Free Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed by Noel Morimoto Page B

Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core.
    Windows Server 2008 R2, Standard Edition
    The Windows Server 2008 R2, Standard Edition is the most common server version of the
    operating system. Unlike previous versions of Windows Server where basic functions and
    scalability for memory and processor support was limited to only the Enterprise or
    Datacenter Editions of the operating system, Windows Server 2008 R2, Standard Edition is
    now the default version deployed by organizations.
    A basic Windows Server 2008 R2 x64-bit Standard Edition system supports up to four x64
    professor sockets and 32GB of memory and supports all of the server roles available in
    Windows Server 2008 R2, with the exception of clustering, cross-file replication (DFS-R
    technology), and Active Directory Federation Services.
    The Standard Edition is a good version of the operating system to support domain
    controllers, utility servers (such as DNS or DHCP), file servers, print servers, media servers,
    SharePoint servers, and so on. Most organizations, large and small, find the capabilities of
    the Standard Edition sufficient for most network services. See Chapter 34, “Capacity

    Versions of Windows Server 2008 R2
    13
    Analysis and Performance Optimization,” for recommendations on choosing and tuning a
    Windows Server 2008 R2 system that is right for its intended purpose.
    1
    NOTE
    One of the first things an organization becomes aware of is that Windows Server 2008
    R2 ONLY comes in 64-bit (x64 or IA64) versions. 32-bit hardware and a 32-bit installa-
    tion is no longer supported. The last version of the Windows Server operating system
    that supported 32-bit is Windows Server 2008.
    Windows Server 2008 R2, Enterprise Edition
    With the Windows Server 2008 R2, Standard Edition taking on the bulk of network
    services, the Windows Server 2008 R2, Enterprise Edition is really focused on server
    systems that require extremely large-scale processing and memory capabilities as well as
    clustering or Active Directory Federation Services. From the basis of scalability of process-
    ing and memory capacity, applications like Windows virtualization or enterprise-class
    Exchange 2010 or SQL 2008 servers would benefit from the capabilities of the Enterprise
    Edition of Windows Server 2008 R2.
    Any time an organization needs to add clustering to its environment, the Enterprise
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    Edition (or the Datacenter Edition) is needed. The Enterprise Edition is the appropriate
    version of operating system for high availability and high-processing demands of core
    application servers such as SQL Servers or large e-commerce back-end transaction systems.
    For organizations leveraging the capabilities of Windows Server 2008 R2 for Thin Client
    Remote Desktop Services that require access to large sets of RAM (up to 2TB) and multiple
    processors (up to eight sockets), the Enterprise Edition can handle hundreds of users on a
    single server. Remote Desktop Services are covered in more detail in Chapter 25.
    The Enterprise Edition, with support for server clustering, can provide organizations with
    the nonstop networking demands of true 24/7, 99.999% uptime capabilities required in
    high-availability environments. Windows Server 2008 R2, Enterprise Edition supports a
    wide variety of regularly available server systems, thus allowing an organization its choice
    of hardware vendor systems to host its Windows Server 2008 R2 application needs.
    Windows Server 2008 R2, Datacenter Edition
    Windows Server 2008 R2, Datacenter Edition is a high-end datacenter class version of the
    operating system that supports very large-scale server operations. The Datacenter Edition
    supports organizations that need more than eight core processors. The Datacenter Edition
    is focused at organizations that need scale-up server technology to support a large central-
    ized data warehouse on one or limited numbers of server clusters.
    As noted in Chapter 34 on performance and capacity analysis, an organization can