Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 & Windows 7 Released
Today – Feb 9, 2011 – Microsoft announced the released of Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. With this release come two new features: RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory.
An enhancement to Hyper-V R2, Dynamic Memory pools all the memory available on a physical host. Dynamic Memory then dynamically distributes available memory, as it is needed, to virtual machines running on that host. Then with Dynamic Memory Balancing, virtual machines will be able to receive new memory allocations, based on changes in workload, without a service interruption. In short, Dynamic Memory is exactly what it’s named (a six part blog series on Dynamic Memory here: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6).
In lab testing, with Windows 7 SP1 as the guest operating system in a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) scenario, there has been a 40% increase in density from Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM to SP1. This was achieved by enabling Dynamic Memory.
This increased density does not come at the expense of security, as is the case with other offerings in the industry. Dynamic Memory preserves Windows 7 security without compromising density. Jeff Woolsey goes into detail in a recent post on this topic at the virtualization blog.
You get immediate benefit from the moment you turn on the virtual machine. There’s no waiting for memory management algorithms to work. Nor do you have to tweak the hypervisor with custom settings for specific workloads to maximize density. It’s an awesome out-of-box experience for all your virtualization workloads.
RemoteFX lets you virtualize the Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) on the server side and deliver next-generation rich media and 3D user experiences for VDI. RemoteFX also enables new low cost ultra-thin client devices to enter the market. Together, these technologies will drive down the end-point cost and reduce endpoint power consumption.
Customers have already been successful with Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX, in early adopter deployments. Case studies, like the one with Sporton International show how using both RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory delivers real business value.
Service Pack 1 will be made generally available for download on February 22, and will be available to Volume Licensing customers on February 16.
For more information see the official blog posts on Service Pack 1:
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