how RAM can be used in Windows Server 2008.

Prior to Windows Server 2008, most servers did not have much of a RAM requirement above 4 GB. In Windows Server 2008, it is time to give some thought to x86 vs. x64 computing in regards to memory allocation.

The chart in Figure A shows the RAM maximums available with the different versions of Windows Server 2008.


Now that all new hardware is x64 capable, it is almost a no-brainer to go ahead and provision systems with the x64 editions of Windows — this includes the Standard and Web editions, which can hold more RAM. The only real distinguishing factor is whether these machines will be virtual machines or carry a heavy workload as a physical system. If new Windows servers (including selected virtual machine workloads) will be doing very little work, it may make more sense to only provision them with 4 GB of RAM.

When comparing x86 to x64, the systems should be made x64 (if possible) if there is any foreseen need to increase the RAM beyond the 4 GB limit. However, cases can be made for x86 installations; namely, drivers that need to be installed for certain equipment, vendor support for third-party applications, and the possible need for 16-bit applications (read 10 things you should know about 64-bit Windows Server) can become great obstacles in adopting x64 distributions of Windows. The other side of the discussion is to minimize the number of editions of Windows Server 2008 that you use in your environment, which is a very valid management point.

Increasing the footprint of operating systems is something that most administrators want to avoid, but this one may be an exception. With Windows Server 2008’s x64 versions being able to process more RAM, the case becomes quite clear. This becomes an even more convincing case when we consider that the x86 versions of Windows Server 2008 will likely not go beyond the base release, paving the way for the x64 platform exclusively available with Windows Server 2008 R2.

Source: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/datacenter/?p=483