Microsoft just announced the launch of the first Windows Server release to ship as part of the company’s new Semi-Annual Channel. The Semi-Annual Channel, which will feature new server releases every six months, should allow the company to provide more continuous innovations at a faster pace than was previously possible. The new version, which Microsoft is dubbing Windows Server version 1709, will also come with some interesting new features and capabilities. Here’s some more information about the latest Windows Server update from Microsoft.
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New management experience for Windows Server
As part of the new release, Microsoft unveiled Project Honolulu, which is a new flexible, locally deployed, browser-based management platform for managing Windows Server.
This provides a quick and easy solution for common IT tasks, providing a lightweight deployment to remotely manage not only Windows Server version 1709, but also past versions of Windows Server.
Application innovation within Windows Server
With this update, Microsoft has also provided an updated Server Core container image that has been further optimized for lift-and-shift scenarios, allowing users to migrate existing code bases or applications into containers with minimal changes. In addition, Microsoft is bringing support for Linux containers natively to Windows Server. This enables even more flexibility for users running Windows or Linux containers to run those containers on the same Windows host side by side and with the user’s choice of Linux kernels provided by major Linux vendors.
Availability of Windows Server version 1709
Windows Server version 1709 will be available on Microsoft Azure in early October. If you have Software Assurance on your Windows Server licenses or MSDN licenses, you should be able to download this release from the Volume Licensing Service Center portal in mid-October, according to Microsoft. Microsoft is also collecting input on the new release through its Windows Insiders program.
Photo credit: Microsoft
