In the last article in this series, I recapitulated briefly how Active Directory objects have to be restored in Windows Server 2003/2008. Today, I will explain how the new Active Directory Recycle Bin feature works and the changes that comes with it. Let’s see first in what way the Recycle Bin improves AD object restores.

Advantages of Active Directory Recycle Bin

There are three advantages in using the new Recycle Bin feature:

• You can restore the state of Active Directory objects that they had at the time they were deleted, and not just the state of the last available backup.
• You don’t have to disable the directory services during the restore process, as with authoritative restores.
• In contrast to tombstone reanimation, the object will be restored with all its attributes.

Active Directory Recycle Bin requirements

There are four requirements that have to be fulfilled so that an Active Directory object with Recycle Bin can be restored:

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Active Directory Recycle Bin is a new Windows Server 2008 R2 feature that allows you to easily restore accidentally deleted Active Directory objects. When I first heard about this feature, I thought that the Active Directory User and Computer Interface (ADUC) would just provide a Recycle Bin like the one we know from Windows Explorer. However, things are a lot more complicated with the Active Directory Recycle Bin. This is why I need two posts only to summarize the essentials that every Windows administrator has to know.

Before I describe how the Recycle Bin works, however, I will recapitulate how the restoration of Active Directory objects works with previous Windows versions. This makes it easier to understand the changes that were introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2.

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One of the reasons why Server Core 2008 is not that popular is because basic configurations have to be made on the command line. Perhaps this alone wouldn’t be a problem: however, most of Server Core’s commands are somewhat longwinded, at least when you compare this system with other CLI-based operating systems such as Linux. This is why, almost immediately after its release, several Server Core configuration tools came up. The Windows Server 2008 R2 edition of Server Core comes with its own configuration tool: Sconfig.

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In order to get full management of a Windows 7 environment, or to take advantage of the new features in Active Directory Domain Services like Applocker or the AD Recycle Bin, you need to upgrade the functional level of the forest and domain to Server 2008 R2.

There are a few upgrade paths available – it is possible to perform an in-place upgrade of Windows Server to Server 2008 R2, but you need to verify that the path you have planned is supported. Here’s a list of supported in-place upgrade paths. However, performing a live upgrade of a domain controller is a gutsy move, so a side-by-side migration is the less dangerous (and recommended) path.

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Windows Server 2008 R2 is now available on Technet and MSDN. Before you head over to Microsoft, you should read the post where I described the best way to download Windows 7 from Technet and MSDN. What I’ve said there applies to Windows Server 2008 R2 as well. You can also download the Windows Server 2008 R2 evaluation VHD images for Hyper-V, if you are not a Technet or MSDN subscriber.

Before you start playing with R2, you might want to get an overview of the new features. This page lists all articles about R2 I have been writing so far. There not as many as for Windows 7, but I am planning to publish more about R2 in the near future. I will then always update this list. Feel free to let me know in a comment which features you want to be reviewed first.

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With all this excitement on the Windows 7 RTM release date, I almost forgot that Microsoft released a second OS to manufacturing, Windows Server 2008 R2. I somehow assumed that the release date would be the same because Windows Server 2008 R2 basically is Windows 7 Server even though Microsoft’s management decided against this name. I suppose they deeply regret this decision by now considering the enormous buzz around Windows 7.

Of course, a desktop OS always gets more attention than a server OS, simply because more people are using it. However, there is no doubt about it that Windows Server 2008 R2 is in the shade of Windows 7. This is certainly not justified because it comes with quite a few interesting new features. In my view, Windows Server 2008 R2 could be even more important for businesses than Windows 7. Windows Server 2008 R2 has at least one absolute killer feature. It is Hyper-V 2.0 with its new Live Migration feature. By the way, Hyper-V Server 2.0, Microsoft’s bare-metal virtualization solution, also RTMed.

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There are quite a few new features in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 that can only be used if both operating systems work together. Microsoft markets these features as better-together-features. They did something similar with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. However, this campaign just listed features that both operating systems have in common. Most of Vista’s new features don’t require Server 2008 and vice versa. This will be different with Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2. It is hard to tell whether this is for technical reasons or if it is only about marketing. Perhaps it is a little of both.

I wonder if this is the reason why Ballmer “recommended” skipping Vista recently. Maybe that was just a Freudian slip. It is also possible that Microsoft will change its attitude later when customers who just migrated to Vista start complaining that they can’t use the Server 2008 R2 features.

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With Windows Server 2008, Microsoft introduced the most important changes regarding administration. The role model and the new Server Manager were the main changes. Also in Windows Server 2008, R2 componentization is a bit more fine-grained and Server Manager supports remote administration. Other highlights are the new power management features, the PowerShell support for Server Core, and DHCP Failover.

Management tools

• Server Manager now supports remote administration of servers
• Better integration of management consoles in Server Manager
• Active Directory Administrative Center and IIS have a task-driven user interface and their administrative capabilities are based on PowerShell cmdlets

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Internet Information Services (IIS) have some interesting new features in Windows Server 2008 R2, which justifies the new version number, i.e. IIS 7.5. Most noteworthy  is that you can now run ASP.Net applications on Server Core. Of course, it will reduce security if you install .NET on Server Core, but IIS without .NET doesn’t make much sense either. The performance-related improvements are not very exciting in my opinion. However, support for 256 logical processor cores makes Windows an interesting server OS for cloud computing.

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Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2008 R2 support a new forest functional level. I am not sure if all of the features described here require the R2 functional level. I will try to find out more about this issue soon. The better PowerShell support is probably the most important enhancement. However, my favorite new feature is the new Recycle Bin.

Powershell Cmdlets

They replace the current Active Directory command line tools. There are about 85 Active Directory-related PowerShell cmdlets

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This is the first post in my series about the new features in Windows Server 2008 R2. As in my series about the new features of Windows 7, I will update the articles when I learn about new features. I will discuss some of the new features in more detail soon.

Essentially, the term “virtualization” covers three different technologies in Windows Server 2008 R2: Server Virtualization, Desktop Virtualization, and Presentation Virtualization. Server Virtualization is based on Hyper-V 2.0, which will get quite a few interesting new features. The virtualization technology behind Desktop virtualization, i.e., Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), is also Hyper-V.

This is probably the most important new feature in Windows Server 2008 R2. Presentation Virtualization is nothing but the good old Terminal Server. Technically, I find it a bit odd to use the term “virtualization” in this context, but from a marketer’s point of view, it probably makes a lot of sense. Note that Microsoft renamed the “Terminal Services” as “Remote Desktop Services” in Windows Server 2008 R2.

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Microsoft will rename Terminal Services to Remote Desktop Services (RDS) in Windows Server 2008 R2. The new name makes sense because of the changes that RDS will introduce. Most interesting of these is that Microsoft will support desktop virtualization: see Bink.nu for a comprehensive article about this topic. (Note that parts of Stephen Bink’s text sound as if they have been written by someone from Microsoft’s marketing department. Several times he talks about “we” as if he is now working for Microsoft.) In this post, I will summarize the central points.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

It was only a matter of time until Microsoft would enter the VDI market. It is growing faster than server virtualization and might change our IT infrastructure more than any other virtualization technology.

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