Windows Server

Windows Server is one of the most widely deployed server operating systems in mid-market datacentres. The current release, Windows Server 2025, shipped on 1 November 2024 and is in extended support until November 2034; it includes Hyper-V, Storage Spaces Direct, Active Directory, Failover Clustering and native Azure Arc connectivity. Credential Guard is enabled by default for the first time — on domain-joined servers that are not domain controllers and that meet the hardware requirements.

The editions differ less in features than in rights: all physical cores must always be licensed, at least eight per processor and 16 per server; on that basis Standard permits two virtualised instances, Datacenter permits an unlimited number and additionally unlocks Storage Spaces Direct and unlimited Storage Replica partnerships. More consequential than any single feature right now is a date: Windows Server 2016 reaches the end of extended support on 12 January 2027.

Anyone still running domain controllers or file servers on 2016 has less than one budget cycle left. Alendris plans such replacements together with the underlying hardware rather than as an isolated operating system upgrade.