The Latest Version Of Windows Server Has Added Network Protocols, New Management Tools, Better Performance And Security For Storage. Windows Server 2022 Was Released In The Summer Of 2021 With A New Set Of Features.

Let’s take a look at its funniest and best features.

New Network Protocols

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft’s primary focus on Windows Server is performance. Most Windows Server users host essential business services and programs that directly support employees or customers. In any case, time is gold, and the platform on which your vital systems work must be stable and efficient.

Microsoft has applied significant network improvements in Windows 2022. For starters, the UDP Fast Internet Connection Protocol (QUIC) has been added to the Google-developed Quick UDP Internet Connection, improving UDP connections in various ways, including encryption, delay reduction, connection reuse, version control, and extension frames.

UDP is also a favorite of users in UDP Segmentation Offload (USO), and UDP Receive Side Coalescing (UDP RSC), each of which does a lot of work to assemble UDP packages from the CPU and on network adapters that support protocols.

Server Message Block (SMB) over QUIC has several potential advantages for corporate networks, but its ability as a safe file access method may be the most interesting. SMB over QUIC is tuned by TLS 1.3 using port 443 (HTTPS) instead of port 445 (SMB), and all SMB traffic is placed inside the tunnel, meaning no traffic is placed on the network.

Because of these capabilities, SMB over QUIC is a strong option for mobile users or organizations with high-security needs.

HyStart++ specifications help reduce packet loss when connecting is launched, especially on high-speed networks, detect re-efforts and help reduce Retry Timeouts (RTO). Both features are enabled by default in Windows Server 2022.

Storage Performance and Security

Many Improvements to Windows Server storage focus on security without compromising performance. Security solutions include AES-256 encryption sets for SMB and encryption for high-performance network-based storage using SMB Direct and RDMA. These enable encrypted traffic for workloads, such as Storage Spaces Direct, Hyper-V, Scale-out File Server, etc., that require exceptionally high performance. Windows Server Datacenter Azure version supports SMB over QUIC and brings security, reliability, and performance.

SMB compression is an additional improvement. It allows the user, administrator, or program to request that files transmitted over the network be compressed during the transfer. There is no need to create a Zip file before transferring manually.

Although compressing and uncompressing files will result in a little extra load for the CPU on both sides, it’s worth it, especially on networks with bandwidth limitations such as Wi-Fi or even Ethernet of 1 Gigabit per second.

Windows Server 2022 includes improved storage performance, especially Storage Spaces Direct.

The software introduced in Windows Server 2016 brings good flexibility to create network-based storage space with high performance and accessibility. One of its key features is syncing, which enables redundancy and performance optimization, but until Windows Server 2022, it was based on internally calculated priorities.

Windows Server 2022 offers the ability to manage storage repair speed settings with five levels that help you prioritize syncing or being used by busywork.

The storage-bus cache feature provides memory, enabling fast storage media connections such as NVMe or SSD drives with slower storage, such as HDD, and dramatically improving reading and writing performance while controlling costs. Storage-bus cache supports the store of reading and writing for systems that do not require flexibility or as a reading cache for systems that require parity. Before Windows Server 2022, the storage-bus stock was limited to domain-connected servers, but now standalone servers can use these features.

Moving apps and other corporate resources from old systems to new platforms have never been trivial.

Virtualization and containers will surely help alleviate part of this problem, but they won’t fix the whole situation. Storage Migration Service facilitates the simple transfer of essential apps and services from source to Azure cloud or Windows Server. In Windows Server 2022, additional features and resources are supported, including local users and groups, migration from/to failover clusters, and even Samba sharing on Linux.

Hybrid Cloud

Microsoft is investing hugely in its Azure cloud services, and a large part of it is attracting customers who have been slow to welcome the cloud with outstanding new ones. Two examples are Azure Arc and Windows Server Admin Center. While none are directly connected to the Windows Server version, both offer manageable features for the new Windows Server 2022.

For example, Windows Server Admin Center version 2110 offers a new security tool that lets you take advantage of the new Secured-core server and virtualization-based security feature.

Azure Automanage is a new and comprehensive set of management tools designed mainly to run a virtual machine in Azure. Still, since it includes Azure Stack Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) and Azure Arc-enabled servers, it is an excellent subject to use on-site.

Azure Automanage employs the best ways to configure your server, including server monitoring, log analysis, anti-badware, updating management, and tracking changes during the installation process.

The Azure Automanage can install Windows Server Admin Center, although it does not currently support Azure Arc-enabled servers.

The Azure Automanage performs system updates using Hotpatch, a new way to update Windows Server virtual machines Azure version and minimize downtime. The Hotpatch system works using three different types of updates, each of which has its way: planned baselines, unplanned baselines, and hot patches. Scheduled baselines are published regularly (initially every three months) and include all the latest cumulative Windows Update updates. Unplanned baselines are printed only on a need basis, such as when a critical update is published to address a zero-day vulnerability. Both basic versions include updates from the latest cumulative update and require a reboot.

Hotpatch versions are frequently offered and only include those updates that don’t require a reboot. That’s right, naming Microsoft confuses because it uses the phrase hotpatch both for the overall system, which includes all three types of updates and for the specific update type that doesn’t need to be restarted.

Containers and Virtualization

Virtualization and container-based applications are the focus areas of Windows Server 2022, including some features that lean heavily towards hybrid functionality with Azure.

One of these is the HostProcess container type for Kubernetes, which is new in Windows Server 2022. HostProcess containers run directly in the host layer in the same network namespace as the host, with equal access to the host operating system as processes that run directly on the server.

Because of the access host process containers have to the operating system, they can use for management tasks and DevOps scenarios, and access and tools to develop and deploy the containers themselves.

The new Windows Server 2022 supports Nested Virtualization on AMD processors. Previously, hyper-V performances in a virtual Hyper-V mash ton were limited to Intel processors. Nesting virtualization can use for various scenarios, including packaging and distribution of multi-server systems for development and training.

Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSA) is not a new concept.

In Active Directory, gMSA provides a secure mechanism for applications, even those distributed in multiple nodes, to access network resources without having to manually manage an account, such as creating and changing passwords; The new thing about gMSA in Windows Server 2022 is that gMSA can be used on hosts that are not connected to the active domain directory.

It is done by creating an account in Azure AD, and the benefits of gMSA are provided by allowing container applications to access resources through Azure AD account. There are other benefits: eliminating the need for nodes.

Domain-join Worker facilitates scalability, and secret storage can manage and share credentials between multiple container hosts. TCP connections have not been ignored by Windows Server 2022.