SQL Server 2008 is now RTM

The long wait is over! SQL Server 2008 is now RTM and is also available in MSDN for MSDN Subscribers! Cant wait to download and play with it 8)

Windows Server 2008 is my Desktop Workstation

After hearing lots of good stuffs about this new SERVER product from Microsoft called Windows Server 2008, I took the decision to move from Windows Vista Ultimate to Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition 🙂

The good thing is, Windows Server 2008 can be configured as a fully featured desktop workstation. Your one stop guide for completing this ‘awesome’ task is here

Below is my laptop configuration:

1) Apple Macbook 2.4 GHz

2) 4 GB RAM

I have Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x86 Edition installed

Below is the list of software installed:

1) Apple Bootcamp

2) Microsoft Office 2007

3) Microsoft Visio 2007

4) Mozilla Firefox

5) Skype

6) Apple Quicktime

7) Apple iTunes

8 ) Windows Live

• Live Writer
• Live Messenger
• Live Photo Gallery

9) Foxit PDF Reader

10) Flashget Download Manager

11) Virtual PC

12) Kaspersky Internet Security

13) tWhirl

14) Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1

This server is Fast, Sleek, and Customizable (in Features and Roles). That’s a huge benefit over Vista where many services get started no matter you use them.

I have also moved my development stuffs to a virtual environment now and virtual machines run quite fast than in Vista here. Yes, I am quite happy with Virtual PC 2007 and I don’t think I would install x64 version just for Hyper-V. The application support for x64 sucks!

Everything works good in my setup including sleep,shutdown and hibernate 🙂

So far, my experience of having Windows Server 2008 as my main desktop workstation is good and I think I will continue to stay on this for a long, long time until Windows 7 comes out 8)

One full day with Windows Server 2008

So, its been one full day with Windows Server 2008 now and have configured,

1) Active Directory Services

a) Created a new Domain Forest
b) Added Domain Users
c) Joined Vista machines to the Domain(right now 1, but more to come)

2) Configured .NET Environment

a) Installed IIS 7 (IIS 7 looks really nice than in Vista!)
b) Installed the .NET Environment (both .NET 3.0 and 3.5)
[ .NET 3.5 – you have to download and install ]
c) Installed WCF
d) Hosted my WCF Service in IIS

Still to install,

a) SQL Server 2005
b) WSUS for Windows Server 2008
[I am not able to get WSUS for Windows Server 2008 RTM, If anybody have any clue about that, please do leave your comment]

UPDATE: WSUS 3.0 SP1 is now RTM and supports Windows Server 2008!

Here are Roles installed,

And Features installed,

Things are so easy with Windows Server 2008 8)

To know more about WSUS in Windows Server 2008, visit my post at Chaks’ Geekzone Corner

To know how to add Computers to your WSUS installation in Windows Server 2008, visit my post at Chaks’ Geekzone Corner

Windows Server 2008 Edition Feature Differences

So, now that Windows Server 2008 is released, what editions are available?

Here they are,

1) Windows Server 2008 Web

2) Windows Server 2008 Standard

3) Windows Server 2008 Enterprise

4) Windows Server 2008 Datacenter

And there is also an version for Itanium based systems.

Below is a comparison chart,

(Click to enlarge)

Windows Server 2008 Installation Walkthrough

I installed Windows Server 2008 in my Virtual PC hosted in my Vista Ultimate. Here is an walkthrough of the installation options and steps. One thing to note is that I did not enter Product Key and thus was taken to the screen of selecting which edition I want to install.

Another change I noticed from the Beta releases (I haven’t tried RC) is that the Administrator account was not given a password and we had to manually set it, but now, after installation, the first thing you are supposed to do is to set your Administrator account password

Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP1 are now RTM

                             

After a long wait, Microsoft today announced that Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP1 are now RTM!

Windows Server 2008 is available in Connect for a small time period of 30 days (without product keys though) and in MSDN/TechNet subscriptions from today, but Vista SP1 will only be available to public from mid of March. But that said, even we Beta Testers haven’t received our Vista SP1 copy yet 8)

Cant wait to install final Vista SP1 😀

Installing Group Policy in Windows Server 2008

Group Policies – One of the ways to manage/control/limit the system functionality for the Users. This is the strongest part of Microsoft Windows Server and I have loved it in Windows Server 2003 a lot designing policies. Remember, this Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is not integrated into Windows Server 2003 by default and we have to install it by downloading from Microsoft.

Welcome Windows Server 2008

Its been quite long since Windows Server 2008 Beta is available and the latest is Beta 3. Thought let us explore the new server version and I installed the Beta 3 in my Virtual PC hosted in Vista Ultimate. The installation took nearly 50 minutes and after the installation , Windows took me straight to the desktop as the default user Administrator was not set with a password and the Server Installation doesn’t ask for Administrator password during the setup. But the Welcome Screen displays that the Administrator password is not been set 🙂

The Welcome Screen had many information and the one I was searching for was Adding Roles to my Server and it was there under the Customize This Server option. So I go now to explore the new Add Roles wizard in Server 2008.

My goal is to set up the Active Directory Services (ADS) and join a Vista Business to the newly created domain and authenticate the Users.