Microsoft Windows Server 2025 Essentials

Windows Server 2025 Essentials

Windows Server 2025 Essentials is Microsoft's latest server solution, specifically designed to meet the needs of small businesses with up to 25 users and 50 devices. The solution provides a comprehensive platform for managing your IT infrastructure to increase efficiency and maximize data security.

Microsoft Windows Server 2025 is a major upgrade with hotfixes, Winget, 32K domain controllers, and other new features. Hot patching allows security updates to be applied to servers without the need for a reboot, which is particularly beneficial during operation. Hot patches can also be installed faster, saving a lot of time. One of the most important new features in Windows Server 2025 concerns Active Directory, which now supports 32 KB page sizes. In order for all domain controllers on the network to use the larger page size, they must be configured accordingly; otherwise they will remain in 8K page mode. Microsoft is also gradually introducing the Kerberos protocol for authentication in Windows Server 2025 and Active Directory, replacing the older NTLM protocol. Local accounts can use the new protocol to identify themselves, increasing security and efficiency.

Modern user interface
Microsoft Windows Server 2025 Essentials offers a redesigned user interface based on the style and look of Windows 11. This modernization brings several benefits:

More intuitive navigation: The new interface makes daily work easier for administrators by better arranging functions and settings.

Improved clarity: Important information and system status are clear at a glance, improving the efficiency of server management.

Consistent appearance: Consistent with Windows 11, ensuring a uniform user experience across all Microsoft products.
In addition to a modern interface, Windows Server 2025 Essentials offers enhanced reporting features. These provide a more detailed overview of server performance and usage, supporting informed decision-making.

The combination of optimized performance and improved availability makes Windows Server 2025 Essentials a powerful tool for companies looking to modernize their IT infrastructure and increase efficiency.

Improved NVMe storage utilization
The latest versions of Windows Server make full use of NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) storage. This results in significant improvements in storage performance:

Higher read and write speeds compared to previous versions
Reduce latency and increase throughput
Improve the overall responsiveness of your storage infrastructure
A special highlight is the introduction of the NVMe over Fabrics protocol (NVMe-oF). The technology enables network access to remote NVMe devices, extending the benefits of NVMe performance beyond a single server.

Windows Server 2025 offers significantly higher performance on NVMe storage with up to 90 percent more IOPS. Notably, this performance increase is achieved while reducing CPU usage, giving virtual machines more processing power.

In addition, Microsoft Windows Server 2025 now supports a built-in initiator for NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-OF) over TCP.

Support for SMB over QUIC
Server Message Block (SMB) received an update in Windows Server 2025 and is now available with QUIC (Quick UDP Internet Connections) for SMB support. This feature provides:

Connecting to edge file servers over untrusted networks is secure and reliable
A form of “SMB VPN” for teleworkers and mobile users
Encrypted Internet connections with zero latency
Improved packet loss and congestion behavior
Tolerance of IP address and port changes during transfer
These changes in Windows Server 2025 Essentials are designed to improve enterprise IT infrastructure while increasing security and efficiency.


System requirements:

Processor: 1.4 GHz with 64-bit
RAM: At least 2 GB for Server with Surface; 512 MB for Server Core
Disk space requirements: At least 32 GB
Network: Ethernet adapter at least 1 Gigabit
Display: VGA capable, at least 1024 x 768

Support for the SSE4.2 instruction set (Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.2)
Support for the POPCNT instruction