Forum Discussion
So Windows Server Insiders is only the Core Version. How About Next Month the Full Server Is Avail..
We all understand that Microsoft wants everybody to use Server Core and we understand that in production when at all possible we will use Server Core if it is possible, i.e. (all the programs that we need are able to run in Core), however, when we are testing software (NOT in production) it makes sense that the full version is available so that our in house software could be tested with the new product. Most of our enterprise software does not run on a core box, therefore, it is impossible to test it with the new version of Windows Server Insiders..... Please ask the Server team, I was under the impression that Edge would be added to Windows Server 2016 R2, now it looks like we won't have a browser at all. Which makes sense if this was for production, once again, this is to test, so it is not being used in production and Server Core (is fun for us I.T. administrators), but it's not fun for anyone else especially developers who have not built their software to run in server core yet. Thanks....
The Semi-annual Channel will release with Server Core and Nano for container runtime. See this doc which discusses:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/semi-annual-channel-overview
A Full desktop experience version is not planned. If this is important for your adoption, this is a great forum to leave that feedback.
Thanks!
Elden
- Jeff_Woolsey_MSFT
Microsoft
Hey folks,
Thanks for the note. We've been watching carefully as the industry changes and transforms to embrace new application models such as containers and others. We've also been listening to you as you adopt the Long Term Servicing Channel and the Semi-Annual Channel releases.
Here's the short answer: The summary is that customer adoption of SAC is almost entirely containers. SAC adoption on hardware was minimal as most people can’t churn their hardware that quickly. For that reason, we pivoted the SAC releases to containers and application innovation since they can easily take a new change, update a container and publish as part of their CI/CD pipeline. Since containers have no GUI, SAC is Server Core and Nano Server. It literally makes no sense to release a SAC build with a GUI. That's why only LTSC includes GUI.
For a detailed explanation, see this blog:
https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/windowsserver/2018/03/29/windows-server-semi-annual-channel-update/Hey Jeff,
Thanks for your explanation - can I suggest another view?
It sounds like you're saying that the majority of deployments for SAC was for a new(ish) use case (containers). I can understand that deployments to physical hardware would be slow - that would probably follow a buying cycle.
Doesn't your conclusion ignore the number of customers who deploy to virtual machines? That's got to be a very significant opportunity group. They aren't constrained by a buying cycle and yet you've noted that they didn't deploy in significant numbers.
Isn't it possible that you didn't see significant take-up amongst your installed base because they aren't drawn by the feature set of SAC? Isn't it possible that the lack of GUI constrains the appeal across your (presumably enormous) installed base?
For myself, if SAC included the desktop experience and RDS we'd have deployed it by now. I wouldn't want you to think we simply move too slowly to make use of SAC and therefore we can be safely disregarded.
RDS on Window Server 2016 has issues and we're having to wait 2 years to move them forward. If I could get progress on that earlier I'd be overjoyed. For that reason it 'literally makes a lot of sense to include the GUI' on SAC.
I believe the full version will be coming soon, as it's likely they are trying to solve major bugs before trying release it to public. Some serious issues came a month ago when they accidently released a broken build. I don't think they want to repeat that issue.
Also Microsoft I don't believe is encouraging Core over full editions. But rather if you can run Core you should. This reduces resource usage, reduces attack surfaces, reduces serving requirements, etc.
- Elden_Christensen
The Semi-annual Channel will release with Server Core and Nano for container runtime. See this doc which discusses:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/semi-annual-channel-overview
A Full desktop experience version is not planned. If this is important for your adoption, this is a great forum to leave that feedback.
Thanks!
EldenHi Elden,
RDS is the strongest use case for us - the use of Server 2016 to produce a Win10-like experience becomes less valid as the gap between the current release of each widens.
At release Server 2016 dropped support for a number of components that were included by default in Windows 10 (Edge, Store, Cortana) and Windows 10 has continued to see both feature developments (nice to have) and feature improvements/fixes (essential) - changes to Start Menu behaviour is one example.
This recent servicing change is exactly the right thing to do, but it needs to cover the Desktop Experience as well - the "How it works" diagram on the blog explaining this change indicates that the vNext LTSC release is TBD, but drawn in somewhere beyond the start of 2019.
IMHO, there's a very large group of user base with a shallow-to-deep dependence on a GUI (within which RDS alone has to be a substantial number).
Excluding the Server with Desktop Experience means that RDS user groups will be on a platform which was missing components at the start, has faults which are already fixed in Win10 and won't see changes until 3 years later (that's conceivably 6 releases behind the Win10 codebase).
The RDS user base has always been serviced on the same timeframe or a little behind the traditional client user base. This model seems a *very* long way from that experience. At a point where remote working ought to be going up, the RDS platform will seem to have been sidelined.
I don't see many talking about that right now (I think because a greater bulk of those groups are just jumping to Server 2016 around now), but I don't think it will be long before they notice the shortcomings in the current release and start asking.
Thanks
Matthew
- I would like to believe that future releases will also include full GUI. We have to just remember, this is something new for Microsoft.
I wouldn't get your hopes up for the semi-annual releases to get a GUI version....
Future LTSB builds will have a GUI (the normal 2-3 year releases), but probably not this new CBB branch
They're really targetting specific workloads for these regular releases (if you see in their blog) and these roles (Hyper-V/Clustering/S2D/SDN/etc) don't require GUI and have good remote tooling already.
Everyone understands that a lot of general enterprise apps require GUI still, but at the same time, those apps don't really handle OS upgrades, so having to upgrade every 6 months isn't a good fit for them.
Cant please everyone, and I think it's good MS is taking a more focused approach on this, rather than spreading it's resources thin trying to support everything on a new OS each 6 months (can you imagine the pain trying to validate all of the MS products (Exchange/sharepoint/SCCM/etc/etc/etc) every 6 months?)
You can try this for now. If you manage to install it, please let us know how it works. If Windows Audio is available, even if disabled by default, I am ok, probably, with only ServerCore build from now on, since I can add a third party gui and management tools, to manage things locally. Only missing Windows Audio would be a real turn off for me.
