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January 12, 2021
Windows Server is used across our organization to solve a variety of business problems. One very important problem it takes care of is domain services. We have a cluster of Windows Server 2016 as our primary domain controllers. We also use Windows Servers to solve other business problems including hosting business analytics services such as Microsoft's Power BI, databases such as Microsoft SQL Servers, and other third-party applications such as the Site Scope Monitoring System from Microfocus.
- Windows Server directory services are very powerful. Think about it--easily organizing the directory to store documents in a secure way. I think that's awesome.
- Windows Server has a unique way of organizing users. This organization can be used across multiple other platforms for different applications, which is really amazing.
- Another unique feature of Windows Server is its document sharing capabilities. We can share documents across multiple users and secure them at the same time.
- Windows Server is a very complex piece of technology. It tends to become more complicated to handle with time, so including a feature that will guide engineers on how to do initial setup so as to avoid some feature complexities will help.
- I will like to see Windows Server open to accepting applications that run on systems like Linux.
- Windows Server should integrate tools to cleanup WSUS in an efficient way on a timely basis.
December 03, 2020

We use an Active Directory configuration of Windows Server. We utilize many different Windows Server versions and configurations. We use it across the entire business. We use it for DNS, DHCP, Active Directory Services, utility servers, database servers, web servers, and application servers. Windows Server is the primary server operating system that is used within our organization.
- Usability: there are lots of features that are available.
- Industry-wide acceptance: it is very easy to find other people who have the same configuration or setup as you do.
- Compatibility: Just about every single application supports it.
- Lack of openness: Any Linux-based applications are not supported on Windows.
- Microsoft provided support is non-existent. You need to find a trusted VAR to work with if you have issues.
February 18, 2020
Windows Server is being used across 3 clients that I manage. It is primarily being used as a Domain Controller (with Active Directory), DNS server and file server. In addition, some clients are using the Hyper-V functionality built directly into Windows Server to create a virtual domain controller. In the organization that I manage that are using Windows Server, All business computers are apart of the Domain created by Windows Server and users are authenticated against the Active Directory.
Windows Server is an extremely large and complex piece of software capable of a LOT of different functionality, some of it good and some of it bad, thus creating a truly comprehensive review is difficult. This review consists primarily of how it is used as a Domain Controller and file server within an organization.
Windows Server is an extremely large and complex piece of software capable of a LOT of different functionality, some of it good and some of it bad, thus creating a truly comprehensive review is difficult. This review consists primarily of how it is used as a Domain Controller and file server within an organization.
- 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)
- Windows Server is extremely complex, and while newer versions have eased the initial setup process, setting up a server is still a very time consuming and difficult task.
- The complexity of Windows Server also makes troubleshooting any problems that arise extremely difficult, both in tracking down the actual issue and then resolving the issue. Often times a problem can manifest itself in more than one way, making searching for the specific problem also difficult.
- Windows Server is also very expensive, with complex and confusing licensing terms. In fact, Microsoft provides a 32-page PDF guide on Windows Server licensing, which is in and of itself dense and confusing to follow. To make matters more complicated, there multiple different version of Windows Server itself - Nano, Essentials, Standard and Datacenter edition, and each edition has different licensing terms. Licensing terms include items such as the physical processor's cores of the server, how many users will be accessing the server (called a CAL - client access license), and a plethora of other items.
- Microsoft's support for Windows Server can be extremely frustrating at times. While Microsoft hosts a very active user forum, Microsoft employees who frequent those forums often provide only stock answers to questions (without actually reading the details) or no answers at all. For more in-depth - phone support can be quite expensive.
- Upgrading a Windows Server from one major version to another (i.e. 2012 to 2016) is a frustratingly complex and dangerous procedure, as many things can go wrong during the upgrading, essentially breaking the entire setup. In fact, Microsoft doesn't even suggest doing an in-place upgrade, but to perform a backup of the existing server, doing a clean install of the new version, and migrating the information from the older version to the new version. In general, it is not even recommended to upgrade from one version to another as the risk significantly outweigh the benefits.
March 25, 2020
Windows Server is used in many ways at our organization. It is used for its native functionality like file and print services. It is used for essential network services like Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, etc. It also is used as a platform for many of our enterprise applications, student information system, financial systems, and other department services.
- Stable operating system environment
- Reliable file system (NTFS)
- Native services like file, print, DNS, Active Directory, etc.
- Native SSH support
- Native configuration management
- Some configuration locations mixed with old control panel are hard to find
We currently use Windows Server for active directory and website services for our company as a whole, and overall it addresses the ease of use for maintenance and sharing files over a secured network and allows us to have secured backups for our workstations.
- User management.
- Security polices.
- Powershell.
- Configurable.
- Learning curve.
- Maintenance costs.
- Upgrade costs.
- Cal licenses.
January 18, 2020
We use Windows Server for almost all applications. We are a Microsoft based company, and the majority of our servers are running Windows. We run the basic stuff like domain controllers, DNS, DHCP, and IIS on these servers. We also run SQL, SharePoint, and Dynamics 365 as well. Whenever possible, we use Windows Server as the OS for most applications.
- It's pretty much standard for all environments.
- It supports a vast number of applications.
- Some admin panels are not easily accessible.
- It can be a resource hog compared to Linux servers.
May 08, 2020

Microsoft Windows Server is our primary OS across the organization. We use it to host most of our applications, file shares, web sites, and of course we use active directory for user authentication and security. It is and has been a stable platform over the years to centrally manage an business at the enterprise level.
- Hosting common business applications.
- Easy file sharing and security.
- Simple user management and authentication.
- As a leader in the industry it is also a target for security flaws and exploits. Regular patching required.
- At times there are things you would expect to be able to do from a GUI but have to do at the command line.
- Cost, competitors in the Linux world can often provide a good value alternative.
Windows Server is implemented throughout our organization, as well as numerous clients that I do consulting work for. It is used for a variety of different tasks from Active Directory Domain Services/DNS/DHCP, Terminal Services, Backup Servers, to File Servers. It allows our clients to have one operating system that they are familiar with an almost catch-all for services that support day to day operations.
- Permissions Management within Active Directory - It can be complicated, but it is as granular as you could ever want.
- Management of the Server can be done with a GUI or CLI - this lowers the barrier of entry for learning the environment.
- Roles and Features are installed within a wizard - this is safer than adding or changing repositories.
- Windows Server normally could benefit from trimming. There are non-essential services that are enabled by default, and sometimes when they do not auto-start, it will trigger an alarm, which is false. Nobody wants to see anything but green across the board!
- Windows Server's power comes from Active Directory - so if you want a server that is not tied to your domain, you will probably be crippling yourself if you choose windows outside of a few select use cases.
- I would like to see a licensing shift from per core back to per socket. This makes HA environments tricky to license.
March 13, 2020

I have been using Windows Server since its 2003 version. With my current employer, I have used it with 2003R2, and then we upgraded to 2008, 2008R2, 2012, and we are currently, for the most part running 2016. Windows Server has significantly evolved and remains easy to use and a very stable server OS. It is also the industry standard. In my org, we use it for pretty much anything - running our SQL servers, running network services, like printing, DNS for the domain-joined machines, DHCP, file shares, backups, applications, remote access, and so on.
- Very easy to deploy and configure.
- Industry standard, so plenty of resources available both online and for hire.
- In the latest version, updates are almost forced on the admin. This should be more easily controllable by the Sysadmin.
- Because of it's popularity, bugs and security vulnerabilities come for it first.
February 13, 2020

We currently over 150 Windows servers (a mixture of 2012 R2, 2016 and 2019) and I can comfortably say it is the best product to come out of Microsoft and it keeps constantly evolving to the point that it has become essential in most organizations around the world. Be it file sharing, databases, web servers or app server you can always rely on it.
- Robustness
- Reliable
- Ease of deployment
- Deprecate old technologies
January 31, 2020

Windows Server the backbone of the entire organization. It controls our login security, user capabilities on the network, workstation configurations, and its very stable, not to mention compatibility with just about anything. Windows Server has been around a long time, so its dependable, and support is very easy to find online and with peers.
- File Server
- Domain login and workstation control
- Windows Server can be high priced
- Updates can sometimes cause issues, but not so much within the last several years.
We are using Windows Server as the general server and AD solution, company-wide. Everything related to the AD server, GPOs, user-management, file and application hosting is based on Windows Server.
- Active directory.
- GPOs.
- File hosting.
- Comes at a very high price.
November 23, 2019
I use it to run to custom software as well as deploy it to customer sites to run custom software It makes a great base operating system that has easy customer adaptation.
- Ease of use.
- Stable OS.
- Great support.
- Wide reasources.
- Cost of use.
- Hardware requirments.
Windows Server is our primary server software platform. We use the Active Directory and Group Policy features as our primary user authentication and user policy control and enforcement system. Windows Server is also our primary internal DNS platform and file and print sharing mechanism.
- File and print sharing.
- User authentication via Active Directory.
- User policy enforcement via Group Policy.
- ADFS could be more easily configure for cloud integrations.
- Nothing else comes to mind.
We use mainly for the active directory and for single sign on. With this we can manage all our users in minutes and be in compliance at the same time.
- User management.
- Active Directory.
- Security.
- Firewall.
We use it to manage our users internally and our client's networks.
- Manage users and computers.
- Group policy.
- File sharing.
- Cal’s are expensive.
- No upgrade path for essentials sku’s.
- Training is difficult and expensive.
July 19, 2019
We've used Windows Server in one version or another since this company's inception in 2007. Windows Server is used company-wide for AD, file/print, RDS, and networking infrastructure. It enables us to provide secure file storage and access to staff, as well as secured, centralized print management. We use Windows remote desktop services for desktop/application virtualization. DNS is used in conjunction with AD, and DHCP, as well.
- Active Directory--Just about every application has some sort of AD plug-in. Makes user and group management easier.
- File services.
- Large installed user/community base.
- When set up correctly, DNS/DHCP.
- Support-ugh. I have had some good support experiences in the past, but the past few years...?
- QA testing for patches. Boot loops?
- Licensing.
November 20, 2019

We rely on Windows Server for our corporate office network as we are a Microsoft-based organisation. We use it for everything from user and device management, group policy management, DHCP, local network DNS, ADFS for single sign-on for many systems and much more. Everything that is based in the Windows Server environment is as you would expect it and provides the functionality the business needs in a modern office environment with seamless integration into cloud platforms such as Office 365. For people like myself who have managed Windows servers for over 15 years, the latest version of Windows Server is efficient, streamlined and full of features that work in the "Microsoft" way that we are used to.
- User and device management out of the box. Active directory is a proven system for doing this and works just as well as it always has.
- ADFS providing integration into many third-party applications using SAML authentication. We use this heavily to make user experience as simple and straightforward as we can.
- Local DHCP. It's another one of these systems that is very easy to setup and use out of the box and requires very little maintenance, if any. The system is almost unchanged throughout the years and so anyone with server experience can manage it.
- Windows Updates! A fairly large amount of time is taken up by having to keep on top of Windows Updates. Having to reboot server after installation causes issues with critical systems and installing updates certainly in Server 2016 was a nightmare. This is improved however in 2019.
- Drive space used by GUI installations is getting large and large as time goes on.
- Licensing - as with all Microsoft products, licensing is a minefield however, if it didn't change every year they would give people a chance to get to used to it.
January 06, 2020

It is being used across both at the departmental level and also across the whole organization. At the organization level, it is being used to centrally manage Active Directory, and also centrally manage other software that is deployed to different departments. This includes SCCM, which is installed locally on Windows Server. It addresses the problem of having a good server operating system that is easy to set up, use (as compared to other servers OS's), and doesn't require a whole lot of back-end support to manage.
- It is really good for running services such as DHCP, DNS, and Active Directory. In most environments, these are main services that run every day and are services that server administrators and other IT folks rely on in their everyday work.
- It is good for pushing down policies to endpoints and offers a robust group policy management tool for getting this accomplished.
- One thing that can be improved upon is making the overall OS of Windows Server more stable, meaning to avoid shutdowns or crashes, or the often need of rebooting the server to bring it to a "refresh" state.
- It can also improve in the bootup time of when the Windows Server OS starts and is online. It seems like in many cases it can take a while for all services, etc. to be brought online and ready to use. This also affects when endpoints can connect to server resources.
May 23, 2019
We use Windows Server as our OS for our DC. It allows our company to be centrally controlled by one server and sign in with any account that's created in AD. We also use it for DHCP and DNS as well as deploying updates to all of our workstations and laptops.
- DHCP is done the best with Windows Server. Other software just gets in the way.
- Nothing comes close to AD with Windows Server.
- DNS can easily be controlled with Windows Server as well.
- The install process could be a little easier.
- Setting up an exchange is a little complex when it should be much simpler.
- Test your OS updates more so our servers don't crash.
March 16, 2019
Windows server has turned into a dumpster fire of problems and miss configuration and security loopholes.
It’s like Microsoft hires people that can technically code but have zero ability to look at long-term impact of their decisions .
There’s so many problems with it constantly crashing or inability to handle massive amounts of data that it’s it’s just useless .
We got rid of windows server went over to a Linux server and an Oracle database and we haven’t had one crash in nine months.
Microsoft Windows NT was the last version of windows of any kind that was really stable I just can’t believe how buggy and leggy and just emotionally unstable the windows has become that it’s just unusable.
We were pumping terabytes per minute through the system and it just couldn’t handle data, now we pump that into the Oracle or the Linux and it’s just like no problem.
It’s like Microsoft hires people that can technically code but have zero ability to look at long-term impact of their decisions .
There’s so many problems with it constantly crashing or inability to handle massive amounts of data that it’s it’s just useless .
We got rid of windows server went over to a Linux server and an Oracle database and we haven’t had one crash in nine months.
Microsoft Windows NT was the last version of windows of any kind that was really stable I just can’t believe how buggy and leggy and just emotionally unstable the windows has become that it’s just unusable.
We were pumping terabytes per minute through the system and it just couldn’t handle data, now we pump that into the Oracle or the Linux and it’s just like no problem.
- Windows has very good salesman
- Windows has very good marketing teams
- Stop making excuses for the inability to handle large data
- Stop making excuses for how much your product is sucked in the past and fix the problems that it has now like crashing
- Build the tools that I can use on our stable systems called Macintosh, build me a powerBI out that I can use on a Mac
We use Windows Server for our domain controller as well as offering Windows Server OS's to a wide variety and range of our VPS and dedicated hosting clients, we do also provide Windows shared hosting which uses Windows Server as the base OS. Windows has also been a requested OS for hosting.
- Runs applications built for Windows perfectly.
- Provides management capabilities.
- Has constant security updates.
- Upgrades to a newer OS could be easier.
- Since its a popular platform it can use additional security enhancements.
- Costs are expensive to license.
June 11, 2019

Windows Server underpins our core domain and file server requirements. It is used to supplement our single sign-on technology and two-factor authentication technology. Application database servers are also built on Windows server OS including SQL server. Windows server solves our most critical and transparent business needs.
- Option for minimalistic and low resource install
- Robust and mitigative design
- Mature
- Improvement in Docker Containers to allow both Windows and Linux images to run concurrently.
- During install the ability to offer the choice of configuring the OS and its policies to meet a desired standard template e.g, PCIDSS.
- Make the Windows Firewall more like Azures Security Groups.
May 22, 2019

I am using a Windows server as a database server for our Accounting program. Before using the server, the database was hosted locally and was slow. When we made the switch to using a Windows Server, we saw an increase in the speed of the accounting program. The setup of the server was very easy, and auto updates, and so far has not been an issue. The server has been running for several years with little maintenance involved. We use a cloud-based software for backups, in addition to a locally attached hard drive, as safeguards in addition to the built-in Raid drive cloning.
- Easy setup.
- User-friendly for those used to the Windows GUI.
- Low cost.
- Had to buy Anti-virus specifically for Windows Servers, and it was pricey for only 1 license.
- The attached Hard Drive backup took a lot of tinkering to get functioning properly, which shouldn't be the case in this day and age.
- Some of the built-in settings and programs were bloatware.
As a software company, we develop our products and do integration projects for our customers. Since MS technologies are mostly used by the developers, MS infrastructure has to be used to test the builts. My company also is a software reseller and a solution partner. The vendors some of the modules require the Windows Server platform. Thus, we have to use Windows Server for self-study, tests, and experiments for pre-deployment and pre-implementation tasks. Briefly, the selected development and software infrastructure drove us to use Windows Server.
- Having an integrated GUI eases management.
- Windows Servers' uptime is fairly well.
- There are many third-party management tools where there is no solution brought by Microsoft.
- The requirement to restart after updates is the worst thing about Windows Server.
- Windows Service infrastructure sometimes has issues to start an application as a service.
- There is an event and troubleshooting mechanism which doesn't help much mostly. Also, IDs which were given for a problem are not user-friendly.
- Some configurations require deep diving into the registry and sometimes it feels like it doesn't work due to complicated documentation.
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