New Features
  There are many exciting new changes in Windows Server 2008 (WS2K8), both in administrative tools, new functionality, and under the hood changes that enhance performance, save time and money, increase reliability, add functionality, and overall let an IT administrator build a flexible and robust server platform. Some key highlights:
 
Server Management Console: For local administration of a single server, Server Manager is an integrated Microsoft® Management Console that offers IT professionals a seamless, integrated experience for adding, removing and configuring server roles, role services and features. It also acts as a portal for ongoing server management, monitoring and operations by exposing key management tasks based on server role, and providing access to advanced administration tools. In larger enterprises, management of multiple servers can be automated using Windows PowerShell™, which consists of a new command line shell and scripting language designed specifically to automate administration tasks for server roles such as IIS and Active Directory®.

Windows Server Hyper-V, the next-generation hypervisor-based server virtualization technology, allows you to make the best use of your server hardware investments by consolidating multiple server roles as separate virtual machines running on a single physical machine. You can also efficiently run multiple operating systems - Windows, Linux, and others – in parallel on a single server. With Hyper-V and simple licensing policies, it's now easier than ever to take advantage of the cost savings of virtualization.  Applications can also be efficiently virtualized using Windows Server 2008 centralized application access technologies. Terminal Services Gateway and Terminal Services RemoteApp allow easy remote access to standard Windows-based programs from anywhere by running them on a terminal server instead of directly on a client computer - without the need for a complicated virtual private network (VPN).
 

Next-generation Web.Server: Windows Server 2008 comes with Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS 7.0), a Web server and security-enhanced, easy-to-manage platform for developing and reliably hosting Web applications and services. A major enhancement to the Windows Web platform, IIS 7.0 includes a componentized architecture for greater flexibility and control. IIS 7.0 also provides simplified management, powerful diagnostic and troubleshooting capabilities that save time, and comprehensive extensibility. Internet Information Server IIS 7.0 together with the .NET Framework 3.0 provides a comprehensive platform for building applications that connect users and data, enabling them to visualize, share, and act on information. Additionally, IIS 7.0 plays a central role in unifying Microsoft's Web platform technologies - ASP.NET, Windows Communication Foundation Web services, and Windows SharePoint Services.

Windows PowerShell™ - Command shell and scripting language for task automation - Windows PowerShell is the new command-line shell and scripting language designed to increase IT professionals’ productivity and control by allowing them to more easily automate system management tasks. Windows PowerShell does not require a background in programming, nor does it require that customers migrate their existing scripts; it will work with existing command-line tools.

Server Core. Minimal installation option for better security and reliability. Administrators can choose to install Windows Server 2008 by using the new Server Core installation option to deliver full server functionality for select server roles without extra overhead. Microsoft said at TechEd 2006 that Server Core was developed as a response to customer requests to provide a lean server operating system that would permit specific server functions to run without all the overhead of the GUI. That's right -- a Windows OS without a GUI! Well … almost. After logon, you will be presented with a desktop with no start menu, taskbar or icons, and two command windows. Installation of roles such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), DNS, file services and print server will be done completely from the command line. So why don't we just boot into a command environment and do away with the whole GUI thing? Because this environment will still allow you to open applications such as Event Viewer, notepad and others. In addition to making the server better defined for administrative purposes and reducing the hardware resources required, Server Core also permits better security at remote sites, allowing a smaller footprint of exposure.

Read-Only Domain Controller (RODC). Windows Server 2008 RODC is designed to be installed in remote locations that may lack physical security such as branch offices. It enables local user authentication through unidirectional replication from the global Active Directory, while ensuring that sensitive information is not cached. It also allows administrative permissions to be delegated to local users to manage the RODC without allowing them any additional permissions on the domain.

Clean Service Shutdown. One of Windows' historical problems concerns its system shutdown procedure. In XP, once shutdown begins, the system starts a 20-second timer. After that time is up, it signals the user whether she wants to terminate the application herself, perhaps prematurely. For Windows Server, that same 20-second timer may be the lifeclock for an application, even one that's busy spooling ever-larger blocks of data to the disk. In WS2K8, that 20-second countdown has been replaced with a service that will keep applications given the signal all the time they need to shut down, as long as they continually signal back that they're indeed shutting down.

Kernel Transaction Manager. This is a feature which developers can take advantage of, which could greatly reduce, if not eliminate, one of the most frequent causes of System Registry and file system corruption: multiple threads seeking access to the same resource. In a formal database, a set of instructed changes is stored in memory, in sequence, and then "committed" all at once as a formal transaction. This way, other users aren't given a snapshot of the database in the process of being changed - the changes appear to happen all at once. This feature is finally being utilized in the System Registry of both Vista and Windows Server 2008.
New and Improved Security features:
Windows Server 2008 is the most secure Windows Server ever. Its hardened operating system and security innovations, including Network Access Protection, Federated Rights Management, and Read-Only Domain Controller, provide unprecedented levels of protection for your network, your data, and your business.
  • Network Access Protection - Health validation and compliance checking for client devices
  • Read-Only Domain Controller - Increased security and delegated management for branch offices
  • Bit Locker / Cryptography
  • Active Directory Rights Management Services
  • Protection of your server with security innovations that reduce attack surface area of the kernel, resulting in a more robust and secure server environment.
  • Protection of your network access with Network Access Protection that gives you the power to isolate computers that don't comply with security policies you set. The ability to enforce security requirements is a powerful means of protecting your network.
  • Enhanced solutions for intelligent rules and policies creation to increase control and protection over networking functions, allowing you to have a policy-driven network.
  • Protection of your data to ensure it can only be accessed by users with the correct security context, and to make it available when hardware failures occur.
  • Protection against malicious software with User Account Control with a new authentication architecture.
  • Increased control over your user settings with Expanded Group Policy.