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Senior Manager - SBR Technical Services at Reliance Industries Ltd
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Helpful to share authentication, user access, and rollback but needs improvement in integration features
Pros and Cons
  • "With SSO authentication and Active Directory services, users' contact domains and everything are available. It can help users benefit from the tool while sharing authentication, user access, rollback, and other areas."
  • "If an architecture is complex, the setup phase takes time."

What is our primary use case?

Even though there were changes in my job role or company, I continued to use Windows Server.

What needs improvement?

In recent times, improvements are required since everything is going to be very granular. If you give access to a particular group or particular user in a particular product line and if you want someone to be a part of that group which has different rights from another team, like an SME, who has more rights compared to an ordinary person, and if a new person or novice person comes in, he will have lesser rights.

Nowadays, everybody wants a user-friendly dashboard and interface. People don't want to know about complex commands and want everything to be available in just a few clicks on the dashboard, where they can see the top trends, what commands are being used, how many logins, and other such related information. The integration process should be smooth if I have Microsoft Active Directory deployed on an on-premises model and I want to connect it to a Microsoft Active Directory on the cloud. Even if you are involved in complex things on the back end, from the front end, the tool should be made easier for users to understand so that they can identify the credentials or keys they use.

If you want to integrate or connect with multiple integration points or ecosystems, then such a process should be something that is easily doable for users. Whether the tool is connected to an API, on-premises model, or cloud, it should be made a process that is easy for users.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have experience with Windows Server. I have used Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows NT.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

When it comes to volume, the performance decreases. I have seen a lot of companies claim that their tools can support a certain amount of capacity, but when we, as users, come near the prescribed capacity limit and are unable to use the product, the company claims that the capacity limit details were given to them by their engineering team. I feel that the engineering team hardly tested the product at the required level to see if the product could support it when the actual production load came to the level they figured out earlier. If a particular product claims to be able to support 1,000 units or users, I see the performance decreasing after the tool is used by 800 or 900 users. If you go for a storage tool, the company claims that its product will support one petabyte, but when users actually have that much capacity, they realize that the product doesn't offer much support.

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March 2025
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Around seven people in my company use the product.

How are customer service and support?

My company uses the solution's technical support if we are not able to solve a problem related to the product.

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

Since migrating to the product from another solution, my company faces challenges in using complex security support when there is a high volume.

How was the initial setup?

If an architecture is complex, the setup phase takes time. If you need to integrate multiple touchpoints, then the setup process takes time.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment process can be done with the help of our company's in-house team.

What other advice do I have?

Speaking about how the product enhances our company's data management capabilities, I would say that based on my long experience with the product, I feel that presently, the solution is totally different. Nowadays, users get Version 21H2 (OS build 22000)​​ Windows 11, which is totally different from its past offerings. Previously, Windows Server fell under a totally different domain or technology, but currently, it's a totally different tool.

I would say that I have stopped using the product at an individual level and have started working with the team in my company that takes care of its deployment and manages the virtual environments.

The tool has been beneficial for our company's IT infrastructure since I feel that Windows is preferred by many for the domain controller and for using SSO authentication along with Active Directory services. With SSO authentication and Active Directory services, users' contact domains and everything are available. It can help users benefit from the tool while sharing authentication, user access, rollback, and other areas.

In terms of security features, users need more in areas like authentication and location.

There is no multi-vendor support to help deal with the area of integration.

I rate the product a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
System Engineer at Alnajat charity
Real User
Top 20
Servers run smoothly for our IT needs with reliable performance and security features
Pros and Cons
  • "Windows Server is very scalable."
  • "I think there is room for improvement in the stability of older versions."

What is our primary use case?

Windows Server is the operating system we run on our servers. We use it in the IT department, primarily as the OS for our servers.

What is most valuable?

Windows Server is the OS for servers in our IT environment. Its features depend on the servers we're running, such as web servers or file servers. It's a well-known server OS, making it suitable for all our needs. For security, we have no issues as we use several security applications like BlackPoint and Kaspersky, along with backup systems, and we keep the server up-to-date.

What needs improvement?

I think there is room for improvement in the stability of older versions. Additionally, Windows Server could be more power-efficient, especially for individuals doing labs or studies on personal computers or laptops.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Windows Server for eight or nine years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

I have not faced any deployment issues.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is better with the newer versions like 2019. Older versions like the 2008 servers had several issues. The current version is stable, and I rate it between eight and nine.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Windows Server is very scalable. We use it everywhere, and it serves approximately two thousand users in our company as a backend service.

How are customer service and support?

I have never contacted customer service.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

Windows Server has been my only experience.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup process for Windows Server is very straightforward and easy. There is plenty of documentation and tutorials available online to aid in the setup.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I did not evaluate other operating systems before using Windows Server.

What other advice do I have?

Windows Server is a well-known and well-established OS, heavily used in organizations in Kuwait. It's the only option for companies, with a usage rate of 95 to 98 percent. Anyone wanting to work in a reputable organization should gain experience with Windows Server. I rate the latest versions of Windows Server at around eight or nine, providing room for improvement.

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
Windows Server
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Windows Server. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
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Deepak  Nagar - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Strategic Alliances at Softcell Technologies Limited
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Every Microsoft product is scalable, flexible, secure, and available on a certain budget
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool is scalable, flexible, easy to use, user-friendly, handy, and easy to maintain, and authentication is good."
  • "From a security perspective, sometimes, malware attacks and hackers take advantage of the tool's vulnerabilities. There is a need to have updates in the product to fill in the vulnerability gaps."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution in my company for hosting websites. For the many roles my colleagues and I played in the organization, Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 were useful.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that every Microsoft product is scalable, flexible, secure, and available on a certain budget.

What needs improvement?

The UI of the product is an area of concern where improvements are needed to make it more user-friendly. Vulnerabilities are an area for Microsoft to look into so that improvements can be made. From a security perspective, sometimes, malware attacks and hackers take advantage of the tool's vulnerabilities. There is a need to have updates in the product to fill in the vulnerability gaps.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have ten to eleven years of experience with Windows Server. I have been using Windows Server since 2013.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Users can increase the hardware or virtual environment and memory, and it is scalable enough to meet the company's requirements.

Everybody in the organization uses the product. The HR department uses the solution for storage purposes and the website hosting from where the internal applications are made available for use within the company. The developers in our company also developed certain applications that can be hosted on Windows Server. In general, the solution has around 500 users in my company.

My company can increase the number of users of the product in the future, especially if we achieve the capability that can allow us to scale up.

How are customer service and support?

My company did not use the support offered by the product since we have a technical expert who handles the server in our company.

How was the initial setup?

The product's initial setup phase is simple.

For the product's installation phase, you just download the server on Hyper-V or any bare metal hypervisor and install the solution by clicking the next options provided.

The solution was deployed on an on-premises model. The solution can also be used on the cloud services offered by GCP or AWS. In short, the product is deployed on a hybrid cloud model.

If everything is ready and in place, meaning if the prerequisites for the deployment are met within a particular environment, then the installation process takes around an hour to be completed.

What about the implementation team?

The product can be deployed with the help of our company's in-house team.

What was our ROI?

Only if I consider the fact that my company's technical team is capable enough to handle the vulnerabilities can I say that the ROI is good.

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

There is a need to make payments towards the licensing charges of the product since we used to purchase licenses for consumption in our company. Microsoft used to provide my company with the keys that can be directly put in to activate the server. If I look into the tasks my company does with the product, I would say that the tool is not that expensive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

There are only two or three options, like Linux or Unix, that can be considered against Windows Server.

What other advice do I have?

My company did not use the support offered by the product since we have a technical expert who handles the server in our company. Every organization uses Windows Server. Most people opt for Windows when it comes to servers since no one can do any work without servers.

The tool is scalable, flexible, easy to use, user-friendly, handy, and easy to maintain, and authentication is good. The product can be integrated with any solution.

I rate the overall tool 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
Gungor Bingul - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of IT at Korozo
Real User
Top 10
Easy to deploy and offers good security to its users
Pros and Cons
  • "The product's installation phase is easy."
  • "The scalability of the product needs to be improved, considering that organizations may have an increase in resource requirements."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution in my company for our applications and security.

What is most valuable?

Windows Server is similar to any other typical server, considering that there are multiple servers available in the market. The ease of administration that the product provides is one of the reasons why my company uses it.

What needs improvement?

The product's price is an area of concern where improvements are required, considering that there has been an increase in the tool's licensing costs, especially the ones required for virtualization.

The scalability of the product needs to be improved, considering that organizations may have an increase in resource requirements.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Windows Server for a few years. I use the versions that were released in 2016 and 2018.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution. Compared to the stability offered by the product in the previous year, I feel that there have been improvements in the current year.

How are customer service and support?

I have experience with the solution's technical support. My company is able to find solutions to our ratios with the help of the product's technical team. The product's technical team is neither good nor bad, meaning the support team offers normal support services.

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

My company uses IBM Power AIX and SUSE Linux Enterprise servers. My company has also tested some of the Linux servers' versions.

How was the initial setup?

With the help of SentinelOne, Windows Server was installed and used for the management of the virtual environment. My company also uses a PAM solution along with a security-oriented product.

The product's installation phase is easy.

In my company, we know the product's deployment process. Due to the aforementioned reason, it doesn't take my company much time to deploy the product.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises and cloud model.

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

It is an expensive product. My company makes payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

My company uses Windows Server, considering the knowledge that my organization possesses about the product and the information concerning the integration capabilities the tool offers.

What other advice do I have?

The security features offered by the product to protect our enterprise's resources are good. Though there is a scope for improvement in the product's security features, it is one of the most used solutions in the world when compared to the other tools in the market.

It is one of the cleaner systems available in the market that can be tailored to fit into your environment. Most people have experience using Windows Server in their environment. Windows Server is the easiest option my company chooses, considering the amount of experience we have with it in our environment.

I don't think that I have any special comments on how the product has improved our company's system performance area.

I rate the overall tool an eight 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
Virimai Mare - PeerSpot reviewer
L3 Engineer at Momentum Metropolitan Holdings Limited
Real User
Top 5
Easy to setup, stable and caters to my wide range of use cases but lacks user-friendly interface
Pros and Cons
  • "It's quite stable."
  • "It would be nice if it was more user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

It's used for a variety of things, like Active Directory, DNS, cloud shares, and application hosting. We also have some third-party applications running on it and web services.

What needs improvement?

It would be nice if it was more user-friendly, especially for migrating applications.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with Microsoft for about 12 years now, since December 2004.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's quite stable, probably an eight out of ten. It really depends on the specific business needs and applications running on it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It can be scalable to a certain extent, but it depends on the resources you have available and the applications you're running. We have around a thousand end users using this solution.

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

I've worked with Unix and Linux before, but it was a long time ago.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is quite easy for me, especially since I've been using it for so long. It usually takes just a few steps, depending on whether it's deployed in the cloud or on-premises.

What about the implementation team?

We handle it in-house, no need for external help.

What was our ROI?

We've seen value in Windows Server because the systems work smoothly without any problems. And the additional benefit is the support we receive.

What other advice do I have?

My main advice is to understand the business first. Then, see if the solution will work on that platform. Also, check which applications it supports. If they're using data and Microsoft, in some cases, we use applications verified by Microsoft. You can be sure they're compatible with Windows and find support from both ends. So, understand the business in terms of its goals, turnaround time, risk factors, and skill requirements. Consider if they have enough skilled people to support it, both for daily use and when issues arise. You need to know these things before making a decision.

Not every time is Microsoft the right choice. Some systems or platforms they want to run may not be supported by Microsoft. So, it's crucial to understand the business requirements first; then you know which platform or solution works best for you.

Overall, I would rate the solution a seven 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
SCADA/EMS System Programmer at GCCIA
Real User
User friendly and it's compatible with the scalar product applications
Pros and Cons
  • "User friendly and compatible with the scalar product applications."
  • "Could use more features and more functionality."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is for the SCADA system, for the ITS system, and for the station system. I'm a system programmer and we are customers of Microsoft.

What is most valuable?

The advantage of the product is that it's user friendly, it's compatible with the scalar product applications, it's well known to our own users as well as to our end-user clients. 

What needs improvement?

I'd like to see more features and more functionality to the Microsoft operating system. The solution should be able to connect remotely and create a safer channel between the user and cloud assets, or through the internet. It's one of the biggest challenges we've had this past year. There are a lot of companies competing with each other to apply these features due to the pandemic. 

For additional features, I'd like to see something like third-party applications that would create a hub to receive a connection from outside. It would handle all types of servers to enable remote access for the user from home, so they can safely connect to the system and check in if there is an emergency. You know that the SCADA system is a critical system and you can be considered on-call and notified at any time. It would enable a remote connection rather than the need for long procedures to connect to my network. It could have a third-party authentication so we could connect to the server safely.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've used this product since 2008. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable with the current application we are using for SCADA but I'm not sure of the impact if you were to use another application or another technology. For the appliances using the firewall, using switches, it's very stable, especially, the critical system which you configure once, and forget about until you need to make another vulnerability scan. For the critical asset, or for the entire system, you'll configure it once, and it's stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Sometimes you need a huge number of firewalls to manage all the assets, so scalability depends on the assets you have in your network. In our case we sometimes only connect seven substations, that's three or four firewalls to manage everything. That includes interconnection with the member states, meaning six countries in the Gulf area that will receive information or data from them. The total number of data is very manageable requiring only three or four firewalls. In general, it is scalable and manageable. We have just under 100 users. We have around 10 technical teams in our control center and 10 engineers monitoring the system who deal with admin, modifications and monitoring the system.

How are customer service and technical support?

Any patching is tested in Dubai before applying it to the production system. We have minimal contact with the IT technical team. Given that the system is very stable, we rarely talk to the Microsoft technical team. 

How was the initial setup?

There is usually a factory acceptance test, but because of the pandemic we have an agreement with our vendor for the latest project that we will carry out the merger in Saudi Arabia.

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

We're engaged with a reseller who deals with licensing for us. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate this solution a nine out of 10. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Kepa-Ayerbe - PeerSpot reviewer
Connectivity Platform Cyber Security Specialist at BASF Business Services GmbH
Real User
Top 5
IP directory is the most valuable feature
Pros and Cons
  • "The capabilities and beta securities are important features. The IP directory is the most valuable feature."
  • "The user interface needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for infrastructure. 

What is most valuable?

The capabilities and beta securities are important features. The IP directory is the most valuable feature. 

What needs improvement?

The user interface needs improvement. 

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?

The stability of the solution is improving. I rate the stability a 9 out of 10. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Three thousand users are using the solution at present. 

How was the initial setup?

The setup installation takes time and the first time to create the image. It might take you a day or so. But once you have the image, hard end, it's easy to deploy because now it's built to own. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate the overall product a 9 out of 10. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Principle consultant at Active Data Consulting Services Pty Ltd
Real User
Top 20
I'm on a 16GB system with a 500GB SSD and I can run multiple VM's on VirtualBox, client sessions, multiple displays and so forth without any issues at all.

What is most valuable?

Speed and ease with integrating into Microsoft Azure AD environment, security, being able to log in the 'Hello' service.

How has it helped my organization?

In my small development environment, speed and security are important, we actually make use of the Microsoft's Edge browser -- which is getting better with each update. Simplified management of Windows 10 machines is also nice.

What needs improvement?

Intrusive 'You have updates' notification can be annoying -- as it blocks the middle of the screen, but this can be turned off.

When setting a new machine up, users should be given a bit more of information in regards to creating a Microsoft account vs a local account, as being unaware of this can cause a user some confusion down the track if they install an application that needs 'local' user credentials to function.

For how long have I used the solution?

Since it was released.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No, Windows 10 has deployed onto legacy systems fine.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Very stable, Haven't had any issues with instability whatsoever.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Being a Desktop operating system, scalability is really a function of the resources of the desktop or VM it's running in.

I'm on a 16GB system with a 500GB SSD and I can run multiple VM's on VirtualBox, client sessions, multiple displays and so forth without any issues at all.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Very good, Microsoft makes it easy to get most things set up fairly easily.

Technical Support:

Very high, I had the need to contact Microsoft customer support on a matter, and their engineer was able to remotely assume control of the screen (with my permission and after following instructions) and in a few minutes had resolved the problem.

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

Windows 7, which had become old, bloated with patches and security updates, and was generally just getting slow.

How was the initial setup?

Very straightforward. So far, the installer has identified all of our hardware and everything is running.

What about the implementation team?

In-house.

What was our ROI?

Difficult to calculate, improved efficiency, less time to get things done, less downtime...can't put an exact dollar amount on it, but our environment is more efficient with Windows 10 installed.

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

I can't see any reason why anyone would want to downgrade a new machine (if that's even possible now) to Windows 7...

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at Remaining on Windows 7, but decided we would make the move to Windows 10.

What other advice do I have?

TEST your applications, especially legacy applications. Most things work just fine on Windows 10, but very old applications that may have just worked under windows 7 may encounter problems.

If that's the case and there's an application you absolutely must have, then consider setting up a dedicated VM with Windows 7 on it just for that application or look at replacing the ancient software.

We only had one old 90's era application that wouldn't run on Windows 10, so we just replaced it and dealt with the change.

The benefits of moving to Windows 10 far outweigh the costs of replacing some old applications (that are probably no longer supported and may have serious security issues).

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Windows Server Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Windows Server Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.