Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Enhanced Security Features

New threats have made it harder than ever for IT to secure data and applications. Windows Server 2016 gives you new capabilities to help prevent attacks and detect suspicious activity, with features to control privileged access, help protect virtual machines, and harden the platform against emerging threats.

Feature Description	Windows Server 2008 R2	Windows Server 2012 R2	Windows Server 2016
Shielded Virtual Machines: Uses BitLocker to encrypt disk and state of virtual machines.
Host Guardian Service: Helps ensure Hyper-V hosts running Shielded Virtual Machines are allowed and healthy hosts.
Just Enough Administration (JEA): Limits administrative privileges to the bare-minimum required set of actions (limited in space).
Just-in-Time Administration (JEA): Provides privileged access through a workflow that is audited and limited in time.
Credential Guard: Uses virtualisation-based security to help secure credential information.
Remote Credential Guard: Works in conjunction with Credential Guard for Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) sessions to deliver Single Sign-On (SSO), eliminating the need to pass credentials to the RDP host.
Device Guard: Helps ensure only authorised executables run on the machine.
AppLocker: Provides policy-based access control management for applications.
Windows Defender: Automatically helps protect machines from malware while allowing legitimate applications to run.
Control Flow Guard: Helps protect against classes of memory corruption attacks.
Generation 2 virtual machines: Allows VMs to use hardware-based security to leverage Secure Boot, BitLocker, etc.
Enhanced auditing for threat detection: Provides better log information.
Dynamic Access Control: Enables administrators to apply access-control permissions and restrictions based on well-defined rules.
Windows Firewall with Advanced Security: Allows granular firewall configuration.
BitLocker: Uses a hardware or virtual Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip to provide disk encryption for data and system volumes.
Small-footprint Hyper-V host (Server Core/Nano Server): Minimises attack surface with a Hyper-V host running minimum required components.

Not Supported

Limited Support

Fully Supported

Prices & Licensing

The Windows Server 2016 licensing model includes both Cores and Client Access Licenses (CALs). Each user and/or device accessing a licensed Windows Server Standard, Datacenter or Multipoint edition requires a Windows Server CAL or a Windows Server and a Remote Desktop Services (RDS) CAL. A Windows Server CAL gives a user or device the right to access any edition of Windows Server of the same or earlier version. Each Window Server CAL allows access to multiple licenses of Windows Server.

Core based licensing: Windows Server 2016 Standard and Datacenter

• All physical cores in the server must be licensed. Servers are licensed based on the number of physical processor cores in the server.
• A minimum of 16 core licenses is required for each server.
• A minimum of 8 core licenses is required for each physical processor.
• Core licenses will be sold in packs of two.
• Eight 2-core packs will be the minimum required to license each physical server.
• The 2-core pack for each edition is one-eighth the price of a 2-processor license for corresponding Windows Server 2012 R2 editions.
• Standard Edition provides rights for up to two OSEs or Hyper-V containers when all physical cores in the server are licensed. For every two additional VMs, all the cores in the server have to be licensed again.
• The price of 16-core licenses of Windows Server 2016 Datacenter and Standard edition will be the same price as the 2-processor license of the corresponding editions of the Windows Server 2012 R2 version.
• Existing customers’ servers under Software Assurance will receive core grants as required, with documentation.