What is Microsoft Windows Server ?
Microsoft Windows Server is the platform for building an infrastructure of connected applications, networks, and web services, from the workgroup to the data center. It bridges on-premises environments with Azure, adding additional layers of security while helping you modernize your applications and infrastructure.
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 | |
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| Just-in-Time Administration |  |
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| Credential Guard | |
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| Remote Credential Guard | |
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| Device Guard | |
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| AppLocker | |
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| Windows Defender | |
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| Control Flow Guard | |
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| Enhanced threat detection | |
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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 | |
|
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| Linux and FreeBSD workloads | |
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| Hot add and remove for disk, memory, and network | |
|
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| RDS RemoteFX vGPU | |
|
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| Server management tools | |
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| Nano Server installation option | |
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| VM Load Balancing | |
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Software-defined datacenter: Networking
| Level of support key
|
Feature description |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Windows Server 2016 |
| Network Controller | |
|
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| Microsegmentation | |
|
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| Software Load Balancer | |
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Software-defined datacenter: Storage
| Level of support key
|
Feature description |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Windows Server 2016 |
| Storage Spaces Direct | |
|
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| Storage Quality of Service | |
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| Data deduplication | |
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| Storage Replica | |
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| Storage health monitoring | |
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| High performance NVMe device support | |
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| Persistent Memory for maximun Application Performance | |
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| Scale Out File Server | |
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| VM Storage Resiliency | |
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Cloud-ready application platform
| Level of support key
|
Feature description |
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Windows Server 2016 |
| Windows Server containers | |
|
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| Hyper-V containers | |
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| Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration | |
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| Windows PowerShell 5.1 | |
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