What is Microsoft Windows Server ?
Beside choosing the right physical server, the choice of operating system is undoubtfully important too.
Microsoft Windows Server is the platform for building an infrastructure of connected applications, networks, and web services, from the workgroup to the data center. It bridges on-premises environments with Microsoft Azure, adding additional layers of security while helping you modernize your applications and infrastructure.
Microsoft Windows Server Standard Edition
Standard Edition includes up to two (2) virtual instances of the operating system environment (VMs / OSEs) or up to two (2) Hyper-V Containers when all physical cores in the Server are licensed. For every two (2) additional OSEs or Hyper-V Containers, all the cores in the Server must be licensed again.
Microsoft Windows Server Datacenter Edition
Datacenter Edition includes unlimited virtual instances of the operating system environment (VMs / OSEs) and Hyper-V Containers on the licensed physical server.
Licensing Requirements:
- All physical cores in the Server must be licensed (Hyperthreading (SMT) does not count as actual physical cores)
- A minimum of 8 cores must be licensed for each processor
- A minimum of 16 cores must be licensed for each Server
Compare features in Microsoft Windows Server versions
Performance and scalability
Feature description |
Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 Standard and Datacenter |
Windows Server 2016 Standard and Datacenter |
Windows Server 2022 Standard and Datacenter |
| Physical (host) memory support |
Up to 4 TB per physical server |
Up to 24 TB per physical server |
Up to 48 TB per physical server (2x) |
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Physical (host) logical processor support |
Up to 320 LPs |
Up to 512 LPs |
Up to 2048 LPs |
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Virtual machine memory support |
Up to 1 TB per virtual machine |
Up to 12 TB per virtual machine (12x) |
Up to 24 TB per virtual machine (12x) |
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Virtual machine virtual processor support |
Up to 64 VPs per virtual machine |
Up to 240 VPs per virtual machine | Up to 512 VPs per virtual machine |
Security
| Level of support key
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Feature description |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Windows Server 2016 |
Windows Server 2022 |
| Shielded Virtual Machines |  |
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| Just Enough Administration | |
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| Just-in-Time Administration |  |
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| Credential Guard | |
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| Remote Credential Guard | |
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| Device Guard | |
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| AppLocker | |
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| Windows Defender | |
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| Control Flow Guard | |
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| Enhanced threat detection | |
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| Secured-core server | |
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Software-defined datacenter: Compute
| Level of support key
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Not supported 
Limited support 
Fully supported
Feature description |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Windows Server 2016 |
Windows Server 2022 |
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| Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade | |
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| Linux and FreeBSD workloads | |
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| Hot add and remove for disk, memory, and network | |
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| RDS RemoteFX vGPU | |
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| Server management tools | |
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| Nano Server installation option | |
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| VM Load Balancing | |
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| Advanced caching | |
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| ReFS file snapshots | |
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| Faster, Manageable Storage Improvements | |
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Software-defined datacenter: Networking
| Level of support key
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Feature description |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Windows Server 2016 |
Windows Server 2022 |
| Network Controller | |
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| Microsegmentation | |
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| Software Load Balancer | |
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| UDP | |
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| TCP | |
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| Virtual Switch Enhancement | |
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| QUIC | |
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Software-defined datacenter: Storage
| Level of support key
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Feature description |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Windows Server 2016 |
Windows Server 2022 |
| Storage Spaces Direct | |
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| Storage Quality of Service | |
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| Data deduplication | |
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| Storage Replica | |
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| Storage health monitoring | |
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| High performance NVMe device support | |
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| Persistent Memory for maximun Application Performance | |
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| Scale Out File Server | |
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| VM Storage Resiliency | |
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| Software-Defined Storage | |
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| Storage Replication | |
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Cloud-ready application platform
| Level of support key
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Feature description |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Windows Server 2016 |
Windows Server 2022 |
| Windows Server containers | |
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| Hyper-V containers | |
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| Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration | |
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| Windows PowerShell 5.1 | |
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| Azure Arc enabled Windows Servers | |
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| Windows Admin Center | |
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| Azure Automanage – Hotpatch | |
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