Professional Microsoft IIS 8

Windows Server 2012 Architecture

The Windows Server 2012 architecture has not changed dramatically from that of Windows Server 2008. Most of the changes are either refinements or enhancements to the Windows Server 2008 system. Major changes have been made for expanded usability in cloud-based environments, with a new version of Hyper-V, a new Resilient File System that eliminates operating system limits on file or folder sizes (hardware limits obviously still exist) and a new IP address management system that allows for multiple private IP ranges to be dynamically hosted and assigned.

There are some notable changes to Windows Server 2012 in terms of hardware requirements and restrictions. For example, there is no longer a 32-bit option, and Windows Server 2012 will not run on Itanium processors. In today's system availability, these restrictions won't have any effect on new hardware choices, but they will change options for upgrading older systems. Planning installations and upgrades are covered in Chapter 3, “Planning Your Deployment.”

Windows Server 2012 increases the maximum memory allowed to 4 TB, from 2 TB in Windows Server 2008; the maximum number of logical processors to 640, from 256 in Windows Server 2008; and failover cluster nodes to 64, from 16 in Windows Server 2008. Windows Server 2012 now requires a minimum of 512 MB of RAM, but nobody will want to install less than 4 GB of RAM for any reasonable use. Likewise, the minimum drive space required is 32 GB, but if you ...