Over the past month I've been running training events for Microsoft's distribution partners on Windows Server 2019, and one of the things that was mostly kept under wraps until the product launch was the differences between the different SKUs. Now we have some extensive comparison documentation available, but let's start with the top line overview from the Windows Server 2019 pricing and licensing page.
Windows Server 2019 feature differentiation
-
[*]Windows Server Standard Edition licence includes permission for two OSEs or VMs
-
[**]Limited to single volume up to 2TB.
The two main takeaways for me with this table is that we now get some Storage Replica changes, which was something that was announced back in April. The second one is that for the most part, the conversation around which version is appropriate for you, based on features or VM licensing requirements, doesn't really change. The licensing also remains the same, so in terms of positioning, this is going to be an easier transition than Windows Server 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2016. So far I haven't seen an extensive list of which of these features and capabilities Windows Server 2019 Essentials includes, but once I find it I'll share it.
Now, the feature differentiation table above isn't as comprehensive as some would like, so for that we head over to Microsoft docs. Here is the current list of the feature differences in more detail. Rather than using this is as the definitive reference, go to the original docs article, or alternatively you can download the PDF version of the documentation for offline viewing. It's also going to be better formatted over at the original location, so take a look at that
Comparison of Standard and Datacenter editions of Windows Server 2019
Locks and Limits
| Locks and Limits | Windows Server 2019 Standard | Windows Server 2019 Datacenter |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum number of users | Based on CALs | Based on CALs |
| Maximum SMB connections | 16777216 | 16777216 |
| Maximum RRAS connections | unlimited | unlimited |
| Maximum IAS connections | 2147483647 | 2147483647 |
| Maximum RDS connections | 65535 | 65535 |
| Maximum number of 64-bit sockets | 64 | 64 |
| Maximum number of cores | unlimited | unlimited |
| Maximum RAM | 24 TB | 24 TB |
| Can be used as virtualization guest | Yes; 2 virtual machines, plus one Hyper-V host per license | Yes; unlimited virtual machines, plus one Hyper-V host per license |
| Server can join a domain | yes | yes |
| Edge network protection/firewall | no | no |
| DirectAccess | yes | yes |
| DLNA codecs and web media streaming | Yes, if installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, if installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
Server roles
| Windows Server roles available | Role services | Windows Server 2019 Standard | Windows Server 2019 Datacenter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active Directory Certificate Services | Yes | Yes | |
| Active Directory Domain Services | Yes | Yes | |
| Active Directory Federation Services | Yes | Yes | |
| AD Lightweight Directory Services | Yes | Yes | |
| AD Rights Management Services | Yes | Yes | |
| Device Health Attestation | Yes | Yes | |
| DHCP Server | Yes | Yes | |
| DNS Server | Yes | Yes | |
| Fax Server | Yes | Yes | |
| File and Storage Services | File Server | Yes | Yes |
| File and Storage Services | BranchCache for Network Files | Yes | Yes |
| File and Storage Services | Data Deduplication | Yes | Yes |
| File and Storage Services | DFS Namespaces | Yes | Yes |
| File and Storage Services | DFS Replication | Yes | Yes |
| File and Storage Services | File Server Resource Manager | Yes | Yes |
| File and Storage Services | File Server VSS Agent Service | Yes | Yes |
| File and Storage Services | iSCSI Target Server | Yes | Yes |
| File and Storage Services | iSCSI Target Storage Provider | Yes | Yes |
| File and Storage Services | Server for NFS | Yes | Yes |
| File and Storage Services | Work Folders | Yes | Yes |
| File and Storage Services | Storage Services | Yes | Yes |
| Host Guardian Service | Yes | Yes | |
| Hyper-V | Yes | Yes; including Shielded Virtual Machines | |
| MultiPoint Services | Yes | Yes | |
| Network Controller | No | Yes | |
| Network Policy and Access Services | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | |
| Print and Document Services | Yes | Yes | |
| Remote Access | Yes | Yes | |
| Remote Desktop Services | Yes | Yes | |
| Volume Activation Services | Yes | Yes | |
| Web Services (IIS) | Yes | Yes | |
| Windows Deployment Services | Yes | Yes | |
| Windows Server Essentials Experience | Yes | Yes | |
| Windows Server Update Services | Yes | Yes |
Features
| Windows Server Features installable with Server Manager (or PowerShell) | Windows Server 2019 Standard | Windows Server 2019 Datacenter |
|---|---|---|
| .NET Framework 3.5 | Yes | Yes |
| .NET Framework 4.6 | Yes | Yes |
| Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) | Yes | Yes |
| BitLocker Drive Encryption | Yes | Yes |
| BitLocker Network Unlock | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
| BranchCache | Yes | Yes |
| Client for NFS | Yes | Yes |
| Containers | Yes (Windows containers unlimited; Hyper-V containers up to 2) | Yes (all container types unlimited) |
| Data Center Bridging | Yes | Yes |
| Direct Play | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
| Enhanced Storage | Yes | Yes |
| Failover Clustering | Yes | Yes |
| Group Policy Management | Yes | Yes |
| Host Guardian Hyper-V Support | No | Yes |
| I/O Quality of Service | Yes | Yes |
| IIS Hostable Web Core | Yes | Yes |
| Internet Printing Client | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
| IPAM Server | Yes | Yes |
| iSNS Server service | Yes | Yes |
| LPR Port Monitor | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
| Management OData IIS Extension | Yes | Yes |
| Media Foundation | Yes | Yes |
| Message Queueing | Yes | Yes |
| Multipath I/O | Yes | Yes |
| MultiPoint Connector | Yes | Yes |
| Network Load Balancing | Yes | Yes |
| Peer Name Resolution Protocol | Yes | Yes |
| Quality Windows Audio Video Experience | Yes | Yes |
| RAS Connection Manager Administration Kit | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
| Remote Assistance | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
| Remote Differential Compression | Yes | Yes |
| RSAT | Yes | Yes |
| RPC over HTTP Proxy | Yes | Yes |
| Setup and Boot Event Collection | Yes | Yes |
| Simple TCP/IP Services | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
| SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support | Installed | Installed |
| SMB Bandwidth Limit | Yes | Yes |
| SMTP Server | Yes | Yes |
| SNMP Service | Yes | Yes |
| Software Load Balancer | Yes | Yes |
| Storage Replica | No | Yes |
| Telnet Client | Yes | Yes |
| TFTP Client | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
| VM Shielding Tools for Fabric Management | Yes | Yes |
| WebDAV Redirector | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Biometric Framework | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
| Windows Defender features | Installed | Installed |
| Windows Identity Foundation 3.5 | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
| Windows Internal Database | Yes | Yes |
| Windows PowerShell | Installed | Installed |
| Windows Process Activation Service | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Search Service | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
| Windows Server Backup | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server Migration Tools | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Standards-Based Storage Management | Yes | Yes |
| Windows TIFF IFilter | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
| WinRM IIS Extension | Yes | Yes |
| WINS Server | Yes | Yes |
| Wireless LAN Service | Yes | Yes |
| WoW64 support | Installed | Installed |
| XPS Viewer | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience | Yes, when installed as Server with Desktop Experience |
| Features available generally | Windows Server 2019 Standard | Windows Server 2019 Datacenter |
|---|---|---|
| Best Practices Analyzer | Yes | Yes |
| Constrained Storage Replica | Yes, (1 Partnership and 1 Resource Group with Single 2TB volume) | Yes, unlimited |
| Direct Access | Yes | Yes |
| Dynamic Memory (in virtualization) | Yes | Yes |
| Hot Add/Replace RAM | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Management Console | Yes | Yes |
| Minimal Server Interface | Yes | Yes |
| Network Load Balancing | Yes | Yes |
| Windows PowerShell | Yes | Yes |
| Server Core installation option | Yes | Yes |
| Nano Server installation option | Yes | Yes |
| Server Manager | Yes | Yes |
| SMB Direct and SMB over RDMA | Yes | Yes |
| Software-defined Networking | No | Yes |
| Storage Management Service | Yes | Yes |
| Storage Spaces | Yes | Yes |
| Storage Spaces Direct | No | Yes |
| Volume Activation Services | Yes | Yes |
| VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) integration | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server Update Services | Yes | Yes |
| Windows System Resource Manager | Yes | Yes |
| Server license logging | Yes | Yes |
| Inherited activation | As guest if hosted on Datacenter | Can be host or guest |
| Work folders | Yes | Yes |