Windows Server 2008 R2 Edition Comparison

Windows Server 2008 R2 comes in several major editions. The most important differences are virtualization rules, the number of processors and amount of physical memory supported, high-availability features, and connection limits. Microsoft considers multicore and hyperthreaded processors to be a single processor, regardless of the number of cores or threads that they contain.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard edition limits two features, Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Gateway and Routing and Remote Access (RRAS), to 250 concurrent connections. Foundation edition, targeted at small organizations, lowers these limits to 50 concurrent connections, as well as allowing a maximum of 15 user accounts on the system (access rights for 15 users are included in the Foundation Edition price). Windows Web Server (formerly called Web Edition), a low-cost edition with restrictions that limit its use to only public-facing Web sites and Web applications, does not include RDS or RRAS features.

Foundation edition is available only through OEMs; all other editions are available through both volume licensing and OEM distribution channels, and prices quoted are the highest price a business customer would pay through a volume purchasing program (i.e., the Open Business program price). The Foundation Edition price here is the price quoted on Dell’s Web site as of mid-September 2009.