Microsoft is finally making good on those promises for a significant update to their successful Window Storage Server 2008. The R2 update will include a host of new features and will reportedly ship in September. Here is what you can expect.

• Simplified out-of-the-box experience
• Simplified two-node cluster setup where configuration from one node and settings are pushed out to the second node, making the cluster setup easier
• Single Instance Storage (SIS) file-system filter-driver support, which removes duplicate filesl from a volume to save space without impacting server performance
• New File Classification Infrastructure (FCI) which allows users to manage their file data based on “business value” and then to apply automatic policies against that
• DNS, DHCP, WINS, RODC (read only domain controller) networking functionality for better branch-office support
• Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3, which supports Wndows PowerShell scripts for manageability; improved Hyper-V storage; and diskless boot of High Performance Clustering nodes, Hyper-V servers or application servers