Compare Features

New and Updated Features in Windows Server 2008

In the table below is a summarized version of all new and updated features for Windows
Server 2008 and which edition they are supported on. For a detailed overview of these
features, please visit the Why Upgrade page.

KEY:

= Not
Available

New/Updated
Features

= Available

Enterprise Datacenter Standard Web Itanium

License
Requirements

NEW: AD Rights
Management
Services (RMS)

Covered by server
license, but
incremental RMS
CALs required,
similar to Terminal
Services.

NEW:
Cryptography Next
Generation (CNG)

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

NEW: Group
Policy Preferences

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

NEW: Hyper-V

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

NEW: Internet
Information
Services (IIS) 7.0

Covered by server
license. No
incremental

licensing
requirements.
NEW: Network
Access Protection
(NAP)

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

NEW: Read Only

Domain
Controllers
(RODC)

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

NEW: Server Core

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

NEW: Server
Manager

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

NEW: Terminal
Services Gateway
and RemoteApp

Covered by server
license, but
incremental TS
CALs required,
similar to AD
Rights Management
Services.

NEW: Windows
Deployment
Services (WDS)

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

Enhancements Enterprise Datacenter Standard Web Itanium

License
Requirements

Active Directory
Domain Services
(AD DS)

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

Active Directory
Federation
Services
enhancements

Covered by server
license, but may
require additional
licensing based on
use.

DNS Server
enhancements

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

Failover
Clustering
enhancements

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

Network Load
Balancing
enhancements

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

Windows Server
Backup
enhancements

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

Windows
Reliability and
Performance
Monitor
enhancements

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

TCP/IP Stack
enhancements

Covered by server
license. No

incremental
licensing
requirements.
Windows Firewall
with Advanced
Security
enhancements

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

Terminal Services
enhancements

Covered by server
license, but
incremental TS
CALs required,
similar to AD Rights
Management
Services.

Public Key
Infrastructure
(PKI)
enhancements

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.

Windows Media
Services
enhancements

Covered by server
license. No
incremental
licensing
requirements.