Microsoft System Center 2025 is here

System Center 2025 is generally available: Microsoft has released its administration software at the same time as the new Windows Server 2025. The updates are mainly divided into three areas: infrastructure management, security and modernization. System Center (SC) consists of several components: Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM), Data Protection Manager (SCDPM), Operations Manager (SCOM), Service Manager (SCSM) and Orchestrator (SCO).

Cloud management for local servers

VMM 2025 can now handle virtual machines running on an Azure Stack HCI 23H2 cluster. VMM 2025 can also be used to manage "current Linux distributions" – It is not clear from the announcement exactly which ones. Microsoft has also revised the migration of VMware VMs to Windows Server with VMM; the process should now scale better. In addition, DPM can handle the SharePoint Subscription Edition from version 2025 and adds support for Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) for VMware VMs.

In terms of security, support for TLS 1.3 has been added, while Microsoft has reduced the use of the Credential Security Support Provider Protocol (CredSSP) and NTLM for authentication. DPM 2025 can store login information in the Azure Key Vault if desired, which also applies to on-premises environments. In this way, Microsoft aims to increase the data security of its users. SCO 2025 can handle Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSA), which means that administrators no longer have to manually synchronize passwords between different services. Support for OLE DB 19 in DPM and SCO is also new.

Microsoft had already introduced Azure Arc for VMM in 2023, and support now also includes Windows Server 2025 including hot patching. Those who want to continue using Windows Server 2012/R2 can book the Extended Security Updates (ESUs) via the Azure Arc VMM. On-premises systems can also be started, stopped and restarted via an Azure Arc VMM. Administrators can also create, resize, scale and remove local VMs. All of this works via Azure Role Based Access Control (RBAC), which effectively replaces the discontinued Windows Azure Pack. Microsoft is also removing Azure Profiles and System Center Service Provider Foundation (SPF) from VMM, as Azure Arc covers both.

One System Center for all areas

An overview of all the new features can be found in the System Center blog. With regard to licenses, Microsoft emphasizes that users can manage their entire IT infrastructure via the new System Center 2025 – separate management tools are no longer necessary. There are two editions: Standard from 1323 US dollars and Datacenter from 3607 US dollars. However, the prices depend on many parameters; details can be found on the product page.

(fo)