Migrated an apps to Windows Azure - previous platform was windows server 2008 R2. When I try to configure os it gives me two options with Windows Server 2008 SP2 being default. Are there any known issues of selecting Windows Server 2008 R2? Any performance implications. I was assuming that since R2 was released later and had some enhancements related to virtualization etc it should be better.
Yes, I'd go for Windows Server 2008 R2, which is based on the Windows 7 kernel rather than the Vista kernel used by Windows Server 2008 SP2.
I'd expect that Microsoft make the 2008 SP2 option available for Azure customers that have not yet tested their applications under the newer platform.
Related
Azure service configuration allows to alter osFamily. Currently there're two options. Value 1 (the default) selects Windows Server 2008 and value 2 selected Windows Server 2008 R2.
I'm currently with the default (2008).
What changes should I expect if I just change to R2? Will it be faster? Will anything likely break?
You should see this as if you were upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7, as described in this question: What's the difference between Windows Server 2008, 2008 SP2 and 2008 R2?.
If you're building web applications the largest impact will probably come from IIS. Windows Server 2008 uses IIS 7.0, Windows Server 2008 R2 uses 7.5. Read about the differences here: What's New in the Web Server (IIS) Role (IIS 7)
There's also a whitepaper that describes the new and changed functionalities and features: Changes in Functionality in Windows Server 2008 R2.
To answer your question if anything will break I would say no (although something could always go wrong). I've deployed many applications to Windows Azure and this never caused issues for me. When I upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7 it felt like I was using a more mature, stable and better performing system, and I would dare to believe the same applies to the server releases. And advantage is that you'll have new features available, like the Win32 support to mount VHD files (I think this relates to your VHD question).
How can I check what version of Windows Imaging Component is installed on a Windows machine? I suspect the Windows 2008 Servers used in Azure do not have the same version that I have on my Windows 7 development machine. I just want to verify that as I need the latest TIFF codec.
Will not make a definite statement, but I think that the WIC on the Windows Azure is the same what you have on your Windows 7. Just be aware that there are 2 OS families in Windows Azure. OS Family 1.x is using Windows Server 2008 SP1 as base, while OS Family 2 is using Windows Server 2008 R2 as base.
From what I read about WIC, I see it is part of Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2, so, if you target your application for OS Family 2, you shall nothave issues. Unless there is some update, or more recent version which has installer. If there is an installer, you can simply use a startup task to install the exact version you need.
UPDATE
Refering this post confirms that Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2 come with WIC. While a platform update is required for Windows Vist / Windows Server 2008 (you must install Server 2008 SP2 before the update is available). So, if you target OS Family 2.x (recommended anyway) you get the same WIC you get in your Windows 7 machine.
I am specing out new development workstations for my team and I am running into a conflict. I am a developer and I want Windows Server 2008 R2 because that is what our production servers are running. The IT guys want to give us Windows 7 because that is where they have tested all their infrastructure.
My question is this: is there enough of a difference between the two to push for 2008 R2? I know MSFT has crippled IIS in previous versions of Windows unless it was the server edition so I am skeptical about Win7 giving me what we need.
You can use Windows 7 for your development machines and have one Windows Server 2008 R2 for UAT deployments. This way you can have the best of both worlds. IT will be happy that you are all running Windows 7 and you will be happy that you're able to test your application in windows server 2008.
This question answer might be helpful.
Differences between Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
Your IT guys are correct aside from licensing issues such cost as Office without workstation on OpenValue, OpenSelect etc.. (remember they are packaged together) etc.. there are hardware issues and compatibility with future software.
There is no way you need 2008 R2 Server, do you want to work in the data center too? or have a full copy of the live database? You should have a CI server though that represents the live environment , the IT guys should provide this for you - probably as a VM.
Could anyone suggest me on this- we have sharepoint 2007 running on win server-2008 64bit
and we are about to upgrade to 2010 sharepoint, problem is do we keep the 2008 64bit as is or
upgrade to R2 and install SP 2010 on it.
obviously R2 must be more reliable than 2008 but just asking if we can we just upgrade
2008 to R2 with out a new server?
any help is appreciated!
Consider
Have the 2008 installation been unreliable and if so is it really windows? If it has it might be time to buy some new hardware
Are you worried about the support and update cycle for windows 2008? Obviously the ones for R2 will extend further into the future
However, If it's a dedicated SharePoint server machine that has been running just fine I see little or no reason to upgrade to R2.
If you choose to keep your server upgrading to Windows 2008 R2 remember to install the sp2 for SharePoint 2007 (wss3) BEFORE you upgrade.
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 2 (SP2) - English
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=79bada82-c13f-44c1-bdc1-d0447337051b&displaylang=en
When i first started doing sp2010, i used windows2008. That was a real pain, things were just buggy. As soon as i moved to r2, no more bugs. So i would say go with r2. It also means you can install r2 sp1.
Does anyone know if it's possible to run IIS 7.5 on Windows 2008. From what I understand Windows Server 2008 R2 is an exclusively 64-bit OS. Can we upgrade IIS7 to IIS7.5 on Windows 2008 (not R2)
Unfortunately, you cannot. IIS has always been tied to an OS release and is only available on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.
Keep in mind that a 64-bit OS runs most 32-bit things just fine in WoW64 (Including IIS application pools), are you prohibited from running something on that server this way?
Is there anything in particular that you need? Some of the features of 2008 R2 are available for download at http://www.iis.net/download including the Admin Pack, WebDAV, FTP 7.5 and more.