Microsoft has done a great job with Nano Server. Nano Sever was announced in April 2015 and shipped with the release of Windows Server 2016 in October 2016. But before we start to dive deeply into Nano Server, we would like to share with you a little background behind why Microsoft developed Nano Server:
Microsoft is always listening to customer's feedback, and one constant feedback was server reboots are impacting my business, because, when you reboot a server, you need to plan ahead of time and schedule a maintenance window in order to avoid downtime. The next piece of feedback was, why do I have to reboot a server because of a patch to a certain component that I never use on my server? And if a reboot is required, the systems need to be back in service as soon as possible. The constant feedback was, we just want the components needed to accomplish our goals and nothing more.
The size of server images have increased over time; large server images take a long time to deploy and configure, especially when you work with virtual machines.
Storing and maintaining virtual machine templates requires too much disk space, when it comes to mobility by moving virtual machines around using live migration. Thus, it will require a lot of network bandwidth as well.
With full blown server images, the infrastructure requires too many resources; if the operating system consumes fewer resources, you can increase virtual machines' density, and with higher VM density, you can lower the cost and increase efficiency in your environment.
IT security is no longer just about protecting your computers and minimizing potential downtime and lost productivity. It's about protecting your valuable business data, your customers' personal details, and your company's reputation. We saw the headlines in the last couple of years about online attacks and credit card numbers being stolen. There was a 40% increase in the number of large companies targeted by cyber-attacks in 2014, as criminals hijack infrastructures and attack from within, according to the largest cybersecurity companies research; a cyberattack has even caused confirmed physical damage for the second time ever. As an example, a hacker was able to remotely control a vehicle and shut it down. Security has become a number one priority in every firm today.
We can no longer afford the security risks of the install everything, everywhere approach.
Basically, having a large server installation that has a lot of things installed, that you don't necessarily really need, opens you up to more of these attacks. The less you have installed on your server, the less ports you have to open. This in turn reduces the ways a hacker can try to attack your systems. So that's really sort of the area that Microsoft took the lead on and created the genesis of Nano Server.