Microsoft released Windows server 2025

Microsoft finally released Windows Server 2025 for Generally Available from Nov 1st, 2024.

Windows Server 2025 introduces substantial upgrades tailored to hybrid cloud integration, artificial intelligence support, enhanced security, and performance improvements for enterprise applications. Here’s an in-depth look at its new features, based on early previews and Microsoft’s announcements.

1. Advanced Hybrid Cloud Integration

Windows Server 2025 deepens integration with Microsoft’s hybrid cloud offerings, specifically through Azure Arc. Azure Arc provides a unified management layer for on-premises and cloud resources, making it easier for businesses to manage diverse environments. This update streamlines processes like onboarding servers to Azure Arc and enables centralized control over hybrid workloads, a crucial asset for organizations with data across multiple environments.

Key Enhancements with Azure Arc Integration:

• Centralized Policy Management: Administrators can apply consistent policies across on-premises and cloud resources, simplifying compliance and governance.
• Cloud-Like Updates and Scaling: Enhanced cloud-enabled tools support easier updates and scaling for on-premises infrastructure, reducing the administrative overhead traditionally associated with large-scale deployments.
• Secure, Internet-Based Connectivity: Windows Server 2025 incorporates SMB over QUIC, a protocol that enables secure file sharing over the internet, ideal for remote or hybrid work setups.

2. Enhanced Security and Compliance

Security has been a major focus for Windows Server 2025. New features bolster defenses against emerging threats, making it a robust choice for organizations with stringent security requirements.

Highlights in Security Updates:

• Active Directory (AD) Enhancements: The updated AD schema, now at version 90, introduces enhanced protocols for authentication and encryption. LDAP over TLS now defaults to TLS 1.3, improving the security of directory access, and stronger password encryption methods like AES are now standard, increasing resistance to attacks.
• SMB Enhancements: In addition to SMB over QUIC, which encrypts traffic, SMB 3.1.1 has been fortified to resist brute-force and relay attacks. Microsoft has introduced SMB compression, which improves the efficiency of large data transfers, particularly beneficial for storage-heavy applications​Microsoft Tech Community​StarWind HCI & VSAN.
• Hotpatching: This feature allows security updates to be applied without requiring a system reboot, reducing downtime and ensuring that critical systems remain operational while still up-to-date with security patches. This feature, previously available only on Azure, is now included for all Windows Server 2025 deployments.

3. AI and Machine Learning Capabilities

As organizations increasingly use AI, Windows Server 2025 is built with features tailored to support these workloads. Improvements in virtualization and GPU partitioning make it easier to deploy AI models and machine learning applications.

AI-Focused Innovations:

• GPU Partitioning: Windows Server 2025 supports GPU partitioning across multiple virtual machines (VMs), allowing different VMs to share GPU resources. This enables efficient processing for AI and machine learning applications on the same physical server, reducing the need for specialized hardware.
• Hyper-V Updates: Hyper-V’s enhanced capabilities support larger memory allocations and a greater number of virtual processors per VM, which allows for high-computation tasks like machine learning model training. This makes Windows Server 2025 a suitable platform for organizations handling advanced analytics and AI projects.

4. Enhanced Storage and Scalability

Windows Server 2025 introduces features that improve storage handling, performance, and scalability, making it ideal for applications that require high data throughput, such as databases and large-scale file storage solutions.

Key Storage Enhancements:

• Support for NVMe and Faster I/O Operations: The server includes improved handling for NVMe storage, which greatly increases I/O operations per second (IOPS), providing a performance boost for storage-heavy applications.
• New File System Resiliency: Improvements in file system integrity help prevent data corruption in the event of power loss or sudden shutdowns, enhancing the reliability of data-critical applications.
• Larger Memory and Processor Limits: With expanded memory and processor capabilities, Windows Server 2025 can handle larger and more complex workloads, which is beneficial for organizations using intensive applications like enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems or massive databases​.

5. Updated Active Directory and Schema

Active Directory (AD) remains a core feature in Windows Server, and the 2025 version updates the AD schema to version 90, introducing several new functionalities.

Active Directory Innovations:

• New Functional Levels: Windows Server 2025 introduces new functional levels for domain and forest, providing better performance and security. These updated functional levels are backward compatible with previous versions, making upgrades smoother.
• Enhanced Group Policies: New policies enforce stricter controls over directory services, which helps protect against unauthorized access and reinforces user authentication. Administrators can now enforce advanced encryption settings across the directory.
• Improved Domain Controller Database: The Jet Blue (ESE) database engine used in AD has been optimized for better scalability and performance, with a new 32k page size option, which provides faster read/write speeds and improves data handling capabilities. This feature can be activated at the forest level, allowing all controllers in the domain to benefit from the improved database​StarWind HCI & VSAN.

6. Performance Optimizations

Windows Server 2025 introduces optimizations in virtualization, memory management, and data throughput, enhancing overall performance.

Performance Upgrades:

• Dynamic Memory Allocation for VMs: This feature allows the system to allocate memory dynamically based on workload demands, ensuring efficient resource use.
• Hyper-V Performance Boost: Virtualization improvements include faster VM migration, better support for containerized workloads, and enhanced isolation between VMs. This makes it easier to host multiple workloads on a single server while maintaining performance.
• Networking and Data Efficiency: With upgrades to the networking stack, Windows Server 2025 improves data transmission speeds and reduces latency, essential for applications requiring real-time data processing, such as financial trading platforms and large-scale IoT environments​