Q: What editions of Windows Server 2012 R2 are available in AMIs?

We will be releasing AMI's with Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard Edition. For details on the differences between the Windows Server Editions, please refer to the Microsoft documentation.

Q: Will it cost more to run Windows Server 2012 R2?

No. Both On-Demand and Reserved instance pricing for Windows Server 2012 R2 is the same as the pricing for earlier versions of Windows Server available on Amazon EC2. You can view the current pricing for Amazon EC2 instances here: http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing.

Q: Which AWS regions are supported?

Windows Server 2012 R2 is available in all AWS regions.

Q: Which Amazon EC2 instance types are supported?

At this time, all Amazon EC2 instance types are supported.

Q: What languages are available?

We support 19 languages with the Windows Server 2012 R2 AMIs. Current list of supported languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.

Q: How do I deploy my applications running Windows Server 2012 R2 to AWS?

You can use AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy and manage your applications on Windows Server 2012 R2 in the AWS cloud. Additionally, you can deploy directly to Amazon EC2 instances launched from the EC2 console or the AWS Marketplace. Also, you can use the AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio to get your application deployed and running in a few clicks.

Q: Which SQL Server version/edition and languages are available with Windows Server 2012 R2 AMIs?

The following SQL Server languages, version and editions are available with Windows Server 2012 R2 AMI:

  • English, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese: SQL Server 2014 (Express, Web and Standard editions)

Q: Windows Server 2012 R2 has two file systems: NTFS and ReFS. Which one should I use?

ReFS was designed for file sharing workloads like sharing content or streaming videos.

Windows applications like SQL Server support NTFS and will not install on a ReFS volume.

Q: Can I create a Storage Space using an EBS volume?

Yes. EBS volumes can be used to setup a Storage Pool. The volumes can be formatted as NTFS or ReFS depending upon your application*.

Q: How do I switch to the new Windows Server Start screen?

Move your mouse to the lower left corner, wait for the Start screen and then click to switch into the Start screen.

Q: On previously published Windows Server AMIs I followed the steps as documented here to enable enhanced networking. Do I still need to do this for Windows Server 2012 R2 AMIs?

No, you don’t need to do this for the new Windows Server 2012 R2 AMIs. The AMIs provide built-in support for enhanced networking via SR-IOV on R3, C3 and I2 instances.

 

*This is currently only supported on Windows Server 2012 and is not yet supported on Windows Server 2012 R2 running in AWS

Q: How frequently does AWS patch Windows AMIs?

AWS provides updated, fully patched Windows AMIs within 5 business days of Microsoft’s patch Tuesday (second Tuesday of each month).

Q: What happens with previously published AMIs?

AWS deprecates previously published Windows and SQL Server AMIs within 10 business days after a new set of AMIs is published.

Q: How do I know I’m launching the latest AWS published AMI?

When publishing new Windows AMIs, AWS follows a consistent naming scheme. For example, Windows_Server-2012-R2_RTM-English-64Bit-Base-2014.05.20. Look for the date stamp in the AMI name. You find the date stamp (last 8 digits) at the end of the AMI name.