Microsoft Gold-Certified Consultants

Windows Server 2019 is the self-hosted version of Microsoft's flagship server OS. Microsoft Windows Server 2019 incorporates all the enhancements for Microsoft Windows Server 2016 previously available only via the Semi-Annual Channel. Microsoft Windows Server 2019 features significant improvements in capacity, performance, manageability, cybersecurity, app compatibility, Linux co-existence, container technology, and hybrid integration of local and cloud-hosted assets.

Headline enhancements of Windows Server 2019 include Windows Admin Center for unifying the management and monitoring of hybrid on-premises/cloud-hosted resources, System Insights for utilizing modern predictive intelligence to control on-premises environments, Windows Defender ATP Exploit Guard for host-intrusion defense, container orchestration using Kubernetes, Cluster Sets technology for deploying and managing large high-availability scale-out clusters, and Storage Migration Service for streamlining the upgrade process from legacy versions of Windows Server.

Progent can help you to integrate Windows Server 2019 with current releases of Microsoft's key applications by delivering services such as Microsoft Exchange Server consulting, SQL Server 2019 integration consulting, SQL Server 2017 upgrade services, SharePoint 2019 planning and integration, and Microsoft 365 integration expertise. Progent's consulting, debugging and education support for Windows Server 2019 are offered remotely and Progent also provides onsite services in major metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Hybrid Cloud Solutions with Microsoft Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2019 makes the Azure stack available to organizations of any size for creating onsite networks, private cloud solutions, or hybrid systems that combine local resources with resources provided via private and public clouds.

Most of modern businesses deploy a combination of on-premises and cloud-based IT assets to get the appropriate trade-off of control, affordability, throughput, reliability, and security/compliance they need. In some industries, regulations require that certain classes of resources and data be retained internally. In other instances, company standards or legacy applications require line-of-business applications to be run from a local data center. Microsoft Windows Server 2019 provides a cloud-friendly solution that permits you to implement and administer powerful hybrid networks that seamlessly access resources spread across on-premises facilities and the cloud.

Designing, configuring and managing efficient hybrid solutions with Microsoft Windows Server 2019 calls for a wide array of skills. This is beyond the comfort zone of most in-house IT groups maintained by smaller businesses. Progent's team of subject-matter experts offers on-demand access to the skills you need for any aspect of hybrid network deployment and management. Progent's Microsoft-certified and Cisco-certified consulting experts, project managers, and cybersecurity specialists can help you to determine the benefits of Windows Server 2019 for your company and create a hybrid environment powered by Microsoft Windows Server 2019 that delivers maximum return on investment.

The Right Moment to Upgrade
The release of Windows Server 2019 was accompanied by the notification of End-of-Support (EOS) status for Microsoft's widely used Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 platforms. This means there will be no additional security patches on-premises, no non-security updates, no free support options, and no downloadable technical updates. Consequently, security issues will become increasingly challenging, management costs may go up, and system reliability may go down.

If your company needs expertise migrating to Windows Server 2019 from WS 2008 or another out-of-date release of Microsoft Windows Server, Progent can provide the skills to make your upgrade process efficient, affordable, and fast. Progent's Windows experts can assist you to:

• Inventory your applications and server roles running on your current Windows Servers
• Migrate your virtual machines to the Private Progent Cloud or upgrade to the current version of on-prem Windows Server or to Microsoft Azure
• Fine-tune your resources to reduce spend, manage resources, and enhance data security across hybrid applications

Windows Server 2019 has two deployment alternatives: Server Core and Server with Desktop Experience. The Server Core option has a minimal footprint and no local interface but handles all role-based workloads. This "headless" version must be managed remotely, e.g. with the command line or Remote Server Administration Tools. Server with Desktop Experience option is a complete installation and features a rich graphical user interface (GUI) for local management. Progent's consultants can help your organization to determine the editions and installation options most appropriate for your situation, comprehend Microsoft's licensing rules, and pick an optimal on-premises, cloud-based, or hybrid network model.

Top New Features of Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2019 offers improved expandability, throughput, administration, Hyper-V virtualization, cybersecurity, hybrid deployment support, availability, orchestration, Linux support, and other important improvements. Versions of Windows Server 2019 licensed under the SAC release model are updated twice a year, making new features available much sooner than with the LTSC program.

Microsoft Windows Server 2019 delivers significant increases in scale compared to Windows Server 2016:

Additional headline improvements in Microsoft Windows Server 2019 are:

• Cluster Sets is a technology that allows orders of magnitude increases in cluster nodes in a virtual data center by grouping multiple smaller Failover Clusters into one large, uniformly managed fabric. Network managers can seamlessly migrate VMs throughout the Cluster Set fabric and control all facets of a Failover Cluster from initial deployment to decommissioning. Clusters joined within a Cluster Set can benefit from extra storage and RAM in another cluster without requiring that you purchase additional equipment. Compute and storage assets do not need to be the same, and resiliency is as good or better than with ordinary Failover Clusters.
  
  Before Windows Server 2019, large numbers of Hyper-V clusters for VMs were a hassle to manage and modify
  
  Windows Server 2019 introduces Cluster Sets for centralized control of failover clusters

• Storage Replica has been added to the Standard version of Microsoft Windows Server 2019. Storage Replica offers next-generation disaster recovery support and is discussed in Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Storage Replica consulting. New features of Storage Replica include a test failover function that allows you to put a destination volume online momentarily for testing and backup. Also, you can now manage Storage Replica with Windows Admin Center, which provides a GUI tool for managing procedures like server-to-server and cluster-to-cluster replication.
• Storage Spaces Direct improvements include deduplication and compression for Resilient File System volumes, integrated support for persistent memory (PMem), support for using a commodity flash drive to act as a witness with dual-server clusters, increased expandability (as high as 4 PB for each cluster), twice the throughput for mirror-accelerated parity, outlier detection for abnormal drive latency, and improved availability by manually delimiting volume allocation. Windows Server's Storage Spaces Direct features are described in Windows Storage Spaces Direct consultants.
• Storage Migration Service streamlines the process of moving the volume data from legacy servers to newer versions of Windows Server or Azure. You can utilize Storage Migration Service to migrate to current physical devices or to VMs. The utility inventories servers and their data; moves files, shares, and security configurations to their intended hosts; and permits new hosts to take over the identity of the source servers so that users and apps can have access to existing data without changing anything. Windows Admin Center's graphical interface can control many concurrent migrations.
• Broader Linux support enables you to run Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat Enterprise, and SUSE Enterprise Server on shielded virtual machines. Shielded Virtual Machines capability is discussed in Windows Server 2016 Shielded Virtual Machines consulting.
• Windows Admin Center is a web-based app installed locally for managing servers, clusters, HCI infrastructure with Storage Spaces Direct, Windows 10 endpoints, and Azure-hosted VMs. Windows Admin Center can be utilized to manage Windows Server 2012 and newer. Windows Admin Center is an "in-box" tool and so can be used to manage servers on private networks disconnected from the public Internet. By posting the Windows Admin Center gateway server to the public Internet, you can manage your servers safely from any location.
  
  
  Microsoft Windows Admin Center enables you to manage on-prem and Azure cloud VMs from a centralized console

• Container orchestration with Kubernetes, the popular management system for Docker containers, includes improved features such as being able to use embedded security tooling to protect Windows and Linux services. For a discussion of containers on Microsoft Windows Server, visit Windows Server containers expertise.
• Duplicate Elimination and Data Compression for ReFS Volumes supports an order of magnitude more data on a specified ReFS volume. Microsoft's ReFS file system, introduced in Windows Server 2012, integrates silicon performance tiers for handling hot data along with HDD/SDD capacity tiers to provide volume and fault tolerance.
• Windows Defender ATP is included with Windows Server 2019 as a built-in capability requiring no special license and no agent software to install.
• Encrypted Networks is a function that encrypts traffic between virtual machines communicating inside subnets that are set to be Encryption Enabled. DTLS on the virtual subnet blocks anyone with access to the physical network from looking at, altering, or spoofing network data. Data traveling between encrypted subnets is not encrypted.
• A USB Flash Drive plugged into your router can be used as a witness in dual-server clusters under Storage Spaces Direct. With this low-cost, no-hassle technique, when a server fails and then returns to operation, the USB drive cluster can let you know which server has the more recent data.
  
  
  Microsoft Windows Server 2019 permits a USB Flash drive to server as a witness in dual-server clusters

• Low Extra Delay Background Transport (LEDBAT) automatically avoids network congestion by consuming bandwidth only during periods when the network is being sparingly utilized. LEDBAT allows you to publish massive, important updates across an enterprise network without degrading the performance of business-critical applications.
• System Insights uses predictive analytics to improve capacity planning. System Insights runs internally on every Microsoft Windows Server 2019 instance and looks at performance stats and system events to predict capacity requirements in important areas such as usage for volumes, storage capacity, processing, and network traffic volume.
• Windows Time Service supports the new time synchronization method called Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and delivers accurate time during a leap second. Windows Server 2019 also supports time traceability and software time-stamping. These capabilities deliver improved accuracy and precision, allow compliance with UTC and other standards such as Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and meet the requirements of special time-sensitive workloads. Since network setup is challenging to implement the PTP protocol, NTP is still the default time synchronization technique for Microsoft Windows Server 2019.

Progent's certified cybersecurity experts can help your company to adhere to leading practices to create a modern information security environment that is consistent across local and cloud-based assets as well as mobile devices. Progent can help you to configure 24x7 remote security monitoring using an optimal mix of cybersecurity technologies from Microsoft and other leading vendors. Progent also offers security audits to ensure that your IT environment meets regulatory and industry information security requirements such as SOX, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS 3.2.

Progent's team of Cisco-certified CCIE network infrastructure experts is one of the largest of any independent IT support firm in the United States. Progent can help your business to design, deploy and maintain a resilient and cost-effective hybrid network infrastructure that delivers the latest HA and recovery technologies included with Windows Server 2019. Progent's disaster recovery and business continuity (DR/BC) planning consultants can assist your business plan and validate a comprehensive solution for recovering quickly from any foreseen disaster.

To assist you to support your Microsoft Windows Server 2019 and Windows Hyper-V virtualized environment, Progent offers a variety of expertise such as Windows Admin Center deployment, PowerShell scripting, System Center Virtual Machine Manager hybrid on-prem/cloud management consulting, and SCOM integration. Progent also has assembled the ProSight line of remote monitoring and management (RMM) outsourcing packages that give small and middle-size businesses (SMBs) an affordable and effective solution for server and endpoint management.

Download the Datasheet for Progent's Windows Server 2019 Consulting Services
To download the datasheet describing Progent's consulting services for Windows Server 2019, select:
Progent's consulting expertise for Windows Server 2019. (PDF - 319 KB)

Progent's Online Consulting and Troubleshooting Services
Progent has two decades of background delivering rapid, top-tier remote IT consulting and debugging support and has provided online expertise to businesses in every state in the US and throughout Canada. (See Progent's Client Testimonials.) Progent also provides onsite support in most U.S. metropolitan areas. Progent offers as-needed expertise to help you to resolve occasional technical problems or end-to-end project management outsourcing services.

If you need immediate remote help from a Microsoft-certified consultant, refer to Progent's Remote Technical Support.

Contact Progent for Assistance with Microsoft Windows Server 2019
To learn more about Progent's consulting support and troubleshooting services for Microsoft Windows Server 2019, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.