Additional Qualifications refer to optional testing that servers can attain, once the Certified for Windows Server 2008 R2 status is earned. There are four Additional Qualifications: Dynamic Partitioning, Enhanced Power Management, Fault Tolerance, and High Availability.

Dynamic Partitioning (DP)
Some high-end highly-scalable server systems contain partition units of memory, processors, and IO which can be grouped together by the server�s management console into partitions. Each partition is, in effect, an independent server, and the system is capable of hosting several such partitions, each running an independent operating system. Such servers are referred to as partitionable. Some partionable servers are dynamically partitionable, which means partition units can be re-assigned to various partitions without requiring a system shutdown.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter and Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-Based Systems support both hot-add for processors, memory, and IO partition units, and hot-replace of such units on supporting hardware. Hot-add allows for increasing the resources available to a partition facing increasing resource demands. Hot-replace allows for supporting systems to swap-out partition units in the event of hardware failure, while the system stays up and running, and providing services to users.

Enhanced Power Management
The Enhanced Power Management qualifier identifies servers which support the next generation power management technology available with Windows Server 2008 R2. The software infrastructure and management interfaces in Windows Server 2008 R2 that help improve the power efficiency of the server platform and enable remote monitoring of power consumption and remote control of the power profile. There are three major requirements for a system to qualify for this Additional Qualifier;

1. The server system provides a system power meter and system power budget capability in hardware
2. The server system supports the new power metering and budgeting ACPI interface (ACPI V4.0) specification
3. The server system enables control of processor performance states by the Operating System

These new features in Server 2008 R2 will provide cost-savings associated with reducing power consumption on each server. They will also help with capacity planning by making power consumption and power budget information available to administrators. This helps enable more efficient allocation of power and cooling infrastructure in the data center. System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) 2007 R2 provides a Management Pack that takes advantage of all of these new features in Server 2008 R2. Any server that qualifies for the Enhanced Power Management qualifier has native support for the features in this Management Pack.

Fault Tolerance (FT)
Fault tolerant hardware contains redundant components such as extra power supplies, fans, and even memory and processors which can take over in the event of a hardware failure. These features can help improve the server reliability.

High Availability (HA)
The terms availability and high availability can have very different meanings depending on the context in which they are used and the audience involved. They can be used to describe a variety of business goals and technical requirements, from hardware-only availability targets to mission-critical targets for a service as a whole.

Sometimes organizations demand higher levels of availability than are achievable with limited resources. Once the challenges and cost implications are understood, plans for high availability solutions can be made.

The cost implications of most availability solutions include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Hardware
• Software
• Network infrastructure
• Training
• Serviceability
• Operational costs

Serviceability refers to the contractual arrangements made with third-party service providers or operational-level agreements made with information technology divisions inside your organization, to provide or maintain information technology services or components.

One key component in many high availability solutions is failover clustering, which can help keep server solutions available during planned or unplanned server downtime.