The Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard Edition from Microsoft lets you create, run, and maintain enterprise-class servers and cloud services, protect data stored on either, and allow users remote access from anywhere including mobile devices. Carrying over all the same features of Windows Server 2012, this version has added Software Inventory Logging, Mobile Device Management Registration and enhancements in virtualization, management storage, networking and more.
Standard edition is ideal for those customers who want to have a physical or lightly virtualized environment. This edition enables you to run up to two virtual instances of Windows Server with each license and provides all the same features as the Datacenter edition. The licensing for the Standard edition are processor plus Client Access License (CAL), with each license covering up to two physical processors on a single server.
New for Windows Server 2012 R2
Data Deduplication
Finds and removes duplication within data on a volume while ensuring that the data remains correct and complete. This makes it possible to store more file data in less space on the volume. For Windows Server 2012 R2, a number of parameters and error codes were activated, and the MSFT_DedupFileMetadata class was added.
Software Inventory Logging
Collects licensing data about software installed on a Windows Server, and provides remote access to the data so it can be aggregated easily by a datacenter.
iSCSI Target Server
The iSCSI Target Server API provides Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) providers for managing the Microsoft iSCSI Target Server, such as creating virtual disks, and for presenting them to the client. A number of new features were added for Windows Server 2012 R2.
Mobile Device Management Registration
Easier configuration of the network and resources, so employees can register their personal devices into a management service to have access to the corporate network.
Windows PowerShell v4
Task-based command-line shell and scripting language designed especially for system administration. Supports Desired State Configuration, which is a new management platform in Windows PowerShell v4 that enables deploying and managing configuration data for software services and managing the environment in which those services run.
Benefits
Enterprise-class
Improve performance and scale capacity more efficiently to run your largest workloads while enabling recovery options to protect against outages.
Application Focused
With enhanced support for open frameworks, you can build, deploy, and scale applications and websites with more flexibility by unlocking application portability between on-premises environments and public and service provider clouds.
Simple and Cost-effective
Deliver multi-tenant-aware storage and networking multi-tenancy capabilities for storage and networking on low-cost, industry-standard hardware.
User-centric
Access to information and data across the organization and into the cloud by validating user identities, verifying their devices, and credentials. This makes it easier to deploy a virtual desktop infrastructure and lowers costs by supporting a range of storage options and VHD deduplication.
Capabilities
Server Virtualization
Take advantage of the cost savings of virtualization, and maximize server hardware investments by consolidating your servers as virtual machines on a single physical host. Hyper-V 2.0 runs multiple operating systems including Windows, Linux, and others, in parallel, on a single server. Windows Server 2012 R2 extends Hyper-V's 2.0 capabilities with additional features and industry-leading scalability for host processors and memory.
Storage
Windows Server 2012 R2 helps you optimize your existing storage investments, such as SANs. It also lets you build scalable, high-performance, highly available storage solutions using industry-standard hardware and Windows Server 2012 R2.
Networking
You can manage an entire network as a single server, so you get the reliability and scalability of multiple servers at a lower cost. Automatic rerouting around storage, server, and network failures keeps file services online with minimal noticeable downtime. Together with System Center 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012 R2 can provide an end-to-end software defined networking solution across public, private, and hybrid cloud implementations.
Server Management and Automation
Following a standards-based management approach, the Windows Management Framework provides a common platform for automation and integration to help you automate your routine tasks with tools like Windows PowerShell. Other improvements help simplify deployment, ensure that the components of your datacenters have the correct configuration, and enable you to take action to manage across multiple servers through a single relevant dashboard in Server Manager.
Web and Application Platform
Build and deploy applications either on premises or in the cloud-or both at once, with hybrid solutions that work in both environments.
Access and Information Protection
With Microsoft's Access and Information Protection solutions, you can manage a single identity for each user, across both on-premises and cloud-based (SaaS) applications. You define a user's level of access to information and applications each user has to information and applications based on who they are, what they are accessing, and from which device, even applying multi-factor authentication. You can provide secure remote access to your mobile workers using the Windows Server Remote Access (RRAS) capabilities of DirectAccess and VPN (including automatic VPN connections) and enable your users to sync their work files from a corporate server to their devices. Also, you can manage mobile devices to remove corporate data and applications when a device is lost, stolen, or retired from use.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
With Windows Server 2012 R2, it's easier to deploy and deliver virtual resources across devices. VDI technologies offer easy access to a rich, full-fidelity Windows environment running in the datacenter, from virtually any device. Through Hyper-V and Remote Desktop Services, Microsoft offers three flexible VDI deployment options in a single solution: Pooled Desktops, Personal Desktops, and Remote Desktop Sessions.