Windows Server 2008 R2, Datacenter Edition

Windows Server 2008 R2, Datacenter Edition is a high-end datacenter class version of the operating system that supports very large-scale server operations. The Datacenter Edition supports organizations that need more than eight core processors. The Datacenter Edition is focused at organizations that need scale-up server technology to support a large centralized data warehouse on one or limited numbers of server clusters.

An organization can scaleout or scale-up its server applications. Scale-out refers to an application that performs better when it is distributed across multiple servers, whereas scale-up refers to an application that performs better when more processors are added to a single system. Typical scaleout applications include web server services, electronic messaging systems, and file and print servers. In those cases, organizations are better off distributing the application server functions to multiple Windows Server 2008 R2, Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition systems, or even Windows Web Server 2008 R2 systems. However, applications that scaleup, such as e-commerce or data warehousing applications, benefit from having all the data and processing on a single server cluster. For these applications, Windows Server 2008 R2, Datacenter Edition provides better centralized scaled performance as well as the added benefit of fault tolerance and failover capabilities.

The Windows Server 2008 R2, Datacenter Edition used to be sold only with proprietary hardware systems; however, Windows Server 2008 R2, Datacenter Edition can now be run on “off-the-shelf” servers with extensive core, processor, and memory expansion capabilities. This update now allows organizations to purchase nonproprietary servers and get the scalability of the Datacenter Edition of the operating system for enterpriseclass performance, reliability, and supportability.

Source of Information : Sams - Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed