Microsoft Windows Server 2022 Datacenter

Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: server operating system for highly virtualised environments

Windows Server 2022 Datacenter is the edition of Windows Server 2022 for highly virtualised datacentres and cloud environments. If all processor cores of a server are licensed, any number of virtual machines running Windows Server may run on it. In addition, there are features for software-defined storage, software-defined networking and shielded virtual machines. The edition is aimed at businesses and service providers that consolidate many server instances on a few hosts or operate Hyper-V clusters.

Licensing and virtualisation

Windows Server 2022 Datacenter is licensed per processor core. According to Microsoft's licensing rules, all physical cores of the server must be licensed, but at least 8 cores per processor and 16 cores per server. If all cores are licensed, Datacenter permits an unlimited number of virtual machines plus one Hyper-V host, as well as an unlimited number of Windows Server containers and Hyper-V isolated containers. A host with 32 cores can thus run, for example, domain controllers, database servers, terminal servers and test systems as separate virtual machines without additional server licences being required for further instances. Every user or device that accesses the server requires a Windows Server CAL; for Remote Desktop Services, an RDS CAL is also required.

With Automatic Virtual Machine Activation, guest systems running Windows Server on an activated Datacenter host are activated automatically. This simplifies deployment when new virtual machines are created regularly.

Features of the Datacenter edition

Storage Spaces Direct combines the local drives of several servers into shared, software-defined storage for a cluster. In Windows Server 2022, the storage repair speed can be adjusted: administrators decide whether, after a failure, the restoration of the data copies or the running workloads take priority. Storage Replica replicates volumes between servers or sites without limits on partnerships.

For software-defined networking, Datacenter contains Network Controller, through which virtual networks can be managed centrally. With Host Guardian Hyper-V Support, shielded virtual machines can be operated on guarded Hyper-V hosts.

Security and management

Windows Server 2022 enables TLS 1.3 by default for HTTPS, provided applications and services support the protocol. The DNS client supports DNS over HTTPS, AES-256-GCM and AES-256-CCM are available for SMB encryption, and SMB compression reduces the size of files during transfer. On certified hardware, Windows Server 2022 supports the features of a Secured-core server with virtualisation-based security, hypervisor-protected code integrity and Kernel Data Protection.

Via Azure Arc, on-premises servers can be managed as resources in Azure. Hyper-V now also supports nested virtualisation on AMD processors, and with HostProcess containers as well as gMSA for containers without domain-joining the host, Windows Server 2022 extends the options for Kubernetes environments.

Buy Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: licence and scope of delivery

You receive a product key to activate Windows Server 2022 Datacenter. You select the number of core licences in the product version when ordering. A specific number of cores is not stated on the product page; the licensing requirement depends on the number of physical cores in your server, with a minimum of 16 per server. Windows Server CALs and RDS CALs are not part of this offer. The scope of delivery includes:

• the product key for Microsoft Windows Server 2022 Datacenter
• the download link for the server software (all downloads are also available under Software Download)
• instructions for installation and activation (see also Guides and FAQ)
• the invoice by email

Once your payment has been received, your product key is displayed directly on the order confirmation page and also sent to you by email. After that, you can retrieve it again at any time: with a customer account under My Product Codes, without a customer account via the Guest Portal.

If you have any questions about installation or activation, our Support team is available around the clock by email. You will find offers for businesses, schools and public authorities in the B2B Area. You will find further server products in the category Windows Server and under Operating Systems.

System requirements

Minimum requirements according to Microsoft. They apply to the Server Core and Desktop Experience installation options. For Secured-core servers, Microsoft additionally requires IOMMU (Intel VT-d or AMD-Vi), Kernel DMA Protection, DRTM, TPM 2.0, Secure Boot and virtualisation-based security.