Daniel Hermink - PeerSpot reviewer
Oracle business analyst at Sensience
Real User
Top 10
An easy-to-access solution that helps to manage file servers
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool is easy to access and manage. You don't have to take any backups."
  • "Windows Server needs to improve its speed and stability."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution to manage file servers. 

What is most valuable?

The tool is easy to access and manage. You don't have to take any backups. 

What needs improvement?

Windows Server needs to improve its speed and stability. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with the product for 20 years. 

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Windows Server
March 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the product's stability an eight out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Windows Server is scalable, and my company has 2000 users. It is used extensively. 

How are customer service and support?

I haven't contacted Microsoft support. 

How was the initial setup?

The tool's deployment is straightforward and takes six months to complete. The product is overseen by a technical team of ten resources. 

What about the implementation team?

Our consulting company helped with the deployment. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The tool's licensing costs are yearly. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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IT Cybersecurity and Compliance Coordinator at Plaenge
Real User
Top 5
Easy to use, secure, scales well and has helpful responsive support
Pros and Cons
  • "There is room for improvement in terms of pricing."
  • "The most valuable features of this solution are its performance, security, and that it is easy to use."
  • "There is room for improvement in terms of pricing."

How has it helped my organization?

Managing active directories and middle directories, including users and accounts, is of utmost importance for organizations. 

This entails implementing protective measures, enabling conditional access, and ensuring data security, among other essential aspects.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of this solution are its performance, security, and that it is easy to use.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement in terms of pricing.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Windows Server for 20 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability of Windows Server a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability of Windows Server a nine out of ten.

We have plans to increase our usage in the future.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate the technical support a ten out of ten.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

What was our ROI?

We have experienced a positive return on investment (ROI).

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The cost is relatively high.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Windows Server a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Windows Server
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Windows Server. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Group DWH and BI Senior Manager at Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa
Real User
Plenty of support, flexible, and easy to maintain
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are the ease of access and maintaining the solution."
  • "The security could improve. If you are comparing the Linux operating systems and Windows Server, Windows Server is still way behind in terms of security. Microsoft can enhance security instead of having customers rely on third-party security tools."

What is our primary use case?

We use Windows Server mainly for deploying high-end applications and databases.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the ease of access and maintaining the solution.

What needs improvement?

The security could improve. If you are comparing the Linux operating systems and Windows Server, Windows Server is still way behind in terms of security. Microsoft can enhance security instead of having customers rely on third-party security tools.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Windows Server for approximately 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Windows Server is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable and flexible to expend.

We have approximately 25 users using this solution in my organization.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support and local support from Microsoft are good and there is a large online community that can support us. If we ever have any problems or bugs with the solution we can reach out to those supports to help us. However, we have not encountered any issues at this time.

How was the initial setup?

If it is a basic installation then it is pretty straightforward. However, if you need to do a lot of configurations you will need some technical knowledge.

What about the implementation team?

We can do the implementation ourselves, but mostly we distribute the task to consultants because they know the timeliness and the amount of work that needs to be done.

We have our IT support team of administrators and technicians that needs to manage the resources and in some cases do patch management and maintenance. For server maintenance, we need an expert that understands how to scale up or scale down the server.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is a one-time purchase for the license of Windows Server.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Technically we only have two options to choose from for a solution to our use case. One is red Hat Linux and the other is Windows Server. Some of the applications that the team needs to develop only work on Windows Server. Based on the use case and the ease of access we went for Windows Server.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Windows Server a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Platform Manager at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Easy to use, stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is very easy to use and very easy to onboard."
  • "It requires a lot of monthly maintenance in terms of vulnerability management, which is the downside."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for a variety of tasks including active directory servers, exchange servers, hosting applications, running insurance apps, and SQL databases. A whole gamut of things. 

What is most valuable?

The SQL version of the solution is its most valuable aspect.

The solution is very easy to use and very easy to onboard. 

The solution, for the most part, is stable. The stability is actually pretty good in terms of availability.

The product's performance depends on the use case.

The solution is very scalable.

The initial setup isn't overly difficult.

What needs improvement?

It requires a lot of monthly maintenance in terms of vulnerability management, which is the downside. 

I would say the biggest improvement could be improvement in the vulnerability space. Every month we get critical vulnerabilities across the Windows Server fleet. If I could see the volumes come down there, that would be the biggest step forward.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for 15 or more years at this point. It's been well over a decade. it's been a while.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is pretty stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

However, every release gets more stable and offers more performance with the exception of vulnerability management, which doesn't seem to improve. I would say, we haven't got that much experience with 2019, yet 2012 was a big advancement on 2008's version. 2016 advanced as well. Every newer version gets better in terms of performance and stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We tend to scale horizontally, and that'll scale up to quite a degree. We have some very large SQL Servers in particular that are scalable.

We have about 5,000 to 10,000 users on the solution currently.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is okay. If I had to rate it against any industry standards, I would rate it at a six or seven out of ten. It's not as good as other providers I work with. Right now, Microsoft needs you to prove it's a Microsoft issue before they'll work on it.

How was the initial setup?

We generate a custom build that's automated. Automating everything took quite a lot of effort, however, now that we have an automated build, implementing that for any new version probably takes, I'd say, a month, or maybe a bit more, which is not too bad. It's pretty straightforward.

We have a team of eight or nine individuals that can handle deployment and maintenance.

What about the implementation team?

We handled the implementation by ourselves. We didn't need the assistance of any consultants or integrators.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We have enterprise agreements with Microsoft.

What other advice do I have?

We are customers and end-users.

While the deployment models we use are mostly on-premises, we do sometimes use cloud deployment as well.

We use a variety of versions of the solution, including 2019, 2016, and 2012.  We actually use a lot of 2012.

I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten. It's a step up from older versions.

I'd recommend the solution to other companies. However, it depends on the use case. If you were hosting SQL or Exchange server, certainly. However, in other circumstances, if it was between this and Red Hat Linux, you might choose Red Hat Linux.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Solution Architect at KIAN company
Real User
Can be used to implement and configure Active Directory environments for organizations
Pros and Cons
  • "Integration with other Microsoft solutions like Exchange and System Center Configuration Manager has the great ability to manage all of the different features on system support, like upgrading, securing, and troubleshooting different Windows systems for clients."
  • "Microsoft needs to expand to integrate the Windows Server with Azure and Linux distribution to provide a simple container environment for running dockerized applications."

What is our primary use case?

We use it to implement and configure Active Directory environments for organizations. Projects can be related to running WS systems as well as implementing and performing System Center Configuration Manager, assisting the OM, Operation Manager, and monitoring.

What is most valuable?

The biggest and the most important services used in most of the organizations in the world is the Active Directory. The policy management feature is a great option for managing different policies in the domain environment. 

Also, integration with other Microsoft solutions like Exchange and System Center Configuration Manager has the great ability to manage all of the different features on system support, like upgrading, securing, and troubleshooting different Windows systems for clients.

What needs improvement?

I think integration with Linux operating systems would be a great idea, as well as focusing on the simplicity of running containers in the Linux environments. I think this would be a requirement for the next generation of applications running in .NET and Microsoft programming languages.

Microsoft should expand to integrate the Windows Server with Azure and Linux distribution to provide a simple container environment for running dockerized applications.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using it for around 10 years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. We currently have around 30 engineers using the Windows Server, but we hope to increase this number.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very simple.

What about the implementation team?

I implemented it myself.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

One of the problems with Microsoft is the price of licensing, and volume licensing for educational systems is a great option to bequeath licensing for small businesses.

What other advice do I have?

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate it at nine.

For authentication and identity management, without a doubt, I would suggest using the Active Directory with Microsoft Windows Servers.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
System Administrator and DevOps Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Great UI, easy to use, straightforward deployment, and many applications available
Pros and Cons
  • "This solution is very user friendly, easy to use for any system administrator, simple to deploy applications, has a wide range of applications available, great UI, and takes less technical skills to operate than some other competitors."
  • "When it comes to the performance of this solution others are slightly better such as Linux."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution to install and use applications on it.

What is most valuable?

This solution is very user friendly, easy to use for any system administrator, simple to deploy applications, has a wide range of applications available, great UI, and takes less technical skills to operate than some other competitors. Additionally, the active directory has great functionality, if we want to integrate any assets, then we can easily do it.

What needs improvement?

When it comes to the performance of this solution others are slightly better such as Linux. This solution promotes its services only, in some of the integrations, it does not support external ones. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for the last three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable and the updates are done automatically. I have not had any major critical issue, but if there was, there is a big online community we can find a solution that is great. Otherwise, it is supported by Windows diagnostic within the software.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have approximately 45 users using the solution in my company.

How are customer service and technical support?

The support for Microsoft is very good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We use Windows Server and Linux, they have different strengths and weaknesses in use cases. Linux feels a little lighter than this solution.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is straightforward, there is not any difficulty and took approximately 35 minutes.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation ourselves and a single person can do the deployment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is a license for this solution and the price could be cheaper.

What other advice do I have?

We are going to continue to use the solution and I recommend it to others.

I rate Windows Server a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Karen Yerznkanyan - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Information Technology Officer at AMX
Real User
User-friendly platform with efficient feature for centralized management of applications
Pros and Cons
  • "Windows Server is a good technology that allows IT staff to consolidate their expertise on a single product, avoiding the need to manage different sources."
  • "The product's pricing needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use the product as an application and SQL server.

What is most valuable?

The platform’s most valuable features are performance and centralization of operating systems. We can use one standardized system to host all applications.

What needs improvement?

The product's pricing needs improvement. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Windows Server for more than 20 years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have more than 100 Windows Server users in our organization. It is a scalable product.

How are customer service and support?

We contact the technical support team for a few queries.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used Linux before. In some cases, it works better than Windows in terms of administration tools, especially for small companies.

From a centralization standpoint, Windows Server is a good technology that allows IT staff to consolidate their expertise on a single product, avoiding the need to manage different sources for Linux and Windows.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Windows Server is highly priced. They offer bundled licenses to be purchased yearly. Also, we need to pay extra for support services while utilizing different sources such as Linux.

What other advice do I have?

Windows Server’s integration with Active Directory enabled a single technology to manage multiple applications. Additionally, the feature for centralized management has proven beneficial in enhancing overall efficiency and meeting evolving requirements compared to Linux.

It is primarily suitable for enterprises as the cost would be a concern for smaller organizations. 

It is a user-friendly platform. I rate it a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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AhmedElbadry - PeerSpot reviewer
NMS Service Automation & RPA Technical Lead at Vodafone
Real User
Top 10
Scalable platform with an easy setup process
Pros and Cons
  • "The product helps us manage user credentials and daily passwords for various applications."
  • "We encounter issues related to the product's UI when multiple users access the same machine."

What is our primary use case?

We use Windows Server as a mandatory tool to host applications, specifically for robotics process automation (RPA). It provides an efficient output and allows multiple users to access the same machine simultaneously.

How has it helped my organization?

The product helps us manage user credentials and daily passwords for various applications.

What needs improvement?

We encounter issues related to the product's UI when multiple users access the same machine. Additionally, sometimes it doesn't work while upgrading patches from Microsoft. This particular area needs improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Windows Server for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable platform. I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable platform. We have around 1000 Windows Server machines in our organization.

How are customer service and support?

We communicated with the technical support services for problems related to corrupted computing resources. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. I refer to the documentation available on the internet to understand the implementation. It takes 20 minutes to complete the process.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Windows Server has medium pricing.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend Windows Server to others and rate it an eight out of ten. I advise using Windows Server or Linux, depending on the specific needs and compatibility of the applications.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Windows Server Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Windows Server Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.