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Hotpatching, robust SMB, integrated OpenSSH server – practical admin food is available in Windows Server 2025. But how do the MS Store and Bluetooth fit in?
(Image: iX)
A new Windows Server is a critical development for most administrators – given Microsoft’s widespread usage, the upcoming 2025 version needs to tread carefully between incorporating innovative functionalities and preserving essential legacy features. iX cover author Evgenij Smirnov discusses in an interview why this release is a crucial upgrade.
What is the most significant new feature in Windows Server 2025 for administrators – and why?
For the majority who manage their servers on-premises with the desktop GUI, the much-anticipated integration of the terminal is a key upgrade. Additionally, for those who use Azure Arc to incorporate cloud-based administration into their management frameworks, hotpatching is a valuable addition, enhancing service availability and streamlining the update process.
SSH is a protocol familiar to many Linux administrators. Why should it now also be embraced by Windows users?
The biggest functional gain over the previous WinRM or DCOM remoting is the ability to reach and manage the systems in the same way from any client platform – Windows, Unix, Linux or macOS –. The protocol automatically includes transport encryption, so that quite good protection against the interception of administrative communication is guaranteed.
However, SSH involves a certain amount of effort as well as potential security risks. An SSH session with explicit authentication is not covered by the guidelines for preventing interactive login, but leaves credentials in the same way as a conventional RDP session. If you switch to SSH in the context of PowerShell remoting, you currently lose all JEA functionality and usually have to grant higher privileges directly to the accessing accounts. This makes JIT all the more valuable, which many companies have not yet mastered sufficiently. And with SSH login using key pairs, we are entering a whole new discipline – private keys in the user context must be protected by DPAPI if you do not want to or cannot use the key distribution service.
What unexpected changes are there in the new Windows Server?
I didn’t initially expect the merger with Windows 11 to go so far that we would find Microsoft Store, WinGet and WLAN and even Bluetooth in the server. The use cases will still have to develop, and standard server hardware does not normally have WLAN or Bluetooth devices built in. From a security point of view, both unexpected innovations will also present administrators with new challenges – Both store access and wireless communication channels will have to be managed in a binding manner – something that was previously only an issue in client management, where it was well covered by the respective endpoint management.
Evgenij, many thanks for the answers! Readers can explore a comprehensive review of the new Windows Server 2025 in the latest edition of iX 10/2024, available from today. This October issue highlights a major update to the Active Directory.
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