Virtualization takes center stage in Windows service packs

10.02.2011
As the first for 7 and Windows 2008 R2 ship Feb. 22, they will bring better capabilities to the operating systems.

Two new features in Windows Server called Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX improve virtual-machine density and the ability to deliver rich graphical desktops to Windows 7 PCs and other clients.

EVOLUTION:

Dynamic Memory in Service Pack 1 boosts 's Hyper-V virtualization platform to "increase virtual machine density with the resources you already have - without sacrificing performance or scalability," Microsoft said. This can, for example, increase the number of virtual desktops that can be hosted on a server without compromising the performance of users' desktops.

"In our lab testing, with Windows 7 SP1 as the guest operating system in a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure () scenario, we have seen a 40% increase in density from Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM to SP1," Windows Server senior technical product manager Michael Kleef. "We achieved this increase simply by enabling Dynamic Memory."

Kleef promised that the increased density will not compromise , while accusing "other offerings in the industry" of doing so. Dynamic Memory should work out-of-the-box without administrators needing to tweak the hypervisor, he writes.