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windowsserver2008

Windows Server 2008

This is an installation report for Windows Server 2008, which comes in different editions:

Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition

Windows Server 2008 Standard is one of Microsoft's entry level server offerings (alongside Windows Web Server 2008) and is one of the least expensive of the various editions available. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available, and in terms of hardware Standard Edition supports up to 4GB of RAM and 4 processors.

Since SP2 the amount of RAM for the standard edition has been raised to 16 GB.

Windows Server 2008 is primarily targeted and small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and is ideal for providing domain, web, DNS, remote access, print, file and application services. Support for clustering, however, is notably absent from this edition.

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition provides greater functionality and scalability than the Standard Edition. As with Standard Edition both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available. Enhancements include support for as many as 8 processors and up to 64GB of RAM on 32-bit systems and 2TB of RAM on 64-bit systems.

Additional features of the Enterprise edition include support for clusters of up to 8 nodes and Active Directory Federated Services (AD FS).

Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition

The Datacenter edition represents the top end of the Windows Server 2008 product range and is targeted at mission critical enterprises requiring stability and high uptime levels. Windows Server 2008 Datacenter edition is tied closely to the underlying hardware through the implementation of custom Hardware Abstraction Layers (HAL). As such, it is currently only possible to obtain Datacenter edition as part of a hardware purchase.

As with other versions, the Datacenter edition is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions and supports 64GB of RAM on 32-bit systems and up to 2TB of RAM on 64-bit systems. In addition, this edition supports a minimum of 8 processors up to a maximum of 64.

Windows Web Server 2008

Windows Web Server 2008 is essentially a version of Windows Server 2008 designed primarily for the purpose of providing web services. It includes Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 along with associated services such as Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and Telnet. It is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions and supports up to 4 processors. RAM is limited to 4GB and 32GB on 32-bit and 64-bit systems respectively.

Windows Web Server 2008 lacks many of the features present in other editions such as clustering, BitLocker drive encryption, multipath I/O, Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS), Removable Storage Management and SAN Management.

Hardware Requirements

  • Processor
    • Minimum: 1GHz (x86 processor) or 1.4GHz (x64 processor)
    • Recommended: 2GHz or faster
    • Note: For Itanium based systems an Intel Itanium 2 processor is required.
  • Memory
    • Minimum: 512MB RAM
    • Recommended: 2GB RAM or greater
    • Maximum (32-bit systems): 4GB (Standard) or 64GB (Enterprise and Datacenter)
    • Maximum (64-bit systems): 32GB (Standard) or 2TB (Enterprise, Datacenter and Itanium-Based Systems)
  • Available Disk Space
    • Minimum: 10GB
    • Recommended: 40GB or greater
    • Note: Systems with RAM in excess of 16GB will require greater amounts of disk space to accommodate paging, hibernation, and dump files
  • Miscellaneous
    • DVD-ROM drive
    • Super VGA or greater-resolution monitor (800×600)
    • Keyboard
    • Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

Installation

Media: Windows Server 2008 64 bits edition SP1 4 GB RAM 2 CPU 40 GB Hard Disk for C
When you start the installation, follow all default options. Read these comments on some Windows for extra information: Windows Server 2008 can be installed without a license key, of course you'll need one afterwards: windowsserver2008-01.jpg
When I entered my license key I got this error: “Windows Installation encountered an error and needs to be restarted”. I had to install it without a license key: windowsserver2008-02.jpg
You have to select the version you're going to activate later: windowsserver2008-03.jpg
Select the disk where Windows should be installed. As you can see I used a 40 GB harddisk which is recommended: windowsserver2008-04.jpg
When the installation is done you get this screen, which gives you a nice list of what you should do before the server could be taken into production: windowsserver2008-05.jpg
On my network I have to disable TCP/IP v6: windowsserver2008-06.jpg
These are all the steps that were configured:

  • Set time zone
  • Set ntp time synchronization
  • Configured the network with a fixed IP address
  • Changed the name of the server and added it to the domain
  • Installed all available updates

Activation

As mentioned before I installed Windows Server 2008 without a license. To manually activate and license Windows Server 2008 go into the properties of the computer: Start → Right click Computer and select properties. Below you'll see “xx Day(s) to activate. Activate Windows now.” Click here to enter your license key and activate Windows Server 2008.

windowsserver2008.txt · Last modified: 2021/09/24 00:25 by 127.0.0.1