Microsoft Gold-Certified Consultants
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Consulting:
Planning, Deployment, Management and Troubleshooting
Windows Server 2019 is the perpetual-license version of Microsoft's server OS. Windows Server 2019 includes all the updates to Microsoft Windows Server 2016 previously available only via Microsoft's SAC program. Windows Server 2019 offers significant enhancements in capacity, performance, manageability, security and compliance, app compatibility, Linux support, Kubernetes technology, and hybrid combinations of local and cloud-hosted assets.
Top enhancements of Microsoft Windows Server 2019 are Windows Admin Center for centralizing the management of hybrid local/cloud deployments, System Insights for utilizing advance predictive intelligence to manage local environments, Windows Defender ATP (Advanced Threat Protection) Exploit Guard for host-intrusion prevention, container networking using Kubernetes, Cluster Sets for deploying and managing massive non-stop scale-out clusters, and Storage Migration Service for simplifying the migration from outdated versions of Windows Server.
Progent can assist your organization to integrate Windows Server 2019 with the latest releases of Microsoft's popular applications by providing expert services that include Microsoft Exchange Server expertise, SQL Server 2019 integration and development expertise, SQL Server 2017 upgrade consulting, SharePoint 2019 planning and deployment, and Office 365 integration expertise. Progent's solution design, troubleshooting and education support for Windows Server 2019 are offered online and Progent also offers on-premises support in metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Hybrid Cloud Integration with Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2019 makes Microsoft's Azure stack accessible to organizations of all sizes for creating on-premises networks, private cloud solutions, or hybrid architectures that integrate on-prem IT assets with infrastructure and services provided via the cloud.
Many of today's businesses manage a mix of on-premises and cloud-based IT assets to deliver the appropriate trade-off of flexibility, affordability, performance, reliability, and security/compliance they require. For some industries, regulatory compliance demand that specific types of resources and data be managed internally. In other cases, company standards or legacy applications necessitate line-of-business applications to be hosted locally. Windows Server 2019 offers a cloud-friendly solution that permits you to implement and manage powerful hybrid ecosystems that transparently access resources distributed across local facilities and the cloud.
Planning, configuring and managing optimized hybrid environments with Windows Server 2019 demands a broad range of skills. This is beyond the comfort zone of most IT groups maintained by smaller businesses. Progent's team of subject-matter experts (SBEs) offers as-needed access to the knowledge you require for any aspect of hybrid network implementation and management. Progent's Microsoft-certified and Cisco-certified consultants, project managers, and information security specialists can assist your business to assess the advantages of Microsoft Windows Server 2019 for your company and build a hybrid environment powered by Windows Server 2019 that delivers top business value.
A Good Time to Migrate
The release of Windows Server 2019 coincided with the announcement of End-of-Support (EOS) status for Microsoft's widely used Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 products. The result is that there will be no more security patches onsite, no other enhancements, no free support programs, and no downloadable technical updates. Consequently, security and compliance will be more challenging, maintenance costs and effort may increase, and network stability may drop.
If your business wants assistance migrating to Windows Server 2019 from WS 2008 or another older edition of Microsoft Windows Server, Progent offers the knowledge and experience to make your upgrade process efficient, affordable, and on-schedule. Progent can assist you to:
- Inventory your apps and server roles on your existing Windows Servers
- Migrate your virtual machines to the Progent Cloud or upgrade to the current version of on-prem Windows Server or to Microsoft Azure
- Fine-tune your resources to reduce spend, manage resources, and enhance security and compliance across hybrid workloads
Windows Server 2019 is offered in the economical Standard version and the enterprise-class Datacenter edition. The Datacenter version supports unlimited VMs while the Standard version allows only two VMs. The Datacenter version also offers advanced technologies such as Shielded Virtual Machines, Network Controller, Host Guardian Service, Storage Replica disaster recovery, SDN network management, and Storage Spaces Direct. Most of these technologies are described in Windows Server 2016 consulting services.
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 has two installation alternatives: Server Core and Server with Desktop Experience. The Server Core option has a small attack surface and has no local interface but supports all role-based workloads. This so-called "headless" mode must be managed remotely, for example with Power Shell or Remote Server Administration Tools. The Server with Desktop Experience option is a complete installation and includes a comprehensive graphical user interface for local management. Progent's consultants can help you to determine the editions and deployment alternatives most appropriate for your situation, comprehend Microsoft's licensing rules, and pick an optimal on-premises, cloud-based, or hybrid network model.
Top New Features of Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2019 offers improved expandability, performance, manageability, virtualization, data security, hybrid networking, disaster recovery, orchestration, Linux support, and other key enhancements. Editions of Windows Server 2019 acquired under the Semi-Annual Channel release model are updated twice a year, making new features available much sooner than under Microsoft's LTSC release model.
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 delivers substantial increases in scale compared to Microsoft Windows Server 2016:
| Scale Limit | Windows Server 2016 | Windows Server 2019 |
| Max raw capacity per cluster | 1 PB | 4 PB |
| Max raw capacity per server | 100 TB | 400 TB |
| Max number of volumes | 32 | 64 |
| Max size per volume | 32 TB | 64 TB |
Other notable improvements in Windows Server 2019 include:
- Cluster Sets is a feature that allows dramatic increases in cluster node count in a Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) by combining multiple smaller Failover Clusters into one large, centrally managed interconnected topology. You can transparently move virtual machines across the Cluster Set fabric and manage every aspect of a Failover Cluster from onboarding to decommissioning. Clusters joined in a Cluster Set can take advantage of added disk storage and RAM in another cluster without requiring you to buy additional equipment. Compute and storage resources do not need to be identical, and robustness is as good or better than with ordinary Failover Clusters.
Before Microsoft Windows Server 2019, large numbers of Hyper-V clusters for VMs were a hassle to manage and scale 
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 introduces Cluster Sets for centralized management of failover clusters - Storage Replica has been included in the Standard edition of Microsoft Windows Server 2019. Storage Replica provides next-generation disaster recovery support and is discussed in Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Storage Replica expertise. Novel capabilities of Storage Replica in Windows Server 2019 include a test failover function that enables managers to put a target volume online temporally for testing and backup. Also, you can now manage Storage Replica with Microsoft Windows Admin Center, which offers a GUI utility for managing operations such as server-to-server and stretch cluster replication.
- Storage Spaces Direct enhancements include deduplication and compression for ReFS volumes, native support for persistent memory (PMem), the ability to use a commodity flash drive as a witness with dual-server clusters, greater expandability (as high as 4 PB for each cluster), double the throughput for mirror-accelerated parity volumes, outlier detection for physical drive latency, and improved availability by selectively changing the limit of volume allocation. Microsoft's Storage Spaces Direct technology is described in Microsoft Windows Storage Spaces Direct deployment experts.
- Storage Migration Service streamlines the task of migrating the volume data from legacy servers to current versions of Windows Server or Azure. You can deploy Storage Migration Service to move to current physical devices or to virtual machines. The utility automatically inventories servers and their data; moves files, shares, and policy configurations to their new servers; and permits destination hosts to assume the identity of your legacy servers so that your users and applications can have access to their data without making any changes. Windows Admin Center's user interface can control many concurrent migrations.
- Broader Linux support enables organizations to host Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server within shielded VMs. Shielded VMs capability is described in Windows Server 2016 Shielded Virtual Machines consulting.
- Windows Admin Center is a new web-based application installed locally for controlling servers, clusters, hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) with Storage Spaces Direct, Windows 10 endpoints, and Azure-hosted VMs. Windows Admin Center can be used to manage Windows Server 2012 and later. Windows Admin Center is an "in-box" utility and so can be utilized to manage servers on private networks not connected to the public Internet. By posting the Windows Admin Center gateway server to the public Internet, you can administer your servers securely from anywhere.
Windows Admin Center allows you to administer on-prem and Azure-hosted virtual machines from a centralized console - Container orchestration with Kubernetes, the popular management automation system for Docker containers, includes enhanced features like being able to use embedded security tooling to protect Windows and Linux services. For a discussion of containers on Windows Server, visit Windows Server containers consultants.
- Duplicate Elimination and Compression for ReFS Volumes supports 10 times more data on a specified Resilient File System (ReFS) volume. The ReFS file system, first released in Windows Server 2012, integrates silicon high-performance tiers for hot data along with HDD/SDD high-capacity tiers for scale and fault tolerance.
- Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection is included with Microsoft Windows Server 2019 as an integrated capability that needs no additional license and no agent software to install.
- Encrypted Networks is a feature that encrypts data traveling between virtual machines communicating within subnets set to be Encryption Enabled. Datagram Transport Layer Security on the virtual subnet blocks entities with access to the physical network from reading, altering, or faking network data. Traffic between encrypted subnets is not encrypted.
- A USB Flash Drive connected to your router can be used as a witness in dual-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 say which of the servers in the cluster has the fresher data.
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 allows a USB Flash drive to server as a witness in two-server clusters - LEDBAT automatically avoids network congestion by consuming bandwidth only if the network is being only moderately utilized. LEDBAT allows you to publish large, important updates across a corporate network without impacting the responsiveness of mission-critical services.
- System Insights uses predictive analytics to simplify capacity planning. System Insights runs locally on each Microsoft Windows Server 2019 instance and looks at performance counters and system events to forecast capacity requirements in key areas including utilization for volumes, storage capacity, CPU, and networking.
- Windows Time Service works with the new time synchronization technique called Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and delivers accurate time during a leap second. Microsoft Windows Server 2019 also offers time traceability and software time-stamping. These capabilities deliver greater accuracy and precision, allow compliance with UTC and other regulations such as Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and meet the requirements of special time-sensitive workloads. Because network configuration is challenging to support the PTP protocol, Network Time Protocol (NTP) is still the default synchronization method for Microsoft Windows Server 2019.
Progent's Microsoft-certified experts can assist you to design and implement an efficient migration to Microsoft Windows Server 2019 using a local deployment model or a hybrid local-plus-cloud architecture. Progent can assist you to use the new Storage Migration Service to trim off time and cost from the task of migrating from legacy Windows Server platforms as far back as Microsoft Windows Server 2003, and Progent's experts can help you to take advantage of new functions of Windows Server 2019 to improve throughput, scale, availability, and manageability. Progent's Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 experts can assist you to configure Exchange Server 2019 Mailbox and Edge Transport roles and management utilities, which depend on Microsoft Windows Server 2019. Progent's SQL Server 2019 configuration experts can assist your organization to integrate Microsoft's primary database platform with Microsoft Windows Server 2019 to run your vital applications in a leading-edge IT environment.
Progent's cybersecurity experts can assist you to adhere to leading practices to build a modern security solution that is consistent across on-premises and cloud resources and mobile devices. Progent can assist your company to configure centralized and proactive security monitoring using an effective mix of cybersecurity solutions from Microsoft and other leading vendors. Progent also can run security assessments to ensure that your IT environment complies with regulatory and industry information security requirements like SOX, ISO 27001, PCI DSS 3.2, and FedRAMP.
Progent's team of Cisco-certified CCIE network consultants is one of the largest of any independent IT services firm in the United States. Progent can help your company to design, configure and maintain a resilient and cost-effective hybrid network architecture that delivers the state-of-the-art HA and disaster recovery technologies built into Windows Server 2019. Progent's disaster recovery preparedness experts can help you plan and verify a comprehensive solution for rebounding quickly from any foreseen catastrophy.
To help you to manage your Microsoft Windows Server 2019 and Hyper-V virtualized environment, Progent offers a variety of expertise such as Windows Admin Center consulting, PowerShell scripting, SC Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) hybrid cloud management consulting, and System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) experts. Progent also has assembled the ProSight family of remote monitoring and management (RMM) outsourcing packages that provide small and mid-size businesses an economical and efficient solution for server and endpoint management.
Progent's Online Consulting and Troubleshooting Services
Progent has two decades of experience delivering fast, top-tier remote technical consulting and debugging expertise and has delivered remote expertise to businesses in every state in the United States and throughout Canada. (See Progent's Client Testimonials.) Progent also offers on-premises support in major U.S. metropolitan areas. Progent can provide on-demand expertise to help you with occasional technical problems or comprehensive project management outsourcing support.
If you need immediate online technical support from a Microsoft-certified consultant, refer to Progent's Remote Support Services.
Contact Progent for Help with Windows Server 2019
To find out more about Progent's consulting support and debugging services for Windows Server 2019, call
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Meraki Switch Stacking Specialist
Cisco's Meraki MS family of access and distribution switches are intended for sites that go from small branches to campuses. Progent's Cisco-certified consultants can provide cost-effective online consulting expertise to assist you to plan and deploy a productive network solution that incorporates Meraki switches, streamline network monitoring and administration with Meraki's cloud-based management tools, configure policies to maintain compliance, create and validate a disaster preparedness plan, and resolve technical issues related to any facet of your Meraki deployment. Progent can also help you to connect Meraki switches with Cisco's Nexus or Catalyst core switches and with Meraki Wi-Fi access points to build a cohesive networking solution.
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Progent provides three basic types of Contact Center services : Microsoft and Cisco Helpdesk Outsourcing Support Services, Virtual Helpdesk Services, and Help Desk Consulting and Staffing. Progent is a Microsoft-certified Partner and Progent's Help Desk staff of certified Microsoft professionals gives your clients convenient access to a reliable technical group with years of experience providing phone support and remote access repair for networks powered by Microsoft technology. Progent's focus is on giving the support Help Desk a positive reputation as a key contributor to business performance. Progent's target is to resolve and not merely record problems.
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Progent's disaster recovery planning and business continuity professionals can show you how to create a disaster recovery strategy to prepare for an IT system disaster. Progent can show you how to create a comprehensive disaster recovery strategy that includes scheduled disaster recovery assessments and testing. Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-certified engineers can also help you build an affordable, zero-downtime system architecture that addresses reliability issues involving a broad array of network technologies and processes.
CCIE Expert Certified Catalyst Switch LISP IT Services
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With Cisco Catalyst switches for small and mid-size businesses, Cisco enables companies to realize all the benefits of adding smart traffic control into their IT infrastructures. Cisco's Catalyst switch product line makes it possible to deploy capabilities that make your IT network highly robust to accommodate real-time requirements, scalable to facilitate future growth, secure enough to protect restricted information, and designed for differentiating and controlling traffic flows to optimize system performance. Progent's Cisco certified engineers can help you pick out and integrate Cisco Catalyst switches appropriate for your business. In addition, Progent's CISA certified security specialists can help you develop a comprehensive protection plan and configure Catalyst switches so they help support your security strategy. Catalyst switches that Progent provides expertise for include Cisco's Catalyst 2950 switches, Catalyst 3750 switches, Cisco Catalyst 4948 switches, and Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches.
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