Microsoft Corp.’s “Project Honolulu” has moved into general availability and is now being called the Windows Admin Center.

The new service delivers administrative tools via a web interface, which means users will need a browser such as Chrome or Edge to run it. Microsoft said Windows Admin Center is a hybrid information technology management tool that can be used to manage Windows personal computers, on-premises servers and cloud-based instances on the Azure cloud via a single interface.

The aim of Windows Admin Center is to deliver a tool that’s better able to manage the transition between cloud and on-premises services, Microsoft said. It also provides a graphical user interface option for other tasks that could previously only be managed by the command-line interface or a remote desktop connection.

Project Honolulu was unveiled in 2017 at Microsoft’s Ignite Conference, where it was billed as the successor to the company’s System Center management platform. Microsoft has created a video showing off the GUI, which presents vital stats such as processor and memory usage, disk performance and networking speeds. It also offers quick access to several management tools encompassing certificates, firewalls, virtual machines and more.

Windows Admin Center has been available in preview ever since it was announced, and seems to be popular, with more than 50,000 downloads to date. Now, with the shift to general availability, Microsoft clearly believes it’s ready for mass adoption.

“If you’re an IT administrator managing Windows Server and Windows, you probably open dozens of consoles for day-to-day activities, such as Event Viewer, Device Manager, Disk Management, Task Manager, Server Manager – the list goes on and on,” Microsoft offcials Samuel Li and Vinicius Apolinario explained in a blog post they co-authored. “Windows Admin Center brings many of these consoles together in a modernized, simplified, integrated, and secure remote management experience.”

The tool will also support the upcoming Windows Server 2019 release, though Microsoft noted that Active Directory is not yet supported. Windows Admin Center is free for those with a valid Windows Server or Windows 10 license.

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