Compare features in Windows Server versions
Performance and scalability
Feature description |
Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 Standard and Datacenter |
Windows Server 2016 Standard and Datacenter |
| Physical (host) memory support |
Up to 4 TB per physical server |
Up to 24 TB per physical server (6x) |
|
Physical (host) logical processor support |
Up to 320 LPs |
Up to 512 LPs |
|
Virtual machine memory support |
Up to 1 TB per virtual machine |
Up to 12 TB per virtual machine (12x) |
|
Virtual machine virtual processor support |
Up to 64 VPs per virtual machine |
Up to 240 VPs per virtual machine (3.75x) |
Security
| Level of support key
|
Feature description |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Windows Server 2016 |
| Shielded Virtual Machines |  |
|
 |
| Just Enough Administration | |
|
|
| Just-in-Time Administration |  |
|
|
| Credential Guard | |
|
|
| Remote Credential Guard | |
|
|
| Device Guard | |
|
|
| AppLocker | |
|
|
| Windows Defender | |
|
|
| Control Flow Guard | |
|
|
| Enhanced threat detection | |
|
|
Software-defined datacenter: Compute
| Level of support key
|
Not supported 
Limited support 
Fully supported
Feature description |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Windows Server 2016 |
| Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade | |
|
|
| Linux and FreeBSD workloads | |
|
|
| Hot add and remove for disk, memory, and network | |
|
|
| RDS RemoteFX vGPU | |
|
|
| Server management tools | |
|
|
| Nano Server installation option | |
|
|
| VM Load Balancing | |
|
|
Software-defined datacenter: Networking
| Level of support key
|
Feature description |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Windows Server 2016 |
| Network Controller | |
|
|
| Microsegmentation | |
|
|
| Software Load Balancer | |
|
|
Software-defined datacenter: Storage
| Level of support key
|
Feature description |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Windows Server 2016 |
| Storage Spaces Direct | |
|
|
| Storage Quality of Service | |
|
|
| Data deduplication | |
|
|
| Storage Replica | |
|
|
| Storage health monitoring | |
|
|
| High performance NVMe device support | |
|
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| Persistent Memory for maximun Application Performance | |
|
|
| Scale Out File Server | |
|
|
| VM Storage Resiliency | |
|
|
Cloud-ready application platform
| Level of support key
|
Feature description |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Windows Server 2016 |
| Windows Server containers | |
|
|
| Hyper-V containers | |
|
|
| Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration | |
|
|
| Windows PowerShell 5.1 | |
|
|
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