By Don Retallack [bio]
Posted: Mar. 24, 2008

• Chart: Windows Server 2008 Support

The following is the full text of an article published by Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm focused exclusively on Microsoft strategy & technology. More samples of our content, as well as a list of upcoming articles and reports are also available.

Windows Server 2008 was released in Feb. 2008, but many of the Microsoft System Center products for managing it will not come until later in 2008. The delay could affect evaluations and rollouts of Windows Server 2008. The story is similar for server security products—Forefront security products for several current server applications need updates to run on Windows Server 2008.

Management and security software for older server applications, such as previous versions of Exchange and SharePoint, will not be updated to run on Windows Server 2008, partly because those server applications will not themselves run on Windows Server 2008, and even many recent server applications will require installation of a service pack before they are compatible with Windows Server 2008.

(For a list of System Center server management and Forefront security applications that Microsoft will support on Server 2008, see the chart "Windows Server 2008 Support".)

System Center Servers

System Center is a set of applications that customers use to plan, operate, and manage computer installations, including servers. System Center products currently include the following:

Capacity Planner 2007 is a free Windows utility that allows IT workers to model and simulate real-world workloads in Exchange and SharePoint installations, and it can help IT workers optimize computer and network resources and prevent performance bottlenecks. Capacity Planner 2007 runs on Windows Server 2008 and can assist in planning installations of Exchange and SharePoint on Server 2008.

Configuration Manager 2007, formerly Systems Management Server (SMS), tracks computer hardware and software and distributes and updates software, using agents on the managed device that are controlled by a server. Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 agents, currently in beta, will be able to manage Windows Server 2008 in the second quarter of 2008, although the server component of Configuration Manager will not run on Windows Server 2008 until the second half of 2008. Earlier versions of SMS will not run on Server 2008 but SMS 2003 agents will be able to manage Windows Server 2008 servers in the second half of 2008.

Operations Manager 2007 enables administrators to centrally monitor the health and performance of devices, particularly Windows servers, and can take corrective actions automatically based on configurable and customizable rules and scripts. Operations Manager 2007 SP1 was released in Feb. 2008 and can run on and monitor Windows Server 2008. Its predecessor, Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) will not run on Windows Server 2008 and will have limited support for managing those servers with Windows Server 2008 management packs in the second half of 2008.

Data Protection Manager 2007 enables network backup to disk-based storage, including direct-attached, network-attached, and storage area network drives. Full support for Windows Server 2008 is available now.

Reporting Manager 2006 extracts data from Operations Manager 2005, SMS 2003, and Active Directory installations, consolidates it into a data warehouse, and generates reports using SQL Server Reporting Services. Reporting Manager 2006 is the last version of this product, and it will not run on or report data from Windows Server 2008. Compatibility for the new OS will not be delivered until Microsoft releases the future Service Manager product in 2010.

Virtual Machine Manager 2007, released in Oct. 2007, enables administrators to quickly create and deploy new virtual machines on Virtual Server. Virtual Machine Manager 2007 does not support Windows Server 2008 or virtual machines running on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, but a new version with Windows Server 2008 support is planned for later in 2008.

Essentials 2007 is a software distribution and system-health monitoring product based on Operations Manager and Windows Server Update Services for midsize businesses. Essentials 2007 SP1 was released in Mar. 2008, and its management server, console, and agent are scheduled to run on and manage Windows Server 2008 within 90 days, or by mid-June 2008.

Mobile Device Manager 2008, released to manufacturing in Feb. 2008, helps IT administrators manage Windows Mobile-based smart phones by simplifying the process of adding the devices to the corporate network, providing automatic application installation, and inventorying and preventing data loss when devices are stolen or lost. Mobile Device Manager is expected to have Windows Server 2008 support in the second half of 2008.

Service Manager is a planned product that will support trouble ticketing and problem resolution and will integrate with Operations Manager, Configuration Manager, and other System Center management products. Service Manager has been in closed beta testing since 2006, and Microsoft says that beta testing revealed performance and scalability problems. As a result, Service Manager has been delayed until 2010. This will likely include full support for Server 2008.

Microsoft has not said why support by many Systems Center products lags behind the release of Windows Server 2008, but it is likely that new security features, such as User Account Control, are part of the problem.

Forefront for Servers

Forefront is a set of products for controlling viruses, spam, and inappropriate content on servers and clients, complementing Microsoft's edge and access security products, such as Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server. Forefront products typically scan e-mail messages and files using several antivirus and antispam tools and customer-defined filters and then take action to alert administrators or automatically quarantine problem messages and files.

Forefront security products that now run on and protect Windows Server 2008 servers include the following:

Forefront Security for Exchange Server protects Exchange Server 2007 SP1 mail servers.

Forefront Server Security Management Console is a Web-based, centralized console for managing the Forefront Server products, as well as the Antigen 9.0 products.

Forefront products that do not fully support Windows Server 2008 include the following:

Forefront Security for SharePoint scans and filters content for SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Forefront Security for SharePoint with SP1 does not have Windows Server 2008 support, but a new service pack for Forefront with that support is expected in the second quarter of 2008.

Forefront Security for Communications Server, coming in the second half of 2008, will provide scanning and filtering for instant messages and file transfers on Communications Server 2007. The delay is likely due to the fact that Communications Server 2007 itself requires a service pack to run on Windows Server 2008, but Microsoft has not announced when that service pack will be available.

Forefront Client Security can be used to protect servers as well as workstations. A new service pack is expected in the second quarter of 2008, and it will have full support for Windows Server 2008.

The Forefront products are descended from Antigen, a line of security products that Microsoft acquired in 2005 and that it still maintains to scan older Exchange and SharePoint versions, as well as Live Communications Server 2005. Microsoft will not update any of the Antigen products for Windows Server 2008.

Resources

An overview of Windows Server 2008 can be found in the Mar. 2008 Research Report, "Windows Server 2008: An Important Upgrade."

System Center products are described at www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/default.aspx.

Forefront products are described at www.microsoft.com/forefront/default.mspx.

Some information about Microsoft server applications supported on Windows Server 2008 can be found at support.microsoft.com/kb/948680.

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