Licensing — What You Need to Know Before Purchasing

Datacenter vs Standard — Key Differences

Windows Server 2025 Standard is also available at ITFactory.ca — the right choice for servers running 2 or fewer Windows Server VMs where S2D and SDN are not required.

Hotpatching — Security Updates Without Rebooting
Hotpatching allows many security updates to be applied to running servers without requiring a reboot — dramatically reducing planned downtime for patching on mission-critical workloads. Previously exclusive to Windows Server Datacenter: Azure Edition, hotpatching is now available for on-premises Datacenter deployments via Azure Arc. This is one of the most operationally significant features in Windows Server 2025 for environments where uptime is paramount.

SMB over QUIC — Secure File Sharing Without VPN
SMB over QUIC delivers TLS-encrypted, low-latency SMB file access over the internet without requiring a traditional VPN tunnel. Branch offices, remote workers, and distributed sites can securely access central file shares over public networks — previously requiring a full VPN infrastructure. New in Windows Server 2025: available in Standard and Datacenter editions (previously Datacenter Azure Edition only), with client access control via certificates and connection auditing.

Unlimited Virtual Machines — Hyper-V with GPU Partitioning
The Datacenter edition provides unlimited Windows Server VM rights on the licensed host — run as many VMs as hardware capacity allows without additional OS licences. New in 2025: GPU partitioning enables virtual machines to share a physical GPU, supporting AI inference, machine learning, and GPU-accelerated workloads in virtualized environments with live migration and clustering support.

Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) — Hyper-Converged Infrastructure
Datacenter-exclusive Storage Spaces Direct enables hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) — pooling local storage across multiple servers into a highly available, scalable storage fabric without a dedicated SAN. Windows Server 2025 brings NVMe optimization with higher IOPS at lower CPU utilization on the same hardware compared to Windows Server 2022, and performance improvements to Storage Spaces Direct for large-scale deployments.

Software Defined Networking (SDN) — Datacenter Exclusive
SDN provides programmatic network management across virtual and physical network infrastructure — enabling dynamic provisioning, automated policy enforcement, and centralized control of network resources across the datacenter. Essential for large-scale multi-tenant hosting, virtualized datacenter environments, and organizations deploying software-defined infrastructure at scale.

Advanced Security — Secured-Core, VBS, Shielded VMs
Multi-layered security: Secured-core server technology uses TPM 2.0 and System Guard for secure boot. Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) enclaves isolate sensitive workloads from the host OS. Windows Defender Credential Guard and ATP provide deep kernel and memory protection. Shielded VMs (Datacenter-exclusive) encrypt VM state and protect against compromised fabric administrators. Active Directory gains LDAP TLS 1.3, Kerberos AES-256, and expanded domain controller capacity.

Azure Arc — Hybrid Cloud Management
Azure Arc extends Azure management, policy, and services to on-premises Windows Server 2025 deployments — enabling a unified hybrid cloud management plane without migrating workloads to the cloud. Manage on-premises servers through Azure Monitor, apply Azure Policy, use Azure Defender, and enable hotpatching — all from the Azure portal while keeping workloads on-premises.

Storage Replica — Unlimited Volumes (Datacenter)
Storage Replica provides synchronous and asynchronous block-level replication between servers or clusters for disaster recovery and site stretching. The Datacenter edition enables unlimited volume and partnership counts — Standard is limited to a single 2TB volume partnership. Essential for organizations requiring multi-site replication or large-scale DR environments.

Enhanced Active Directory and SMB Encryption
Active Directory updates include LDAP support for TLS 1.3, Kerberos AES SHA-256/384, expanded domain controller capacity (32K pages), and new RootDSE modifications. SMB encryption adds support for AES-256-GCM and AES-256-CCM cryptographic suites — providing stronger in-transit protection for file share traffic without the overhead of a VPN.

Modern Management — WinGet, Windows Terminal, NVMe Performance
WinGet package manager and Windows Terminal are included by default — streamlining software deployment and command-line administration on fresh installations. NVMe storage performance is optimized for higher IOPS at lower CPU utilization compared to Windows Server 2022 on equivalent hardware, making it an improved platform for SQL Server, databases, and high-throughput storage workloads.

Why Buy from ITFactory.ca?

ITFactory.ca is a trusted Canadian retailer for Microsoft server software, serving IT professionals, businesses, and organizations across the country. Every licence we sell is genuine and sourced through authorized channels.