Windows Server 2003

Introduction & Information For Windows Server 2003

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.

Server Roles

Windows Server 2003 is a multipurpose operating system capable of handling a diverse set of server roles, depending on your needs, in either a centralized or distributed fashion. Some of these server roles include:

• File and print server.
• Web server and Web application services.
• Mail server.
• Terminal server.
• Remote access and virtual private network (VPN) server.
• Directory services, Domain Name System (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, and Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS).
• Streaming media server.
• This product overview explains the basics of the Windows Server 2003 family and includes links to more detailed information.

Benefits of the Windows Server 2003 Family

Windows Server 2003 delivers four primary benefits:

Benefit Description

Dependable Windows Server 2003 is the fastest, most reliable, most secure Windows server operating system ever offered by Microsoft. Windows Server 2003 delivers dependability by:

Providing an IT infrastructure that delivers fundamental value: improved reliability, better availability, and increased scalability. Including an application platform with built-in traditional application server functionality on top of extensive operating system capabilities. Integrating an information worker infrastructure that helps keep business information secure and accessible. Productive Windows Server 2003 provides the tools that simplify deployment, management, and administration and maximize productivity.

Windows Server 2003 does this by:

Providing flexible tools that help match your design and deployment to your organizational and network needs. Helping you manage your network proactively by enforcing policy, automating tasks, and simplifying updates. Helping you lower support overhead by letting users do more on their own. Connected Windows Server 2003 provides an extensible application platform for quickly building solutions that keep employees, partners, systems, and customers connected.

Windows Server 2003 does this by:

Providing an integrated Web server and streaming media server that helps you quickly, easily, and securely create dynamic intranet and Internet Web sites. Providing built-in services that help you easily develop, deploy, and manage XML Web services. Providing the tools that enable you to connect XML Web services to internal applications, suppliers, and partners. Best Economics When combined with products and services from the many Microsoft hardware, software, and channel partners, Windows Server 2003 provides the choices that help you get the greatest return on your infrastructure investments.

Windows Server 2003 does this by:

Providing ease-of-use and prescriptive guidance for complete solutions that enable you to quickly put technology to work. Helping you consolidate servers by taking advantage of the latest hardware, software, and methodologies to optimize your server deployments. Lowering your total cost of ownership (TCO) to realize a fast return on investment.

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 64-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.