Answering questions about Windows Server 2008

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Last week I presented at an event on Windows Server 2008 down in Exeter.  Despite my jetlag the event went very well and the dialogue with the audience was great with lots of good questions.  Here are some of them:

  1. Which applications are going to support Server Core, i.e. Microsoft Exchange, SQL Server etc.

    Many applications like Exchange are written in managed code (.NET Framework) and also utilise Powershell.  Given that Server Core has neither of these things then it is true to say that you cannot run Exchange on Server Core.

    Remember that one of the key reasons for a Server Core installation is for those servers that are only deployed with a single role, i.e. DNS, DHCP, Domain Controller etc.

    That's not to say in the future you won't see Server Core specific apps being created and also the incorporation of things like .NET Framework and Powershell in Server Core too.  In this way you can see that the platform and the application will meet half way in order to be compatible eventually.

  2. Can you have a VIP policy in the remediation zone for different types of user, defined in Group Policy?

    Yes you can setup different policies to control access out of the remediation zone based on Group Policy.

  3. Can you control the remediation based on the latency of the connection to the user. i.e. if someone vpn's in you don't necessarily want to send them a large update?

    Also, when sending updates i.e. patches between Windows Server 2008 and Vista it automatically figures out the best throughput to deliver based on the connection between the server and client.

  4. Can you run Terminal Services RemoteApp using a Windows NT on the client?

    Are there any special considerations?
    To access RemoteApp programs that are deployed as .rdp files or as Windows Installer packages, the client computer must be running Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) 6.0 or RDC 6.1. (RDC 6.1 [6.0.6001] supports Remote Desktop Protocol 6.1.) A supported version of the RDC client is included with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

    Note: 
    The RDC version 6.
    The RDC version 6.0 software is available for use on Windows XP with SP2 and Windows Server 2003 with SP1. You can download the installer package from article 925876 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=79373).

  5. Can you run Hyper-V with DEP turned off?

    No.

  6. Are there any benchmarks for Hyper-V?

    Not yet - it's still in Release Candidate - over the coming months we are working with our early adopted customers to get some figures out there for you.  Stay tuned.  In the meantime there's an interesting post from the Windows Server Performance Team over here.

  7. Is there anyway to customise the keyboard shortcuts in Windows Vista?

    Yes you can - there's an article in Windows Help and Support on this.  Search for Help from Vista start menu and then launch Help and Support.  Then search for keyboard shortcuts and click the article titled: "Create Keyboard Shortcuts to open programs".