Windows Server 2025 is now in public preview

Microsoft has recently announced that Windows Server 2025 is available in public preview and scheduled to be generally available later this year. This is the latest in its Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) releases, which have utilised feedback from customers to help transform Windows Server 2025 into a more secure and innovative solution.

This release offers various enhancements, including advanced security, Azure hybrid features, a high-performance platform for existing apps and AI workloads and a modernised Windows Server experience.

Advanced Security

This release includes a number of security innovations to help to keep its users secure, such as new security capabilities in Active Directory which enable modern and scalable identity management. There have been improvements to Server Message Block (SMB), including SMB over QUIC, which provides secure, reliable connectivity to edge file servers over untrusted networks and features that protect against common cyber attacks like brute force, spoofing and relay attacks.

Lastly, Windows Server 2025 makes security updates possible with fewer reboots. This is enabled by Azure Arc hotpatching as well as new security capabilities in Active Directory and SMB hardening.

Azure hybrid features

With 81% of hybrid customers expecting to remain so for the next five years, Windows Server 2025 provides enhanced hybrid cloud features to help customers to thrive in hybrid work. Windows Server 2025 does this through Software-Defined Network (SDN) multisite features, which enable unified network policy management and native L2 and L3 connectivity for workloads in multiple locations.

Windows Server 2025 also features flexible hybrid and multicloud management tools that work through Azure Arc to bring Azure capabilities to your datacenter. Or, if you are yet to get started with Azure hybrid capabilities, Windows Server 2025’s features enable easier onboarding to Azure Arc.

Platform for existing apps and AI workloads

Windows Server 2025 offers many of the features and benefits of Azure across GPUs, storage, networking and scalability.

Support AI workloads with GPU partitioning across virtual machines with live migration and failover clustering. Reduce the time you spend on network setup and issue remediation with Network Adaptive Traffic Control (ATC) and Network Health and Usage Dashboard (HUD) features and improve Hyper-V performance and scalability through massive increases in storage and performance.

This is just an overview of the new features and improvements included in the preview of Windows Server 2025. To learn more about what’s included or how to download the public preview, you can get in touch with us.