Windows Server 2012 Edition's

Edition	Intent	Major feature	Licensing	Clients	List price
Datacenter	Highly virtualized environments	Unlimited virtual instance rights	Processor x 2	Per CAL	$4,809 per 2 procs
Standard	Little virtualization, low density	Two virtual instances	Processor x 2	Per CAL	$882 per 2 procs
Essentials	Small business	Simple administration, no virtualization rights	Per Server	25 accounts	$425
Foundation	Entry level, economy server	General purpose server, no virtualization rights	Per Server	15 accounts	OEM only

Editions	Foundation	Essentials	Standard	Datacenter
Distribution	OEM Only	Retail, volume licensing, OEM	Retail, volume licensing, OEM	Volume licensing and OEM
Licensing Model	Per Server	Per Server	Per CPU pair + CAL/DAL	Per CPU pair + CAL/DAL
Processor Chip Limit	1	2	64	64
Memory Limit	32GB	64GB	4TB	4TB
User Limit	15	25	Unlimited	Unlimited
File Services limits	1 standalone DFS root	1 standalone DFS root	Unlimited	Unlimited
Network Policy & Access Services limits	50 RRAS connections and 10 IAS connections	250 RRAS connections, 50 IAS connections, and 2 IAS Server Groups	Unlimited	Unlimited
Remote Desktop Services limits	50 Remote Desktop Services connections	Gateway only	Unlimited	Unlimited
Virtualization rights	n/a	Either in 1 VM or 1 physical server, but not both at once	2 VMs	Unlimited
DHCP, DNS, Fax server, Printing,  IIS Services	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows Server Update Services	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Active Directory Services	Yes, Must be root of forest and domain	Yes, Must be root of forest and domain	Yes	Yes
Active Directory Certificate Services	Certificate Authorities only	Certificate Authorities only	Yes	Yes
Windows Powershell	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Server Core mode	No	No	Yes	Yes
Hyper-V	No	No	Yes	Yes

On the 1^st of August, 2012 Microsoft released Windows Server 2012– the sixth release of the Windows Server product family. On May 21^st 2013, Windows Server 2012 R2 was introduced and is now the latest version of Windows Server in the market.  Microsoft has released four different editions of Windows Server 2012 varying in cost, licensing and features. These four editions of Windows Server 2012 R2 are: Windows 2012Foundation edition, Windows 2012 Essentials edition, Windows 2012 Standard edition and Windows 2012 Datacenter edition.

WINDOWS SERVER 2012 FOUNDATION EDITION

This edition of Windows Server 2012 is targeted towards small businesses of up to 15 users. The Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundationedition comes pre-installed on hardware server with single physical processor and up to 32GB of DRAM memory. Foundation editioncan be implemented in environments where features such as file sharing, printer sharing, security and remote access are required. Advanced server features such as Hyper V, RODC (Read Only Domain Controller), data deduplication, dynamic memory, IPAM (IP Address Management), server core, certificate service role, hot add memory, windows update services and failover clustering are not available in theFoundation edition.

WINDOWS SERVER 2012 ESSENTIALS EDITION

The Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials edition is the next step up, also geared towards small businesses of up to 25 users.  Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials edition is available in retail stores around the world making it easy for businesses to install the new operating system without necessarily purchasing new hardware. Similar to the Foundation edition, the Essentials edition does not support many advanced server features, however it does provide support of features like Hyper V, dynamic memory and hot add/remove RAM.

Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials edition can run a single instance of virtual machine on Hyper V, a feature that was not available in Windows Server 2012 Essentials (non-R2) edition. This single virtual machine instance can be Windows Server 2012 R2 Essential edition only, seriously limiting the virtualization options but allowing companies to begin exploring the benefits of the virtualization platform.

WINDOWS SERVER 2012 STANDARD EDITION

The Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard edition of windows server is used for medium to large businesses that require additional features not present in the Foundation & Essential edition. The Standard edition is able to support an unlimited amount of users, as long as the required user licenses have been purchased.

Advanced features such as certificate services role, Hyper V, RODC (Read Only Domain Controller), IPAM (IP Address Management), Data deduplication, server core, failover clustering and more, are available to Windows Server 2012 Standard edition. We should note that the Standard edition supports up to 2 Virtual Machines.

WINDOWS SERVER 2012 DATACENTER EDITION

The Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter edition is the flagship product created to meet the needs of medium to large enterprises. The major difference between the Standard and Datacenter edition is that the Datacenter edition allows the creation of unlimited Virtual Machines and is therefore suitable for environments with extensive use of virtualization technology.

Before purchasing the Windows Server 2012 operating system, it is very important to understand the difference between various editions, the table below shows the difference between the four editions of Windows Server 2012:

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