Microsoft recently held a streaming event in which it detailed a lot of the new features and changes coming in Windows server 2025, and has now followed that up with a blog post, as well. There’s a lot to go over here, and I’m anything but a Windows Server specialist, so I’ll highlight some of the thing I’m certain will be welcomed by Windows Server administrators.
First and foremost, the biggest improvement: hot-patching. Security updates can be installed without having to reboot, because Server 2025 will modify code in memory without restarting the processes in question. Quarterly updates, however, will still require reboots. Hot-patching will be free on all versions of Server 2025.
Microsoft also promises a massive performance boost for NVMe drives – the company claims a 70% improvement going from Server 2022 to Server 2025. Microsoft’s other file system, ReFS, is also seeing improvements, and Storage Replica’s compression will be available in all editions of Windows Server 2025. A major improvement in Hyper-V is the ability to partition GPUs, so you can use one GPU to power multiple virtual machines.
As far as licensing goes, the most important news here is that you’ll still be able to buy a normal, regular, run-of-the-mill perpetual license for Windows Server 2025, so even though there’s various more ‘modern’ options, you can also just opt for the way it’s always been.
