Improved Data Center Power Consumption and Streamlining Management

The ongoing management of servers in the data center is one of most time-consuming tasks facing IT professionals today. Any management strategy you deploy must support the management of both your physical and virtual environments.

Another design goal for Windows Server 2008 R2 is to reduce the ongoing management of Windows Server 2008 R2 and to reduce the administrative effort for common day-to-day operational tasks. These administrative tasks can be performed on the server or remotely and include:

• Improved data center power consumption management
  With the proliferation of physical computers in data centers, power consumption is of paramount importance. In addition to the cost-saving associated with reducing power consumption, many data centers are constrained by the number of computers they can support in their data center by the actual power available to the data center. Therefore reducing your power consumption also allows you to support more physical computers while using the same amount of power, or less power, than before.

• Reduced multicore processor power consumption
  Windows Server 2008 R2 reduces processor power consumption in server computers with multicore processors by using a feature known as Core Parking. The Core Parking feature allows Windows Server 2008 R2 to consolidate processing onto the fewest number of possible processor cores, and suspends inactive processor cores.
• Reduced processor power consumption by adjusting processor speed
  Windows Server 2008 R2 has the ability to adjust the ACPI “P-states” of processors and subsequently adjust server power consumption. ACPI “P-states” are the processor performance states within the ACPI specification. Depending on the processor architecture, Windows Server 2008 R2 can adjust the “P-states” of individual processors and provide very fine control over power consumption.
• Reduced storage power consumption
  Another key method for reducing power in data centers is by centralizing the storage, typically by using a Storage Area Network (SAN). Because SANs tend to have higher-capacity drives for the same amount of power consumption, the storage capacity–to–power consumption ratio in a SAN is higher than in a typical server computer. SANs also make more efficient use of the available disk space, as any server can have access to the available storage on the SAN.
   

• Improved Management of File Services
  Storage is no longer a marginal expense. Nor is managing storage any longer simply about volume and availability; organizations need to manage their data more effectively as well as more efficiently. Only by gaining insight into their data can companies reduce the cost of storing, maintaining, and managing data. Only by enforcing company policies and knowing how storage is utilized can administrators efficiently use their storage and mitigate the risks of leaking data. The next frontier for administrators is to be able to manage data based on business value.
  The Windows File Classification Infrastructure (FCI) in Windows Server 2008 R2 provides insight into your data to help you manage your data more effectively, reduce costs, and mitigate risks.
  

  
  

  
  

  Windows File Classification Infrastructure (FCI) in Windows Server 2008 R2 Overview

  Windows Server 2008 R2 File Classification Infrastructure (FCI) provides insight into your data by automating classification processes so that you can manage your data more effectively and economically. FCI does this by enabling to automatically classify files based on properties defined by administrators (such as whether or not a file contains personally identifiable information) and performing administrator-specified actions based on that classification (backing up files containing personal information to an encrypted store, for example). These mechanisms are included in the box as well as provided by extensible interfaces that allow IT organizations and partners to build rich end to end solutions for classifying and applying policy based on classification. FCI helps customers save money and reduce risk by managing files based on their business value and business impact.

  You can use the Windows File Classification Infrastructure to identify files that:

  • Contain sensitive information and are located on servers with lower security and move the files to servers with higher security.
  • Contain sensitive information and encrypt those files.
  • Are no longer essential and automatically remove the files from servers.
  • Are not accessed frequently and move the files to slower, more affordable storage solutions.
  • Require different backup schedules and backup the files accordingly.
  • Require different backup solutions based on the sensitivity of the information in the files.

  The Windows File Classification Infrastructure allows you to:

  • Centrally define policy-based classification of the files stored in your intranet.
  • Perform file management tasks based on the file classification that you define, rather than on only simple information such as the location, size, or date of the file.
  • Generate reports about the types of information stored in the files in your intranet.
  • Notify content owners when a file management task is going to be performed on their content.
  • Create or purchase custom file management solutions based on the Windows File Classification Infrastructure.

• Improved remote administration
  Remote administration of server computers is essential to any efficient data center. It is very rare that server computers are administered locally. Windows Server 2008 R2 introduces a number of improvements in remote administration, including the following:

  • Improved remote management through graphical management consoles.
    Server Manager has been updated to allow remote administration of servers. In addition, many of the management consoles have improved integration with Server Manager and, as a result, support remote management scenarios.
  • Improved remote management from command-line and automated scripts.
    PowerShell version 2.0 offers a number of improvements for remote management scenarios. These improvements allow you to run scripts on one or more remote computers or to allow multiple IT professionals to simultaneously run scripts on a single computer.

• Reduced administrative effort for administrative tasks performed interactively
  Reducing administrative effort for day-to-day administrative tasks is another key design goal for Windows Server 2008 R2. Many of the management consoles used to manage Windows Server 2008 R2 have been updated or completely redesigned to help reduce your administrative effort. Some of the prominent updated and redesigned management consoles are listed in the following table with descriptions of the improvements.

• Enhanced command-line and automated management by using PowerShell version 2.0
  The PowerShell 1.0 scripting environment was shipped with Windows Server 2008 RTM. Windows Server 2008 R2 includes PowerShell 2.0, which offers a number of improvements over version 1.0, including the following:

  • Improved remote management by using PowerShell remoting.
  • Improved security for management data, including state and configuration information, by using constrained runspaces.
  • Enhanced GUIs for creating and debugging PowerShell scripts and viewing PowerShell script output by using Graphical PowerShell and the Out-GridView cmdlet.
  • Extended scripting functionality that supports creation of more powerful scripts with less development effort.
  • Improved portability of PowerShell scripts and cmdlets between multiple computers.

• Improved identity management
  Identity management has always been one of the critical management tasks for Windows-based networks. The implications of a poorly managed identity managed system are one of the largest security concerns for any organization. Windows Server 2008 R2 includes identity management improvements in the Active Directory Domain Services and Active Directory Federated Services server roles.
  

  
  

  Improvements for All Active Directory Server Roles

  Windows Server 2008 R2 includes the following identity management improvements that affect all Active Directory server roles:

  • Recovery of deleted objects.
  • Improved process for joining domains.
  • Improved management of user accounts used as identity for services.
  • Reduced effort to perform common administrative tasks.
     

• Improved compliance with established standards and best practices.
  Windows Server 2008 R2 includes an integrated Best Practices Analyzer for each of the server roles. The Best Practices Analyzer creates a checklist within Server Manager for the role, which you can use to help perform all the configuration tasks.