Microsoft four Windows Server 2012 editions and features: What you need to know

Editions

Windows Server 2012 has four editions: Foundation, Essentials, Standard and Datacenter.

Specifications	Foundation	Essentials	Standard	Datacenter
Distribution	OEM only	Retail, volume licensing, OEM	Retail, volume licensing, OEM	Volume licensing and OEM
Licensing model	Per server	Per server	Per CPU pair[c] + CAL[d]	Per CPU pair[c] + CAL[d]
Processor chip limit[43]	1	2	64[e]	64[e]
Memory limit	32 GB	64 GB	4 TB	4 TB
User limit	15	25	Unlimited	Unlimited
File Services limits	1 standalone DFS root	1 standalone DFS root	Unlimited	Unlimited
Network Policy and Access Services limits	50 RRAS connections and 10 IAS connections	250 RRAS connections, 50 IAS connections, and 2 IAS Server Groups	Unlimited	Unlimited
Remote Desktop Services limits	20 Remote Desktop Services connections	250 Remote Desktop Services connections	Unlimited	Unlimited
Virtualization rights	N/A	Either in 1 VM or 1 physical server, but not both at once	2 VMs[c]	Unlimited
DHCP role	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
DNS server role	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fax server role	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
UDDI Services	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Print and Document Services	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Web Services (Internet Information Services)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows Deployment Services	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows Server Update Services	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Active Directory Rights Management Services	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Application server role	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Server Manager	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows Powershell	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Active Directory Domain Services	Must be root of forest and domain	Must be root of forest and domain	Yes	Yes
Active Directory Certificate Services	Certificate Authorities only	Certificate Authorities only	Yes	Yes
Active Directory Federation Services	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Server Core mode	No	No	Yes	Yes
Hyper-V	No	No	Yes	Yes