Windows Server 2022 is Microsoft's latest server operating system, bringing a number of innovations in security, Azure hybrid integration and management, and application platform. Windows Server 2022 builds on the strong foundation of Windows Server 2019, offering new features such as Hotpatch, SMB over QUIC, Storage Replica Compression, Secured-core Server and more. In this article, we'll cover the key new features of the Windows Server 2022.

Security

The Windows Server 2022 places a strong emphasis on security, providing multiple layers of protection against threats. Secured-core server technology helps protect servers from firmware-level attacks that can exploit hardware vulnerabilities. Secured-core servers use features such as Trusted Platform Module (TPM), Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX), AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) and Virtualization-based Security (VBS). With these features, the Windows Server 2022 minimizes the operating system interface that an attacker can exploit.

The Windows Server 2022 also enhances BitLocker encryption, which now supports the AES-256 algorithm2. This increases data protection on disks and on the network. BitLocker also enables automatic key unlocking when a server reboots. This reduces the administrative burden and improves availability.

The Windows Server 2022 also introduces SMB over QUIC, which allows secure access to files remotely without a VPN. SMB over QUIC is a protocol that runs SMB over UDP and uses QUIC encryption and trust. This means that SMB clients will be able to connect to SMB servers either through firewalls or proxies.

Azure hybrid integration and management

The Windows Server 2022 also enhances Azure's hybrid capabilities and offers more options for connecting cloud and on-premise infrastructure. Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure Edition is a VM-only operating system that takes advantage of Azure benefits such as Hotpatch, Azure Extended Networking and Azure Automanage. Hotpatch allows security updates to be installed without rebooting, reducing downtime and increasing productivity. Azure Extended Networking improves network performance and scalability, while Azure Automanage automates server configuration and maintenance.

The Windows Server 2022 also supports Azure Arc, which helps you manage, provision and govern servers from Azure. Azure Arc enables a unified way to view and manage resources running in Azure and other locations, such as virtual machines, Kubernetes clusters or SQL servers. With Azure Arc, Windows Server 2022 servers can use Azure services such as Azure Monitor, Azure Security Center, Azure Backup, Azure Policy and others.

Application platform

The Windows Server 2022 also improves the application platform and provides more options for developers and administrators. Windows Server 2022 also supports Windows containers and Kubernetes, which help modernize container-based applications. In addition, the Windows Server 2022 supports Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) on Azure Stack HCI and Windows Server, enabling easy deployment and management of Kubernetes clusters on-premises or at the edge.

The Windows Server 2022 also increases application performance and scalability. The Windows Server 2022 supports up to 48 TB of memory, 64 sockets and 2048 logical cores, ideal for high-performance computing tasks such as SQL Server. The Windows Server 2022 also enhances Storage Replica, which now supports compression for data transfers between source and target servers. This reduces network utilization and improves data synchronization.