The Microsoft Windows Server 2008 server operating system enables a network server to handle a diverse set of roles — such as print server, domain controller, web server, and file server — and to be the platform for separately acquired server applications — such as Microsoft Exchange Server or Microsoft SQL Server.

Products available in the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 range

Microsoft Windows Server 2008

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is appropriate for organisations that can take advantage of its many enhancements to server management, virtualisation, remote access, security and policy enforcement, and its web and application platforms.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition R2

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition R2 is designed for small-to-medium-sized organisations that need no more than one instance of the server software in a virtual operating system.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition R2

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition R2 supports a highly dynamic, scalable IT infrastructure and up to four instances of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 in guest virtual machines.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Datacentre Edition R2

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Datacentre Edition R2 is optimised for large-scale virtualisation; its licence allows one server to run an unlimited number of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 instances. It is scalable to 2 TB of RAM and 64 processors. It serves the needs of organisations with large workloads, such as databases or enterprise resource planning.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Itanium Edition R2

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Itanium Edition R2 is a server operating system optimised for the Intel Itanium processor's native 64-bit processing and Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing (EPIC) architecture. In its sole roles of Application Server and Web Services, it provides a foundation for computationally intensive business analytics and enterprise applications.

Microsoft Windows Web Server 2008 R2

Microsoft Windows Web Server 2008 R2 is a server operating system designed to be used in Internet-facing web-serving environments. It integrates Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5, ASP.NET, and .NET Framework to enable organisations to deploy web pages, applications, and services. It is not designed to handle other roles, such as print server or domain controller.

External Connector Licence

Microsoft Windows Server External Connector Licence is designed for an organisation which has a large number of authenticated external Internet users. An external user is a person who is not an employee (or similar personnel) of the company or its affiliates and is not someone to whom you provide hosted services using the server software.

Client Access Licences

A Microsoft Windows Server Device Client Access Licence (CAL) or Microsoft Windows Server User CAL is required for each user or device accessing or using the server software, with the exception of anonymous Internet users.

An example of such an exception would be unidentified users browsing the organisation's public Web site. For this reason, no CALs are needed for accessing Microsoft Windows Web Server 2008.

Microsoft Windows Server User CAL provides access to Microsoft Windows Server for one user, regardless of how many devices they access the server from. For example when an employee accesses the server from a computer at work and another computer at home.

Microsoft Windows Server Device CAL provides access to Microsoft Windows Server for one device, regardless of how many users access the server from it, for example on a shared workstation.

Remote Desktop Services

Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Services, formerly known as Microsoft Windows Terminal Services, is a technology that lets users remotely execute applications on Microsoft Windows Server from a wide range of devices over virtually any type of network connection.

Clients are available for a wide variety of operating systems - including older versions of Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X - and can be downloaded from Microsoft's Web site. They will be able to run applications on Microsoft Windows Server in a window on the terminal.

Separate Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Services Client Access Licences or External Connector Licences are required to access these services. Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Services CALs will permit access to Microsoft Windows Terminal Services, and Microsoft Windows Terminal Services CALs that were valid for Windows Server 2008 will still permit access to Windows Remote Desktop Services.

Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Services User CAL provides access to Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Services for one user, regardless of how many devices they access the server from. For example when an employee accesses the server from a computer at work and another computer at home.

Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Services Device CAL provides access to Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Services for one device, regardless of how many users access the server from it, for example on a shared workstation.