The server OS: Present and future trends

• Tags:
• Server Management,
• Virtual Server,
• Hyper-V,
• Virtualisation

Gary Flood ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 30 May 2008 15:47 BST

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...only eight percent said they are using the new OS, while 41 percent claimed to have no plans to install it at all — although this group included Linux users with no Windows infrastructure. For those who did want to make the switch, 25 percent saw it happening in the next year, while 12 percent said they wouldn't be upgrading until 2009 or 2010. A further three percent said they were looking as far ahead as 2011.

IDC's Ingle thinks that the apparent reluctance to adopt Windows Server 2008 can be explained by a common perception that it is often best practice to wait for the first service pack when it comes to a new Microsoft product. However, he claims that, although this cautious approach isn't necessary with Windows Server 2008, that message has not got out to everyone yet. "There is very little evidence here, or elsewhere, that people want to migrate from Windows to Linux, for example. [Adoption of Windows Server 2008] will take a little while, and there is nothing here for Microsoft to panic about," he said.

Ingle also points out that, for those people using virtualisation software, Microsoft's product in this area, Microsoft Virtual Server (the Hyper-V hypervisor is due later this year), came in higher than he'd have expected, at 23 percent.

Some commentators have questioned whether virtualisation technologies should really be considered part of the server OS at all. Market leader VMware has done very well to date with standalone virtualisation technology. Even though open-source specialist Red Hat includes virtualisation software in its Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 server software, Joel Berman, director of product marketing for Red Hat, points out: "Virtualisation is more of an application than an OS feature, and one that fits well with reported interest here in cost reduction and consolidation."

Not surprisingly, given the inclusion, if only as a beta product, of its Hyper-V hypervisor in the recently launched Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has an alternative view of the relationship between the OS and the virtualisation-management software. "Virtualisation has long been a core part of server operating systems and this market is enjoying a fresh round of innovation. From speaking to our customers, we know that people now expect virtualisation capabilities from their server OS, " says Microsoft's Hall.

By integrating Hyper-V into Windows Server 2008, Microsoft customers are in a better position to manage their servers themselves, without having to drastically change their IT infrastructure, adds Hall.

However, IDC's Ingle claims that, at the moment, companies are more interested in scalable servers than virtualisation just for the sake of it. "You do virtualisation for positive reasons, not because it's an interesting technology," he says. "Virtualisation is clearly already in many of the datacentres in the study and is going to be a big factor in the majority of future plans. Yes, it is 11 out of 11 in a list of desired features for a server OS, but that's because it is more of a layer in the stack, not necessarily a core feature in a server operating system."

Addressing the issues of cost, manageability and servers being 'plug and play', Gerald Pfeifer, director of inbound product management at Novell, says that the ZDNet.co.uk research clearly shows customers are facing real issues in this area.

"It is striking the way cost and a focus on cost is such an issue for so many respondents," says Pfeifer "It still seems like a lot of work needs to be done in terms of consolidation and better operability, too. It is also clearly significant that 44 percent of this sample want to work with just one OS, not multiple ones."

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