Windows Server 2019 is by far the latest version of the server operating system released by Microsoft. Being the latest version of the Windows server, it has much improved and better features which obviously supersedes its predecessor Windows Server 2016. Windows Server 2019 has 3 main versions being, Windows Server Essentials, Standard & Data Center. And of course, Each of these operating systems serves different user demands and requirements, like Windows Server Essentials meeting smaller foundations while Windows Server Data Center version serving the far wider audience.
Windows Server 2019 was officially released on October, 2nd of 2018 and right after a few days, all of the Windows Server 2019 versions completely removed from Microsoft’s Official servers. This issue was also officially announced by Microsoft stating: “We have temporarily removed all media for Windows Server 2019“. Apparently, this was due to a bug that was affecting the 1809 update at the time. Users had reported missing files after updating to the latest 1809 version which made Microsoft completely remove everything regarding the new update. Fortunately, this issue has been resolved long ago now and you don’t have to worry about Windows Server missing from the Web. You can now clearly find Windows Server 2019 on the internet as Google suggests it in the picture below.
Windows Server 2019 Full Version Free Download
Windows Server 2019 was removed 3 days after the release on October, 2nd 2018 where users faced a client information problem with the 1809 version. Fortunately, Windows Server was re-released back to the organizations and could be found on the internet soon after in about a month in November of 2018.
You can now easily download any version of the Microsoft Windows server from the internet. All the links to download Windows Server 2019 are provided below. Keep in mind that here at WindowsTrainer, we have provided the direct download links for Windows Server 2019 Standard & Data Center Edition.
Windows Server 2019 Essentials Overview
Microsoft has clearly mentioned that this version of Windows Server 2019 is for small businesses. Windows Server 2019 Essentials was previously known as “Small Business Server (SBS)”. Microsoft has also mentioned that Windows Server Essentials is good for businesses having 25 users and 50 devices.
Since this version is made for smaller infrastructures, it lacks some of the features which are only available to Windows Server Standard & Data Center Edition. Windows Server Essential lacks advanced features such as Storage Migration Services (SMS). Microsoft has also mentioned that it is most likely that they will no longer be willing to continue developing Server Essentials anymore and this would be the last version they have. Instead, They have prepared another subscribed service called Microsoft 365 Business that would work best for small organizations or businesses to use.
In fact, they clearly stated that small organizations or businesses Could also be using either Microsoft 365 Business or Windows Server 2016 Essentials.
We’re no longer developing the Essentials Experience role for the Windows Server Standard or Windows Server Datacenter SKUs. If you need an easy-to-use server solution for small-to-medium businesses, check out our new Microsoft 365 for business solution, or use Windows Server 2016 Essentials.
Windows Server 2019 Standard & Data Center Brief Comparison
In this part of the article, we have briefly compared the two main versions, Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Standard & Data Center. Windows Server 2019 Standard and Datacenter are basically an equivalent product, differentiating from each other in features only thanks to licensing. Thus, Datacenter and Standard editions are often converted to one another. This can be done upon activation by entering an activation key which then determines and as needed converts Windows to the corresponding edition.
In short: Windows Server 2019 Datacenter might be activated to Standard and the other way around. How this is done exactly, and what would happen to the Datacenter features if converted to Standard we are unsure about. Perhaps someone could relate to it in the comments below? Check out the table below for some of the key features surrounding Windows Server 2019 Standard & Data Center editions.
| Features | Standard Edition | Data Center Edition |
|---|---|---|
| Basic functionality of Windows Server | Yes | Yes |
| Integration with Azure | Yes | Yes |
| Hyper-Converged Infrastructure | No | Yes |
| Hyper-V/OSes (operating system environments) containers | 2 Per License | Unlimited |
| Windows Server containers | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| HGS (Host Guardian Service) | Yes | Yes |
| Host Guardian Hyper-V Support | No | Yes |
| Storage replica | Yes up to 2 TB | Yes |
| Shielded virtual machines (VMs) | No | Yes |
| Software-defined Networking/storage | No | Yes |
Windows Server 2019 Compared to Windows Server 2016
Here is an overview of the changes made with the release of Windows Server 2019 over the Server 2016. Some of the features that are not included in the Server 2019 version is because Microsoft has changed them to a different set of functions or was not important to add any more. View the table below for an overall overview of the 2019-2016 comparison to understand the different functionalities between them better.
| Feature | Windows Server 2016 | Windows Server 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Windows Admin Center | Yes | No |
| System Insight | No | Yes |
| Hybrid Cloud | Yes | Yes |
| Azure support | Yes | Yes |
| Linux support | Yes | Yes |
| Kubernetes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows image | No | Yes |
| Windows Defender ATP | No | Yes |
| Shielded VMs | Yes | Yes (also for Linux) |
| Encryption between VMs | No | Yes |
| Storage Migration Service | No | Yes |
| Storage Space Direct | Yes | Yes |
| Storage Replica | Yes (only in Data center Edition) | Yes |
| Business Scanning | Yes | No |
| Internet Storage Name Service | Yes | No |
| Remote Desktop Connection Broker / Virtualization Host | Yes | No |
Windows Server 2019 Key Features
Windows Server 2019 provides a number of new features that users can reap benefits of. Basically, it sort of hides Windows server 2016 in the shadow with improved and some new features which Server 2016 users won’t have until they migrate to the newer 2019 version. Here is a list of all the improved and new features that Windows Server 2019 comes packed with.
1: Windows Admin Center (WAC)
Windows Admin Center is web-based software to help ease users with management and improve user experience. WAC can also be used remotely and can control connected hardware too. If you wanted to perform a management task anywhere, you had to use a ton of different tools to perform the specified task. But with Windows Admin Center, Microsoft has merged all the different tools inside one single management tool that can be remotely accessed.
2: System Insights
System Insights is a new feature being added to the Windows Server 2019. This is a new predictive analytics feature that simply analyzes your system data and provides system insights to help you reduce and manage issues with it.
3: Hybrid Cloud
With the release of Windows Server 2019, Microsoft makes it obvious that they are taking cloud computing more into consideration. In this feature it means that Microsoft has now vastly improved its connection between Azure cloud and the local windows Server. This version of hybrid cloud now also supports All other Azure cloud services like, Azure back up, file sync & disaster recovery.
4: Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
As the name suggests, Windows Defender Advanced threat Protection (ATP) is a solution for enterprise networks to help them detect, investigate, and prevent threats. Microsoft Defender ATP has seven main features/options being threat and vulnerability management, attack surface reduction, next-generation anti-virus, endpoint detection and response, auto investigation and remediation, Microsoft threat experts and management & APIs.
5: Storage Migration Service
This is a new service to help ease users with their service migration to a new version of Windows. Basically, if users want to migrate to a new version of Windows Server, Storage Migration Service helps them transfer data and all their old configurations to the newer version of Windows with ease. It also lets users keep their old server identities with the new server that further help users so that they don’t need to change anything.
6: Kubernetes
Windows Server 2019 is the only operating system having Kubernetes node enabled. With the release of Windows Server OS build (1809), Kubernetes 1.14 was introduced for Windows. Now with Kubernetes, there are a number of feature you can take use of like Overlay networking, Simplified network management, scalability improvements, Hyper-V isolation and Storage plugins.
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