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Windows Server 2019 is the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) perpetual-license release of Microsoft's flagship server operating system. Windows Server 2019 includes all the updates to Windows Server 2016 previously available only through the Semi-Annual Channel (SAC). Windows Server 2019 incorporates significant enhancements in scale, performance, manageability, cybersecurity, application support, Linux compatibility, container technology, and hybrid integration of on-premises and cloud resources.

Headline new features of Windows Server 2019 include Windows Admin Center for centralizing the management and monitoring of hybrid local/cloud deployments, System Insights for utilizing modern predictive analytics to manage local environments, Windows Defender ATP Exploit Guard for host-intrusion prevention, container networking with Kubernetes, Cluster Sets for creating and managing large, high-availability scale-out clusters, and Storage Migration Service for streamlining the migration from legacy Windows servers.

Progent can help you integrate Windows Server 2019 with the latest releases of Microsoft's popular applications by providing services that include Exchange Server consulting, SQL Server 2019 integration expertise, SQL Server 2017 configuration consulting, SharePoint 2016 development, and Office 365 expertise. Progent's consulting, troubleshooting, and training services for Windows Server 2019 are available online and Progent also offers onsite consulting in major metropolitan areas across the United States.

Hybrid Cloud Solutions with Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2019 makes Microsoft's Azure stack available to organizations of all sizes for building on-premises networks, private clouds, or hybrid systems that combine local resources with infrastructure and services provided by private and public clouds.

Most of today's businesses deploy a mix of on-premises and cloud-based resources to get the appropriate balance of control, economy, performance, availability, and security they require. In some industries, compliance regulations require that certain resources and information be retained locally. In other cases, corporate policies or compatibility issues require line-of-business applications to be hosted locally. Windows Server 2019 offers a cloud-friendly solution that allows you to build and manage powerful hybrid networks that distribute resources transparently across local facilities and the cloud.

Planning, building and managing efficient hybrid solutions with Windows Server 2019 demands a wide range of knowledge and experience that is outside the comfort zone of most IT staffs maintained by smaller organization. Progent's team of subject-matter experts give you on-demand access to the knowledge you need for any facet of hybrid networking design and management. Progent's Microsoft-certified and Cisco-certified consultants, project managers, and cybersecurity professionals can help you assess the advantages of Windows Server 2019 for your organization and create a hybrid ecosystem based on Windows Server 2019 that delivers maximum business value.

A Good Time to Migrate
The release of Windows Server 2019 coincides with the announcement of End-of-Support status for Microsoft's popular Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 products. This means there will be no more security updates on-premises, no non-security updates, no free support options, and no online technical content updates. Consequently, security and compliance issues will become increasingly challenging, maintenance costs may go up, and system stability may go down.

If you want help moving up to Windows Server 2019 from Windows Server 2008 or from any other out-of-date release of Windows Server, Progent can provide the knowledge and experience to make your migration efficient, affordable, and on-schedule. Progent can help you:

• Identify and inventory your applications and server roles running on your current Windows Servers
• Move your virtual machines to the Private Progent Cloud or upgrade to the latest version of Windows Server or to Azure
• Fine-tune your resources to optimize costs, manage resources, and strengthen security and compliance across hybrid workloads

Windows Server 2019 has two installation options. Installation options are Server Core and Server with Desktop Experience. Server Core has a minimal footprint and no local interface but supports all server roles. This so-called "headless" version must be managed remotely. The Server with Desktop Experience option is a complete installation and includes a rich graphical user interface (GUI) for local management. Progent's consultants can help you to select the editions and installation options most appropriate for your situation, understand Microsoft's licensing rules, and choose an efficient onsite, cloud-based, or hybrid deployment model.

Top New Features of Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2019 offers significant improvements in scale, performance, manageability, Hyper-V virtualization, cybersecurity, hybrid deployments, storage, availability, containers, Linux support, and other important areas. Editions of Windows Server 2019 licensed under the SAC model are updated twice a year, and so make new features available much sooner than under the LTSC model.

In terms of sheer scale, Windows Server 2019 offers major improvements over its predecessor Windows Server 2016:

Other headline enhancements in Windows Server 2019 include:

• Cluster Sets is a technology that supports orders of magnitude increases in cluster node count in a Software Defined Data Center by grouping numerous smaller Failover Clusters into a single large, centrally managed fabric. You can transparently migrate VMs throughout the Cluster Set fabric and manage every aspect of a Failover Cluster from onboarding to retirement. Clusters joined in a Cluster Set can take advantage of extra storage and memory in another cluster without requiring that you buy additional hardware. Compute and storage resources do not have to be identical, and resiliency is as good or better than with conventional Failover Clusters.
  
  Prior to Windows Server 2019, multiple Hyper-V clusters for VMs were cumbersome to manage and scale
  
  Windows Server 2019 introduces Cluster Sets for centralized management of failover clusters

• Storage Replica is now included in the Standard edition of Windows Server 2019. Storage Replica provides advanced disaster recovery capability and is described in Windows Server 2016 Storage Replica consulting. New features of Storage Replica include a test failover option that allows you to bring a destination volume online temporally for testing and backup. In addition, you can now manage Storage Replica with the new Windows Admin Center, which provides a graphical tool for managing operations like server-to-server, cluster-to-cluster, and stretch cluster replication.
• Storage Spaces Direct improvements include deduplication and compression for ReFS volumes, native support for persistent memory, the ability to use a commodity flash drive as a witness with two-server clusters, increased scale (up to 4 PB per cluster), doubled performance for mirror-accelerated parity, outlier detection for drive latency, and the ability to increase fault tolerance by manually delimiting volume allocation. The Storage Spaces Direct feature is discussed in Windows Server 2016 Storage Spaces Direct consulting.
• Storage Migration Service vastly simplifies the process of migrating legacy servers to newer versions of Windows Server. You can use Storage Migration Service to migrate to newer hardware or to VMs. The tool automatically inventories multiple servers and their data; copies files, shares, and security configurations to their new servers; and allows you to assume the identity of the legacy servers so users and applications can access existing data without making any changes. Windows Admin Center's user interface can manage multiple simultaneous migrations.
• Expanded Linux support allows you to run Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server within shielded VMs. The Shielded Virtual Machines feature is described in Windows Server 2016 Shielded Virtual Machines consulting.
• Windows Admin Center is a new web-based application deployed locally for managing servers, clusters, hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) with Storage Spaces Direct, Windows 10 computers, and Azure hosted VMs. Windows Admin Center can also be used to manage Windows Server 2012 and later. Windows Admin Center is an "in-box" management tool and so can be used to manage servers on private networks not connected to the Internet. By publishing the Windows Admin Center gateway server to the public Internet, you can manage your servers securely from anywhere.
  
  
  Windows Admin Center lets you manage local and Azure cloud virtual machines from a single pane of glass

• Container networking with Kubernetes, the popular open-source management tool for Docker containers, has improved support including the ability to use network security to protect Linux and Windows services using embedded tooling. For a discussion of containers on Windows Server, see Windows Server 2016 containers consulting.
• Deduplication and compression for ReFS volumes can deliver an order of magnitude more data on a given Resilient File System volume. Microsoft's ReFS file system, introduced in Windows Server 2012, combines solid-state performance tiers for handling hot data along with HDD/SDD capacity tiers for scale and fault tolerance.
• Windows Defender ATP (Advanced Threat Protection) is included with Windows Server 2019 as a built-in feature requiring no special license and no agent installation.
• Encrypted Networks encrypts traffic between VMs communicating within subnets designated as Encryption Enabled. Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) on the virtual subnet prevents anyone with access to the physical network from reading, modifying, or spoofing network data. Traffic between encrypted subnets is not encrypted.
• A USB Flash Drive connected to your router can be used as a witness in two-server clusters under Storage Spaces Direct. With this low-cost, no-hassle solution, if a server fails and then recovers, the USB drive cluster can tell you which server has the most current data.
  
  
  Windows Server 2019 allows a USB Flash drive to act as a witness in two-server clusters

• Low Extra Delay Background Transport (LEDBAT) automatically controls network congestion by consuming bandwidth only when the network is not being utilized by users and applications. This allows an organization to send large, important updates throughout an enterprise network without degrading the performance of business-critical services.
• System Insights uses predictive analytics and machine learning to simplify capacity planning. System Insights runs locally on each Windows Server 2019 instance and analyses performance counters and system events to forecast capacity requirements in key areas including usage for volumes, total storage capacity, CPU, and networking.
• Windows Time Service supports the new time synchronization method called Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and provides accurate time during a leap second. Windows Server 2019 also offers time traceability, software timestamping, and clock source stability. These features deliver greater accuracy and precision, allow compliance with UTC and other regulations such as FINRA, and meet the requirements of special time-sensitive workloads. Because network configuration requires care to support PTP, Network Time Protocol (NTP) remains the default synchronization method.

Progent's certified cybersecurity consultants can help you follow leading practices to create a modern security solution that is consistent across local and cloud resources as well as mobile end points. Progent can help you set up centralized and proactive security monitoring and management using an optimal combination of Microsoft and third-party cybersecurity tools and services. Progent also offers cybersecurity audits to make sure your network complies with regulatory and industry data security requirements such as SOX, ISO 27001, PCI DSS 3.2, and FedRAMP.

Progent roster of Cisco CCIE-certified network infrastructure consultants is one of the largest of any independent IT services firm in the United States. Progent can help you deploy and manage a resilient hybrid network infrastructure that incorporates the high-availability and disaster recovery technologies included with Windows Server 2019. Progent's disaster recovery consultants and business continuity experts can help you plan and test a comprehensive strategy for recovering quickly from catastrophic events.

To help you manage your Windows Server 2019 and Hyper-V environment, Progent can provide a range of services like Windows Admin Center consulting, PowerShell scripting, System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVVM) hybrid cloud management consulting, and System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) integration. Progent also offers the ProSight family of remote monitoring and management (RMM) outsourcing packages that give small and mid-size businesses an affordable and effective option for server and infrastructure management.

Progent's Online Consulting and Troubleshooting Services
Progent has two decades of experience delivering advanced online consulting and troubleshooting expertise and has provided online technical support to organizations in every state in the United States. (See Progent's Customer Testimonials.) Progent also offers onsite support in most metropolitan areas across the U.S. Progent can provide on-demand support to help you with challenging technical issues or end-to-end project management outsourcing and co-sourcing services.

If you need immediate online help from a Microsoft-certified consultant, see Progent's Online Support Services.

Contact Progent for Help with Windows Server 2019
To find out more about Progent's consulting and troubleshooting services for Windows Server 2019, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.