Microsoft publishes the third edition of Windows Server 2016 preview, and developers need to focus on nano Server

Microsoft has released the third technical preview of Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016, which is already available for download. The third edition of Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview is also the first version that includes support for container technology, as well as Nano Server and data Center enhanced functionality.

Windows Server Containers are co-operated by Microsoft and Docker, and developers can run applications in a way that isolates the operating system environment. Windows Server containers are part of the Docker Open Source Initiative, and containers can be deployed and managed through PowerShell or Docker clients.

Microsoft's own Hyper-V container will be supported in the future for Windows Server 2016 preview, providing a second container option.

Windows Server 2016 also has some other features: enhanced Nano Server capabilities, simplified software networking, extended security, and enhanced management.

MicrosoftWindows ServerThe engineers and technicians of the development team in this year'sBuildThe Developer conference shared a number ofNano Serverrelevant details, as a set of design inspiration fromCoreOS, Red HatAtomic Hostand "Snappy"Ubuntu Coresuch as small-scale, cloud-centricLinuxthe system solution for the release version,Nano Serverprovide a set of possibleWindows Servera streamlined platform that is compatible, but at the same time, contains only the minimum component coverage.

"For now, Nano Server has become the most important and significant change scenario we've implemented in the server family since Windows NT," said Jeffrey Snover, a prominent Microsoft engineer. An important note given by Snover is that Nano server is by no means a parallel project or an experimental product of the Windows Server development team. In contrast, Nano server is the first visually visible result of its large-scale code refactoring project, and ultimately it will change the way Windows Server builds and delivers on each version.

As the first version of the product, the engineering team will focus on the two main scenarios: applications developed in cloud infrastructure and cloud environments. Looking ahead, however, Nano server will eventually become a new benchmark for Windows Server, and all the more complex components will be further built as a starting point.

The current disk footprint of the Nano server is approximately mb,snover points out, and it may not expand further in the course of future development. You can still choose to use Server Core and full-fledged but bloated Windows Server, but Nano server is definitely the best choice if you just want to use the minimum number of components required to start a set of server systems and travel in a cloud environment. Also, if you want to do a little bit of expansion outside of the Nano server default level, Microsoft also allows you to install other operating system features-just as you are now installing applications into your system.

The first step in Microsoft's streamlining of its server operating system is to completely clean up the GUI layer. In fact, Nano server does not support any type of local access mechanism. All administrative work needs to be done remotely-by combining Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) with PowerShell-or, more accurately, Core PowerShell, A new set of command-line implementations for Microsoft, primarily running on the core CLR rather than the full. NET runtime.

But the main purpose of this change is not just to save storage space. It is also designed to steer the Windows Admin community into the modern data center world-if necessary, even if it causes complaints and even resistance. For Snover, the concept that Windows administrators manage their infrastructure through GUI tools that run locally on the server is completely outdated and no longer meets the specific requirements of a new era.

From now on, Snover says that developers who write server-side software specifically for Windows systems should use Nano server as their default authoring object. If they really need a part of the functionality beyond the Nano server supply, there is also Server Core and full-featured server as an alternative. All in all, programmers don't really need to create code around API dependencies, and they don't have any reason to do so.

But Snover also stressed that Nano server does not belong to a new operating system. It still belongs to Windows Server, except that this version only provides a subset of the full Win32 API. As a starting point for the series, the current Nano server only provides a 64-bit version, which means that 32-bit binary code cannot run on it.

According to Snover, currently Microsoft has successfully run on Nano server packages including chef, Go, Java (OpenJDK), MySQL, Nginx, node. js, OpenSSL, PHP, Python 3.5, Redis, Ruby 2.1.5, SQLite, and more.

However, although the Nano Server installation method sounds smart and simple, but it is still difficult to install software on this micro-operating system, Microsoft has always been dealing with related issues. In fact, over time, the only way to install an application on top of the nano server is to simply copy the necessary files into the system image--that's all.

Because of the large number of GUI-oriented dependencies included in the traditional Windows MSI installation process, Snover represents that it cannot function properly on nano server.

Snover also pointed out that Microsoft is now stepping up its efforts to adjust the nano Installer, in the hope that it can handle the tasks of the traditional MSI class installer, including uninstalling, registering and unregistering COM objects, creating and deleting registry keys, and so on.

But he added that with the launch of the Nano server, Microsoft was trying to make a clear distinction between the two types of tasks: installation and configuration. The work of the Nano installer is to handle this part of the task between the software acquisition and replication to the Nano server system, Snover points out, while the configuration is present as a separate step, designed to handle desired state such as PowerShell Configuration (that is, the ideal state).

The Nano Server will run in any environment, and he points out that it includes bare metal, running as a guest operating system in a virtual machine, or as a container-oriented host operating system. In addition, while the first version of this new Windows Server Iteration scenario will focus on cloud infrastructure and cloud application scenarios, Microsoft has plans for the Nano Server over time give more role positioning.

Microsoft publishes the third edition of Windows Server 2016 preview, and developers need to focus on nano Server