A local fast food chain has asked you to help with its server upgrades. The comp

Question

A local fast food chain has asked you to help with its server upgrades. The company has used Windows Server 2003 until now, but because it's under new management and because it just acquired a few smaller restaurants, the IT department wants to reconsider its network strategy. Amongst other tings they will purchase new server hardware for each of its main locations. It might also upgrade the NOS to Windows Server 2012 R2. You meet with a team of employees at the company but unfortunately none has had a change to compare the different NOS available.
a. What are the features that would make Windows Server 2012 R2 the right choice? Specifically, how might it contribute towards better security? How does it fare in network management and how might it facilitate smoother remote connections between the newly acquired restaurants and the fast food chain?
b. One of the IT team argues that the company should install a Linux based NOS, mostly due to budgeting concerns. What can you advise the IT administrator about the capabilities of Linux versus Windows Server 2012 R2? What benefits and drawbacks would there be to choosing Linux over Windows?
c. Based on (a) and (b) above, which NOS would you recommend and why? State any assumptions made (if any) in reaching your conclusion.

Explanation / Answer

a) Windows Server 2012 R2 brings a host of new features that greatly enhance the functionality of the operating system. Many of these improvements expand on existing capabilities of Windows Server 2012. In a previous slideshow, we highlighted our favorite new features in Hyper-V. Here we call out 10 new features elsewhere in Windows Server 2012 R2 that will make an impact on your day-to-day operations. Some of these enhancements, particularly in the storage arena, have Microsoft taking direct aim at traditional partners with new out-of-the-box functionality.

1. Work Folders- Work Folders bring the functionality of Dropbox to corporate servers. Install this role on a Windows Server 2012 R2 system, and you get a fully functional, secure file replication service. The initial release will support only Windows 8.1 clients. Support for Windows 7 and iPad devices is promised for the future, with Android clients further down the list. Like Dropbox, Work Folders will keep copies of files on both the server and the client, performing sync operations whenever the client establishes a connection with the server.

2. Desired State Configuration - Maintaining configuration on lots of servers has been a thorn in the side of system administrators for as long as anyone has been running lots of servers. Many point solutions and countless custom in-house tools have been devised to accomplish the task. Now there is a feature built into Windows Server 2012 R2 that makes it possible to programmatically establish a baseline of roles and features, then monitor and update any system that doesn't match the desired state. Desired State Configuration requires PowerShell 4.0, which provides a number of new cmdlets to accomplish both the monitoring and the administration of specific states.

3. Storage Tiering - This might be the single most exciting new feature in Windows Server 2012 R2. In essence, Storage Tiering is the ability to dynamically move chunks of stored data between different classes of storage, such as fast SSDs and slower hard drives. Many high-end storage systems have had automated tiering for years, but this is the first time you are able to do it at the operating system level. Microsoft uses a heat-map algorithm to determine which chunks of data are seeing the most activity and automatically moves the "hottest" chunks to the fastest tier. You can adjust the settings for how and when the data is moved using PowerShell.

4. Storage Pinning - Closely related to Storage Tiering is the ability to pin selected files to a specific tier. Pinning makes it possible to ensure that files you always want on the fastest storage, such as boot disks in a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure deployment, will never be moved to the slower storage tier. Otherwise, files that you always want to take advantage of SSDs might be moved to the HDD tier after some period of relative inactivity.

5. Write Back Cache- When you create a new storage volume in Windows Server 2012 R2, you also have the option to enable something called the Write Back Cache. This feature sets aside an amount of physical storage, typically on a fast SSD, to use as a write cache to help smooth out the ups and downs of I/O during write-intensive operations. This can be seen in a typical database scenario where a large volume of disk writes may exceed the ability of the drive controller and disks to keep up. The cache would eliminate any pauses caused by an overwhelmed storage subsystem.

6. Deduplication on running VMs - Data deduplication in Windows Server 2012 is a nice feature, but one thing it cannot do is deduplicate running virtual machines. That limitation is removed in Windows Server 2012 R2, albeit specifically for VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) deployments on SMB 3.0. That said, this new capability could greatly increase the overall effectiveness of deduplication for VDI implementations. As a side benefit, deduplication greatly improves boot performance of virtual desktops. In addition to storing the VMs on SMB 3.0 (required), Microsoft highly recommends using Scale-Out File Server on Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2. Cluster Shared Volumes are supported for high availability.

7. Parallel rebuild - If you've ever had a disk fail in a RAID array, you know a disk rebuild can take many hours. And with more and more deployments of really large physical disks, the amount of time required to rebuild a drive will only get longer. Microsoft addressed the issue of lengthy CHKDSK checks in Windows Server 2012, which greatly reduced the time required to scan and repair a single disk. Windows Server 2012 R2 adds the ability to perform a parallel rebuild of a failed Storage Spaces drive, reducing the amount of time required by an order of magnitude. Demonstrations at TechEd showed a rebuild of a 3TB disk taking less than an hour.

8. Workplace Join - Windows Server 2012 R2 addresses the need to incorporate personal devices like iPads into the enterprise environment. At the simplest level is a new Web Application Proxy that allows you to provide secure access to internal corporate websites, including SharePoint sites, to any authorized user. One step further is a new capability called Workplace Join, which allows users to register personal devices with Active Directory and gain certificate-based authentication and single sign-on to enterprise applications and data. Standard tools like Group Policy apply here for controlling conditional access on either an individual or group basis.

9. Multitenant VPN gateway - Microsoft has added a number of new features to make it easier to provide secure communications between on- and off-premise networks. The new multitenant VPN gateway lets you implement site-to-site connectivity to multiple external sites via a single VPN link. This feature is aimed at both hosting providers and large organizations looking to implement connectivity with multiple sites or external organizations. Each site-to-site network connection require a separate gateway in Windows Server 2012, adversely impacting both cost and ease of implementation when more than a few connections are required for a single application. Windows Server 2012 R2 does away with this limitation.

10. Windows Server Essentials role - While this might not sound like a big deal, it has the potential to make life much easier for any organization with a geographically distributed network. With Windows Server 2012, you have to use a completely different installation source for Windows Server Essentials. For large organizations, this can impact both distribution strategy and configuration management. The Windows Server Essentials role in Windows Server 2012 R2 brings with it a number of other features -- including BranchCache, DFS Namespaces, and Remote Server Administration Tools -- that are typically implemented in remote office settings.

11 Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V highlights - The next version of Hyper-V brings leaner and cleaner "Gen2" VMs, improvements to Hyper-V replica, faster live migration, online VM exporting and cloning, and lots more. Read about our 10 favorite new Hyper-V features in "10 great new features in Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V."

b) What's not always appreciated, however, is just how significant a portion of the market Linux servers are getting to be. Whereas unit shipments of Windows servers increased 28.2 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2010, Linux server revenue grew 30.0 percent to $1.8 billion when compared with the second quarter of 2009. Linux servers now represent 16.8 percent of all server revenue, up 2.5 points over 2Q09.

That's no accident. Linux is eminently better suited to server use than Windows is--better than most any other competitor, I'd argue. Why? Let's count the ways.

1. Stability

Linux systems are well known for their ability to run for years without failure; in fact, many Linux users have never seen a crash. That's great for users of every kind, but it's particularly valuable for small and medium-sized businesses, for which downtime can have disastrous consequences.

Linux also handles a large number of processes running at once much better than Windows does--that's something, in fact, that tends to degrade Windows' stability quickly.

Then there's the need for rebooting. Whereas in Windows configuration changes typically require a reboot--causing inevitable downtime--there's generally no need to restart Linux. Almost all Linux configuration changes can be done while the system is running and without affecting unrelated services.

Similarly, whereas Windows servers must often be defragmented frequently, that's all but eliminated on Linux. Let your competitors endure the plentiful downtime that inevitably goes hand-in-hand with Windows; trusty Linux will keep you up and running and serving your customers around the clock.

2. Security

Linux is also innately more secure than Windows is, whether on the server, the desktop or in an embedded environment. That's due largely to the fact that Linux, which is based on Unix, was designed from the start to be a multiuser operating system. Only the administrator, or root user, has administrative privileges, and fewer users and applications have permission to access the kernel or each other. That keeps everything modular and protected.

Of course, Linux also gets attacked less frequently by viruses and malware, and vulnerabilities tend be found and fixed more quickly by its legions of developers and users. Even the six-year-old kernel bug that was recently fixed, for instance--an extremely rare instance in the Linux world--had never been exploited.

Internally, meanwhile, users of a Windows system can sometimes hide files from the system administrator. On Linux, however, the sys admin always has a clear view of the file system and is always in control.

3. Hardware

Whereas Windows typically requires frequent hardware upgrades to accommodate its ever-increasing resource demands, Linux is slim, trim, flexible and scalable, and it performs admirably on just about any computer, regardless of processor or machine architecture.

Linux can also be easily reconfigured to include only the services needed for your business's purposes, thus further reducing memory requirements, improving performance and keeping things even simpler.

4. TCO

There's no beating Linux's total cost of ownership, since the software is generally free. Even an enterprise version purchased with corporate support will be cheaper overall than Windows or other proprietary software, which generally involve user-based licensing and a host of expensive add-ons, especially for security.

Same goes for most of the tools and applications that might be used on a Linux server. The overall TCO simply can't be beat.

5. Freedom

With Linux, there is no commercial vendor trying to lock you into certain products or protocols. Instead, you're free to mix and match and choose what works best for your business.

In short, with all the many advantages Linux provides in the server realm, it's no wonder governments, organizations and major companies around the world--including Amazon and Google--rely on the open source operating system in their own production systems.

If you're looking for a Linux distribution to run on your business's servers, you'd do well to consider CentOS (or RHEL, the paid version from Red Hat that CentOS is based on),Slackware, Debian and Gentoo.

c)

Choosing an operating system may seem simple but can result in restrictions on what applications you can run, and if not executed properly, can result in slow running services and websites which will not load.

There are two popular operating systems for businesses, each available with different options. Let's take a look.

Windows

With 75% share of the OS and software market, Microsoft products are regarded as the standard option for most businesses. Windows Server 2008 and 2012 are the current options for Microsoft Server OS.

Most IT admins are comfortable using either flavour. You can also run Hyper-V on either alongside other applications, minimising hardware requirements. Microsoft includes the ability to operate applications over the internet using Remote Desktop Services, enabling end-users to run software without installing it on their PCs.

One big consideration to make when selecting Server operating systems is how long you intend to run them for.

According to Microsoft's website, 2008's mainstream support will end in 2015, with extended support ending in 2020. If you are looking to run physical servers, you will likely keep the physical hardware for around five years before a hardware refresh.

This will mean your product's support will end before you upgrade your hardware. Using an operating system beyond its lifecycle opens your business up to potential security issues, as you're no longer covered by Windows updates.

Cost is also an important factor; licence fees are expensive. The more employees you have, the more expensive it will become. Choosing older versions to reduce costs will come with the caveat of shorter support lifetimes.

Linux

As a free operating system the developer market has embraced Linux; you can download, modify it and re-distribute it without spending any money.

However, Linux itself is not a complete operating system (it is just a kernel) and requires an additional set of software to be bundled with it. These bundles, known as distributions have hundreds of flavours available; more popular ones include Ubuntu, SUSE and Red Hat.

SUSE is popular with the enterprise market and is used by the Open University and the London Stock Exchange. Linux operating systems often have a smaller footprint and resource load. The distribution can be configured with as many, or as few, components as required, to ensure the most effective use of your environment.

Linux is installed on over (http://www.zdnet.com/linux-continues-to-rule-supercomputers-7000016968/) 95% of the world's best supercomputers demonstrating that it is the fastest performing OS with the smallest resource footprint.

Linux distributions also offer alternatives to popular Microsoft products such as Microsoft Exchange, meaning that you can continue to enjoy free versions of known products for free.

If you already use Microsoft and are looking to migrate to Linux in stages, SUSE (for example) is compatible with Active Directory, Exchange, SharePoint and Novell GroupWise. This means that you can introduce your Linux system gradually into your Windows environment and allow some bedding in time before phasing Microsoft out.

Recently, SUSE partnered with Microsoft to enable Hyper-V node management using SUSE Cloud, allowing you to run a mixed environment where required. Red Hat can also co-exist with Microsoft and Unix servers using a combination of Microsoft Active Directory and the identity management features within Red Hat.

No OS is perfect; one of the major downsides of Linux is that as it is a lesser known platform you will find it harder to administrators with the skills to configure and support the system in-house. These skills are generally less common in the market and therefore can be more costly.

Final word

Selecting the right platform is important for the health of your business. It's worth building a test system running your preferred OS so you can spot any issues and check security and performance prior to going live, with minimal disruption for your users.

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