Windows Server 2025 with Security, Enhanced Performance, and Cloud Agility
Windows Server 2025
Microsoft marks the general availability of Windows Server 2025, which enhances our commitment to providing a secure and high-performance platform tailored to meet the diverse needs of our customers. This release allows you to deploy applications across various environments, including on-premises, hybrid, and cloud setups.
Advanced Multilayered Security
In a time when cybersecurity is critical (as highlighted in the Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2024 and the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Healthcare Ransomware Report), Windows Server 2025 introduces a comprehensive suite of security features designed to protect your data and infrastructure. Key capabilities include:
- Active Directory (AD): The benchmark for identity and authentication continues to evolve with enhanced security features that strengthen your environment against emerging threats. Improvements in scalability, protocols, encryption, and cryptographic support are included.
- SMB Hardening: This version incorporates SMB over QUIC, enabling secure internet access to file shares. Additional security measures include fortified firewall defaults, prevention against brute force attacks, and safeguards against man-in-the-middle, relay, and spoofing attacks.
- Delegated Managed Service Accounts (dMSA): Unlike traditional service accounts, dMSAs automate password management through AD, reducing security risks. They allow for specific permissions to be delegated for resource access, enhancing visibility and logging of service account activities.
These advanced security features position Windows Server 2025 as a robust platform for your IT infrastructure, making it essential to start evaluating it now.
Cloud Agility Anywhere
Windows Server 2025 also introduces several advanced hybrid cloud capabilities aimed at improving operational flexibility and connectivity across different environments. Notable features include:
- Hotpatching via Azure Arc: This new subscription service brings cloud-like security advantages, such as automatic updates and backup recovery, to on-premises customers. Hotpatching minimizes disruptions by allowing security updates with fewer reboots for Azure Arc-enabled Windows Server 2025 Standard or Datacenter, whether on physical machines, virtual machines, or in multicloud setups. Currently in preview, this feature will require a monthly subscription but incurs no additional cost for Windows Server Datacenter Azure Edition virtual machines.
- Simplified Azure Arc Onboarding: Windows Server 2025 integrates Azure’s powerful capabilities directly into your datacenter, streamlining the onboarding process for Azure’s hybrid features. This enhances operational flexibility, enabling more effective management and security of hybrid and multicloud environments.
- Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Multisite Features: These features provide native L2 and L3 connectivity for seamless workload migration across locations, along with unified network policy management.
- Unified Network Policy Management: This capability allows for centralized control of network policies, facilitating consistent security and performance standards across your hybrid cloud environment.
With these hybrid cloud capabilities, Windows Server 2025 is an excellent choice for organizations aiming to optimize their IT infrastructure and harness the advantages of both on-premises and cloud environments.
AI, Performance, and Scalability
Windows Server 2025 is engineered to manage the most demanding workloads, including those related to AI and machine learning. Here are some of its standout features:
- Hyper-V, AI, and Machine Learning: With integrated support for GPU partitioning and the capability to process extensive datasets across distributed environments, Windows Server 2025 provides a high-performance platform suitable for both traditional applications and advanced AI tasks, featuring live migration and high availability.
- NVMe Storage Performance: This version offers up to 60% more storage IOPS compared to Windows Server 2022 on similar systems, based on 4K random reads using Diskspd 2.2 with Kioxia CM7 SSDs.
- Storage Spaces Direct and Flexibility: Windows Server has long supported a variety of storage solutions, including local, NAS, and SAN. With Windows Server 2025, you’ll find enhanced storage innovations such as Native ReFS deduplication and compression, thinly provisioned Storage Spaces, and Storage Replica Compression available across all editions.
- Hyper-V Performance and Scalability: Significant enhancements derived from Azure have been introduced, including:
- Maximum Memory per VM: Up to 240 Terabytes (10 times the previous limit).
- Maximum Virtual Processors per VM: Up to 2048 VPs (approximately 8.5 times the previous limit).
- Note: These improvements require Generation 2 VMs.
Windows Server 2025 brings substantial advancements in Hyper-V, GPU integration, Storage Spaces Direct (software-defined storage), software-defined networking, and clustering. These enhancements make it an excellent choice for organizations seeking virtualization solutions while leveraging AI and machine learning with high performance and scalability.
System Center 2025
Alongside Windows Server 2025, System Center 2025 is also available, enabling immediate management of Windows Server at scale. This release is designed to improve agility, performance, and security, helping organizations optimize their infrastructure and virtualized software-defined datacenters. For more details, we encourage you to check out the System Center 2025 post.
Microsoft Ignite 2024
We’re excited to meet you in person at Microsoft Ignite in Chicago from November 19-21, where we’ll showcase these and other features of Windows Server 2025 at our sessions and booth. For those unable to attend, many sessions, including our breakout titled “Windows Server 2025: New Ways to Gain Cloud Agility and Security,” will be available for online viewing.
Additionally, we’re thrilled to introduce new features for existing Windows Server versions, including 2016, 2019, and 2022, as well as 2025. Customers with Windows Server Software Assurance or active subscriptions can access Azure management tools like Azure Update Manager, Azure Policy Guest Configuration, Disaster Recovery, Change Tracking, and Inventory, with many features available at no extra cost. Be sure to tune into Microsoft Ignite for more demos and information on accessing these new offerings.
Key Features and Enhancements
Performance and Security Improvements
Comparison with Previous Versions
Windows Server 2025 represents a significant leap forward compared to its predecessors. Below is a detailed comparison:
Use Cases and Applications
Windows Server 2025 is ideal for a variety of applications, including:
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