Windows Server 2008 R2 e-book.

Greetings! We’re happy to say that another free ebook is now available. 

Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2, by Charlie Russel and Craig Zacker with the Windows Server Team at Microsoft, can be downloaded here (XPS file, 28 MB) and here (PDF file, 11 MB).

Here is the book’s Content at a Glance:

Introduction    xvii
Chapter 1    What’s New in Windows Server R2    1
Chapter 2    Installation and Configuration: Adding R2 to Your World    9
Chapter 3    Hyper-V: Scaling and Migrating Virtual Machines    25
Chapter 4    Remote Desktop Services and VDI: Centralizing Desktop and Application Management    47
Chapter 5    Active Directory: Improving and Automating Identity and Access    65
Chapter 6    The File Services Role    91
Chapter 7    IIS 7.5: Improving the Web Application Platform    109
Chapter 8    DirectAccess and Network Policy Server    129
Chapter 9    Other Features and Enhancements    147
Index    163

And here’s part of the Introduction:

Introduction

Windows Server 2008 R2, or simply R2 for short, is the second release of
Windows Server 2008. It isn’t a completely new release, but rather adds
additional features and refinements to the existing release. In this book, we focus
on the new features and refinements in R2. We assume you have at least a general
knowledge of Windows Server, and that you have some familiarity with Windows
Server 2008, although we don’t assume you’re actively running Windows Server
2008. Where an R2 feature is a refinement of a feature that was new in Windows
Server 2008, we provide background on the Windows Server 2008 feature to
provide context.