Windows Server 2022 Datacenter

Microsoft Windows Server 2022 Datacenter

Microsoft Windows Server 2022 Datacenter is the new server operating system from Microsoft, especially for large enterprises. This version of the server software based on Windows 10 is also compatible with Windows 11. The main function of Windows Server 2022 Datacenter compared to Standard is hosting virtual machines (VM), as Datacenter allows an unlimited number of VMs. The number of virtual machines you can host will depend on the capabilities and characteristics of the computer on which the licence is installed.

Like Standard, Datacenter requires CALs for access, but has no limit on the number of virtual machines it can host whereas Standard is limited to two. A Datacenter licence is significantly more expensive than a Standard licence, due to the option to host an unlimited number of Virtual Machines. Therefore, it is recommended to purchase the Datacenter server if you plan to host a large number of virtual machines per physical server.

Attention: We remind you that this product requires CAL's (Client Access License) to access it. Microsoft requires that any user or device connecting to the Server has a corresponding CAL.

Features:

• Duration: The license is perpetual and requires no subscription fee
• Security: Includes the option to host unlimited Virtual Machines, Windows Containers and unlimited Hyper V containers. Also allows encryption of Hyper V Containers
• Improvements over Standard: Windows Server 2019 Standard is limited to 1 association and 1 resource pool with a single 2TB volume for storage replicas. Datacenter can join unlimited storage replicas
• Access: Allows access to an unlimited number of users and computers via CAL's
• Installation: Installation via ISO image
• Cores: The base licence is 16-core and if you want to license additional physical cores you have to buy additional 2-core licences.
• Languages:Czech, English, French, Hungarian, Italian, Chinese (Simplified), Korean, Japanese, Dutch (Netherlands), Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish, Swedish (Sweden) and Turkish.
• Use: This license is intended for anyone who wants to make use of a large number of virtual machines to host a multitude of applications in an encrypted and secure space.

What's new in Microsoft Windows Server 2022 Datacenter?

It offers even more security and choice for the delivery and sharing of data, applications and services over complex networks. So it meets the most demanding requirements. In addition, the Edition offers more options for integration and management of hybrid functions. As well as virtualisation and various performance enhancements for Windows containers. Like its predecessor, the new version of Microsoft's server operating system, Windows Server 2022, is once again based on Windows 10, which means that users will also find a familiar desktop interface in visual terms, with all functions available in the usual place. The new Windows Server 2022 server software also receives 10 years of product support from Microsoft in the form of support and updates. Compared to the previous version, the Windows Server 2022 server software offers many innovations in the three important areas of security, application platform and data migration. In particular, if you buy Windows Server 2022 Datacenter, you will get Hyper-V, SDN, Storage Spaces Direct and Storage Replica and Shielded Virtual Machines support, for the creation of highly secure virtualisation infrastructures, with:

• Support for an unlimited number of virtual machines plus one Hyper-V host per licence
• Unlimited storage replication for synchronous and asynchronous replication of volumes between servers or clusters for disaster recovery.
• Hyper-converged infrastructure for software-defined consolidation of compute, storage and network functions into a cluster
• Virtual OOSE (Operating System Environment)
• Shielded Virtual Machines (SVMs)
• Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
• Software-defined networking (SDN)
• Software-Defined Storage (SDS)
• Software-defined storage (SDS)

In addition, there are many other features that take into account the increased requirements in the operation of complex networks.

Enhanced Security in Microsoft Windows Server 2022 Datacenter

Windows Server 2022 Datacenter now features new layered security. This improves the protection and security of company servers. This includes the following new features and enhancements:

• TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module) provides a hardware-based store for cryptographic key protection. Also including system integrity measurement and code trustworthiness verification when the Windows server starts. This module is also used in BitLocker drive encryption.
• Secure core server processors provide firmware protection, with Dynamic Root technology.
• Trust for Measurement (DRTM) supports boot measurement and verification, and Direct Memory Access (DMA) protection for isolated controller access to memory.
• In addition, Secured Core servers support code integrity according to VBS (virtualisation-based security) as well as HVCI (hypervisor-based security). VBS uses several hardware virtualisation features to create a secure memory zone. It is also isolated from the normal operating system, protecting the server from the risks associated with cryptocurrency mining attacks.
• VBS also supports Credential Guard to store user login information in a virtual container that the operating system does not have direct access to.

And more, more security...

When using Windows Containers, there are also several optimisations in Windows Server 2022 Datacenter 24 Core (or 16 Core), for example in application compatibility and for the Windows Container user interface with Kubernetes.

Individual enhancements in Microsoft Windows Server 2022 Datacenter

• Windows Server 2022 Datacenter - 16 Core (or 24 Core) software is always licensed based on the physical hardware actually used.
• HTTPS and TLS 1.3 are enabled by default in Windows Server 2022 Datacenter to establish secure connections.
• TLS1.3 (Transport Layer Security) is the latest version of the most widely used security protocol on the Internet to encrypt data and provide a secure communication channel between two endpoints.
• Secure DNS supports DoH (DNS-over-HTTPS) to encrypt DNS queries using the HTTPS protocol to prevent eavesdropping and manipulation of DNS data, which also contributes to the security of data traffic.
• SMB (Server Message Block) uses AES-256-GCM and AES-256-CCM for encryption, which are automatically used by the enterprise security management system.
• Windows Server 2022 as soon as a connection is established to another computer that also supports these standards.
• Encryption via SMB Direct and RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) offers increased bandwidth. As well as lower latency on Windows Server 2022 for direct storage, storage replication, Hyper-V and SQL Server.
• Failover clusters in Windows Server 2022 enable differentiated encryption control for CSV (Cluster Shared Volumes,) and SBL (Storage Bus Layer).

Container Platforms in Windows Server 2022 Datacenter

For Windows containers, the image size has been reduced by up to 40%, which decreases boot time by 30% and improves performance. Kubernetes usage has been improved with broader support in host processes for node configuration, as well as IPv6 , as well as network policy enforcement with the open source Calico software. The Windows Management Center update now simplifies the creation of containers for .NET applications.

Storage and Migration Services in Windows Server 2022 Datacenter Edition

Among the many enhancements in Windows Server 2022 are Storage Migration Services, which makes it easier to migrate storage to Windows Server, as well as other source storage locations to Azure. The Windows Server 2022 Storage Migration Server orchestrator now offers the following options:

• Migrate local users or groups to Windows Server
• Migrating storage to/from failover clusters
• Migrate between standalone servers and failover clusters
• Migrate storage to/from failover clusters
• Migrate storage to/from Windows Server.
• Migrate storage from Linux servers using the open source Samba application
• Migrate to Microsoft Azure networks
• Migrate NetApp CIFS servers and FAS arrays to Windows Server
• Migrate to Windows Server

Other features:

• For storage repair, customisable speed now provides better control of data synchronisation: resources can be optionally allocated to repairing copies of data (resiliency) or running active workloads (performance). This allows clusters to be managed more flexibly and efficiently.
• The storage bus cache provides storage on independent servers. Connecting faster media such as SSD or NVMe to slower media such as HDD, improving read and write performance and therefore also increasing efficiency.
• New SMB compression eliminates the need to manually compress files when transferring them over the network. This allows for faster transfers on busy networks.

In addition to the improvements already listed, the new version of Windows Server 2022 offers a number of other optimisations. Expensive ones that also increase server performance:

• AMD processor support for nested virtualisation now offers more options in environments to run Hyper-V in a Hyper-V virtual machine (VM).
• Microsoft Edge replaces Explorer. Edge is based on Chromium Open Source and therefore offers more security than Internet Explorer.
• Microsoft Edge is based on Chromium Open Source and therefore offers more security than Internet Explorer.
• There are improvements in Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) performance through the use of TCP HyStart++, which reduces packet loss, and with RACK (Recent ACKnowledgment) to reduce retransmission timeouts (RTOs) during retransmissions.
• RSC (Receive Segment Coalescing) optimises the performance of virtual switches in Hyper-V by combining packets on the hypervisor network and processing them as larger segments. This reduces CPU cycles, among other things, and also improves the performance of network data traffic.

Windows Server 2022 Datacenter Licensing

Licensing of a server with Windows Server 2022 Datacenter Edition is also carried out for the software used. According to Microsoft licensing rules, according to which the number of cores is used as a reference to calculate the licensing requirement. The following provisions shall apply:

• In addition to the number of physically present core processors, the number of virtual servers is also taken into account.
• A single server licence covers 2 physical processor cores.
• A single server licence covers 2 physical processor cores.
• A single server licence covers 2 physical processor cores.
• According to Microsoft's licensing terms, the minimum number of 8 cores per processor is always taken as a basis. Even if the actual existing hardware has less than 8 cores.
• At least 2 processors are always used for each physical server, resulting in a minimum number of 16 cores.
• For servers with more than 16 cores, the additional cores must be licensed. And that's with the corresponding Windows Server 2022 Datacenter packages.
• For more information, e.g. regarding the licensing of Hyper-V instances as well as clients - users and end devices - accessing the Windows Server 2022 Datacenter, please contact a Licendi employee. Corresponding licenses/CALs for Windows Server 2022 Datacenter are also available from Licendi.