The different versions of Windows 2008 were revealed yesterday by Microsoft. They are very similar to the 2003 server editions.

Here are the details:

Windows Server 2008 is available in eight versions, three of which include *Hyper-V:

•Windows Server 2008 Standard. This version has built-in, enhanced Web and virtualization capabilities, powerful tools that give customers greater control over their servers and streamline configuration and management tasks, and enhanced security features that work to harden the operating system to help protect their data and network and provide a solid, highly-dependable foundation for businesses. With Windows Server 2008 Standard edition, customers get one virtual instance per license.

•Windows Server 2008 Enterprise. It has the same features as Windows Server 2008 Standard, but with Windows Server 2008 Enterprise edition, customers get four virtual instances per license.

•Windows Server 2008 Datacenter. It delivers an enterprise-class platform for deploying business-critical applications. It helps customers improve availability and security features, and reduce infrastructure costs, by consolidating applications with virtualization licensing rights. And with Windows Server 2008 Datacenter edition, customers receive unlimited virtual instances per license.

Two versions offered without Hyper-V are targeted at specific workloads:

•Windows Web Server 2008. Designed to be used as a single-purpose Web server, Windows Web Server 2008 delivers a rock-solid foundation of Web infrastructure capabilities in the next-generation Windows Server 2008. Integrated with the newly re-architected Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0, ASP.NET, and the Microsoft .NET Framework, Windows Web Server 2008 helps enable any organization rapidly deploy Web pages, Web sites, Web applications and Web services.

•Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems. It is optimized for large databases, and line-of-business and custom applications, providing high availability and scalability up to 64 processors to meet the needs of the most demanding and mission-critical solutions. Support for Itanium-based systems will now be offered through the new Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems edition, targeted at customers using the Intel Itanium platform and designed for these specific workloads.

*If you don’t know it already Hyper-V is virtualization technology that MS is building into 2008. More info can be found here

Those of you who have followed my blog for a while know that I’ve - for one reason or another - been referring to Windows Server virtualization by its codename, which caused some initial confusion.  There’s a reason that I did this - I knew that the name was changing, and I didn’t want to send a whole lot of information out into the web with a name that wasn’t going to stick.  I’m sure there were times when I actually said “Windows Server virtualization”, but I tried to keep it to a minimum.

At any rate, the product name has now been officially announced:  Microsoft Hyper-V.

The press release has some very good information as well, including the suggested price for Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V:  $28USD more than Windows Server 2008 without Hyper-V.

Update: I’ve clarified the statement about pricing.

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