Microsoft announced some updates to its Windows Server at the recent Microsoft Build Conference. The updates mainly came based on user feedback. Here’s some more details from Microsoft about the new features and upgrades.
Windows Server joins the Windows Insider Program
For those who want to access new Windows Server builds more frequently to test new features and fixes, the Windows Server is now part of the Windows Insider Program. So Windows Insiders will gain access to regular and frequent Windows Server builds each time there’s an update or fix.
Container-optimized Nano Server
With this upcoming release, Microsoft plans to build on the initial promise of Nano Server and focus on providing the best containers foundation for developers. To do this, Windows Server has teamed up with .NET to bring the .NET Core 2.0 work to containers with optimized container images based on Nano Server. This can help to reduce the footprint of .NET container images, leading to reduced startup time and density improvements.
Windows Subsystem for Linux
Microsoft is also bringing the Windows Subsystem for Linux to Windows Server. This combination should allow programmers and application administrators to use the same tools, scripts, procedures, and container images that they use on their Linux containers on Windows Server containers as well.
Container orchestration and storage
Container orchestration and storage are also areas where users asked Windows Server for improvements. The first improvement, which is networking support for Docker swarm mode, is already available. But Windows Server is also working on adding a few other features, including the ability to add a network interface to an already running container and the ability to share a network interface between two containers to support pods. On the storage end, Windows Server is adding the ability to map SMB file-based storage directly into a container.
Photo credit: Microsoft
