Top 5 New Features in Windows Server 2022 Transforming IT Management

Continuous technological advancement requires IT departments to stay informed about the latest developments. Windows Server 2022 meets these requirements by providing features that significantly simplify infrastructure management and increase its efficiency.

Windows Server 2022 is Microsoft’s server operating system that brings numerous innovative features and improvements. This version offers significant updates in security, performance, and management, making it an essential tool for modern IT professionals.

Secured-core Server: A New Level of Security

The Secured-core server is a revolutionary security technology integrated into Windows Server 2022. It provides comprehensive protection at all levels, from hardware to operating system:

• Firmware-level attack protection: prevents malicious code injection into UEFI and BIOS, ensuring system integrity from startup.
• Critical system component isolation: uses virtualization to create isolated environments where key security processes run, protecting them from compromise.
• Prevention of unauthorized memory access: applies memory protection technologies, such as Control Flow Guard and Kernel Data Protection, to prevent vulnerability exploitation and malicious code injection.
• Dynamic threat protection: uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to detect and block new types of attacks in real-time.

The implementation of Secured-core server significantly increases the overall security level of infrastructure. This is especially important for organizations working with confidential data or in regulated industries.

Enhanced Hybrid Cloud Environment Support

Windows Server 2022 offers enhanced capabilities for working with hybrid cloud environments. A key element of this improvement is integration with Azure Arc — a service that allows resource management across various environments from a single interface.

Benefits of enhanced hybrid environment support:

1. Centralized management of local and cloud resources: Enables administration of servers, Kubernetes clusters, and databases from a single Azure Portal console, regardless of their physical location.
2. Simplified monitoring and update processes: provides a single interface for tracking performance, security, and compliance of all resources.
3. Cloud policy application to local servers: enables the use of Azure Policy for ensuring compliance and managing configurations across all servers, including local ones.
4. Deployment and management automation: uses Azure Automation to create and execute automation scripts on all connected resources.
5. Enhanced analytics capabilities: integrates local servers with Azure Monitor and Azure Security Center for in-depth performance and security analysis.

The hybrid approach is particularly valuable for organizations gradually moving to the cloud or those with specific data hosting requirements. Windows Server 2022 ensures smooth transition and efficient management in such scenarios.

SMB Compression: Data Transfer Optimization

SMB (Server Message Block) compression technology is one of the most notable improvements in Windows Server 2022. It automatically compresses files during network transfer, significantly increasing network resource efficiency.

Key features:

• Automatic file compression without user intervention: the system independently determines which files need compression based on their type and size.
• Support for various compression algorithms for optimal performance: includes XPRESS (standard) and LZNT1 (for compatibility with older systems).
• Compatibility with previous SMB versions: provides seamless integration with existing infrastructure.
• Significant reduction in data transfer time: reduces transfer time by 40–50% on average for compressible files.
• Reduced network load: decreases the volume of transferred data, which is especially important for slow or congested networks.

The implementation of this technology substantially increases performance in scenarios requiring frequent transfer of large data volumes. This is particularly relevant for organizations with distributed infrastructure or those working with media files and large datasets.

Enhanced Container Performance

Windows Server 2022 offers significant improvements in container operations. These changes aim to increase compatibility, reduce image size, and accelerate container startup.

Key container improvements:

• Base container image size reduction: 40% decrease compared to previous versions, saving disk space and accelerating deployment.
• Enhanced Linux container compatibility: Support for running Linux containers on Windows through WSL 2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux 2).
• Optimized container startup and shutdown process: 30% faster, critical for microservice architectures and dynamic scaling.
• Group policy support for containers: Enables centralized management of security settings and container configuration.
• Enhanced Kubernetes integration: Includes CSI (Container Storage Interface) support for more flexible storage management.

Increased container performance in Windows Server 2022 enables more efficient server resource utilization and accelerates application development and deployment processes. This opens new opportunities for workflow optimization and overall IT infrastructure efficiency improvement.

Hotpatch for Windows Server Azure Edition

Hotpatch technology is an innovative approach to update installation available in Windows Server Azure Edition. It enables applying critical security updates without a server restart.

Hotpatch technology benefits:

1. Minimal service downtime: updates are applied without interrupting application and service operations.
2. Reduced risks associated with server restarts: eliminates problems that may occur during restart, such as startup failures or data loss.
3. Simplified update management process: automates the update installation process, reducing IT staff workload.
4. Enhanced security: enables faster response to critical vulnerabilities by applying patches immediately.
5. Improved maintenance planning: allows applying updates during business hours without affecting performance.

Hotpatch works by injecting patches directly into running processes without impacting core system files. This enables applying critical security updates almost instantly without interrupting services.

The implementation of this technology significantly increases service availability and simplifies update management. This is especially important for organizations working with mission-critical applications requiring high availability.