Would you like to avoid spending your weekends patching servers? The new Hotpatch feature in Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure Edition addresses this pain point—it can reduce many IT teams’ headaches including reboot failures and coordinating multitier workloads. It increases productivity and end-user uptime and can reduce the vulnerability window that would result if an update is delayed.

To demonstrate how Hotpatching works, we’ve brought in an example from our very own Xbox team. In this article you’ll learn how Microsoft has been using Hotpatch with Windows Server 2022 Azure Edition to substantially reduce downtime for SQL Server databases running on Windows Server Azure virtual machines on an important set of backend services for the Xbox network.

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What is Hotpatch?

Hotpatch for Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure Edition allows you to apply every month’s “patch Tuesday” security updates, but does not require the server operating system to restart two out of three months.

While Hotpatch has been available on the Server Core option of Windows Server 2022 Azure Edition for some time, it has just become available in summer 2023 for the more widely used Desktop Experience option. You can see a demo of it in this on-demand session from Ignite.

Here’s what’s great about it:

• Higher availability and fewer restarts.
• Faster deployment of updates because the packages are smaller, install faster, and have easier patch orchestration using Azure Update Management.
• Better protection because the Hotpatch update packages are scoped to Windows security updates that install faster without restarting.

 When you enable Hotpatch, a baseline Cumulative Update is applied to the server. This update does require a reboot. After this point, your team can update easily, with fewer restarts, which can greatly reduce any vulnerability window. Check out this release documentation for details on the Hotpatch calendar.

How the Xbox network team uses Hotpatch

The Xbox network relies on several critical backend services hosted in SQL Server databases running on Windows Server Azure virtual machines. There are 18 different services hosted in this manner, with some services handled by two SQL Servers and others up to 120 SQL Servers. Some of these workloads have been in production for 15 years.

Of course, when you’re running backend services for a group of passionate gamers like Xbox network customers, it’s imperative to patch and restore services with as little downtime as possible.

Approximately 1,000 servers hosting these services started their journey on physical hardware when the services were first deployed, and more than 15 years later, through a process of rolling upgrades and migration, are now running in Azure hosted as infrastructure as a service (IaaS) Virtual Machines (VMs). According to senior service engineer Tim Dreyling, the team has found it “magnitudes easier to manage Windows Server on Azure VMs, over relying on data center support to address ‘machine’ issues.”

After migrating the backend Xbox network services from the earlier version of Windows Server 2022 Azure Edition to the version that supported Hotpatch, the team that supported these specific backend services went from an update cycle every month that could take weeks of careful orchestration to being able to apply Hotpatch updates across a fleet of nearly 1,000 servers in less than 48 hours two months out of every three.

“As a database administrator (DBA) this is the biggest thing to increase our service reliability and uptime since SQL Server Availability Groups were introduced with SQL Server 2012,” says Tim.

Hotpatch with Windows Server 2022 Datacenter Azure Edition isn’t just used with SQL Server with Xbox network backend services, but is also used on IaaS VMs running Active Directory DS Domain Controllers and VMs hosting web services roles.

While your services might not have the complexity and scale of the Xbox network, we think you’ll quickly see the Hotpatch advantage of minimizing reboot downtimes while ensuring the services you host are reliable, protected, and available.

Hotpatch is currently available on Azure Edition (see below for details), but the team has more innovations in the works, and many ways to access cloud innovation in your hybrid cloud environment by connecting your servers to Azure Arc.

In case you weren’t able to join us at Ignite, you can watch two Windows Server-focused sessions on-demand. These talks cover Hotpatching and the Xbox example discussed above, along with a number of new and upcoming features for our Windows Server and SQL Server customers:

1. Do More with Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure—Bob Ward, Principal Architect in the Azure Data team, and Jeff Woolsey Principal PM Manager in Windows Server, do a quick-fire session with descriptions of the latest innovations across these technologies.
2. What’s New in Windows Server v.Next—Elden Christensen, Principal Group PM Manager, joins Jeff Woolsey to explain and demo the features that our engineering team is working on for the next Windows Server.

If you’re interested in being hands-on and trying what’s coming next for Windows Server, you can get early access to the latest features in the works by joining the Windows Insider program.

Learn more about Windows Server and Hotpatch

• Try the latest versions of SQL Server and Windows Server 2022 on Azure.
• You can find out more about Hotpatch for Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure Edition in the documentation and in this blog post.
• Download the image here to get the new edition with Hotpatch (Azure account required).

The post How Hotpatching on Windows Server is changing the game for Xbox appeared first on Microsoft Windows Server Blog.

Containers have become synonymous with application modernization, and Kubernetes has become the leading solution for orchestrating containerized applications. With Windows Server version 1709, Windows now has parity with Linux for Kubernetes networking from a platform perspective. At the same time, we are looking to expand the Kubernetes ecosystem so that Windows worker nodes and services running .NET, ASP.NET, IIS, and other Windows apps can be orchestrated by Kubernetes.

Today, I’m excited to announce our partnership with Tigera to contribute towards Project Calico for Kubernetes. Calico is a community based, free and open source solution, maintained by Tigera, that is designed to simplify, scale and secure networks and services managed by Kubernetes. It solves a major pain point for developers and DevOps teams by enabling them to manage the complexity of defining, configuring and securing networking topologies for applications and mapping those policies to the underlying fabric. Microsoft is extending Calico’s functionality to support Windows Server version 1709 by contributing code for the Calico data plane driver (Felix) so that it can manage network policy on Windows Server worker nodes.

The Felix data plane driver runs on every K8s node and is responsible for programming ACLs, and routes, to provide the desired connectivity and security to container endpoints and services. An orchestrator plugin for Kubernetes enables users to specify their policy using Kubernetes network policy syntax with Calico, completed through the Felix data plane driver. A richer set of policy is available through Calico directly.

On Windows, the Felix data plane driver interfaces with the Windows Host Networking Service (HNS) and takes the network policy received from Calico/Kubernetes and invokes the HNS APIs to add them as ACL policies. HNS then programs the Virtual Filtering Platform (VFP) Hyper-V switch extension, roughly analogous to iptables in Linux, which enforces these policies in the Windows data path.

The result of this work is that users running mixed OS (Linux and Windows) Kubernetes clusters can now define and manage network policy in a consistent manner to secure their containerized applications and microservices. Previously, network policy enforcement for container endpoints could not be managed on Windows nodes even though the platform itself (VFP) included this capability. DevOps and admins can now associate security policies with specific endpoints and services on these mixed clusters.

Support for Calico network policy on Windows is currently at ‘beta’ level, and Microsoft and Tigera are working with a limited number of joint customers to conduct trials over the coming months, with the goal of reaching general availability in the first half of 2018.

Calico for Windows will work for both on-premises and cloud-based deployments including Microsoft’s Azure Container Service through ACS-Engine. It will also enable interoperability of Windows nodes with Tigera’s commercial secure application connectivity solution, CNX, with the limitation that hierarchical policies will not be supported by this initial release of Calico for Windows.

At this time, the Felix data plane driver on Windows is used for network policy (ACL) enforcement and not interface management or route programming. However, these features are on our product roadmap as many customers find that static route configuration or overlay-based networks are difficult to configure correctly and have performance limitations. To provide a networking solution which works for both Linux and Windows K8s cluster nodes, Microsoft has brought support for Flannel to Windows and created two CNI plugins for host-gateway and overlay networking modes, and is working with the community to upstream these contributions.

Special thanks to Nick Wood from Microsoft for writing the code for the Calico/Felix data plane driver on Windows, and Shaun Crampton from Tigera for providing consulting and assistance.

The post Securing modernized apps and simplified networking on Windows with Calico appeared first on Microsoft Windows Server Blog.

Windows Containers offer two different types of containers or runtimes – Windows Server Containers, which provides application isolation through process and namespace isolation technology, and Hyper-V Isolation, which expands on the isolation provided by Windows Server Containers by running each container in a highly optimized virtual machine. Running a container on Windows with or without Hyper-V Isolation is a runtime decision.

On Tuesday, December 5th, 2017 from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM Pacific, we will host a one-hour AMA (Ask Microsoft Anything) focused on Windows Containers. In this free session, you’ll be able to ask Microsoft experts your questions about the new, graphical management solution for Windows Server.

Our goal for this AMA is to help you learn:

• What are containers?
• What types of Windows Containers are there?
• What is Docker?
• How do I containerize an app?
• What resources are available for developers and IT pros?

Learn more about Windows containers on Windows Server. Then join the conversation to interact directly with the people who built them.

The post Ask Microsoft Anything: Windows Server Containers appeared first on Microsoft Windows Server Blog.

The preview builds are an important part of the development process for Windows Server. It’s through the feedback from customers using these builds that we’re able to find and fix bugs, as well as continue to improve each release. In addition, within these releases we show some new features and capabilities so if you’re looking for what’s next, here’s your chance to see what’s coming.

Storage Spaces Direct ready for validation and feedback!

Yes, we told you this when we first launched version 1709. Storage Spaces Direct is the foundation of our hyper-converged solution and we’re continuing to evolve it. In this preview build we not only brought it back, but we’re adding some new and important updates to it, such as support for Data Deduplication, a largely requested feature for Storage Spaces Direct and ReFS. Starting in this build you’ll be able to save up to 50% of data footprint.

It’s important to remember though, that Windows Server 2016 (the latest Long-Term Servicing Channel release) continues to be the recommended version for production hyper-converged systems, and the Windows Server Software Defined program offers an end-to-end validated solution. The preview builds are not supported in production environments and the Semi-Annual Channel releases should only be considered for workloads that would benefit from the fastest release cadence.

Project Honolulu preview builds available for Insiders!

New to Insiders, an early update to the technical preview of Project “Honolulu”. Project “Honolulu” is a flexible, lightweight browser-based customer-deployed platform and solution for Windows Server management scenarios for troubleshooting, configuration, and maintenance. Project “Honolulu” technical preview 1711 build 01003 is now available to Insiders, before the public, and is our first update since our initial technical preview 1709 released for Ignite.

This new preview build of Project “Honolulu” brings some very exciting new features including support for managing Windows 10 in a new “Computer Management” solution, a new Remote Desktop tool for connecting directly to targeted machines, and some performance improvements and bug fixes.

How to get started, new features, and known issues

If you haven’t yet, sign up for the Windows Insiders program. To obtain the build, registered Insiders may navigate directly to the Windows Server Insider preview download page. You may also want to check the Getting Started with Server page to get a step-by-step guide on how to start using the Windows Server preview builds. A complete list of new features and known issues will be available in the Window Server Insiders space in the Tech Community.

The most important part of a frequent release cycle is to hear what’s working and what needs to be improved, so your feedback is extremely valued. Use your registered Windows 10 Insider device and use the Feedback Hub application. In the app, choose the “Server” category and then the appropriate subcategory for your feedback. Please indicate what build number you are providing feedback on.

We will continue to provide new preview builds prior to the next release in the Semi-Annual Channel, so keep an eye out to see what’s coming!

The post Windows Server preview build 17035 available for Windows Insiders! appeared first on Microsoft Windows Server Blog.

Q: What is the Semi-Annual Channel?

A: For Windows Server, the Semi-Annual Channel is a new model that provides opportunity for customers innovating quickly to take advantage of new operating system capabilities at a faster pace. It focuses on two very specific customer scenarios:

• Customers innovating in the application space – particularly those building with containers and microservices.
• Customers evolving their infrastructure with software-defined datacenter and hybrid cloud capabilities.

The Semi-Annual Channel releases are supported for 18 months and a new release will be out twice a year. In contrast, the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) continues to have 5 years of mainstream support and 5 years of extended support, with a new release planned for every 2-3 years. Windows Server 2016 is the latest LTSC release. You can find more information on end of support dates for the Semi-Annual Channel releases on the Release Information page.

Q: I have Windows Server 2016 running today. Can I upgrade to version 1709?

A: Windows Server, version 1709 is not an update to Windows Server 2016. Instead, it is a new release in a different channel with a different support model. To move from Windows Server 2016 (or previous versions) to Windows Server, version 1709 you’ll need to run a clean install. In-place upgrades are not supported as Windows Server 2016 is a LTSC release and version 1709 is a Semi-Annual Channel release and they have different support models.

Q: Which customers can use the Semi-Annual Channel releases?

A: To use the Semi-Annual Channel releases in production, customers need Software Assurance on their Windows Server licenses. Customers without Software Assurance can use the Semi-Annual Channel releases on Azure or other cloud/hosting environments.

Q: What editions are available in the Semi-Annual Channel?

A: Windows Server 2016 has different editions to support customers with different environments and sizes, such as Standard, Datacenter, and Essentials. However, because the Semi-Annual Channel focuses on very specific scenarios (listed above), the only editions available in the current channel are Standard and Datacenter.

Q: I heard Server Core is the only installation option available. Is this true?

A: Yes. Server Core is the installation option recommended for the two scenarios above. For that reason, we decided to have Server Core as the only installation option for this channel. For customers who want a GUI for administration purposes, we highly recommend checking out Project “Honolulu”, a new management experience for Windows Server.

Q: I heard Storage Spaces Direct is not present in version 1709. Is that true? How should I think about Storage Spaces Direct?

A: Storage Spaces Direct was introduced in Windows Server 2016 and remains the foundation for our hyper-converged story. Following our successful Windows Server 2016 release, we’ve listened to our customers and are already working to deliver the next set of hyper-converged innovation. While, we elected to keep these features in preview for the Windows Server, version 1709 release, there will be another release available very soon. More information can be found on the Release Notes page. Here’s how you should think about Storage Spaces Direct today:

• If you want to use Storage Spaces Direct in production today, we recommend you begin with Windows Server 2016 and the Windows Server Software Defined program, which offers a validated hyper-converged solution.
• If you prefer the Semi-Annual Channel, you can join the Windows Insiders program and download the preview builds.

Q: Where can I find more information on Windows Server, version 1709 and the Semi-Annual Channel?

A: You can learn more at the resources below:

• Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel overview
• What’s New in Windows Server version 1709
• Windows Server, version 1709 Mechanics video
• Release Notes: Important Issues in Windows Server, version 1709
• Windows Server release information

We hope this information helps clarify when and how to use the Semi-Annual Channel and Windows Server, version 1709. We’re working hard to deliver innovation and new features to you in a faster cadence, so keep an eye out as we’ll have more news soon! In the meantime, continue to send your feedback and questions.

The post FAQ on Windows Server, version 1709 and Semi-Annual Channel appeared first on Microsoft Windows Server Blog.

What a great day! Back in June, we announced Windows Server was joining the Semi-Annual Channel release cadence to deliver innovation at a faster pace. Two weeks ago at Ignite, we announced Windows Server, version 1709, the first release in this new model, and today you can start using it!

Software Assurance customers can download Windows Server, version 1709 from the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) portal. The images are listed as Windows Server Standard and Windows Server Datacenter. This will allow us to list other Semi-Annual Channel releases in the future.

Azure customers can also deploy Windows Server, version 1709 based on the image in the Azure Marketplace. If you run virtual machines in a hosted environment, you can also check the images that your service provider made available.

Windows Server, version 1709 is only the first step in this new world of faster release cadences. The most important aspect of having new releases twice a year is customer feedback will shape the product. You can try the preview builds of Windows Server in the Semi-Annual Channel and provide feedback by joining the Windows Insiders program. You can also join the conversation in the Microsoft Tech Community where we have tons of professionals and experts sharing their learnings and answering questions.

To stay up-to-date with all the news around Windows Server, follow our Twitter and Facebook accounts!

The post Windows Server, version 1709 available for download! appeared first on Microsoft Windows Server Blog.

Today we are excited to announce the launch of the first release of Windows Server to ship in the Semi-Annual Channel. We call it version 1709 (get it? 2017, ninth month?) and it’s a really important step in the evolution of Windows Server. With releases every six months, the Semi-Annual Channel is designed to deliver continuous innovation for customers who want to take advantage of new operating system capabilities at a faster pace.

Windows Server 2016 was a significant release for us as it set us on a path of continuous innovation and delivery for this product in much the same way many of you are modernizing your applications. It’s only been a year since the launch and we’re pleased to deliver many cool new features so quickly. While our work continues to span investments across the application platform and virtualization infrastructure, for this specific release you’ll see a majority of investments accruing to applications, particularly those built on containers and microservices.

Application innovation with containers and microservices

We know many customers are still taking their first steps in the process of modernizing their applications. For those customers we have an updated Server Core container image that has been further optimized for lift-and-shift scenarios where you can migrate existing code bases or applications into containers with minimal if any changes – and it’s also 60% smaller. We also have an updated Nano Server container image that is nearly 80% smaller – perfect for your new cloud applications or microservices.

Flexibility is another important aspect for customers running containers and we heard from customers that they want choice in the frameworks and platforms they use. As announced at DockerCon back in April, we are bringing support for Linux containers natively to Windows Server. The platform work is in version 1709 and the Docker work is nearly completed as well! This flexibility enables customers running Windows and Linux containers to run it on the same Windows host side-by-side and with your choice of Linux kernels provided by major Linux vendors.

As we onboard more and more Linux applications on Windows Server, we also want to ensure the current tools and scripts you use will work naturally. The Windows Subsystem for Linux (also known as Bash on Windows) allows developers and operations teams to bring their existing scripts to the Windows Server environment – saving precious time and allowing a faster ramp-up.

A new management experience for Windows Server

On September 14th, we also announced Project “Honolulu” – a new flexible, locally-deployed, browser-based management platform for managing Windows Server. With support for both hybrid and traditional disconnected server environments, Project “Honolulu” provides a quick and easy solution for common IT admin tasks with a lightweight deployment to remotely manage not only Windows Server, version 1709, but Windows Server 2016, 2012 R2 and 2012.

You can check out the technical preview of Project “Honolulu” for yourself today.

Here’s a quick video of Jeff Woolsey, Principal Program Manager in the Windows Server team, talking about Windows Server, version 1709 and the new management experience:

Availability

We are excited to bring Windows server, version 1709 on Azure to you in early October. Customers with Software Assurance on their Windows Server licenses or MSDN licenses will be able to download this release from the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) portal starting in mid-October.

Get started today and join the conversation!

An important aspect of our development process is how much feedback from users around the world influences the final product, and this release is no exception. Earlier this summer, Windows Server began participating in the Windows Insiders program which has really amplified the number of people evaluating and testing early releases. It’s really based on their feedback that we decide what features will be shipped in each release. If you haven’t yet signed up to participate in the program, I’d encourage you to do it today. It’s simple to get started and your feedback goes right to the people creating the product! You can also join the conversation via Microsoft Tech Community, which has grown to over 11K members since last Ignite!

We can’t wait to hear the amazing things you’ll be doing with Windows Server!

The post Faster releases for a faster world – First semi-annual release of Windows Server appeared first on Microsoft Windows Server Blog.

A decade ago came the virtualization wave, where datacenters filled full of hundreds of servers were virtualized and reduced to dozens of servers. The consolidation of the compute layer brought incredible cost savings to the business, and IT admins were hailed as heroes. The next evolution for the on-premises datacenter is here with hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) where the storage and compute layers are being collapsed to reduce costs and achieve new levels of performance, resulting in IT admin’s once again being hailed as heroes.

In Windows Server 2016 we introduced our Microsoft hyper-converged solution, and we are seeing incredible adoption and wonderful success stories. HCI in Windows Server 2016 represented a major investment and the beginning of a journey, and we will continue the hyper-converged infrastructure journey in the Semi-Annual Channel cadence. Building on our successful launch of HCI, here is a sneak peak into some of the enhancements you will see coming:

• Data Deduplication: You will now be able to achieve upwards of 95% data efficiency on your HCI solution. We have also done deep integration to dedup data as it is rotated between tiers in the most optimal way.
• Management: HCI will reduce the hardware acquisition costs, but we also want to reduce the operational expenses to deliver the lowest cost way to run your datacenter. We have an all new management experience that is specifically tailored to managing your HCI solution in the most simple and intuitive way.
• Performance: The Microsoft HCI solution is the industry leader in performance, but we aren’t going to let that be good enough! In the next releases we will be raising the bar even further with integration of evolving silicon, like Persistent Memory, and improving our erasure coding performance to deliver higher performance capacity optimized solutions.

We have much more coming, in diagnosability, additional workloads/scenarios, security, and expanding the hardware ecosystem, to name a few. We look forward to seeing you at Microsoft Ignite on September 25th – 29th in Orlando, Florida where you can learn more about all the hyper-converged infrastructure enhancements coming in the next releases in the Semi-Annual Channel.

If you haven’t already, join the Windows Insiders program so you can get started with the preview builds for Windows Server, version 1709. Also, don’t forget to join the conversation in the Tech Community!

Be an IT hero once again with Microsoft hyper-converged!

Check out other blogs in this series:

• Sneak Peek #1: Windows Server, version 1709

UPDATE: As announced during Ignite, Windows Server, version 1709 will focus on helping customers on their application innovation journey with containers and microservices. The items mentioned in this blog post are still available for Windows Insiders and will show up in the next release in the Semi-Annual Channel.

The post Sneak peek #2: Windows Server, version 1709 hyper-converged infrastructure appeared first on Microsoft Windows Server Blog.