Proxmox VE vs Windows Server

• Provides an easy to use management interface
• Works with Ceph, a distributed storage natively
• Virtualizing different platforms

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• Windows Server acting as a domain controller allows for very comprehensive management of computers and workstations across an organization, specifically when it comes to Active Directory and Group Policy.
• Active Directory allows for comprehensive managements of users within a domain (or organizational unit). User groups can be created with different permissions for various network resources, and users can be added to multiple different groups. In addition, login scripts can be created that are linked to each user allowing for automatic mapping of network drives and printers (among other items) every time a user logs in. As such, with the correct login script, a new user can login for the first time and have access to all the necessary resources within an organization.
• Once a domain is created, adding computers to it is quick and easy. Any computer that is a part of a domain can be logged in by any domain user. Removing a computer from a domain, via Active Directory, immediately revokes all domain users ability to login to that computer.
• Group Policy, an integral part of Windows Server, is a vast and comprehensive tool to push out settings to domain computers and users. Settings can be anything from adding or removing mapped network drives, adding or removing printers, turning on and off specific Windows settings. Group Policy can be managed on both a computer basis and a user basis.
• Windows Server's built-in file sharing capabilities allow it to be used as a powerful file server. Permissions for shared folders can be set on a per-user basis and/or via group membership. Using advanced sharing features, a file or folder can be shared via multiple names with different permissions for each shared name.
• Windows Server includes a powerful DNS server that works in conjunction with the Domain Controller functionality. The DNS server supports forward and reverse zones as well as manually adding items into a DNS zone.
• Hyper-V is included with Windows Server, providing a powerful and first-party way to create virtual machines.
• Windows Server includes a built-in DHCP server that can be used in place of a standard network router.
• Windows Server includes a built-in web server hosting functionality via IIS (Internet Information Services)

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• Several options are available for storage. CephFS, the clustered built-in network storage, needs to be installed via the console or ssh. Other options like iSCSI do not support host migration.

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• The overall performance of server 2016's UI feels worse than previous versions (running on the same HW spec in the same virtual environment).
• Versioning schemes could be more transparent (IIS versions across OS versions, MSSQL versions, etc) and easier to follow.
• Managing some security settings via the server registry is fairly cumbersome. Third party applications and community created scripts exist to ease these issues, but with the emphasis on security today, they should have their own control panel section instead.
• Microsoft's experience homogenization between their desktop OS and server OS has added a lot of "fluff" and graphical flare to the server OS that isn't really needed and feels like it gets in the way, to be honest.

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• Proxmox has allowed us to provide completely free training and an application development environment by reusing desktop hardware.

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• A positive impact has been that it hasn't really required in-depth training to learn the Windows Server platform, and how to migrate within it. This, in turn, has not hurt the productivity of the IT administrators or IT staff.
• Since our environment is mostly Windows-based, with Windows endpoints outnumbering Mac/etc. endpoints, another positive impact has been in being able to easily manage running Systems Management software on Windows Server. This is turn has made the IT dept. more efficient in being able to deploy software, and configure policies on Windows Server.

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