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Windows 10 RSAT, Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 3 Coming This Month
We've heard a lot lately about the release and reception of Windows 10; however, the Windows family includes more than just the most-seen desktop OS. Mark Wilson writes: Microsoft's Gabe Aul has revealed that the company plans to release a new technical preview of Windows Server 2016 later this month. Responding to questions on Twitter, the company's Corporate Vice President and face of the Windows Insider program also said that Windows 10 RSAT [Remote Server Administration Tools] will be launched in August. Unlike the preview builds of Windows 10, previews of the latest edition of Windows Server have been slower to creep out of Redmond. Sysadmins will be keen to get their hands on the latest builds to see just what direction Microsoft is taking with its server software after the decision to delay the launch. We don't know anything about what the third technical preview of Windows Server 2016 might include, but it is likely to be little more than a collection of bug fixes and tweaks. It's a little late in the game to expect any major changes to be made.
It is good to have to know what is coming your way sooner or later:
1: Storage Spaces Direct -- interesting feature where you hook up machines with JBOD drives, and let Windows handle not just drive arrays locally, but on multiple nodes, so all the machines present one volume, with redundancy so if a node or drive fails, the volume keeps running. Sort of like Isilon OneFS, but without InfiniBand [1].
2: Guarded machines, shielded VMs. Basically a way to have BitLocker/TPM protection on virtual machines and provide physical protection. Interesting concept, and is good enough to allow a Hyper-V cluster on a remote site where there are no admins.
3: Multipoint users. This is basically similar concept of different terminals in X-windows (where multiple users can have keyboards and monitors on one machine.) However, MS is working on improving VDI support, so this can be useful.
4: Windows Server Antimalware. Does it provide security? Not to 0-days. Does it check off that damned box that every auditor demands? Yes. So, you don't have to worry if a server has the latest company antivirus utility anymore.
The Hyper-V advances are interesting and worth taking a look at, especially coupled with AVMA [2].
As for using it as a desktop OS... W2016 is what Windows 10 should have been. No, it does not install a GUI completely by default... but it is easily added as a feature. Once installed, it is how Windows should be, without the nonsense. If you want a user account, you create it yourself and assign it what privs it should have.
[1]: InfiniBand really kills the deal, because what makes the EMC offering so good is the fact that disk I/O will come from a fast source in the node cluster regardless of which physical drive it lives on. Without that and "just" an Ethernet switch, Storage Spaces Direct will be a lot less dlower.
[2]: Put a generic license code in, and VMs will auto-activate for 7 days under Hyper-V.