windows server 2016 – Page 6 – UseIT

Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 are GA

Windows Server 2016 is available for evaluation and will be on the October price list. Volume licensing customers will be able to download fully licensed software at General Availability in mid-October.

Windows Server 2016 also comes with the built-in support of containers and commercial version of Docker engine without additional charge!

System Center 2016 Evaluation is here . What’s new in System Center 2016?

UPDATE (10/12): WS2016 and SC2016 became available @MSDN and @Azure + UR1 for System Center 2016 and CU for WS2016 + https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3192366

+ today MS has published pre-configured VHDs to help you quickly evaluate new SC 2016 features

See my previous posts to get what’s new in Windows Server 2016 (Hyper-V, RDS, MultiPoint) and also check the updated technet articles : WS 2016 and SC 2016

TIP: I’d not recommend to use evaluation version in production. Wait while fully licensed media becomes available.

Azure Stack Technical Preview 2

In fact, Azure Stack TP2 announcement was described earlier in this blog post (TP2 rolled out for some “vip” customers). At Ignite MS confirmed GA for Azure Stack TP2.

And now you can try this new preview here + read what’s new in Azure Stack TP2 and review Azure Stack Architecture

More info about this announcement: New ideas, new solutions, new technical preview of Azure Stack

SQL Server supports Storage Spaces Direct

SQL Server 2016 will support deploying databases on Storage Spaces Direct (S2D).To build up S2D you need from 2 to 16 servers with local-attached SATA, SAS, or NVMe drives and dedicated network between hosts (10+GbE with RDMA is recommended)

storage-spaces-direct-with-sql-server

Continue reading “Ignite 2016 Key Announcements”

Windows Server 2016 compute maximums

The new post in Windows Server blog is published on 08/25 and confirms the following scale changes in Windows Server 2016:

So, Windows Server 2016 delivers the new-leading scalability to virtualize any and every workload without any exception.

What about vSphere 6.0? vSphere 6.0 maximums are far short of the WS. But I’m almost sure for 99% VMware will update their maximums as soon as possible (next major release). May be we will see updated vSphere 6.0 scalability before WS 2016 RTM. HA scale digits are the same for both WS/vSphere so far (FT/resource pools are excluded)

The difference between vSphere 6.0 and Windows Server 2016 compute values are below:

*12 TB is supported on specific OEM certified platform

New VMware migration offer for Windows Server 2016

If you are really interested in Windows Server 2016 or plan migration from VMware, Microsoft has a special offer to you.

From September 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017, customers who switch workloads from VMware to Hyper-V can get free Windows Server Datacenter licenses when buying Windows Server Datacenter + Software Assurance. That ultimately means customers only pay for Software Assurance, which provides multiple benefits.

To be eligible for the VMware migration offer, customers must follow these steps:

Step 1: Engage your account executive or sales rep to begin the process.
Step 2: Identify virtualized workloads to migrate and specify the Windows Server Datacenter cores required.
Step 3: Provide your account executive proof of eligibility. (Offer applicable to customers migrating from VMware to Microsoft).
Step 4: Engage your partner to start the migration process.
Step 5: Receive free Windows Server Datacenter licenses with Software Assurance and pay only the cost of Software Assurance to kick start your migration.

Check out the new VMware Shift website for more detailed information as well as technical comparisons and more reasons to choose Microsoft over VMware.

Continue reading “Weekly News Digest | Windows Server 2016 Scalability and more”