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Windows Server 2008 Datacenter edition offers large scale virtualization to small to large server systems with workloads which require highest levels of availability, scalability and reliability. Memory and processing requirements of large scale, critical applications like ERP, databases, server consolidations, custom and line of business applications are well supported by Windows 2008 Datacenter Edition. Datacenter edition is a good option for virtual workloads as unlimited virtualization licensing is coupled with scalability.

Windows Server 2008 is one of the most preferred server’s by Web Hosting firms.

Main scenarios of Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition :

A] Windows Server 2008 with SQL Server and Exchange Server

1. E-mails are considered to be critical applications as downtime affects productivity. Implementation of high availability solutions with Microsoft Exchange Server becomes very important in such cases. Scalability too is important as it enables users to provide more mailboxes or else to increase the size of the mailbox with lesser server footprint.
2. Customers make use of Microsoft SQL Server for database applications where high availability and scalability are important.

B] High Availability

Windows  Server 2008 Datacenter edition helps in keeping vital server workloads available to customers, partners and employees around the world and around the clock using

1. Geographically scattered clustering which spans network subnets
2. Dynamic hardware partitioning which supports Hot/Add Replace Memory and  Hot Add/Replace Processor.
3. Failover clustering which supports upto 16 nodes
4. Flawless real time operating system memory backup

C] Identity and Security Management

This new authentication architecture in Windows Server 2008 datacenter delivers advanced identity and access management features which help in maintaining employee productivity, parallely enhancing security of the IT operations

1. Better management of certificates and smart card enrollment with Advanced Certificate Management Services (ADCS)
2. Federated access to internal resources for external users through Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS).

D] Large Scale Virtualization

Server virtualization technology allows to optimize the resources and realize significant infrastructure and management cost saving. It offers an ideal platform for enterprise scale virtualization:

1. Quick migration couples the failover clustering of Windows Server 2008 Datacenter edition with Windows Server 2008 Hyper V for moving virtualized server workloads from one host server to another with minimum disruption. It maintains the availability of virtualized servers in the event of both planned and unplanned downtime
2. Its license include unlimited virtualization rights  providing customers to use rights to run an unlimited number of virtualized instances of Windows Server on processors licensed with Windows Server 2008 datacenter without purchasing any additional licenses

E] Increased Scalability

Windows Server 2008 Datacenter easily scales to adapt to the increased needs of data warehousing and transaction processing .

1. Supports upto 2 tera bytes of RAM (64 Gb on 32 bit system)
2. Authentication and authorization for unlimited number of network connection requests
3. Support for upto 64 processors i.e. 32 processors on 32-bit systems
4. Supports unlimited Virtual Private Network connections (VPN).

MS SQL 2008 is designed to make data management self organized, self tuning and self maintained with the development of SQL server always best in the provisioning of technologies providing almost nil downtime. The SQL Server 2008 includes support for structured and semi-structured data. It also includes digital media formats for pictures, audio, video and other multimedia data. This new version of MS SQL has a feature of better compression, it helps scalability. The resource Governer in SQL Server 2008 helps reserving resources for certain users and workflows, with the capabilities for transparent encryption of data and compression of back-ups. The ADO.NET Entity Framework is supported by SQL Server 2008. The reporting tools, replications, and data definition gets built around the Entity Data Model.

The SQL reporting services would gain charting capabilities from the integration of data visualization products.

Key Features Of SQL 2008 Database Hosting

1. SQL 2008’s New Data Types.

The MS SQL 2008 Hosting includes new date and time data types, which are as follows DATETIME2, DATE, DATETIMEOFFSET, TIME. It enables applications to have separate data and time types. Called as the Spatial Data Types, it helps build spatial capabilities with the support from spatial data. This feature helps customers to implement Earth Round solutions with the individual geography data types such as the longitudes and latitudes to identify the areas on the Earth.

SQL 2008 64-bit. With MS SQL 2008 Hosting and LINQ language integrated Query, developers can use strongly typed, set oriented queries to run against ADO.NET (viz. LINQ to SQL), the ADO.NET Entity framework, ADO.NET Datasets and the Entity Data Service Mapping provider. Developers can use LINQ directly on SQL Server 2008 tables and columns with the use of a new LINQ to SQL provider.

2 . MS SQL 2008 Business Intelligence : This comprehensive analytical, integration and data migration capabilities of the SQL Server 2008 enables companies to extend the value of their existing applications in spite of the platform. Faster and better decisions is now possible with the BI solutions built on SQL Server Express 2008 which delivers critical and timely information to every employee.

3. MS SQL 2008 Enterprise Data Management : SQL Server Express 2008 can deliver more reliable, secure and productive data platform for line of business and analytical applications. SQL 2008 is the most dependable and secure release done by Microsoft.

4. SQL Server 2008 Developer Productivity : Developers productivity significantly increases as SQL Server 2008 provides an end to end development environment including new technologies.