From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Windows Server 2008 R2
| Version of the Windows NT operating system | |
|
Screenshot of Windows Server 2008 R2 showing the Server Manager application which is automatically opened when an administrator logs on |
|
| Developer | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| OS family | Windows Server |
| Source model |
|
| Released to manufacturing |
July 22, 2009; 15 years ago |
| General availability |
October 22, 2009; 15 years ago[1] |
| Latest release | Service Pack 1 with April 2025 monthly update rollup (6.1.7601.27670) / April 8, 2025; 14 days ago[2] |
| Marketing target | Business |
| Update method | Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services, SCCM |
| Platforms | x86-64 (and originally Itanium) |
| Kernel type | Hybrid (Windows NT kernel) |
| Default user interface |
Windows shell (Graphical) |
| License | Commercial software (Retail, volume licensing, Microsoft Software Assurance) |
| Preceded by | Windows Server 2008 (2008) |
| Succeeded by | Windows Server 2012 (2012) |
| Official website | docs |
| Support status | |
| Mainstream support ended on January 13, 2015[3] Extended support ended January 14, 2020[3] Paid updates; only for Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter volume licensed editions:[4][5] ESU (Extended Security Updates) support ended on January 10, 2023, for non-Azure & Grandfathered[7] Premium Assurance security update support until January 13, 2026.[8][9] See § Paid extended updates for details. |
Windows Server 2008 R2, codenamed «Windows Server 7» or «Windows Server 2008 Release 2», is the eighth major version of the Windows NT operating system produced by Microsoft to be released under the Windows Server brand name. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009,[10] and became generally available on October 22, 2009, the same respective release dates of Windows 7.[11] It is the successor to the Windows Vista-based Windows Server 2008, released the previous year, and was succeeded by the Windows 8-based Windows Server 2012.
Enhancements in Windows Server 2008 R2 include new functionality for Active Directory, new virtualization and management features, version 7.5 of the Internet Information Services web server and support for up to 256[12] logical processors. It is built on the same kernel used with the client-oriented Windows 7, and is the first server operating system released by Microsoft which dropped support for 32-bit processors, an addition which carried over to the consumer-oriented Windows 11.
It is the final version of Windows Server that includes Enterprise and Web Server editions, the final that got a service pack from Microsoft and the final version that supports IA-64 and processors without PAE, SSE2 and NX (although a 2018 update dropped support for non-SSE2 processors).
Seven editions of Windows Server 2008 R2 were released: Foundation, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, HPC Server and Itanium, as well as Windows Storage Server 2008 R2. A home server variant called Windows Home Server 2011 was also released.
Microsoft introduced Windows Server 2008 R2 at the 2008 Professional Developers Conference as the server variant of Windows 7, based on the Windows NT kernel.
On January 7, 2009, a beta release of Windows Server 2008 R2 was made available to subscribers of Microsoft’s TechNet and MSDN programs, as well as those participating in the Microsoft Connect program for Windows 7. Two days later, the beta was released to the public via the Microsoft Download Center.[13]
On April 30, 2009, the release candidate was made available to subscribers of TechNet and MSDN.[14] On May 5, 2009, the release candidate was made available to the public via the Microsoft download center.[15]
According to Windows Server Blog,[16] the following are the dates of the year 2009 when Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 has been made available to various distribution channels:
- OEMs received Windows Server 2008 R2 in English and all language packs on July 29. The remaining languages were available around August 11.
- Independent software vendor (ISV) and independent hardware vendor (IHV) partners have been able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 from MSDN starting on August 14.
- IT professionals with TechNet subscriptions were able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 and obtain product keys for English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish variants beginning August 14 and all remaining languages beginning August 21.
- Developers with MSDN subscriptions have been able to download and obtain product keys for Windows Server 2008 R2 in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish starting August 14 and all remaining languages starting August 21.
- Microsoft Partner Program (MPP) gold/certified members were able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 through the MPP portal on August 19.
- Volume licensing customers with an existing Software Assurance (SA) contracts were able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 on August 19 via the Volume License Service Center.
- Volume licensing customers without an SA were able to purchase Windows Server 2008 R2 through volume licensing by September 1.
Additionally, qualifying students have been able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard edition in 15 languages from the Microsoft Imagine program (known as DreamSpark at the time).[17]
A reviewer guide published by the company describes several areas of improvement in R2.[18] These include new virtualization capabilities (Live Migration, Cluster Shared Volumes using Failover Clustering and Hyper-V), reduced power consumption, a new set of management tools and new Active Directory capabilities such as a «recycle bin» for deleted objects. IIS 7.5 has been added to this release which also includes updated FTP server services. Security enhancements include encrypted clientless authenticated VPN services through DirectAccess for clients using Windows 7, and the addition of DNSSEC support for DNS Server Service. Even though DNSSEC as such is supported, only one signature algorithm is available:[19] #5/RSA/SHA-1. Since many zones use a different algorithm – including the root zone – this means that in reality Windows still can’t serve as a recursive resolver.
The DHCP server supports a large number of enhancements[20] such as MAC address-based control filtering, converting active leases into reservations or link layer based filters, DHCppP Name protection for non-Windows machines to prevent name squatting, better performance through aggressive lease database caching, DHCP activity logging, auto-population of certain network interface fields, a wizard for split-scope configuration, DHCP Server role migration using WSMT, support for DHCPv6 Option 15 (User Class) and Option 32 (Information Refresh Time). The DHCP server runs in the context of the Network Service account which has fewer privileges to reduce potential damage if compromised.
Windows Server 2008 R2 supports up to 64 physical processors[21] or up to 256 logical processors per system. (Only the Datacenter and Itanium editions can take advantage of the capability of 64 physical processors. Enterprise, the next-highest edition after those two, can only use 8.)[22] When deployed in a file server role, new File Classification Infrastructure services allow files to be stored on designated servers in the enterprise based on business naming conventions, relevance to business processes and overall corporate policies.[23]
Server Core includes a subset of the .NET Framework, so that some applications (including ASP.NET web sites and Windows PowerShell 2.0) can be used.
Performance improvement was a major area of focus for this release; Microsoft has stated that work was done to decrease boot time, improve the efficiency of I/O operations while using less processing power, and generally improve the speed of storage devices, especially iSCSI.
Active Directory has several new features when raising the forest and domain functional levels[24] to Windows Server 2008 R2: Two added features are Authentication Mechanism Assurance and Automatic SPN Management. When raising the forest functional level, the Active Directory recycle bin feature is available and can be enabled using the Active Directory Module for PowerShell.[25]
Support for the RTM version of Windows Server 2008 R2 ended on April 9, 2013.[3][26] Users had to install Service Pack 1 to continue receiving updates.[27]
On January 13, 2015, Windows Server 2008 R2 exited mainstream support and entered the extended support phase; Microsoft continued to provide security updates every month for Windows Server 2008 R2, however, free technical support, warranty claims, and design changes were no longer offered. Extended support ended on January 14, 2020, about ten years after the release of Windows Server 2008 R2.[28]
In August 2019, researchers reported that «all modern versions of Microsoft Windows» may be at risk for «critical» system compromise due to design flaws of hardware device drivers from multiple providers.[29]
Microsoft announced that Server 2008 R2 would be the last version of Windows supporting the Itanium architecture, with extended support to end on July 10, 2018.[30][31][32] However, monthly security updates continued until January 14, 2020,[33] and a final unscheduled update appeared in May 2020 via WSUS.[34]
Paid extended updates
[edit]
Windows Server 2008 R2 was eligible for the paid ESU (Extended Security Updates) program. This program allowed volume license customers to purchase, in yearly installments, security updates for the operating system until January 10, 2023, only for Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter volume licensed editions. The program was included with Microsoft Azure purchases, and offered Azure customers an additional year of support, until January 9, 2024.[3][4][6][35]
Prior to the ESU program becoming available, Windows Server 2008 R2 was eligible for the now discontinued, paid Premium Assurance program (an add-on to Microsoft Software Assurance) available to volume license customers. Microsoft will, however, honor the program for customers who purchased it between March 2017 and July 2018 (while it was available). The program provides an extra six years of security update support, until January 13, 2026.[9][7][8][36] This will mark the final end of all security updates for the Windows NT 6.1 product line after 16 years, 5 months, and 22 days.
Paid extended updates are not available for Itanium customers.[37][36]
On February 9, 2011, Microsoft officially released Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to OEM partners. Apart from bug fixes, it introduces two new major functions, RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory. RemoteFX enables the use of graphics hardware support for 3D graphics in a Hyper-V based VM. Dynamic Memory makes it possible for a VM to only allocate as much physical RAM as is needed temporarily for its execution. On February 16, SP1 became available for MSDN and TechNet subscribers as well as volume licensing customers. As of February 22, SP1 is generally available for download via the Microsoft Download Center and available on Windows Update.[38]
System requirements
[edit]
System requirements for Windows Server 2008 R2 are as follows:[39]
- Processor
- 1.4 GHz x86-64 or Itanium 2 processor
- Memory
- Minimum: 512 MB RAM (may limit performance and some features)
- Recommended: 2 GB RAM
- Maximum: 8 GB RAM (Foundation), 32 GB RAM (Standard), or 2 TB RAM (Enterprise, Datacenter and Itanium)
- Display
- Super VGA (800×600) or higher
- Disk Space Requirements
- Minimum (editions higher than Foundation): 32 GB or more
- Minimum (Foundation edition) 10 GB or more.
- Computers with more than 16 GB of RAM require more disk space for paging and dump files.[39]
- Other
- DVD drive, keyboard and mouse, Internet access (required for updates and online activation)
- BlueKeep (security vulnerability)
- Comparison of Microsoft Windows versions
- Comparison of operating systems
- History of Microsoft Windows
- List of operating systems
- Microsoft Servers
- ^ https://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/Jun09/06-02SteveGuggenheimer.mspx
- ^ «April 8, 2025—KB5055561 (Monthly Rollup)». Microsoft. April 8, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e «Windows Server 2008 R2 Lifecycle Policy». Microsoft. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
- ^ a b «Product Lifecycle FAQ – Extended Security Updates – Microsoft Lifecycle». learn.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
- ^ «Announcing new options for SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 End of Support». azure.microsoft.com. 12 July 2018. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
- ^ a b «Extended Security Updates for SQL Server and Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 | Microsoft». Microsoft. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
- ^ a b Mackie, Kurt (July 13, 2018). «Microsoft Replacing ‘Premiere Assurance’ Support with New Security Plan». Redmond Channel Partner. 1105 Media. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ a b «Windows Server Premium Assurance SQL Server Premium Assurance» (PDF). Licensing School. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ a b Foley, Mary Jo (December 8, 2016). «Microsoft to offer option of 16 years of Windows Server, SQL Server support through new Premium Assurance offer». ZDNet. Red Ventures. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Server and Cloud Platform Team (2009-07-22). «Windows Server 2008 R2 Reaches the RTM Milestone!». Blogs.technet.com. Archived from the original on July 23, 2009. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
- ^ «Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Timelines Shared at Computex». News Center. Taipei, Taiwan: Microsoft. June 3, 2009.
- ^ «Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Edition Overview». Microsoft.com. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
- ^ Emil Protalinski (9 January 2009). «Windows 7 public beta is available now».
- ^ «Announcing Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate (RC)». Microsoft TechNet. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009.
- ^ «Download Windows Server 2008 R2 RC .iso images (May2009)». Microsoft. Archived from the original on May 11, 2009.
- ^ House, Crissy (22 July 2009). «When to expect Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM». Windows Server Blog. Microsoft. Archived from the original on July 23, 2009.
- ^ «Windows Server 2008 R2 on DreamSpark». Microsoft. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011.
- ^ «Windows Server 2008 R2 Reviewers Guide». Microsoft. November 2008. Archived from the original on February 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
- ^ «Understanding DNSSEC in Windows». Technet.microsoft.com. 2009-10-07. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
- ^ «New features in DHCP for Windows Server 2008 R2/Windows 7». Blogs.technet.com. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
- ^ «Windows Server 2008 R2: Scalability for the Enterprise Customer». Microsoft.com. Archived from the original on February 13, 2008. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
- ^ «Windows7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 support more than 64 Processors in one System». Microsoft. November 2008. Archived from the original on December 17, 2008. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
- ^ «R2: How Would You Manage Without It?». MSDN Blogs. Archived from the original on May 8, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
- ^ «Appendix of Functional Level Features». Microsoft Technet. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
- ^ «Server 2008 R2: Active Directory Functional Levels». Praetorian Prefect. Archived from the original on October 12, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
- ^ Rose, Stephen L (February 14, 2013). «Windows 7 RTM End Of Support Is Right Around The Corner». Springboard Series Blog. Microsoft. Archived from the original on May 2, 2013. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
- ^ «Windows 7 users: Move to SP1 to continue receiving Microsoft support». ZDNet. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
- ^ «Windows Server 2008 R2 End-of-Life Support is Near». June 24, 2019. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
- ^ Winder, Davey (August 11, 2019). «Critical Windows 10 Warning: Millions Of Users At Risk». Forbes. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- ^ «Windows Server 2008 R2 to Phase Out Itanium». Windows Server Blog. 2 April 2010.
Why the change? The natural evolution of the x86 64-bit («x64») architecture has led to the creation of processors and servers which deliver the scalability and reliability needed for today’s «mission-critical» workloads.
- ^ «Microsoft ending support for Itanium». 4 April 2010. Archived from the original on 30 November 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
SQL Server 2008 R2 and Visual Studio 2010 are also the last versions to support Itanium.
- ^ «Microsoft Dropping Itanium Support – Redmond Channel Partner». Redmond Channel Partner. Retrieved 2018-05-14.
- ^ «Microsoft Update Catalog (search=Itanium)». Retrieved 2023-03-20.
- ^ «Itanium KB4552965 direct link». Retrieved 2023-03-20.
- ^ Sharwood, Simon (March 1, 2019). «Microsoft starts selling extended support for Windows Server 2008». nextmedia. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
- ^ a b «Microsoft Update Catalog 2024-06». catalog.update.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
- ^ «Microsoft Update Catalog 2022-01». catalog.update.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
- ^ «Announcing Availability of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1». Archived from the original on February 11, 2011.
- ^ a b «Windows Server 2008 R2: System Requirements». Microsoft.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2008. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
- ^ «Windows Server 2008 R2 Editions Comparison by Technical Specifications». Microsoft. Archived from the original on 22 December 2010.
- ^ Archiveddocs (5 September 2011). «What’s New in Distributed File System». technet.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
- Windows Server 2008 R2 on Microsoft TechNet
- Thurrott, Paul (6 October 2010). «Windows Server 2008 R2 Preview». Supersite for Windows. Penton. Archived from the original on April 10, 2011.
- Convert Windows Server 2008 R2 to Workstation
Windows Server (formerly Windows NT Server) is a group of operating systems (OS) for servers by
Microsoft. The brand name was changed to Windows Server in 2003.
| Release | Released | Active Support | Security Support | Extended Security Updates | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Windows Server 2025 (LTSC) |
6 months ago
(01 Nov 2024) |
Ends (09 Oct 2029) |
Ends (10 Oct 2034) |
Unavailable |
10.0.26100 |
|
23H2 |
1 year and 6 months ago
(24 Oct 2023) |
Ended (24 Apr 2025) |
Ends (24 Oct 2025) |
Unavailable |
10.0.25398 |
|
Windows Server 2022 (LTSC) |
3 years and 8 months ago
(18 Aug 2021) |
Ends (13 Oct 2026) |
Ends (14 Oct 2031) |
Unavailable |
10.0.20348 |
|
20H2 |
4 years and 6 months ago
(20 Oct 2020) |
Ended (09 Aug 2022) |
Ended (09 Aug 2022) |
Unavailable |
10.0.19042 |
|
Windows Server 2004 |
4 years and 11 months ago
(27 May 2020) |
Ended (14 Dec 2021) |
Ended (14 Dec 2021) |
Unavailable |
10.0.19041 |
|
Windows Server 1909 |
5 years ago
(12 Nov 2019) |
Ended (11 May 2021) |
Ended (11 May 2021) |
Unavailable |
10.0.18363 |
|
Windows Server 1903 |
5 years and 11 months ago
(21 May 2019) |
Ended (08 Dec 2020) |
Ended (08 Dec 2020) |
Unavailable |
10.0.18362 |
|
Windows Server 1809 |
6 years ago
(13 Nov 2018) |
Ended (10 Nov 2020) |
Ended (10 Nov 2020) |
Unavailable |
10.0.17763 |
|
Windows Server 2019 (LTSC) |
6 years ago
(13 Nov 2018) |
Ended (09 Jan 2024) |
Ends (09 Jan 2029) |
Unavailable |
10.0.17763 |
|
Windows Server 1803 |
7 years ago
(30 Apr 2018) |
Ended (12 Nov 2019) |
Ended (12 Nov 2019) |
Unavailable |
10.0.17134 |
|
Windows Server 1709 |
7 years ago
(17 Oct 2017) |
Ended (09 Apr 2019) |
Ended (09 Apr 2019) |
Unavailable |
10.0.16299 |
|
Windows Server 2016 (LTSC) |
8 years ago
(15 Oct 2016) |
Ended (11 Jan 2022) |
Ends (12 Jan 2027) |
Unavailable |
10.0.14393 |
|
2012-R2 (LTSC) |
11 years ago
(25 Nov 2013) |
Ended (09 Oct 2018) |
Ended (10 Oct 2023) |
Ends (13 Oct 2026) |
6.3.9600 |
|
Windows Server 2012 (LTSC) |
12 years ago
(30 Oct 2012) |
Ended (09 Oct 2018) |
Ended (10 Oct 2023) |
Ends (13 Oct 2026) |
6.2.9200 |
|
2008-R2-SP1 (LTSC) |
14 years ago
(22 Feb 2011) |
Ended (13 Jan 2015) |
Ended (14 Jan 2020) |
Ended (10 Jan 2023) |
6.1.7601 |
|
2008-SP2 (LTSC) |
16 years ago
(29 Apr 2009) |
Ended (13 Jan 2015) |
Ended (14 Jan 2020) |
Ended (10 Jan 2023) |
6.0.6003 |
|
2003-SP2 (LTSC) |
18 years ago
(13 Mar 2007) |
Ended (13 Jul 2010) |
Ended (14 Jul 2015) |
Unavailable |
5.2.3790 |
|
2003-SP1 |
20 years ago
(30 Mar 2005) |
Ended (14 Apr 2009) |
Ended (14 Apr 2009) |
Unavailable |
5.2.3790 |
|
Windows Server 2003 (LTSC) |
22 years ago
(24 Apr 2003) |
Ended (10 Apr 2007) |
Ended (10 Apr 2007) |
Unavailable |
5.2.3790 |
|
Windows Server 2000 (LTSC) |
25 years ago
(17 Feb 2000) |
Ended (30 Jun 2005) |
Ended (13 Jul 2010) |
Unavailable |
5.0.2195 |
Servicing channels
There have been historically three primary release channels available:
- Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC)
- Semi-Annual Channel (SAC)
- Annual Channel (AC)
The Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) was retired on August 9, 2022. There will be no future SAC releases of Windows Server.
The Windows Server Annual Channel (AC) was released after the retirement of the Semi-Annual Channel (SAC). The first release of the Annual Channel (AC) was on October 24, 2023.
Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC)
With the Long-Term Servicing Channel, a new major version of Windows Server is released every 2-3 years. Users are entitled to 5 years of mainstream support and 5 years of extended support. The Long-Term Servicing Channel will continue to receive security and non-security updates, but it will not receive the new features and functionality.
Semi-Annual Channel (SAC)
Each release in this channel is supported for 18 months from the initial release. Most of the features introduced in the Semi-Annual Channel have been rolled up into the next Long-Term Servicing Channel release of Windows Server.
In this model, Windows Server releases were identified by the year and month of release: for example, in 2017, a release in the 9th month (September) would be identified as version 1709. Fresh releases of Windows Server in the Semi-Annual Channel occurred twice each year. The support lifecycle for each release is 18 months. Starting with fall 2020 (20H2) releases, the identification changed. Instead of a month, the release is named based on the release cycle. For example: version 20H2, for a release in the second half of the year 2020.
Annual Channel (AC)
Similar to Semi-Annual Channel (SAC), but releases occurred every 12 months.
The support lifecycle for each release is 18 months of mainstream support, plus 6 months of extended support.
Extended Security Updates (ESU)
For some releases, customers also have the option to purchase Extended Security Updates (ESU).
It includes Critical and/or Important security updates for a maximum of three years after the
product’s End of Extended Support date. Customers can also get technical support for the ESU period
as long as they also have an active support plan.
More information is available on the Microsoft Windows Server website.
You should be running one of the supported release numbers listed above in the rightmost column.
You can submit an improvement to this page
on GitHub
.
This page has a corresponding Talk Page.
A JSON version of this page is available at /api/v1/products/windows-server/.
See the API Documentation for more information.
You can subscribe to the iCalendar feed at /calendar/windows-server.ics.
On January 9th, 2024, Microsoft will end the extended security updates for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. This final year of ESU was only available in Azure. If you still have any devices running the 2008 or 2008 R2 version, please make sure to update to the most current version of Windows Server.
Windows Server Lifecycle Policy
The main Windows server releases follow Microsoft’s fixed lifecycle policy. This means they are supported for 10 years, including 5 years of Mainstream Support, followed by 5 years of Extended Support. Most Windows Server releases also have options to extend support for another 3 or 4 years after that if you purchase the Extended Security Update option.
| Version | End of Support |
| Windows Server 2022 | Oct 14, 2031 |
| Windows Server 2019 | Jan. 9, 2029 |
| Windows Server 2016 | Jan. 12, 2027 |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 | Oct 10, 2023 |
| Windows Server 2012 | Oct 10, 2023 |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 | Jan 14, 2020 |
| Windows Server 2008 | Jan 14, 2020 |
Windows Server Version Distribution
Lansweeper data gathered from 1.3 million instances of Windows Server across more than 35,000 organizations shows that an overwhelming majority of users is in fact running a supported version. Only 6.72% of Windows Server installations are unsupported. However, the data also shows that 20.94% of installations are of Server 2012. With the upcoming end-of-life of Server 2012 in October, these will all need to be upgraded soon.
While not receiving any new functionalities is a minor inconvenience, the lack of security updates for legacy products can punch dangerous holes in your network security. The longer you keep a product around after its EOL date, the more security issues will pop up and go unpatched. Eventually, any unsupported product in your network becomes an open door for security breaches.
Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 End of Life
Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 originally went end of life on the 14th of January, 2020. Microsoft offered an additional 4 years of Extended Security Updates (ESU). The third (and for non-Azure users last) of these security updates went end of life on the 10th of January, 2023. The final 4th year of ESU (in Azure only) will be going end of life on the 9th of January 2024. From then on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be fully out of support.
In order to keep your environment up to date and secure, Microsoft recommends that you upgrade any machines still running Windows Server 2008 or 2008 R2 to the latest version. You can find detailed instructions in their Windows Server Upgrades overview.
Windows Server EOL Audit
Our team has put together a Windows Server Audit report that will give you a full overview of when the Windows Server versions in your IT environment will be going end of life. It shows you when the EOL date is and how many days are remaining so you can plan your migrations in advance.
Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 End of Life
Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 will be going end of life on the 10th of October, 2023. In order to keep receiving regular updates and keep your environment secure, make sure to upgrade any machines still running Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2 to the latest version. You can find detailed instructions in the Windows Server Upgrades overview.
If needed, it is possible to purchase an additional 3 years of extended security updates for Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2. Please note that the ESU program is considered a last resort for customers who really need to run certain legacy Microsoft products past the end of support. It only includes critical and important security updates. There will be no new features added nor customer-requested non-security updates or design changes.
Windows Server 20H2 Support Ending
August 9, 2022, marks the end of support of the last of the modern lifecycle policy Windows Server version. These versions offered a much shorter support period since they are more closely aligned with the Windows 10 versioning.
Microsoft is ending support for the last Semi-annual release of Windows Server. These server versions were an attempt to mirror the Windows 10 versioning, with a new release twice per year. These versions received support for 18 months following their release. With the end of life of Version 20H2, there are no more supported versions of these releases.
| Version | Start Date | End Date |
| Version 20H2 | 20-Oct-20 | 09-Aug-22 |
| Version 2004 | 27-May-20 | 14-Dec-21 |
| Version 1909 | 12-Nov-19 | 11-May-21 |
| Version 1903 | 21-May-19 | 08-Dec-20 |
| Version 1809 | 02-Oct-18 | 10-Nov-20 |
| Version 1803 | 30-Apr-18 | 12-Nov-19 |
| Version 1709 | 17-Oct-17 | 09-Apr-19 |
Home » OS’s » Windows » Windows Server 2008 R2 End of Life Near
If you run Windows Server 2008 R2 in your environment as well Server 2008 flat, you are in the “5 minutes til midnight” hour of getting a plan together to migrate off your Windows Server 2008 platform. Just like Server 2003, there are still a lot of installations of Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 servers in the wild in many production environments across the board. As of January 14 2020, Microsoft will no longer support these operating systems. This is a huge deal! As of the time of this writing, we are approaching one month before the “drop dead” date for Windows Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2. In this post, we will look at Windows Server 2008 R2 end of life near, what this means, and a few migration paths and tools you want to look at that will no doubt be beneficial to you and your efforts to find your way to a newer Windows Server operating system.
Windows Server 2008 R2 No Longer Supported
What does it technically mean that a Windows Server operating system like Windows Server 2008 R2 is no longer supported? The end of the support lifecycle for Windows Server 2008 R2 means effectively is you no longer have any security updates or other support from Microsoft.
This is a huge deal as security updates in today’s very dangerous and malicious world of constant attacks and prying for vulnerabilities are an absolute necessity.
You don’t really want to run any production server operating system that is no longer supported or patched for security vulnerabilities. Doing so is asking for trouble as well as potential compromise. Support dates and timelines are extremely important from this perspective.
Also, if you have a Windows Server 2008 R2 production server/VM go down and you need emergency help from Microsoft, this will no longer be provided to you.
Officially from Microsoft, the following are listed as items that will go away for Windows Server 2008/R2 once the official end of life date is reached:
- Free security updates on-premises
- Non-security updates
- Free support options
- Online technical content update
Now that we are roughly only a month away from this situation, what are some provisions being made from Microsoft that can help you as well as tools and technologies made available to help ease the migration from Windows Server 2008 R2?
Microsoft Offering Three Years of Extended Security Updates in Azure
If you are serious about needing to keep support for Windows Server 2008 R2 end of life or SQL Server 2008 R2 (also end of life) around, Azure is the option you want to be looking at.
Microsoft is offering an extremely appealing and luring offer to rehost your Windows Server 2008 R2 workloads in Azure and get three years of extended support in the form of security updates at no additional charge. Whats more, you can upgrade to a newer version of Windows Server at no charge when you are ready. This may include Windows Server 2012, Server 2016, or Windows Server 2019.
Check out Microsoft’s Official Windows Server 2008 End of Support page here:
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/windows-server-2008
This is an extremely compelling reason to consider migrating your Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 workloads to Azure.
Windows Server 2008 End of Life Migration Tools
Whether you are planning on migrating your Windows Server 2008 R2 servers to Azure or not, there are a number of Windows Server 2008 end of life migration tools that you want to be aware of as you contemplate getting your on-premises Windows Server 2008 resources either rehosted in Azure or migrated to newer platforms.
Windows Admin Center is certainly going to be your friend when it comes to Windows Server 2008 R2 end of life migration tasks. Microsoft has built in great migration tools and Azure hybrid connection capabilities right into the Windows Admin Center interface.
There are several new tools to take note of when it comes to your Windows Server 2008 migration. These include services to help migrate away from Windows Server 2008 R2 as well as tools to help you get your on-premises Windows Server 2008 R2 workloads migrated up to your Azure environment.
- Storage Migration Service – This new service that is an extension installed in Windows Admin Center makes migrating Windows Server 2008 file servers extremely easy from copying the data, access permissions, and even copying the identity and network address configuration from the source to the target Windows Server.
- Azure Extended Networking – This is a new extension also available in Windows Admin Center that allows you to duplicate the IP address space in your Azure environment as you have configured on-premises. This helps to ease migration of legacy servers from on-premises to Azure that may run legacy applications hardcoded to specific IP addresses.
- Azure Migrate – Compared to the services listed in the first two bullet points, Azure Migrate is not an extension found in Windows Admin Center. Rather, Azure Migrate is a service found in Azure that provides the ability to migrate Windows and Linux servers from VMware and Hyper-V environment on-premises to an Azure IaaS environment It provides a blade for configuring, managing, and monitoring the progress of migrations of on-premises virtual machines such as Windows Server 2008 R2 to your Azure environment.
Azure Migrate provides a very wizard-driven approach to getting your on-premises VMs including Windows Server 2008 R2 workloads migrated up to the Azure cloud.
To use Azure Migrate, you download an on-premises OVA appliance, deploy, connect the appliance to your VMware vSphere or Hyper-V environment, and let it coordinate the migration of your on-premises virtual machines to the Azure cloud.
Other Windows Server 2008 End of Life Resources
There are a few other resources I want to make note of.
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Migration Guide Resources
- Windows Server Migration
- Prepare for Windows Server 2008 End of Support
Wrapping Up
We are rapidly approaching the January 14, 2020 Windows Server 2008 R2 end of support deadline. If you haven’t developed a strategy as of yet for migrating off your Windows Server 2008 R2 workloads, you are most likely behind at the moment.
However, the upside is that Microsoft has provided some really great tools to help put you ahead of the game with migrating your Windows Server 2008 R2 workloads to either newer versions of Windows Server on-premises/Azure, or migrating your Windows Server 2008 R2 workloads as is to your Azure IaaS environment.
On top of providing the tools for your to migrate to Azure such as Azure Migrate, Microsoft is throwing in the additional benefit of extended security updates for Windows Server 2008 R2 rehosted to Azure for an additional three years which is huge.
Brandon Lee is the Senior Writer, Engineer and owner at Virtualizationhowto.com, and a 7-time VMware vExpert, with over two decades of experience in Information Technology. Having worked for numerous Fortune 500 companies as well as in various industries, He has extensive experience in various IT segments and is a strong advocate for open source technologies. Brandon holds many industry certifications, loves the outdoors and spending time with family. Also, he goes through the effort of testing and troubleshooting issues, so you don’t have to.
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Привет, Хабр! 14/01/2020 приближается и эта дата знаменует окончание расширенной поддержки для Windows Server 2008 R2, и если вы все еще используете Windows Server 2008 R2, вам следует задуматься про миграцию на более актуальную платформу.
Под катом находится небольшое сравнение потребляемых ресурсов старой и новых платформ Windows Server — роль RDSH. В первую очередь меня интересовала возможность продолжить использование уже имеющихся в наличии серверов HP G6/G7 под управлением VMware Vsphere 5.5.
Информация о Windows Server Lifecycle доступна по этой ссылке Search Product Lifecycle.
У меня будет два тестовых стенда:
- HP DL120 G7, 1*cpu Intel Xeon E3-1240
- HP ML350 G6, 2*cpu Intel Xeon E5620
Сервера будут работать под управлением VMware ESXi 5.5, образ VMware-ESXi-5.5.0-Update1-1746018-HP-5.75.4-Dec2014. Я также пробовал использовать образ VMware-ESXi-5.5.0-Update3-3116895-HP-550.9.4.26-Nov2015, но на полученные результаты это не влияет.
А вот образ VMware-ESXi-5.5.0-Update2-2403361-HP-550.9.2.40.2-Sep2015 дает искаженные результаты, по какой-то причине статистика которую показывает сервер отличается от реальной в два раза. С этим образом максимум что показывает сервер это 50 процентов нагрузки на процессор, видимо какой-то баг. Я вначале обрадовался когда получил первые результаты, но потом понял что что-то не так…
Также следует упомянуть, что поддержка VMware Vsphere 5.5 тоже не вечная, и платформа уже не актуальна, и стоит задуматься про обновление. Информация про VMware Lifecycle доступна в данном документе VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix.
И не стоит забывать про VMware Compatibility Guide. Если говорить про сервер HP DL120 G7, этот сервер никогда не присутствовал в матрицах совместимости, а вот на сервер HP ML350 G6 официально допускается установка ESXi 5.5 U3.
Гостевые ОС
Информация про совместимость ESXi с гостевыми ОС также доступна в VMware Compatibility Guide.
ESXi 5.5 U3 позволяет в качестве гостевой ОС установить Windows Server 2016, и даже версии 5.5 будет для этого достаточно. А вот для установки Windows Server 2019 понадобится ESXi версии 6+, но это никак не помешает мне протестировать задуманное.
У меня будут следующие тестовые VM: WS2008R2SP1, WS2012R2, WS2016 и WS2019.
На все VM установлены агенты VMware Tools 5.5.0-10.2.5.8068406. Установлены все обновления от Microsoft за май 2019 и даже какие-то за июнь 2019, после чего служба обновления была отключена.
Для моих тестов я выполнил минимальный тюнинг, хочу чтобы все работало с максимально стандартными параметрами. Для этого я буду использовать локальные групповые политики, немного подробней про это я напишу в конце.
- отключил «desktop composition»
- разрешил редирект звука и видео
- включил RemoteFX для WS2008R2SP1 и клиентов WS2008R2SP1
- отключил сглаживание шрифтов
- ограничил разрядность цветовой палитры на значении 32
- ограничил количество мониторов на значении 1
Что бы кодек RemoteFX начал работать на WS2008R2SP1 необходимо установить роль RDSH, для более новых версий этого можно не делать. Возможно, RemoteFX используется на WS2008R2SP1 без установки RDSH, но в логах отсутствуют события про активацию этого кодека.
Тест 1
В качестве теста я буду использовать ролик на YouTube с разрешением 720p, What’s new in Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server 2019 — BRK2242.
На каждом из серверов я поочередно открою одну rdp сессию и тестовый ролик в Chrome (версия 75.0.3770.80(64bit)).
В этом тесте в качестве клиента будет использоваться тонкий клиент HP t510 под управлением ОС HP ThinOS 4.4 и с пакетом Freerdp-1.1hp10d-all-4.4-x86-SQ. Данный аппарат подключен к монитору с разрешением Full HD, и профиль тонкого клиента был сброшен до заводского.
Графики я снимал с хоста, все первые тесты будут выполняться на сервере HP DL120G7.
Комментарии к результатам первого теста:
В данном тесте ws2008 потребляет в три раза меньше процессорных ресурсов, но при этом в три раза больше трафика чем другие участники теста.
При током трафике, в один гигабит можно поместить 66 сессий, а вот переход на новую версию сервера вероятно уменьшит в три раза количество пользователей которые смогу работать при таком потреблении процессора.
Визуально картинка в данной презентации приемлема на всех версиях Windows Server. Конечно если запустить что-то более динамичное, то более новые версии серверов показывают картинку заметно лучше. Предположу что это связано с количество кадров, больше кадров = плавное воспроизведение = больше нагрузка на процессор.
Тест 2
Сценарий для второго теста остается без изменений, за исключением использования Firefox (версия 67.0.2 (64bit))
Комментарии к результатам второго теста:
Firefox в паре с ws2019 показывает не плохой результат, потребляет немного больше процессора и заметно меньше трафика чем ws2008.
Тест 3
В этом тесте будет использоваться Chrome, но клиентом уже будет выступать ноутбук с Windows 10 1903, ноутбук подключен к монитору с разрешением FullHD.
Комментарии к результатам третьего теста:
В случаи с ws2008 потребляется меньше трафика, другие изменения не значительны…
Также я заметил что Chrome при отображении на фоне ролика прогресс бара потребляет на 1000 мгц больше, а вот в Firefox такого эффекта я не заметил, и прорисовка прогресс бара на количество потребляемых ресурсов не влияет.
Тест 4
Ноутбук с Windows 10 в паре с Firefox
Комментарии к результатам четвертого теста:
В такой комбинации сервер-клиент-браузер, ws2019+Firefox потребляет меньше ресурсов чем с Chrome, но стал потреблять заметно больше процессора если сравнить с результатами Теста 2.
В случаях с ws2012 и ws2016 результаты всех проведенных тестов получаются заметно ровнее, нету такого разброса как у ws2019.
Тест 5
Данный тест заключен в запуске максимального количества rdp сессий и запуска презентации в каждой из сессии. В этом мне будет помогать Remote Desktop Connection Manager, RDCM будет запущен на ноутбуке с Windows 10.
Разрешение сессий пришлось уменьшить до 1440*900. В качестве результатов просто приведу сводную таблицу:
Комментарии к результатам пятого теста:
Неожиданно, 2019 сервер показал результаты хуже чем ws2012 и ws2016. Сервер 2008 смог открыть 8 сессий в то время как сервера 2012/2016 могут открыть 4 сессии, и 5-я поднимает нагрузку до 100%. Сервер 2019 смог работать максимум с 4-мя сессиями.
Firefox не является для меня приоритетным браузером, и поэтому я запускал его только в ws2019 чтобы убедиться в полученных цифрах.
Тест 6
В этом тесте в игру вступает сервер HP ML350G6 с двумя процессорами Е5620, тестировать буду только 2008 и 2019 сервера. Тест прежний, запуск максимального количества сессий, использоваться будет только Chrome.
Комментарии к результатам шестого теста:
Для запуска 10 сессий на сервере 2008 понадобилось 60 процентов процессорных ресурсов, а для запуска всего 5 сессий на 2019 сервере нужно больше 90 процентов.
Заключительная часть — Тюнинг
Все тестовые VM я вернул на сервер HP DL120G7 и в качестве клиента использовал ноутбук с Windows 10 и его штатный экран с разрешением 1366*768.
К сожалению попытки уменьшить потребление процессора я бы не назвал успешными, но сказать что результатов нету тоже нельзя. Вот список всех доступных параметров локальных групповых политик которые можно использовать для тюнига:
В Windows Server 2008R2 параметры «Optimize visual experience when using RemoteFX» позволяют управлять качеством картинки и количеством кадров, и это дает заметный результат. Уменьшение количества кадров снижает нагрузку на процессор и сеть. Для Windows Server 2019 эти параметры не работают.
Качеством картинки в Windows Server 2019 можно управлять параметром «Configure image quality for RemoteFX Adaptive Graphics», а вот изменить количество кадров нечем, или я такой параметр не нашел.
Я пробовал различные комбинации параметров, но заметные изменения в результатах я смог получить только в нескольких случаях. И самое интересное то что можно заметить изменения в трафике но при этом нагрузка на процессор меняется слабо.
— Приоритезация H.264/AVC 444 увеличила нагрузку на процессор но при это трафик заметно снизился с 2х до 1 мегабита.
This policy setting prioritizes the H.264/AVC 444 graphics mode for non-RemoteFX vGPU scenarios. When you use this setting on the RDP server, the server will use H.264/AVC 444 as the codec in an RDP 10 connection where both the client and server can use H.264/AVC 444.
— Отключение компрессии RDP не снизило загрузку на процессор, но при этом трафик увеличился с 2х до 7 мегабит.
— Включение Losles параметра для image quality приводит к не адекватному потреблению трафика, без изменения нагрузки на процессор. Для каких сценариев данная опция добавлена мне не совсем понятно.
If you enable this policy setting and set quality to Lossless, RemoteFX Adaptive Graphics uses lossless encoding. In this mode, the color integrity of the graphics data is not impacted. However, this setting results in a significant increase in network bandwidth consumption. We recommend that you set this for very specific cases only.
Итоги
Если раньше для работы 10 активных пользователей было достаточно 8 ядерного сервера и еще оставалось свободное место, то теперь такого сервера хватит только на 5 пользователей.
Думаю что пора готовится к замене серверов HP G6 и G7 поколения. Очень жалко расставаться с серверами в которых установлено >100 гб оперативной памяти, я предполагал что они послужат дальше.
Не исключаю что в старых процессорах не хватает аппаратных инструкций, по этому в ближайшее время планирую получить на тест современный сервер. Но честно говоря прогноз у меня пессимистичный, думаю что получить желаемый результат будет возможно только грубой силой, увеличением количества процессорных ядер, а это повлечет за собой увеличение количества необходимых лицензий и стоимости.
The End