Windows Server 2025 is now generally available, marking a significant step in the ongoing commitment to provide a secure and high-performance server platform that caters to the varied needs of customers. This latest iteration empowers organizations to deploy applications seamlessly across diverse environments—whether on-premises, in hybrid setups, or entirely in the cloud.
Windows Server 2025
As businesses increasingly prioritize security, Windows Server 2025 emerges as a robust solution, equipped with a comprehensive suite of security features designed to protect data and infrastructure. Notable capabilities include:
- Active Directory (AD): Enhancements to this gold standard for identity and authentication bolster defenses against evolving threats, offering improved scalability, protocol enhancements, and new cryptographic support.
- File services/server message block (SMB) hardening: The introduction of SMB over QUIC allows secure access to file shares over the internet, complemented by hardened firewall defaults and protections against various attack vectors.
- Delegate Managed Service Accounts (dMSA): This feature alleviates the burden of manual password management by automating it through AD, thereby reducing security risks and enhancing visibility into service account activities.
These advanced security features position Windows Server 2025 as a formidable platform for IT infrastructures, warranting immediate evaluation by organizations.
Cloud agility anywhere
Windows Server 2025 introduces several hybrid cloud capabilities that enhance operational flexibility and connectivity across various environments. Key features include:
- Hotpatching enabled by Azure Arc: This new subscription service brings modern security advantages, such as automatic updates and minimal operational disruption, to on-premises customers. Hotpatching allows for security updates without the need for frequent reboots.
- Easy Azure Arc onboarding: The integration of Azure’s capabilities into the datacenter simplifies the onboarding process, enabling more effective management and security of hybrid and multicloud environments.
- Software-defined network (SDN) multisite features: These features facilitate seamless workload migration across locations, supported by unified network policy management.
- Unified network policy management: Centralized management of network policies ensures consistent security and performance standards across hybrid cloud environments.
These capabilities make Windows Server 2025 an optimal choice for organizations aiming to refine their IT infrastructure while harnessing the advantages of both on-premises and cloud solutions.
AI, performance, and scale
Designed to accommodate demanding workloads, including AI and machine learning, Windows Server 2025 boasts several key capabilities:
- Hyper-V, AI, and machine learning: Built-in support for GPU partitioning and large data set processing across distributed environments positions Windows Server 2025 as a high-performance platform for both traditional and advanced applications.
- NVMe storage performance: Users can expect up to 60% more storage IOPs performance compared to Windows Server 2022, enhancing overall efficiency.
- Storage Spaces Direct and storage flexibility: Windows Server 2025 continues to support a variety of storage solutions while introducing innovations such as Native ReFS deduplication and compression.
- Hyper-V performance and scale: Significant improvements in performance and scalability are evident, with maximum memory and virtual processor limits per VM dramatically increased.
These advancements render Windows Server 2025 an excellent choice for organizations seeking a virtualization solution that can effectively leverage AI and machine learning capabilities while maintaining high performance and scalability.
System Center 2025 is available now
With the simultaneous release of System Center 2025 alongside Windows Server 2025, organizations can immediately benefit from enhanced management capabilities at scale. This release is designed to improve agility, performance, and security, optimizing infrastructure and virtualized software-defined datacenters.
Microsoft Ignite 2024
We invite you to join us at Microsoft Ignite in Chicago from November 19-21, where we will showcase these features and more. For those unable to attend, select sessions, including a breakout on Windows Server 2025, will be available for online viewing.
Additionally, we are excited to extend new features to customers using existing Windows Server versions, including 2016, 2019, and 2022. Customers with Windows Server Software Assurance or active subscriptions can access Azure management tools at no extra cost, with more features on the horizon. Stay tuned for more information and demos at Microsoft Ignite.
Additional Windows Server resources
- ** Note: compute and storage may incur additional fees.
