Difference between Standard and Web Edition

[Pedero]

I wanted to know the difference between Windows Server 2008 Web edition and Standard edition. I have to choose either opt for Windows Server 2008 standard edition or Windows Server 2008 Web edition at no additional cost for web hosting. If I go for Windows Server 2008 Standard edition then it will cost a little bit. I just want to know what I will miss if I select 2008 web edition instead of 2008 standard edition. Also tell me, if 2008 web edition is better than 2008 standard edition.

[Royston]

Hi Pedero,

If you opt for the Web Edition over the Standard edition you cannot install control panel as the Web edition does not support control panel. Apart from this, virtualization is supported on Windows Standard edition and not on the Web edition. Hyper-V is only available bundled with the 64-bit (x64) version of Windows Server 2008. It is not available with the 32-bit version of Windows Server 2008, nor is it available for any other members of the Windows operating system family. Availability is further limited to the Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter versions of Windows Server 2008 (Hyper-V is not included with Windows Server 2008 Web Edition).

[Rachael]

Active directory is not included in the Web edition however the lack of the active directory will not hamper the hosting of your website and e-mail and even the Plesk control panel works just fine without it. Basically, active directory is a solution provided with the Standard edition that enables the users to have multiple servers and computers that has the capacity to authenticate the users through a central database. Therefore with the Standard edition, it can be used as a domain controller; this will require the installation of the Active Directory. Once this is done, other servers can be added to the domain that is setup with the same solution.

[Chandler]

The Windows Standard edition consists of increased web features and virtualzation technology as well. It is designed for increasing the flexibility and reliability of your server infrastructure so that more time is saved and costs are reduced. Moreover you also get powerful tools that provide you with greater control for ensuring optimum performance of the servers and help in streamlining the configuration and management tasks.