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Windows 2003 Server
The Windows Server 2003 family takes the best of
Windows 2000 Server technology and makes it easier to deploy, manage,
and use. The result: a highly productive infrastructure that helps make
your network a strategic asset for your organization.
Improvements to Windows 2000
Windows Server 2003 includes all the functionality customers need today
from a Windows server operating system to do more with less, such as
security, reliability, availability, and scalability. In addition,
Microsoft has improved and extended the Windows server operating systems
to incorporate the benefits of Microsoft® .NET for connecting
information, people, systems, and devices.
Windows Server 2003 Core Technologies
Windows Server 2003 contains core technologies that
build on the strengths of Windows 2000 Server to deliver a superior and
cost-effective server operating system. Learn about the many new
features and technologies that make Windows Server 2003 an ideal server
platform for organizations of any size.
Dependable
Windows Server 2003 has the reliability, availability, scalability, and
security that make it a highly dependable platform.
 | Availability. The
Windows Server 2003 family provides improved availability through
enhanced clustering support. Clustering services have become essential
for organizations deploying critical e-commerce and line-of-business
applications, because they provide significant improvements in
availability, scalability, and manageability. Clustering installation
and setup is easier and more robust in Windows Server 2003, while
enhanced network features in the product provide greater failover
capabilities and high system uptime. The Windows Server 2003 family
supports server clusters for up to eight nodes. If one of the nodes in
a cluster becomes unavailable because of failure or maintenance,
another node immediately begins providing service, a process known as
failover. Windows Server 2003 also supports network load balancing (NLB),
which balances incoming Internet Protocol (IP) traffic across nodes in
a cluster. |
| Scalability. The
Windows Server 2003 family provides scalability through scale-up,
enabled by symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), and scale-out, enabled by
clustering. Internal tests indicate that compared to Windows 2000
Server, Windows Server 2003 delivers up to 140 percent better
performance in the file system and significantly better performance in
various other features including the Microsoft Active Directory®
service, Web server and Terminal Server components, and networking
services. Windows Server 2003 scales from single processor solutions
all the way up to 32-way systems. It supports both 32-bit and 64-bit
processors. |
| Security. Businesses
have extended the traditional local area network (LAN) by combining
intranets, extranets, and Internet sites. As a result, increased
system security is now more critical than ever before. As part of the
Microsoft commitment to reliable, secure, and dependable computing,
the company has intensely reviewed the Windows Server 2003 family to
identify possible fail points and exploitable weaknesses. Windows
Server 2003 provides many important new security features and
improvements including:
 | The common language runtime.
This software engine is a key element of Windows Server 2003 that
improves reliability and helps ensure a safe computing environment.
It reduces the number of bugs and security holes caused by common
programming mistakes. As a result, there are fewer vulnerabilities
for attackers to exploit. The common language runtime also verifies
that applications can run without error and checks for appropriate
security permissions, making sure that code performs only
appropriate operations. |
| Internet Information Services 6.0.
To increase Web server security, Internet Information Services (IIS)
6.0 is configured for maximum security out of the box. IIS 6.0 and
Windows Server 2003 provide the most dependable, productive,
connected, and integrated Web server solution with fault tolerance,
requesting queuing, application health monitoring, automatic
application recycling, caching, and more. These are among the many
new features in IIS 6.0 that enable you to conduct business securely
on the Web. |
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Connected
Windows Server 2003 contains new features and improvements to make
sure your organization and users stay connected:
| XML Web Services.
IIS 6.0 is an important component of the Windows Server 2003
family. Administrators and Web application developers demand a
fast, reliable Web platform that is both scalable and secure.
Significant architectural improvements in IIS include a new
process model that greatly improves reliability, scalability, and
performance. IIS is installed by default in a locked-down state.
Security is increased because the system administrator enables or
disables system features based on application requirements. In
addition, direct editing support of the XML metabase improves
management. |
| Networking and communications.
Networking and communications has never been more critical for
organizations faced with the challenge of competing in the global
marketplace. Employees need to connect to the network wherever
they are and from any device. Partners, vendors, and others
outside the network need to interact efficiently with key
resources, and security is more important than ever. Networking
improvements and new features in the Windows Server 2003 family
extend the versatility, manageability, and dependability of
network infrastructures. |
| Enterprise UDDI services.
Windows Server 2003 includes Enterprise UDDI services, a dynamic
and flexible infrastructure for XML Web Services. This
standards-based solution enables companies to run their own
internal UDDI service for intranet or extranet use. Developers can
easily and quickly find and reuse the Web services available
within the organization. IT administrators can catalog and manage
the programmable resources in their network. With Enterprise UDDI
services, companies can build and deploy smarter, more reliable
applications. |
| Windows Media Services.
Windows Server 2003 includes the industry's most powerful digital
streaming media services. These services are part of the next
version of the Microsoft Windows Media™ technologies platform that
also includes a new Windows Media Player, Windows Media Encoder,
audio/video codecs, and Windows Media Software Development Kit. |
XML Web Services and Microsoft .NET
Microsoft .NET is deeply integrated into the Windows Server 2003
family. The .NET Framework enables an unprecedented level of
software integration using XML Web services: discrete,
building-block applications that connect to each other—as well as to
other, larger applications—via the Internet.
Integral to the Microsoft platform, the .NET
Framework provides the ability to quickly and reliably build, host,
deploy, and use secure and connected solutions through XML Web
services. The Microsoft platform provides a suite of developer
tools, client applications, XML Web services, and servers necessary
to participate in this connected world.
These XML Web services provide reusable components
built on industry standards that invoke capabilities from other
applications independent of the way the applications were built,
their operating system or platform, or the devices used to access
them.
With XML Web services, developers can integrate
applications inside enterprises and across network boundaries with
partners and customers. This advance in computing—opening the door
to federated collaboration and more efficient business-to-business
and business-to-consumer services—can have a significant potential
impact on revenue. Millions of others can use these components in
varied combinations to produce highly personal, intelligent
computing experiences.
Other .NET benefits in the Windows Server 2003
family help application developers to:
| Leverage their existing investments. Existing
Windows–based applications for Windows Server run on Windows
Server 2003 and can be easily repackaged as XML Web services.
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| Write less code and use the programming
languages and tools they know. Windows Server 2003 features
built-in application services, such as Microsoft ASP.NET,
transaction monitoring, message queuing, and data access.
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| Use process monitoring, recycling, and built-in
instrumentation to provide reliability, availability, and
scalability for their applications. |
All of these benefits are in the improved Windows
Server 2003 application platform.
Improvement - IIS and .Net
Framework
Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 is a full-featured Web
server that enables Web applications and XML Web services. IIS 6.0
has been completely re-architected with a new fault-tolerant process
model that greatly boosts the reliability of Web sites and
applications.
Now, IIS can isolate an individual Web application
or multiple sites into a self-contained process (called an
application pool) that communicates directly with the operating
system kernel. This feature increases throughput and capacity of
applications while offering more headroom on servers, effectively
reducing hardware needs. These self-contained application pools
prevent one application or site from disrupting the XML Web services
or other Web applications on the server.
IIS also provides health monitoring capabilities
to discover, recover, and prevent Web application failures. On
Windows Server 2003, Microsoft ASP.NET natively uses the new IIS
process model. These advanced application health and detection
features are also available to existing applications running under
Internet Information Server 4.0 and IIS 5.0, with the vast majority
of applications not needing any modification.
The .NET Framework provides the programming model
for building, deploying and running Web-based applications and XML
Web services on this highly stable platform. It provides a
productive, standards-based, multi-language environment for
integrating existing investments with next-generation applications
and services as well as the agility to solve the challenges of
deployment and operation of Internet-scale applications. Existing
applications can be easily repackaged as XML Web services and UNIX
applications can be integrated or even migrated into the solution
with less work than in the past.
Improvement - Terminal Services
Terminal Server lets administrators deliver Windows-based
applications, or the Windows desktop itself, to virtually any
computing device—including those that cannot run Windows. When users
run an application on Terminal Server, the application execution
takes place on the server, and only keyboard, mouse, and display
information is transmitted over the network. Users see only their
own individual sessions, which are managed transparently by the
server operating system, and remain independent of any other client
session.
Remote Desktop for Administration builds on the
remote administration mode of Windows 2000 Terminal Services. In
addition to the two virtual sessions that are available in Windows
2000 Terminal Services remote administration mode, an administrator
can also remotely connect to the real console of a server.
Terminal Server can enhance an enterprise's
software deployment capabilities for a variety of scenarios that
remain difficult to solve using traditional application distribution
technologies.
Benefit - Easy to Find, Share and Reuse XML Web
Services
Windows Server 2003 includes
Enterprise UDDI Services, a dynamic and flexible infrastructure
for XML Web services. This standards-based solution enables
companies to run their own UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery
and Integration) directory for intranet or extranet use, making it
easy to discover Web services and other programmatic resources.
Developers can easily and quickly find and reuse the Web services
available within the organization. IT administrators can catalog and
manage the programmable resources in their network. Enterprise UDDI
Services also helps companies build and deploy smarter, more
reliable applications.
Benefit - Supports Powerful Collaboration
Windows SharePoint Services is a platform for creating large numbers
of smart Web communities focused on information sharing and team
productivity. It can scale to thousands of sites within an
organization. It fully supports load-balanced Web farm and clustered
database deployments. Site and server managers can enforce storage
quotas using a sites per-server and users per-site criterion. Site
usage can be monitored to detect and retire inactive sites. Security
is granular, yet easily managed.
Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) is a security feature
of Windows that works with applications to help safeguard
confidential and sensitive enterprise information—no matter where it
goes.
Benefit - Develop Applications Faster
The Microsoft .NET Framework is deeply
integrated into the Windows Server 2003 operating system. Microsoft
ASP.NET enables high-performance Web applications. With
.NET-connected technology, developers are freed from having to write
tedious "plumbing" code and can work efficiently with the
programming languages and tools they already know. Windows Server
2003 provides many features that boost developer productivity and
the value of applications. Existing applications can be easily
repackaged as XML Web services. UNIX applications can be easily
integrated or migrated. And developers can quickly build
mobile-aware Web applications and services through ASP.NET mobile
Web Forms controls and other tools. |
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