Editor’s Note: In with the New

New and updated technology keeps your IT infrastructure moving forward, but there can still be considerable value in your existing systems.

Lafe Low

It’s a New Year. That often means a new budget, new priorities, and examining and possibly rolling out new technologies and new processes to optimize those technologies.

While it’s hardly a new theme, getting the most out of your existing investments will continue to be a major thrust this year. Bedrock technologies that keep the lights on and the trains running on time—such as Windows Server—will always have your back. We’ll help you fine-tune and tweak your Windows Servers, your assigned server roles, your physical and virtual datacenters. We’ll continue to help you get the most out of the venerable Microsoft server OS, whether you need help working with Server Core, configuring remote management, working with Hyper-V or wherever Windows Server takes you. 

Windows Server—from the older platforms such as Windows Server 2003 right up to Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2—is a flexible workhorse. There are so many layers, configuration possibilities and management options that you can maximize the value of Windows Server as your server OS for years to come.

You can work with Windows Server Core in all its simplicity for a fast, unfettered installment with a minimal attack surface. While this gives you a minimal list of server roles to work with (including Active Directory Certificate and Domain Services, BranchCache Hosted Cache, DNS Server, File Services and Web Services [IIS]), the benefits of speed, simplicity and security make using the Server Core configuration a worthwhile endeavor. Or you can deploy the full Windows Server installation, with all the interface features, remote management and virtualization options, and server roles—or somewhere in between. You can tailor Windows Server to suit your infrastructure and your business requirements.

Plans for the New Year

With the start of the new year, do you have any fresh IT initiatives underway? Are you ushering in a different budget—and if so, is it bigger or smaller as last year? What sort of goals does your organization have for IT and your business this year? What are your plans for upgrading and streamlining your infrastructure? Going to the cloud? Upgrading to a new version of Windows or Windows Server? Tell us your story and we’ll do our best to help with targeted deployment and configuration advice.

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Lafe Low is the editor in chief of TechNet Magazine*. A veteran technology journalist, he’s also the former executive editor of 1105 Media’s* Redmond magazine.