Windows Server 2012 R2 – An Overview with Enhanced Features

Windows Server 2012 R2 is a sixth release in Server OS series by Microsoft. It is the server version of Windows 8. Windows Server 2012 R2 introduced with a set of enhanced features such as updated version of Hyper V, an IP-address management role, a new version of task manager and a new file system i.e. ReFS. So, here we are going to discuss about the new features added with Windows Server 2012 R2.

Windows Server 2012 R2 Editions

Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundation – This edition is useful for small business with 15 users connected to server.
Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials – It is designed for small business with 25 users connected to server.
Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard – This version is for lightly virtualized environment with 4TB memory limit and unlimited users.
Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter – Datacenter edition provides the facility to use Virtualization and cloud platform.

Key Features of Windows Server 2012 R2

Installation Option

Installation option feature enables to Windows Server 2012 R2 to switch between 'Server core' and 'Server with GUI' without a full reinstallation. Server Core is a command line interface.

Deduplication on Running VMs

Deduplication was already introduced with Windows server 2012 but there was not possible to deduplicate the running virtual machines. This limitation is overcome in Windows Server 2012 R2 which is particularly targeted for virtual desktop.

Windows Server 2012 R2 Editions

Storage Tiering

Windows Server 2012 R2 introduced with the support for storage tiering which means a capability of moving more frequently to fast storage devices such as SSD and less frequently accessed to slow storage i.e. hard disks. Microsoft made this feature with an algorithm named Heat-map which determines which storage disk is slow and which one is fast.

Features of Windows Server 2012 R2

A New Task Manager

Microsoft introduce a new version of Task Manger with the properties of old task manager. The performance tab shows CPU, Memory, Disk, Wi-Fi and Ethernet graphs. CPU tab show the Heat map in blue curved graph.

Features of Windows Server 2012 R2

Users Facing Issues in Windows Server 2012 R2

Windows Server 2012 R2 is built with lots of new and improved features but there are some problems which users are still facing. Some common problems with Server 2012 R2 are machine fails to boot, VM's won't install because of insufficient RAM, sometimes network become very slow while copying files between VM's. This condition become due to virus infection or hard disk related issues. When Storage disks are infected with viruses then there are the chances to lose the data or sometimes files or folders become inaccessible. To recover all deleted file or repair inaccessible files user need a Windows server 2012 R2 File Recovery Software.