User Manual

Gain workload mobility, increase network security
Traditional network infrastructures are rigid and complex, making it time-consuming
to deploy workloads that require network changes and increasing the chance for
error. Organizations can achieve rapid scale and agility when they adopt a software-
dened network (SDN) model for deployment and management. With SDN, every
workload and tenant is deployed into a network overlay that provides the virtualized
services that workloads need, such as switching, routing, load balancing, rewalls,
and edge services. As a result, IT can automate workload deployment on-premises,
or in Azure and service provider clouds, with no changes to the physical network
infrastructure. SDN also helps protect against network attacks. IT can dynamically
adjust workload protection with the ability to precisely model and rapidly change
network segmentation and security policies based on evolving threat vectors.
Reduce storage costs
In a highly virtualized environment, the underlying storage system can affect
overall performance. A traditional, manually congured storage system can prevent
organizations from fully realizing the benets of the software-dened datacenter.
Software-dened storage capabilities in Windows Server 2016, such as Storage
Spaces Direct, Storage Replica, Quality of Service, and data deduplication, use
policies and automation to increase datacenter efciency and reduce storage
management costs.
Help secure your future at the OS level
Cyber criminals are more sophisticated than ever, using clever strategies to
breach your datacenter and access critical business data. Using disparate tools
from multiple vendors to congure solutions only adds to security headaches.
With Windows Server 2016, security technologies are built into the virtualization
platform to help secure the basic building block of virtualized computing—the
virtual machine. Shielded Virtual Machines are ideal for business critical systems,
including domain controllers and certicate servers. The VMs can run only on
designated hardware and data stays encrypted, even if a VM is accidentally leaked
or stolen by a rogue administrator. Other features, including Credential Guard and
Device Guard, help protect stored credentials and keep rogue binaries from running.
IT departments also struggle to keep hackers off corporate networks. The new
Network Function Virtualization rewall built into Windows Server 2016 helps
organizations be more secure and efcient by allowing the rewall to be an integral
part of the software-dened networking environment, including automation and
orchestration of the rewall settings as the computing environment changes.
Copyright © 2017 Microsoft, Inc. All rights reserved. This datasheet is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information presented here.
Drive efciency with a software-dened datacenter
Take the next step. Learn more at
www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/software-dened-datacenter
Options for managing your
infrastructure
Microsoft offers a variety of infrastructure
management solutions to work with any
operations model.
Microsoft System Center 2016
Whether you have a few servers or
thousands, System Center provides
efcient deployment and management
functionality for your virtualized,
software-dened datacenter to bring
you increased agility and performance.
PowerShell and Desired State
Conguration
Dene, deploy, and manage your
software environment through
PowerShell scripting and Desired State
Conguration, using a single console.
Operations Management Suite
To manage and help protect workloads
in multiple cloud types, you can extend
management to Operations Management
Su
ite (OMS) services for visibility and
control across Azure, AWS, Windows
Server, Linux, VMware, and OpenStack
systems.