Windows Admin Center (v2) Public Preview New Features, Download, and Install
Another bit of news caught my attention in the fact that Windows Admin Center (v2) has dropped in public preview. There appear to be a lot of new features and things to talk about with this release. So, let’s dive right into what is new with this release, where to download it, and how it is installed.
Table of contents
New features of Windows Admin Center (v2) Public Preview
Let’s list off the new features of Windows Admin Center (v2):
- Upgrade to .NET Core
- Virtual machine tool has been updated
- The installer has been updated
- New data migration process
- Settings update
Upgrade to .NET Core
I think one of the things that has plagued Windows Admin Center at least in my perspective is the performance of the tool. If you are like me, and have used the tool across many different versions, seeing the tool stutter and spin for what seems like 30 seconds sometimes to load in whatever it is that you are looking at, this is extremely frustrating.
However, I know things keep getting better with performance with each update and especially when Microsoft upgrades the underlying components to faster building blocks. With this release, Microsoft has upgraded things again, this time from the previous .NET Core 6 to .NET Core 8. This brings better security to the solution, including enhanced cryptography. Also, it allows for HTTP2 which brings reduced latency and better responsiveness to Windows Admin Center.
The frontend of Windows Admin Center in the v2 release is built on Angular which rides on top of what Microsoft calls “its shell”. This shell is what hosts the core services and UI pieces, including the server and cluster managers and also the extensions you use in WAC.
The gateway is the backend of the Windows Admin Center solution. This gateway is what hosts the authorization services, PowerShell services and plugins.
Virtual machine tool has been updated
Microsoft has been putting a lot of updates effort into the virtual machine tool in Windows Admin Center with each release. They realize that one of the big complaints about Hyper-V is the management tools that are archaic and, frankly, suck.
Below are some improvements with this release of Windows Admin Center with the virtual machine tool:
- Various operations only update the VM selected without needing to refresh the entire table of virtual machines, which helps with performance
- They have removed the runtime pipeline
- They are now deferring cluster node check and other operations until after the initial load, also to help with performance
- Columns in the default view has also been reduced for performance reasons
- Azure Site Recovery has a new integration look and feel for users
The installer has been updated
They have made the installer more flexible by allowing admins to configure more options during the setup, including network access settings, trusted hosts, FQDN for the gateway name and other options.
New data migration process
The new installer will note whether or not you already have a Windows Admin Center installation and will migrate over your data to the new (v2) installation. It automates the data copied over, except for (4) elements that the user will need to input. These include the following:
- Proxy credentials
- WebSocket Origin configuration
- Azure registration
- Extensions
Microsoft notes this will only need to be done once. In future releases, once you have migrated once, this whole process will just migrate seamlessly.
Settings update
In this release, Microsoft has also changed the look and feel of the Settings for Windows Admin Center. They have removed the settings blade for Updates and Access, and Shared Connections blades are available on the local gateway installations.
Installing Windows Admin Center (v2) Public Preview
First of all, you can download the Windows Admin Center (v2) Public Preview here: Download Windows Admin Center (v2) Public Preview.
Once you download the installer, kick off the installation and click Next.
Accept the EULA for the installation of Windows Admin Center (v2) installer.
Next, you select the TLS certificate. You have two choices here, to use the pre-installed TLS certificate, or generate a self-signed certificate (expires in 60 days).
On the next screen, it allows you to choose the TLS certificate you want to use.
Select the Start Menu folder you want to install it into.
Ready to install the Windows Admin Center (v2) public preview.
The installation begins.
Complete the installation of Windows Admin Center (v2). You can also start Windows Admin Center after clicking Finish.
Viewing the local gateway server (my local Windows 11 computer) from the new Windows Admin Center (v2) Public Preview.
Wrapping up
I think Microsoft is doing some good work with Windows Admin Center and performance, which they have heavily concentrated on with this release, has been one of the points of frustration with admins. As they continue to polish the solution and upgrade the underlying components as needed with faster technologies, this should encourage admins to start using it day-to-day as it becomes faster and more reliable as a tool in the enterprise. I also personally like the fact that Microsoft is trying to make the virtual machines component better/faster. I think Hyper-V tooling definitely needs a major overhaul that Windows Admin Center can potentially give.
