Introduction to SERVER 2012

Windows server 2012 initial start screen

Windows Server 2012, codenamed "Windows Server 8", is the sixth release of Windows Server. It is the server version of Windows 8 and succeeds Windows Server 2008 R2. Two pre-release versions, a developer preview and a beta version, were released during development. The software was generally available to customers starting on September 4, 2012.

Unlike its predecessor, Windows Server 2012 has no support for Itanium-based computers,  and like other releases of microsoft OS this one is also released in four different flavors. Various features were added or improved over Windows Server 2008 R2, such as an updated version of Hyper-V, an IP address management role, a new version of Windows Task Manager, and ReFS, (a new file system). Although it has a Metro user interface (which has led to a mixed reception for Windows 8), the operating system has generally received positive reviews for these features.

As claimed by Microsoft, Windows server 2012 is the first Cloud OS. Microsoft delivers a server platform built on our experience of building and operating many of the world's largest cloud-based services and datacenter. Whether you are setting-up a single server for your small business or architecting a major new datacenter environment, Windows Server 2012 will help you cloud-optimize your IT so you can fully meet your organization's unique needs.

The four key features that best describes  windows server as cloud OS are:

1.  Scalable : The latest generation of Hyper-V lets a customer scale from one to thousands of virtual machines as workloads dictate. It supports up to 320 logical processors and 4 TB of RAM per server, and Laing said it can virtualize 99 percent of all SQL Server databases. The new OS can run large virtual machines up to 64 virtual processors and 1 terabyte of memory per VM.
2.  Elasticity : Resources can quickly be expanded or contracted through automation or workflow, so IT services can be scaled up or down almost instantly to meet business requirements. 
3.  Always-On: A feature called Live Migration provides VM mobility, which facilitates the movement of virtual machines from one physical server to another locally or over a wide area network. This cluster-aware feature is designed to provide continuous availability during patches, upgrades or failures. 
4. Automation and self-service: Users in departments can self-provision compute and storage resources. Windows Server 2012 enables automation with over 2,400 new PowerShell commandlets, designed to eliminate manual tasks and allowing IT to manage massive amounts of servers. Combined with System Center 2012, Windows Server 2012 offers automation via user-defined policies.