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Agility meets Control

meets Security
3 reasons youll want Windows Server 2016 now
Table of Contents

Introduction 3
Reason 1: Better security now starts at the OS 4
More security. Better security. 5
Prevent and limit the damage of stolen credentials and insider threats 6
The moment a VM is stolen, its worthless 7
Deploy in the cloud with confidence knowing your OS is secured 8
Detect intrusions and threats earlier 9
Reason 2: Improve efficiency and reduce costs across your data center 10
Improve data center efficiency and get ready for the cloud 11
Spend more resources innovatingand learn the secret to 12
getting more budget next year
Spend less time managing network infrastructure and get ready for hybrid 13
Stop spending your weekends upgrading 14
Get your workloads cloud-ready 14
Reason 3: Develop and migrate apps quickly and more securely 15
Accelerate business agility with apps built on Windows Server 16
Secure fabric to protect virtual machines 17
Containerize existing apps 18
Build cloud-native and hybrid apps 19
The OS you know and love with innovation for the future 20
Introduction
In todays enterprise, business decision makers must make some tough
choices about their corporate IT. You must support your companys
ability to innovate, but respect your IT departments responsibility to
keep resources secure and controlled. Choosing the right combination
of technology resources and services is a balancing act. It takes time and
careful consideration of your organizations needs versus desires.
The process begins with asking a series of questions:
What are your key security concerns?
What are the steps your organization has in place when a security
breach occurs?
What does your leadership hope to achieve?
What role does technology play in your companys
competitive position?
What infrastructure will you need to make those goals a reality?
What is the timeframe? Are there specific needs or goals driving
that deadline?
Individually, these questions will help you identify each departments
wants and needs. Taken together, they will give you a 360-degree view
of your organizations overall priorities. In this e-book, well show you
how Windows Server 2016 can help you satisfy the technology needs
and requests of your entire organization. Read on to see how Windows
Server 2016 can help you balance your business in three core areas:
Built-in Security
Software-Defined Data Center
Enterprise Application Development

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REASON 1
Better security now
starts at the OS
More security.
Better security.
When you think about your organizations security, what comes
to mind? Is it your server operating systems? In todays world of
sophisticated hackers, ever-evolving threats, and breaches, you need
more layers of security for prevention and detection. Heres why:
How does Windows Server Help?
Breaches are on the rise. Attackers are targeting identity
as the top entry point into an organizations network. Windows Server 2016 has new layers of security built in
Major corporations and government agencies have to help protect your company against a security breach.
been publicly criticized for failing to prevent attacks. Past These include:
hacks have exposed sensitive customer and employee Prevent and limit the damage related to stolen
information, including social security numbers and credentials and insider threats
payment information.
Detect intrusions and threats earlier
Hackers are in control. The bad actors have more time Deploy in the cloud with confidence knowing your OS
on their hands to attack you than you do to defend is secured actively
against them. A hacker can gain access because of vendor
vulnerabilities or because you didnt do enough to protect
your company. Lets face it: Often hackers have more time Keep reading to learn more about these
to innovate than you do. built-in protections.

Modern IT is changing quickly. Hybrid environments and


technology innovation can make it difficult to keep up.
Multitenant virtual machines (VMs) are difficult to protect,
and server imprints are often too big for many needs.

1 | Better security now starts at the OS 5


Prevent and limit the
damage of stolen credentials
and insider threats
The administrator account is the most powerful account on your
network. This role often has 24/7 access to every area of the network
even though admins rarely need that constant level of access. Allowing
this level of access can endanger your network. If a hacker gained
access to ANY machine an administrator logged into, they could
extract the administrator credentials. In the worst case, a hacker could
Windows Server 2016 enables
use this to syphon off data for years. Windows Server 2016 enables you admin access without
to give your admin the proper level of access only at the times needed,
without leaving your network open to unnecessary risks. leaving your network
open to vulnerabilities.

How does Windows Server Help?

Reduce risk by limiting administrator exposure with just-


Watch a demo of:
in-time and just-enough administration access options.
Protect stored credentials with our virtualization-based
Just-in-time and just-
security Remote Credential Guard and Device Guard. enough administration

1 | Better security now starts at the OS 6


The moment a VM is
stolen, its worthless
Virtual machines (VMs) offer many benefits, including greater
flexibility and cost savings. They also have unique security
vulnerabilities. A VM is essentially a filewhich means stealing it
is as easy as copying it. An attacker could steal your VM without How does Windows Server help protect
leaving any signs they were there. So how do you protect your data? your VMs against attacks?
Begin by securing your data onsite. Dont allow anyone to remove
your VM from the premises via a USB drive or other physical media.
Second, ensure your data will be worthless if it is stolen. Shielded Virtual Machines. This new feature encrypts
disk and state of virtual machines so only VM or tenant
admins can access it. This protects your VMs from
compromised or malicious administrators in the fabric
(e.g., storage admins, backup admins, etc.).
Read the blog to learn more about VM vulnerabilities

Host Guardian Service (HGS). This functionality


Watch an introduction to: authenticates host permissions. When a Shielded Virtual
Shielded VMs Machine is turned on, the HGS will check to see if the
hosts are allowed to run the Shielded VM. The check is
conducted through attestation and hardware-based boot
measurements and via a new feature, Code Integrity, to
determine whether a host meets the criteria as a healthy
hostand may run the Shielded VM.

1 | Better security now starts at the OS 7


Deploy in the cloud with
confidence knowing
your OS is secured
Windows Server 2016 can be deployed on premises in the cloud.
Keeping your deployment secured is critical, no matter where
its deployed.

Windows Server 2016 is an active participant in your security


scheme, protecting itself and its workloads. You can enhance this
native protection in the following ways:

Prevent accidental malware infection by restricting


software usage. Only allow approved software to be
used on the operating system, regardless of location.

Maintain code integrity. Only allow permitted code to run


on the operating system.

Increase control and protection. This applies to


deployments on premises and in the cloud.

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Detect intrusions and
threats earlier
First host Domain admin More than 200 days Attack
compromised compromised (varies by industry) Discovered

Hacker research and preparation Attacker undetected (data exflitration)

It takes most hackers just 24 to 48 hours to gain access to the


credentials they need to compromise your network. You can prevent
such quick access by intruders through additional layers of security.
How does Windows Server Help?
Windows Server 2016 is an active participant in your
Learn more about security defenses, with new layers of built-in features to help
Windows Server 2016 security features: organizations prevent, resist, and detect malicious activity. From
better protection of VMs against attacks and compromised
Windows Server 2016
administrators to enhanced auditing for improved threat
Security solution brief detection, Windows Server 2016 security can help.

1 | Better security now starts at the OS 9


REASON 2
Improve efficiency and
reduce costs across
your data center
Improve data center
efficiency and get
ready for the cloud
Businesses are shifting to cloud choices that meet their business
needs every day, laying the groundwork for a successful transition
to the next generation of technology. Most organizations want
the same efficiencies of the public cloud in their own data center. How does Windows Server Help?
Software-defined everything compute, storage and networking
helps organizations use industry-standard hardware to build Azure runs on Windows Server. Microsoft has used its
highly efficient, centrally managed data centers. Smaller staffs and experience running its hyperscale Azure data centers to
other cost-control measures can make it difficult to invest in driving build new features in Windows Server 2016.
innovation. Other issues facing IT departments today include:

Hard to deploy and operate. Lack of integration between Server footprint is too big. Consistency.
Global, 24/7 organizations solutions. Not all features are required Software-defined data
require flexible access and no An increased need for mixed for many of todays workloads center based on public cloud
downtime. Finding time to environments (Linux, etc.) and apps. A bloated server innovation and consistency on
deploy and operate beyond the necessitates quick onboarding. footprint is neither portable premises is the samenot a
basic requirements can nor agile. version ofthe hypervisor.
be difficult.

2 | Improve efficiency and reduce costs across your data center 11


Spend more resources
innovatingand learn
the secret to getting
more budget next year
Windows Server 2016
By reducing the costs of commodity services and investing in
simplifies day-to-day innovative technology, you can push your IT forward. Most
work, freeing you organizations have maxed out the savings they can get from server
virtualization. Storage is often the next large opportunity for cost
to innovate. savings. Storage Spaces Direct replaces traditional SAN storage at
a fraction of the cost. It offers tighter integration and is simple to
manage. Windows Server 2016 runs consistently on premises and
in the cloud, reducing costs.

Watch now:
Software-defined
Storage with
Windows Server 2016

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Spend less time
managing network
infrastructure and get
ready for hybrid
Windows Server 2016 simplifies day-to-day management, freeing you
to plan your organizations hybrid migration. Notable features include:
Software-defined networking optimizes traditional networking.
Processes that have traditionally taken 2 to 3 days to complete
now take a few minutes. Integration with the cloud also has been
improved using the Azure data plane in your data center.
Software can now be defined with touching a switch.
Manage by policy instead of by configuration. Eliminate errors,
create the policy, and let the network controller do the rest.

Learn more about:


Software-defined
networking

2 | Improve efficiency and reduce costs across your data center 13


Stop spending your
Watch a demo of:
weekends upgrading
Rolling cluster upgrades
Rolling cluster upgrades minimize downtime and reduce
migration risks, while applications stay up. No more
2 a.m. migrations!

Get your workloads


cloud-ready
Plus Work with the resources in your application as a group, mixing
The Microsoft Azure Hybrid Use Benefit lets those using resources across IaaS and PaaS services.
Windows Server with Software Assurance bring their on-
Achieve enterprise-grade performance and security in the data
premises licenses to Azure. Rather than paying the full price
center and in the cloud, delivering consistency across clouds
for new Windows Server virtual machines in Azure, you only
with familiar tools and resources.
pay for the base compute rate.
Use hybrid operations to meet the changing needs of your
business with greater flexibility.

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REASON 3
Develop and migrate
apps quickly and
more securely
Accelerate business
agility with apps built
on Windows Server
The cloud enables businesses to innovate quickly and deliver faster
time-to value with cloud-native applications and microservices
architecture. But most businesses are grappling with how to manage
and update thousands of existing applications while planning how
to move to this new world. What is needed is a solution that helps How do you rationalize
you invigorate existing applications and create new, cloud-native
applications. Windows Server 2016 can do both. Windows Server ambitious new projects
helps you secure and modernize existing existing enterprise .NET with legacy technology?
and line-of-business server apps with little or no code changes.
Package existing apps in containers to realize the benefit of a
more agile DevOps model, then deploy either on premises, to any
cloud, or in a hybrid model. Developers can create cloud-ready,
business-changing apps and services, whether on premises or in any
cloud, using technologies such as containers and the lightweight
Nano Server installation option. Windows Server 2016 can help
you modernize your apps and innovate faster with a cloud-ready
application platform.

3 | Develop and migrate apps quickly and more securely 16


Secure fabric to protect
virtual machines
Enhance existing apps immediately with Windows Server 2016, by
taking advantage of enhanced security and management features in
the fabric. Use Shielded Virtual Machines to help secure your critical
applications to run only on trusted fabrics. Limit administrator access
to specific tasks with Just Enough Administration and specific time
With Windows Server 2016, limits with Just-in-Time Administration.
you can maintain your
IT department needs while
freeing your developers
to innovate using the
latest technology. Windows Server 2016
can help you modernize
your apps and innovate
faster with a cloud-ready
application platform

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Containerize existing apps
Move your traditional applications into a modern DevOps
environment with little or no code changes. Gain benefits such as
consistency across dev, test, and production using the same tooling,
which enables rapid deployments, continuous integration, and
continuous delivery, all with better security. Use containers to gain
control and consistency by enabling write-once, run-anywhere
apps that can be deployed on premises, to any cloud, or in a hybrid
By containerizing legacy
architecture across clouds. applications using Windows Server
For an additional layer of isolation, deploy your app in a containers, we gain better consistency
Hyper-V container, which packages the same container image and control between developers,
with its own dedicated kernel, ensuring tighter isolation in multi-
tenant environments.
testers, and deployment teamsa
full DevOps environmentwithout
changing the application.
Matthew Roberts
Principle Software Engineer
Tyco International

Watch a demo on:


Containers

3 | Develop and migrate apps quickly and more securely 18


Build cloud-native and
hybrid apps
Windows Server 2016 ships with agile technologies for Combine the benefits of containers with Nano Server, Service
building cloud-native applications with microservices Fabric, and the proven Windows Server platform to achieve
architectures. Nano Servers just enough OS model enables business agility with cloud apps.
you to build offline customized OS images highly optimized
for your application, providing a fast-booting, tiny OS that
achieves higher density and a reduced attack surface. Create
with familiar tools, including third-party frameworks, such as Exploring Nano Server
Node.js. Using proven Azure Service Fabric technology along for Windows Server 2016
with Windows Server 2016, build always-on, scalable, and with Jeffrey Snover
distributed applications and run them in Azure, on premises,
or in a hybrid model.

Monolithic applications Microservices applications


Tiered approach. A monolithic app App 1 Distributed approach. A microservice App 1 App 2
contains domain-specific functionality application separates functionality into
and is normally divided by functional separate smaller services.
layers, such as web, business, and data.

Cumbersome scale. Clone the app Rapid scale. Deploy each service
on multiple servers, VMs, containers. independently creating instances
of the services across servers,
VMs, containers.

3 | Develop and migrate apps quickly and more securely 19


The OS you know and
love with innovation
for your future
Striking the right balance between your organizations desire
to innovate and the daily needs of key departments can be
a challenge. Windows Server 2016 provides a robust, flexible
solution. With a strong security posture, a software-defined data
center, and innovative application platform, Windows Server 2016
is the right choice for your business.

2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This


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Ultimate Guide to your internal, reference purposes.
Windows Server 2016

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