News

System Center 2025 Coming This Fall

The next version release of System Center, System Center 2025, will be released sometime this fall, Microsoft announced last week.

This update will include all five System Center products -- Orchestrator, Data Protection Manager, System Center Operations Manager, Virtual Machine Manager and Service Manager.

System Center 2025 will feature improvements to support modern infrastructure and provide enhanced security, according to Microsoft. The new release will also be fully compatible with Windows Server 2025 (rumored to arrive by year's end) and will be compatible from day one with Azure Stack HCI 23H2 clusters.

System Center 2025 will feature numerous security enhancements, including a move away from older authentication methods such as CredSSP and NTLM. The suite will now default to Generation 2 VMs for quicker and more secure startups, and will adopt Transport Layer Security (TLS) version 1.3 to safeguard data transmissions. Additionally, DPM 2025 will introduce capabilities for securely storing passphrases in Azure Key Vault and provide support for OLEDB 19.

On the infrastructure side, Microsoft is touting upcoming support for Azure Arc.

"With the General Availability of Azure Arc-enabled SCVMM from November 2023, you can now use Azure Management services like Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Azure Monitor, Azure Update Manager, etc. to secure, govern, monitor and configure your SCVMM managed VMs through Azure Arc," wrote Microsoft. "You can also get the latest Arc enabled capabilities of Windows Server 2025 like Hotpatching for Arc-enabled SCVMM VMs right from Day 0."

As for what's getting cut in System Center 2025, Microsoft will discontinue the Azure Profiles feature of VMM and the System Center Service Provider Foundation (SPF), integrating these capabilities into the Arc-enabled VMM.

Microsoft will be opening up a preview in the coming months. To take part, users can sign up here.

About the Author

Chris Paoli (@ChrisPaoli5) is the associate editor for Converge360.

Featured

  • Windows 365 Cloud Apps Now Available for Public Preview

    Microsoft announced this week that Windows 365 Cloud Apps are now available for public preview. This aims to allow IT administrators to stream individual Windows applications from the cloud, removing the need to assign Cloud PCs to every user.

  • Report: Security Initiatives Can't Keep Pace with Cloud, AI Boom

    The increasingly fast adoption of hybrid, multicloud, and AI systems is easily outgrowing existing security measures, according to a recent global survey by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and exposure management firm Tenable.

  • World Map Image

    Microsoft Taps Nebius in $17B AI Infrastructure Deal To Alleviate Cloud Strain

    Microsoft has signed a five-year, $17.4 billion agreement with Amsterdam-based Nebius Group to expand its AI computing capabilities through third-party GPU infrastructure.

  • Microsoft Brings Copilot AI Into Viva Engage

    Microsoft 365 Copilot in Viva Engage is now generally available, extending Copilot's AI-powered assistant capabilities deeper into the Viva platform.

Most   Popular