Windows Server the backbone of commercial IT Environment
January 29, 2026

Windows Server the backbone of commercial IT Environment

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Windows Server

Microsoft Windows Server is the foundation of any IT environment I have worked in. Starting with Active Directory domain controllers, scaling out with additional Windows Server with roles for File Services, Web, SQL, and Application servers. Windows has always been the dominant Server OS and more administrator friendly OS to work with.

Pros

  • Interfaces and much easier to work with vs CMD line
  • Security Updates released monthly and zero day patches when required
  • Easy to install and maintain

Cons

  • I regret when a Windows prompt overrides the input of an admin, a Window appearing from an OS prompt should not interfere with an active dialog box that an admin is working in
  • There are a lot of security updates required, often times these take a long time to apply (pre and post reboot)
  • Windows updates sometimes fail and continuously try to apply in a loop. This can be difficult to resolve at times, sometimes requiring input from a Microsoft technical resource
  • Active Directory is the pillar of our IT environment. Windows Server hosts this service flawlessly with minimal maintenance required.
  • Windows Server host Web Services (IIS) on many Servers in our environment. It is proven to be very reliable, stable, and user friendly service.
  • Microsoft Technical support can be a challenge. When opening support cases, the first tier of support, log collection, and triage of the incident can be time consuming. I've also experienced long wait times for log analysis and waiting for next steps to troubleshoot. This has occurred many times over the years. The support is most times outsourced to third party company.
Windows Server is a very reliable platform with so many use cases. It has been proven itself over the year since Windows NT. We choose to use Windows Server to host the majority of our Application Servers, SQL, Web, amongst other IT services. It is user friendly to administer and many free online resources and forums exist to help with configuration, troubleshooting or deployment of new services.
I find Microsoft Windows Server is a much easier OS to deploy and administer. It does require more resources to run, requires more security updates and overall has a larger footprint. Rebooting the Windows Server takes a much longer time than RHEL for example. An administration task such as expanding a drive in Windows can be very simple, however in RHEL it is not.

Do you think Windows Server delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Windows Server's feature set?

Yes

Did Windows Server live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Windows Server go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Windows Server again?

Yes

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), VMware ESXi, Cisco Duo
Windows Server and Active Directory is very robust and stable, it has been a staple in every IT environment I have worked in during my career. Junior to Intermediate admins can learn Windows Server easily, the user interfaces make administration tasks very easy as well as the documentation available through a vast amount of resources. There are other Operating Systems available with no GUI which has a smaller attack surface, faster update installation and reboot time. Windows Server does have the ability to remove the desktop experience, however it is not something I have had experience with and I believe most administrators choose not to remove it.

Windows Server Feature Ratings

Operating System
8.3
Resource Allocation
8
File Management
9
Hardware Device Management
8
Software Application Management
8
System Update Frequency
9
Operating System Security
8

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