Microsoft Gold-Certified Consultants

Microsoft Windows Server 2019 is the self-hosted release of Microsoft's flagship server operating system. Microsoft Windows Server 2019 includes the updates for Windows Server 2016 formerly offered only through the Semi-Annual Channel. Microsoft Windows Server 2019 features significant enhancements in scale, performance, manageability, cybersecurity, app compatibility, Linux support, Kubernetes technology, and hybrid combinations of on-premises and cloud-hosted resources.

Top new features of Windows Server 2019 include Windows Admin Center for centralizing the management and monitoring of hybrid on-premises/cloud-hosted deployments, System Insights for taking advantage of modern predictive intelligence to manage local environments, Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection Exploit Guard for host-intrusion prevention, container orchestration using Kubernetes, Cluster Sets technology for building and managing massive high-availability scale-out clusters, and Microsoft's Storage Migration Service for streamlining the migration from outdated editions of Windows Server.

Progent can help you to integrate Microsoft Windows Server 2019 with the latest releases of Microsoft's popular apps by providing services such as Microsoft Exchange Server consulting, Microsoft SQL Server 2019 integration expertise, SQL Server 2017 upgrade expertise, SharePoint 2019 planning and deployment, and Microsoft 365 integration expertise. Progent's consulting, troubleshooting and education services for Microsoft Windows Server 2019 are available remotely and Progent also provides on-premises consulting in metropolitan areas across the U.S. and Canada.

Hybrid Cloud Integration with Microsoft Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2019 makes the Azure stack available to businesses of all sizes for creating on-premises networks, private clouds, or hybrid systems that combine on-prem resources with resources provided via private and public clouds.

Many of today's businesses deploy a mix of local and cloud-hosted resources to deliver the right balance of flexibility, affordability, throughput, reliability, and security they require. For some industries, compliance regulations demand that certain classes of resources and information be retained internally. In other instances, corporate standards or legacy applications necessitate line-of-business applications to be hosted locally. Microsoft Windows Server 2019 offers a cloud-friendly solution that allows you to implement and manage powerful hybrid networks that transparently access resources spread across local facilities and the cloud.

Designing, building and administering efficient hybrid environments with Microsoft Windows Server 2019 demands a wide array of knowledge and experience. This can be beyond the comfort zone of typical in-house IT staffs maintained by smaller businesses. Progent's team of experts offers as-needed access to the knowledge you need for any facet of hybrid network implementation and maintenance. Progent's Microsoft Gold-certified and Cisco-certified consultants, project managers, and cybersecurity professionals can help you to assess the benefits of Microsoft Windows Server 2019 for your company and build a hybrid ecosystem powered by Windows Server 2019 that delivers top return on investment.

The Right Moment to Migrate
The introduction of Windows Server 2019 coincided with the notification of End-of-Support status for Microsoft's popular Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 platforms. The result is that there will be no more security updates on-premises, no other updates, no free support options, and no downloadable technical content updates. Consequently, security issues will be increasingly challenging, support costs may go up, and system robustness may go down.

If your organization could use guidance migrating to Windows Server 2019 from WS 2008 or from another legacy release of Windows Server, Progent offers the skills to make your migration smooth, affordable, and on-schedule. Progent's Windows experts can help you:

• Identify and inventory your apps and server roles running on your current Windows Servers
• Migrate your virtual machines to the Private Progent Cloud or upgrade to the latest version of self-hosted Windows Server or to Microsoft Azure
• Optimize your resources to minimize costs, manage resources, and strengthen data security across hybrid workloads

Windows Server 2019 has two installation options: Server Core and Server with Desktop Experience. The Server Core option features a minimal attack surface and no traditional desktop interface but handles all role-based workloads. This "headless" version is designed to be managed remotely, for example with the command line or RSAT. The Server with Desktop Experience option is a full installation and includes a rich graphical user interface for local management. Progent's consultants can assist you to select the editions and installation alternatives best suited to your environment, understand Microsoft's licensing rules, and choose an optimal onsite, cloud, or hybrid network model.

Top New Features of Windows Server 2019
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 features improved expandability, performance, administration, virtualization, data security, hybrid deployment support, disaster recovery, orchestration, Linux compatibility, and other important enhancements. Editions of Windows Server 2019 licensed under Microsoft's SAC model are updated two times a year, making enhancements available more quickly than under Microsoft's LTSC model.

Microsoft Windows Server 2019 delivers significant enhancements in scale compared to Microsoft Windows Server 2016:

Other notable enhancements in Microsoft Windows Server 2019 are:

• Cluster Sets is a feature that supports orders of magnitude increases in cluster node count in a Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) by grouping multiple smaller Failover Clusters into one massive, centrally managed interconnected topology. You can transparently move VMs throughout the Cluster Set fabric and control every aspect of a Failover Cluster from initial deployment to retirement. Clusters included in a Cluster Set can benefit from additional disk storage and memory in another cluster without requiring you to purchase additional equipment. Compute and storage assets do not need to be identical, and robustness is as good or better than with ordinary Failover Clusters.
  
  Prior to Microsoft Windows Server 2019, multiple Hyper-V clusters for VMs were cumbersome to manage and expand
  
  Microsoft Windows Server 2019 introduces Cluster Sets for centralized management of failover clusters

• Storage Replica has been included in the Standard edition of Windows Server 2019. Storage Replica provides next-generation disaster recovery capability and is described in Windows Server 2016 Storage Replica expertise. Novel features of Storage Replica in Windows Server 2019 include a test failover function that permits you to put a target volume online momentarily for testing and backup. Also, administrators can now manage Storage Replica with Windows Admin Center, which offers a graphical utility for managing operations like server-to-server and cluster-to-cluster replication.
• Storage Spaces Direct improvements include duplicate elimination and compression for Resilient File System (ReFS) volumes, integrated support for storage-class persistent memory, support for using a low-cost flash drive as a witness with two-server clusters, increased expandability (up to 4 PB for each cluster), twice the performance for mirror-accelerated parity volumes, outlier detection for abnormal disk latency, and improved fault tolerance by selectively delimiting volume allocation. Windows Server's Storage Spaces Direct technology is discussed in Microsoft Windows Storage Spaces Direct consultants.
• Storage Migration Service streamlines the process of migrating storage from older servers to newer releases of Windows Server or Azure. You can utilize Storage Migration Service to move to new hardware or to virtual machines. The tool inventories Windows and Linux servers and their data; copies files, shares, and security settings to their intended servers; and permits new hosts to assume the identity of the source servers so users and apps can access existing data without changing anything. Windows Admin Center's graphical interface can manage many concurrent migrations.
• Expanded Linux support allows you to host Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat Enterprise, and SUSE Enterprise Server on shielded VMs. Microsoft's Shielded Virtual Machines technology is described in Windows Server 2016 Shielded Virtual Machines consulting.
• Windows Admin Center is a web-based application deployed on-premises for controlling servers, clusters, HCI infrastructure with Storage Spaces Direct, Windows 10 computers, and Azure-hosted VMs. Windows Admin Center can 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 disconnected from the public Internet. By publishing the Windows Admin Center gateway server to the public Internet, you can manage your servers securely from anywhere.
  
  
  Microsoft Windows Admin Center permits you to manage on-prem and Azure cloud VMs from a centralized console

• Container networking with Kubernetes, the open-source open-source management system for Docker containers, offers improved capability like the ability to use embedded security tooling to guard both Windows and Linux services. For information about containers on Microsoft Windows Server, visit Windows Server containers consulting.
• Deduplication and Compression for ReFS Volumes allows an order of magnitude more data on a given ReFS volume. Microsoft's ReFS file technology, first released in Microsoft Windows Server 2012, integrates silicon performance tiers for hot data along with HDD/SDD capacity tiers for volume and fault tolerance.
• Windows Defender ATP (Advanced Threat Protection) comes with Microsoft Windows Server 2019 as a built-in feature that needs no special activation fee and no agent installation.
• Encrypted Networks is a function that encrypts data traveling between VMs interacting inside subnets you have designated as Encryption Enabled. Datagram Transport Layer Security on the virtual subnet blocks entities with access to the physical network from looking at, modifying, or spoofing network data. Data traveling between encrypted subnets is unencrypted.
• A USB Flash Drive connected to your router can be assigned as a witness in dual-server clusters under Storage Spaces Direct. With this economical, no-hassle solution, when a server fails and then returns to operation, the USB drive cluster can say which server contains the more current data.
  
  
  Microsoft Windows Server 2019 allows a USB Flash drive to act as a witness in two-server clusters

• Low Extra Delay Background Transport automatically avoids network congestion by taking up bandwidth only when the network is being only moderately utilized. This allows an organization to distribute massive, critical updates across a corporate network without degrading the performance of business-critical applications.
• System Insights uses predictive analytics to inform capacity planning. System Insights runs locally on every Microsoft Windows Server 2019 instance and analyses performance counters and system events to predict capacity needs in important areas including usage for volumes, total storage capacity, CPU, and network traffic volume.
• Windows Time Service supports the modern time synchronization method called Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and provides accurate time during a leap second. Windows Server 2019 also supports software time-stamping and clock source stability. These capabilities deliver greater accuracy and precision, comply with UTC and other regulations such as Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and meet the requirements of special time-sensitive applications. Because network configuration demands care to support the PTP protocol, the older Network Time Protocol remains the default synchronization method for Microsoft Windows Server 2019.

Progent's certified data security consultants can help you to adhere to best practices to create a modern security solution that is seamless across on-premises and cloud-based assets and mobile devices. Progent can assist your company to configure centralized and proactive data security monitoring and management using an optimal combination of security solutions from Microsoft and third-party providers. Progent also offers security assessments to verify that your network meets regulatory and industry data security mandates such as SOX, PCI DSS 3.2, and FedRAMP.

Progent's team of Cisco CCIE network consultants is among the largest of any independent IT services company in the United States. Progent can assist your business to design, configure and maintain a resilient and affordable hybrid network infrastructure that incorporates the latest HA and recovery technologies included with Microsoft Windows Server 2019. Progent's disaster recovery preparedness consultants can help your business create and validate a comprehensive strategy for recovering rapidly from any anticipated disaster.

To assist your organization to support your Microsoft Windows Server 2019 and Windows Hyper-V virtualized environment, Progent offers a variety of expertise like Windows Admin Center consulting, PowerShell scripting, SC Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) hybrid on-prem/cloud management consulting, and System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) deployment. Progent also offers the ProSight family of remote monitoring and management outsourcing packages that provide small and middle-size businesses (SMBs) an economical and efficient solution for network management.

Download the Datasheet for Progent's Windows Server 2019 Consulting Expertise
To download the datasheet describing Progent's expertise for Windows Server 2019, select:
Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Windows Server 2019. (PDF - 319 KB)

Progent's Remote Consulting Support and Debugging Services
Progent has 20 years of experience delivering rapid, high-level remote IT consulting and debugging support and has provided remote support to businesses in every state in the United States and throughout Canada. (Refer to Progent's Client Testimonials.) Progent also provides on-premises assistance in most U.S. metropolitan areas. Progent offers as-needed support to help your company with occasional technical problems or end-to-end project management outsourcing and co-sourcing support.

If you are in need of urgent online help from a Microsoft-certified consultant, refer to Progent's Remote Support Services.

Contact Progent for Expertise with Windows Server 2019
To find out more about Progent's consulting support and debugging services for Microsoft Windows Server 2019, call 1-800-993-9400 or see Contact Progent.