Blogs

A new preview build of Windows Server 2019, build 17650, is now available to Windows Insider Program participants.

The new build, which will expire on July 2, 2018, applies to both the long-term servicing branch product and the semiannual channel release product, according to Microsoft's announcementlast week.

This release features the use of a File Share Witness in failover clusters. There's also the addition of a Remote Desktop Session Host, which was lacking in earlier test releases.

Microsoft also reaffirmed that Storage Replica will be in the Windows Server 2019 Standard edition, and not just in the Datacenter edition. Storage Replica, used for disaster recovery, enables "synchronous and asynchronous block replication between servers or clusters," according to the announcement.

Its use with the Standard edition comes with limitations. It can only replicate a single volume that's up to 2TB in size and it only can "have one partnership," Microsoft previously indicated. Those limitations could change with newer Windows Server updates, the announcement suggested.

Build 17650 has "two new enhancements" for using File Share Witness with failover clusters. One will block locations that use the Distributed File System since its use causes stability problems for a cluster. The second enhancement is,where the File Share Witness is not dependent on using Kerberos for the CNO. It will let organizations use File Share Witness even when there's poor Internet access, a lack of shared drives or "lack of a domain controller connection due to the cluster being behind a DMZ [demilitarized zone]," Microsoft explained.