Starting out with Windows Server 2008
As some of you might know Windows Server 2008 RTM’d on February 4th, for those of you that have an MDSN or TechNet Plus subscription you might want to go ahead and check it out if you have not done so already in one of it’s previous release candidate or beta forms.
So now that the product is out and the official worldwide date for the release of it is February 27th it might be a good moment to start playing around with it and documenting yourself on how it might fit in your enterprise or it shop environment. A good place to start out and get a good feel for it might be the TechNet Virtual Labs, some of the featured labs include:
- Managing Windows Server 2008 Beta 3 and Windows Vista using Group Policy
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Server Core Beta 2
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Beta 2 Server Manager
- Deployment Services (WDS) in Windows Server 2008 Beta 3
- Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Failover Clustering Lab
- Managing Terminal Services Gateway and RemoteApps in Windows Server 2008 Beta 3
- Managing Windows Server 2008 Beta 3 using New Management Technologies
- Using PowerShell in Windows Server 2008 Beta 3
Or maybe you would like to watch first some demo’s of the features that can be used in Windows Server 2008 and then try them out for this Microsoft made available the Windows Server 2008 Test Drives.
Personally I enjoy watching the Microsoft On-Demand webcasts as I get to hear the experiences of the different individuals that made this excellent product happen, some of the webcasts I recommend for starting out with Windows Server 2008 are:
- Introducing Windows Server Code-Named “Longhorn” (Level 200)
- Overview of Windows Server 2008 (Level 200)
- What Is New in Windows Server Longhorn (Level 300)
- Installing, Configuring, and Managing Server Roles in Windows Server 2008 (Level 300)
- Overview of Server Manager and Windows PowerShell in Windows Server Longhorn (Level 300)
Another item I like to use to learn about new products and technologies is online courses and Microsoft has made available some very insightful e-learning style clinics that focus on Windows Server 2008 for free, the series is titled Collection 5934: Introducing Microsoft Windows Server Code Name “Longhorn” (Beta 3), and includes the following topics:
- Introducing Server Virtualization in Windows Server 2008
- Introducing Security and Policy Management in Windows Server 2008
- Introducing Branch Office Management in Windows Server 2008
- Introducing Centralized Application Access in Windows Server 2008
- Introducing Server Management in Windows Server 2008
And for those of you that like the traditional way of learning I might suggest Microsoft Press book by Mitch Tulloch’s book Introducing Windows Server 2008, this book is based on Beta 3 but all of the information it’s still pretty relevant and valid, probably what I liked about this book aside from other MS Press books is the interaction the author did with the different development teams within Microsoft that worked on the product and that he allowed to write part of the book in what he calls “From the experts” sidebars.
Whichever is the way you prefer to get ready and start out with Windows Server 2008 please leave a comment in this post with your experiences on the product and your tips and favorite resources for information regarding it.