
Move Over Service Packs, Enter Feature Packs
Feature Pack 1 for SharePoint Server 2016
For Administrators
- Logging: Keep track of administration changes via action logging. This feature tracks all changes made by admins in the Central Administration website or the Management Shell. Useful for multiple admin scenarios.
- MinRole Enhancements: Addition of two new server roles for MinRole that are optimized for small and medium-sized server farms. You can now run on just two servers or a high availability MinRole farm with just four servers.
For End-Users
- OneDrive for Business Modern Experience: UI overhaul to the OneDrive for Business experience to more closely resemble the look & feel of OneDrive in Office 365. Requires a Software Assurance contract.
- Custom Tiles: The App Launcher, used to launch SP and Office 365 workloads, now allows users to add their own custom tiles linked to SharePoint sites, external sites, and legacy apps.
- OneDrive API: SharePoint on-premises users can now access the OneDrive API to build file management and workflow apps. The API provides a set of HTTP services designed to connect your application to files and folders in OneDrive Personal, OneDrive for Business, and document libraries in SharePoint Online.
Extended Support for Hybrid Scenarios
- SharePoint Hybrid Auditing: This feature is designed to help admins manage their SharePoint infrastructure by providing them access to reports and dashboards used in Office 365; specifically, the use of diagnostic and usage logs. If you opt-in for this service, audit logs are collected and then uploaded to Office 365 on a regular basis. From the Office 365 dashboard, you can view auditing and activity reports that display usage and reliability patterns in your SharePoint Server farm.
- Hybrid Taxonomy: Taxonomy is used to promote discoverability and content access. The new hybrid taxonomy feature enables customers to bring their taxonomy store to Office 365, effectively establishing a single-source for creating and managing Terms, Term Sets, and Groups through a single Managed Metadata Service.