Download Free Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM e-Book

In accordance with the Windows Vista SP1-Windows Server 2008 RTM/SP1 model, Microsoft also built its latest iterations of the Windows client and server operating systems in parallel. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 were developed together, and released to manufacturing concomitantly on July 22nd, 2009. In order to help IT professionals get ready for Windows Server 2008 R2 Microsoft has run an extensive testing program throughout the Beta and Release Candidate (RC) development milestones, and is now offering a free e-book focused on Windows Server 2008 R2 to customers.

“Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2” authored by Charlie Russel and Craig Zacker with the Windows Server Team at Microsoft, is available free of charge from the Redmond company. Customers interested in getting an insight into Windows Server 2008 R2 are free to grab the e-book either as an XPS file, 28 MB, or as a PDF document, 11 MB.

“Windows Server 2008 R2, or simply R2 for short, is the second release of Windows Server 2008. It isn’t a completely new release, but rather adds additional features and refinements to the existing release. In this book, we focus on the new features and refinements in R2. We assume you have at least a general knowledge of Windows Server, and that you have some familiarity with Windows Server 2008, although we don’t assume you’re actively running Windows Server 2008. Where an R2 feature is a refinement of a feature that was new in Windows Server 2008, we provide background on the Windows Server 2008 feature to provide context,” reads an excerpt from the e-book’s introduction.

The book is designed to provide customers with insight on various aspects of Windows Server 2008 R2. The authors focus on the new additions introduced by R2, but also on installation and configuration, the evolution of Hyper-V as well as Remote Desktop Services and VDI. IT administrators looking to familiarize themselves with Windows Server 2008 R2 will be able to understand how the new Active Directory enhances Identity and Access, but also read about improvements associated with File Services Role, IIS 7.5, DirectAccess and Network Policy Server, etc.