Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2008 R2 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing (RTM) on July 22, 2009 and launched on October 22, 2009. According to the Windows Server Team blog, the retail availability was September 14, 2009. It is built on Windows NT 6.1, the same kernel used with the client-oriented Windows 7. It is the first 64-bit-only operating system released from Microsoft.
Version enhancements include new functionality for Active Directory, new virtualization and management features, version 7.5 of Microsoft IIS Web Server and support for up to 256 logical processors.
There are seven editions: Foundation, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web,
HPC Server, Itanium and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 (Essentials Edition).
History
Microsoft introduced Windows Server 2008 R2 at the 2008 Professional Developers Conference as the server variant of Windows 7.
On January 7, 2009, a beta release of Windows Server 2008 R2 was made available to subscribers of Microsoft's TechNet and MSDN programs, as well as those participating in the Microsoft Connect program for Windows 7. Two days later, the beta was released to the public via the Microsoft Download Center.