Windows Server 2008 R2 Editions Comparison

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Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard has a list price of $822. Datacenter is the top of the line, and most expensive Windows Server Edition. Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter is almost identical to the Standard edition with one big exception. Those questions led me to create a table for the comparison of the Windows Server editions. Comparison Windows Server 2008 R2 vs. To answer the most common questions about Windows Server versions Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 2012 R2, I created the following table: Summary: Comparison 2008 R2 and 2012 R2.

Which one should I install?
I virtualize a lot, and have an access to my school's MSDNAA, where I can download/'buy' Windows 2008R2. All editions (with SP1).

Which one should I choose?
Standard or
Datacenter?

  • Seven editions of Windows Server 2008 R2 were released: Foundation, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, HPC Server and Itanium, as well as Windows Storage Server 2008 R2. A home server variant called Windows Home Server 2011 was also released. It was succeeded by Windows Server 2012.
  • “This chart illustrates the differences among the various Windows Server 2012 R2 products and editions, including the various editions of Windows Server, Microsoft Hyper-V Server, Storage Server, and MultiPoint Server. The chart includes information about locks and limits (such as the maximum number of connections of various kinds, domain-joining capability, and CPU and RAM limits),.
  • Feature description. Windows Server 2008 R2. Windows Server 2012 R2. Windows Server 2016. Windows Server 2019. Enhanced Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is a new set of host intrusion prevention capabilities such as preventative protection, attack detection, and zero-day exploits. Shielded VMs for Windows use BitLocker to encrypt disk and state for Windows OS-based VMs.

I looked it up on Wikipedia, and Datacenter comes with more features. But does that mean more bloat, and services by default? (I would use the system for desktop use/virtualization/development.)

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The main question: They only differ in features, or will the Standard also run faster?

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1 Answer

It depends.

The Datacenter edition is designed for 'large-scale virtualization of workloads that require the highest levels of scalability, reliability, and availability to support large, mission-critical applications.' http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/2008-r2-datacenter.aspx

If this describes your needs then you should use Datacenter.

Virtualization itself will run just fine on Standard, and based on your description it appears you're running tests and labs and such. I'd stick with Standard unless you have a specific need to learn and understand Datacenter.

UPDATE:

I don't know, and for a very precise answer, this question many need to be moved to Server Fault, which is geared towards sysadmins and people who would understand the differences.

Chart

I'd imagine, though, that the differencse have to do with how the OS prioritizes different processes and systems. A prioritization structure that is best for file and application servers may not be best for virtualization servers, which may, in turn, not be best for SQL servers.

Considering the Datacenter edition can be configured as a Core install, though, seems to me to indicate it is less about out-of-box resource consumption. Installing the two side-by-side in clean states may not appear to be very different.

Regarding whether or not MS has more services set to start by default in one or the other: I've had a little experience with Standard, and very little unnecessary stuff is installed. It's a pretty light (by MS standards) OS in it's clean state. And a version designed for high-availability, high-load systems would seem to me to put a premium on minimizing the default footprint even more so.

UPDATE 2

It also appears to be, as in the difference between Enterprise and Standard, to be about licensing. Datacenter version includes 'unlimited virtualization rights', which isn't about differences in code so much as differences in licensing.

UPDATE3: Sum for the goal..

The differences are primarily licensing-related. Datacenter allows more system resources with higher limits in RAM and physical CPUs (it also requires more physical CPUs initially, beginning at 8).

Download Windows Server 2008 R2

All versions of Server 2008 install very little beyond the base OS by default, requiring the addition or Roles and Features based on the target purpose of the system.

While I would hesitate to say Datacenter is 'better' in licensing terms, it all depends on what you need.

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For example, most of my servers (all virtualized via VMWare running on ESXi hosts) need to handle between 1 and 8 cores, and between 4 and 32GB memory. This puts me well below the base requirements of Datacenter. So for me, the Standard and Enterprise versions are 'better'. I run a few Enterprise licenses and a few Standard, just because that's how they were purchased in our MS Licensing Agreement.

If you've got a system with loads of CPUs and scads of memory and you need to run huge apps on a very high-availability system or run VMs based on the MS Hypervisor, you may find the Datacenter version is 'better' for you.

Going back to the very first sentence of my answer: It depends. Always.

I found out the hard way that Standard doesn't support ADFS. In v. 2012, MS is changing this (along with eliminating Enterprise V.) so anyway for 2008, these features are not in Std:

There are a variety of new features in Windows Server 2012 Standard edition. Here are just a few examples of what was previously only available in the premium editions:

 Windows Server Failover Clustering

Windows Server 2008 R2 Wiki

 BranchCache Hosted Cache Server

 Active Directory Federated Services

 Additional Active Directory Certificate Services capabilities

 Distributed File Services (support for more than 1 DFS root)

 DFS-R Cross-File Replication

Source: ws2012_licensing-pricing_faq[1].pdf

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Windows Server 2008 R2 Editions Comparison Table

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